A GREAT grandmother is proof you are never too old to be a technology whizz having created a Facebook page with almost 13,000 followers.

Cynthia Grimwood, also known as Cindy, moved into Stanway Green Lodge care home about two years ago.

The home was not aware it had found a ‘celebrity’ in the making.

Just before she moved in, 77-year-old Cynthia created the now well-established Facebook page Old Colchester and District In Pictures.

Cindy, who is wheelchair bound, said it was her way of keeping herself busy.

She now has her own fan base of 12,700 followers.

She said: “I wanted to do something as I’m in a wheelchair and I can’t get about.

“My son, Vincent, who works with computers bought me in a laptop and told me to get on it.

“It was as easy as that, and I have never stopped. The Facebook page takes up a lot of my time now.

“I talk to people all over the world and I play games with people in Australia, it’s another world.”

Cindy has not always been a computer whizz, admitting she had never used a computer before setting up the group.

Cindy added: “I had never worked with computers before,, I used to work for Fiveways in a food shop.

“When I moved into the home I had to get rid of everything so all the photos are digital now, I have three external hard drives and lots of USB sticks.”

The Facebook page is where she reminisces and shares old photos of Colchester, as more members have joined they have uploaded their own photos.

Cindy said: “I have no idea how many photos I have but I would imagine it’s thousands.

“Some of them I pick up on the internet, some of them were mine anyway and I get some from the Gazette.

“I just saw an option on Facebook to start my own group so I did that and now I have quite a few people who put their own pictures on there which is lovely, it saves me having to go through my hard drives.”

She said she never expected the page to gain so much traction, saying she simply needed something to do to pass the time.

She added: “My family have their own jobs and they are busy. There is nothing wrong with my brain, it’s just my legs that don’t work.”

Cindy’s husband, John, died 20 years ago while they were living in Harwich.

Six years later she met a male companion who she is still in contact with, but continued to live on her own.

She said: “I have got a house in Colchester but I decided it wasn’t what I wanted as I was on my own all the time.

“I love it at the care home, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. I am so happy here and I have been so lucky.

The home has helped her organise a ‘meet and greet’ with her fans, which will take place this Friday.

She said: “I sent a message to some of the people I thought would like to come and we are going to offer them a cream tea and have a chat.

“You wouldn’t believe how many people have emigrated but still want to see the place they came from.

“It’s lovely to have the company. So far I have had six people who have tracked me down through the page and they have come to visit me, it’s incredible really.

“I had a couple come from Harwich who I didn’t even know.

“This page has given me a new life."