Talking newspaper on CD thanks to Co-op donation (From Gazette Series)

Talking newspaper on CD thanks to Co-op donation

A POPULAR talking newspaper will be switching over to new technology thanks to a cash bonanza.

The Midcounties Co-operative has given the Cotswold Vale Talking Newspaper a £1,000 grant from the Co-operative Community Dividend scheme.

The grant will allow the group to change to CD technology and buy new recording and duplicating equipment including CD players - to borrow or hire - for existing listeners who do not already have one.

The talking newspaper, which features edited items from the Gazette, has been running for over ten years and is heard by around 60 blind or partially sighted recipients each week.

A team of volunteers works on a rota to record and distribute the 90-minute tapes.

The charity also records quarterly magazine tapes featuring lighter topics and keynote reports from Stroud District Council, when required.

The tapes are free and are distributed to people in Dursley, Wotton-under-Edge and the surrounding villages and towns.

They are recorded on a Friday, when the Gazette goes on sale, and delivered the next day. The organisation is run completely by volunteers and is regarded as an important way for blind and partially-sighted people to stay in touch with local news and issues.

The grant was handed over on Friday by Dursley's Co-op manager Lynne Coombes, who took part in a recording session for the talking newspaper.

The group's secretary Mary Moss said the money was a tremendous boost.

She said: "When we set out to change over from tapes to CDs we knew that it was going to be expensive, because not only do we have to buy a CD recorder but the CD duplicator as well. This money will enable us to buy this equipment.

"We have been listening to a lot of other groups who provide the service and a lot of them have a central microphone in the middle of the table as well as individual microphones and the money will also allow us to buy this.

"It is fantastic and a tremendous boost."