Glossop's talking newspaper for blind and visually impaired people is going from strength to strength.
Each week a team of volunteers record the Glossop Chronicle and send it out to listeners.
They work out of The Bureau in Glossop and distribute the ‘News Disk’ through the Royal Mail.
Volunteers Liz Strek and Clive Easteal have been producing the paper for the last four years.
Liz said: “Although Clive and I have been running it for a few years, the talking paper has actually been going for 30 years. It’s always been produced out of the Bureau in Glossop. Now we have to pay for the room we have been a properly constituted group so we can now apply for grants from High Peak Borough and Derbyshire County Council. We’ve always produced the paper on a disc but now we’re swapping to memory sticks.”
Clive added: “When we took over the equipment was very old and was always breaking down we’ve had to replace everything.
“Choosing which stories from the Chronicle to use is the longest job. Then we just read them and others comment. It’s all done in a conversational style and sometimes I even play music at the end of the stories.”
Their aim is to help sight-impaired people in Glossopdale keep up to date with local news and feel like part of the community.
‘News Disk’ is a weekly 45-minute programme of a round-up of news, events and interviews featuring items of local interest which covers Glossop, Padfield, Hadfield, Tintwistle, Gamesley, Chisworth and Charlesworth.
Clive said: “We try to make it really listenable for our users. People say it’s like a friend dropping through the letterbox each week.”
Liz added: “It’s certainly not just a dry reading of the news. We try to inject humour and comments and hope our listeners join in with us and give their opinions. But we know there are more people out there who would enjoy receiving a copy. We’re hoping that people can soon access us online and via Alexa.”
News Disk is posted out to around 50 people each week. If you’d like a copy contact the Bureau on 01457 865722.
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