PR Date: Friday, 3 July 2020 - 11:45am
Stevenage and North Herts Talking News has been awarded a grant of £1,523.00 by North Herts District Council’s (NHDC) Area Committees.
Stevenage and North Herts Talking News produce a free weekly audio version of local newspaper news items and letters, together with national magazine articles, which they distribute to blind and partially sighted residents across Baldock, Hitchin, Letchworth, Royston & Stevenage, as well as the surrounding villages.
Every week, the team record local news items on their smart phones using a recording app. The recordings are copied onto USB memory sticks and distributed by post to their listeners. The listeners are provided with an easy-to-use audio player to play the USB memory sticks.
The group will use the funding to purchase equipment including memory sticks, a memory stick duplicator, memory stick players and zipped postal wallets to send out the memory sticks each week. Having this equipment will enable the group to ensure they can continue to provide a weekly service to their existing customers, and also welcome new listeners.
Cllr Judi Billing, NHDC’s Executive Member for Community Engagement, said “We are delighted to provide funding to this group. The Talking Newspaper will no doubt be a lifeline to blind and partially sighted residents, many of whom might feel very isolated without it. It’s a fantastic way to keep residents informed in what is going on in the community and the surrounding area and we hope that this funding helps the organisation to continue to provide a regular paper to its customers”.
Ian Hanks, Chairman of Stevenage and North Herts Talking News said: “We are grateful to NHDC for their generous grant, which will enable us to continue to inform and entertain our current listeners, and welcome new listeners, to this totally free service.” Anyone interested, either for themselves or for relatives or friends, can get in touch by phoning Ian on 07981 442341 or Wendy on 07903 978802.
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