News NI
“I find it a privilege to share my sight with people who are less lucky.”
Hazel Semple is one of many people who volunteer their time – and their voice – to ensure local news is accessible for blind or partially-sighted people.
The group record and distribute audio versions of weekly newspapers to subscribers.
The Craigavon Area Talking Newspaper – which has been in operation since 1978 – distributes about 60 recordings of the Lurgan Mail and Portadown Times for people to listen to every week.
Hazel told News NI she had “never come across” a talking newspaper until she started volunteering more than 30 years ago.
Although she found it daunting at first, and used to hear her “voice shake” during recordings, she has become more confident over the years.
Talking Newspaper Secretary Patricia McGuinness said they have the capacity to do more, and feels there are others who could be benefitting from the service.
“At the last census there was 2,062 people in this council area who, are over 65, [and] indicated they were blind or visually impaired,” she said.
Each weekly recording lasts an hour and follows a particular running order.
“Just the same as when you open a newspaper you have the headlines and sport at the back”, explains Patricia.
The volunteers work on a four-week rota and take time to cut and sort out all the stories from two copies of each paper while being careful not to duplicate anything.
The recordings are sent out to people in the area on a memory stick which they need to return before receiving subsequent editions.
The team behind the Craigavon Area Talking Newspaper is made up entirely of volunteers and William Davidson is one of its longest serving members.
“Margaret, my wife, lost her sight around 40 years ago and it was after that I started taking part in the talking newspaper.”
She always listens to the entire recording and sometimes listens twice if there’s “a particular story I want to tell my husband about”.
Margaret, who has no vision in her left eye and just “a little peripheral vision” in her right eye, receives the memory stick every Saturday, which she said keeps her “up to date with all the local news”.
She always listens to the entire recording – sometimes twice if there’s “a particular story I want to tell my husband about”.
And while the main focus of the service is to provide local news, the team feels it’s about so much more.
“It’s the fact they’ve got a reason to get up,” said Patricia.
“It’s company and they get used to our voices.”
There are currently 10 Talking Newspapers across Northern Ireland with at least one in each county.
