EMMA DUNN meets the chairman of Swindon’s talking newspaper

YOU could help to keep blind and visually impaired people in touch with Swindon’s news.

If you have an interest in becoming a volunteer presenter, editor, engineer, technical manager or fundraiser, then Swindon & District Talking Newspaper (STAN) could be the perfect club for you.

Volunteers at STAN record news from the Adver, as well as sport and local history, before distributing it to listeners on a memory stick.

They produce weekly news from their studio at Craven House in Victoria Road, and they work on a rota basis which ensures a variety of voices and content are heard each week.

Veronica Laker, chairman of STAN, said: “Our listeners tell us how much they appreciate receiving the weekly news. However, to help continue our success – and bring an even better service to our listeners – we are always on the look-out for new volunteers. If anyone is interested, in perhaps becoming a newsreader, editor, sound engineer or administrator, we would be very pleased to hear from them.”

The Talking Newspaper is free to anyone who lives in the Swindon area and is unable to read newsprint for whatever reason.

The news is recorded on Wednesday evenings, using a team of four newsreaders drawn from the rota, and the people heard on the recordings are supported by an equal number of backroom volunteers.

The recordings are then put onto a memory stick, and delivered to listeners through the post on Fridays.

The Swindon and District Talking Newspaper Association was formed in 1981 as the result of a local blind person, Gerry England, hearing a similar tape produced by a group of people in Scotland.

Gerry felt that a town the size of Swindon should have its own talking newspaper to cater for the growing number of visually impaired people in the local community.

He approached various charitable organisations and eventually the Rotary Club agreed to buy the basic equipment. The first edition of the tape was produced in April 1982.

To volunteer or for more information email stan@swindon talkingnews.org.uk or call 01793 522511 and leave a message on the answerphone.

Training can be given if you need it.