CHELMSFORD TALKING NEWSPAPER 40TH ANNIVERSARY 1975-2015
The 2000th Edition of the Chelmsford Talking Newspaper will be issued on Thursday 9th July 2015. This is a 90 minute voice recorded version of the Essex Chronicle issued on a SB stick and cassette tape. Ronald Sturt began the Talking Newspaper in 1975 and it has been produced weekly ever since. It is especially poignant that his widow will edit and present the 2000th Edition. Felicity Sturt also had the honour of being Mayor of Chelmsford in 1990.
Volunteers organise and produce the recording from The Essex Chronicle. The Editor selects and sorts the articles into an order during Thursday to be recorded that evening with three other readers. A technician supervises the actual recording to create 80 USB copies and a master cassette. Early on Friday morning the admin team duplicate 50 cassettes. They then issue the latest edition to members in special wallets via The Royal Mail for a Saturday morning delivery.
There were 75 listeners in 1975, peaking at over 300 over the next few years. As most local news can now be heard on radio and the internet the listenership has reduced – but the popular Births and Deaths Section is difficult to find elsewhere. We now have 120 people on our mailing list, including at least one of our original listeners.
With new technology we are also available on our own website and broadcast on Chelmsford Community Radio on Sunday evening so are reaching many more people, including those who moved away from Chelmsford but wish to keep in touch with local events and news.
Chelmsford Talking Newspaper also issues bulletins and a Magazine during the year containing advice, amusing and entertaining articles and stories.
A 40th Anniversary Special Edition Magazine has been compiled which will be issued along with our 2000th Talking Newspaper. We are inviting our members and volunteers to retain this recording as a keepsake and it will be available for anyone interested on USB, cassette or our website.
The Talking Newspaper is headed by Chairwoman Pat Wilson MBE. Pat began as an admin assistant in 1975 when CTN first started and moved through the ranks of Committee Member to become Chairwoman in 1993.
CTN is entirely dependent on 48 volunteers who form teams of editors, readers, administrators and technicians to deliver this totally free service to Blind and Partially-sighted local people.
For further information: http://www.essexinfo.net/chelmsfordtn/