Career
Paterson was presented with this award at a ceremony in London"s Royal Society in January 2012 by June Whitfield, ambassador for Age United Kingdom. Whitfield stated "Keith and Brenda"s stories have inspired me to continue to learn new skills online.. well done to them both."
He also received a "Digital Leader" award from Go On United Kingdom, an organization whose aim is to make the United Kingdom the world"s most digitally skilled nation, during its 7th National Digital Conference on 30-31 May 2012 which was attended by over 1,000 delegates from across the United Kingdom. Paterson first started using computers when he bought an original International Business Machines Corporation Personal Computer in 1982, and acquired a degree from the Open University. He was employed in a career office in Cambridge, and was responsible for deploying computers throughout the organisation"s network. Since 2000, he has been running a website called Silverhairs..a helpline for silver surfers to help elderly people with their computer problems and to show them that age is no barrier if they want to make use of their computers for sending emails, making online telephone calls or editing photos from their digital camera.
Paterson has used the revenue from adverts on his site fund £4,000 to help a township in South Africa.
He is an "Information Technology Can Help" volunteer with AbilityNet which offers free one-to-one computer assistance to disabled people. Paterson currently lives in Newmarket, Suffolk.
He uses the computer and internet because he is severely deaf and finds it the most effective means of communication. In an interview with Channel 4 News, he suggested that people should remain mentally and physically active once retired, and warned the country was "sleepwalking" into a serious problem.
