East Kilbride’s Talking Newspaper is appealing for new listeners as it marks 40 years in the town.
A group of listeners and volunteers celebrated the milestone anniversary at its AGM on October 4 and were keen to extend an invitation to more visually impaired people who live locally.
Chairperson Lesley Noble said: "We are delighted to still be going after all this time. We are pleased to let the local community know that we are still going strong and would welcome new listeners to recordings of articles from the EK News."
The free service provides a way for people with sight problms to keep up to date with local news by recording the articles printed in the paper every week.
Volunteers will record the articles onto their phones or ipads, and they are then sent on to Lesley. She collates all the recordings and puts them onto the sticks which are sent out to people with speakers, via the Royal Mail.
The service users are mainly from East Kilbride and district, but people also use the service in Hamilton, Strathaven and Chapelton.
Lesley added: "This is a completely free service for the visually impaired, which includes the equipment."
The group was forced to take a short break when the pandemic hit in March as they didn’t have access to their usual facility at the EK arts centre.
Now the group has adapted to record the articles remotely, meaning they were able to get the vital service back up and running.
The group also record weekly versions of Scottish Farmer magazine and produce their own publication as well, with help from other Talking Newspaper groups.
As you can imagine, the service that the group provide is heavily reliant on the volunteers.
The group is always looking for more people who could benefit from using the service.
For further information contact Lesley on 01355 227081.
*Don't miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here.
And did you know Lanarkshire Live had its own app? Download yours for free here.
