The Club

The Penticton Seniors' Computer Club was founded in the early 1990s to provide seniors in the Penticton area (including the surrounding towns) with a way to learn how to use a computer. At the time many seniors were purchasing computers on their own or family members were giving computers to them so that they could communicate by email and browse the web.

The club is run completely by volunteers who are mostly seniors themselves. Many of the volunteers are instructors for courses, work on the executive of the club, help instructors and so forth.

Membership fees are needed so that the club can pay its rent at the Retirement Centre on Winnipeg Street and also purchase and maintain computers and software needed by the club. However, once these fees are paid, all courses, workshops and drop ins are free.

Courses are offered except during the summer months. Each course is usually one month in duration, with usually one class per week that is normally three hours in duration. Class size varies from one person to up to six. Desktop computers are available for students to use or, if convenient to the student, he or she can bring a laptop (or in some cases, a tablet) to the course.

Click on the button to see the calendar of courses.     Calendar

Drop ins are held every Monday and Friday from 1:00 - 2:30 pm. Club members can drop in at these to get help in maintaining and using their computers. If laptop computers or tablets are brought to these drop ins, they can be looked at by the club technical advisors to fix problems.

There is a workshop held on Wednesday afternoons from 1:00 - 4:00 pm. This is held throughout the year, including during the summer. During this workshop students work on their individual projects, some ongoing projects, some simple one-time projects. Projects include such things as making DVD movie disks with family or travel pictures, doing genealogy on the computer, collecting music and making music CDs, going through old paper photos fixing them and putting them in order, converting old VHS video clips into computer video files, making personal web pages for family occasions or to share a hobby, etc. There is also an Android tablet available during this workshop for people who wish to learn how to use one.

Once a year the club has a general meeting so that members can get together to find out what is happening with the club, to share ideas, and to elect an executive. Usually there is also a demonstration about some new computer developments.

One great advantage of joining the Penticton Seniors' Computer Club is to meet and associate with other seniors who have an interest in computers and tablets.

Many of the computer club's new club students who, after learning about computers and becoming proficient in certain aspects of computers and their use, have become volunteers themselves. Sometimes they first become assistants to existing volunteers to become more comfortable with the job. It is a wonderful experience being a volunteer for the Penticton Seniors' Computer Club since everyone is interested in computers and the club runs by its motto Seniors Teaching Seniors!