OLDER residents are learning is use the internet -- through their television.

And thanks to the success of a pilot project involving 50 so-called silver surfers -- older people using the internet -- the project is set to be rolled out across Blackburn and Darwen.

Each of the 50 participants in a council-run scheme has been supplied with a set-top box, which converts the television into a basic computer and allows access to the Internet; a remote control keyboard and a printer.

Subsidised e-mail accounts are part of the program to support and encourage participants to engage with the project.

As well as taking people on courses to train them up on how to use the web, the council hopes the scheme will become a tool to consult with a sample of residents in the central Blackburn area through on-line questionnaires. One such person is Pat Macaleese, of Leicester Road, Blackburn.

At 57, she fits the bill of the so-called silver-surfers -- older people who are discovering the internet.

She said: "I have found it really useful. It is connected through my television and I go on it at least once a day.

"I look at all sorts of things but haven't got into using the chatrooms or started buying anything yet on-line yet. It is a really good thing to have."

The project aims to introduce a sample of people to the use of the Internet irrespective of age, computer literacy or computer ownership.

Some training and support will be offered to the participants and self-exploration of the internet will be encouraged.

The project has similar aims to the Wired Up Communities scheme set up by the Government and which Whitebirk was picked to be one of six areas.

Some 2,500 homes in the area are getting PCs there and will be encouraged to use the internet in all parts of the their lives.