Talking newspaper celebrates 40th anniversary

St Albans & District Talking Newspaper (SADTN) marked four decades with a party at the charity’s annual general meeting in St Mary's Church, Marshalswick on April 26.

The mayor of St Albans cut the anniversary cake, with help from Mike Tetley, his guide dog Wendy, and around 30 other visually impaired listeners.

Harpenden town mayor, Rosemary Farmer and representatives from other talking newspapers across the county joined 90 listeners, volunteers and guests to celebrate.

Rob Pearman, SADTN Chairman,  said: "Our fantastic volunteers, we have about 80 of them, work hard to get these programmes into the homes of our listeners. We raise the cash every year so we can provide this service at no cost to our listeners.

"Our commitment is to reach out to everyone in St Albans, Harpenden and all the villages within the district. Anyone who is visually impaired, or unable to read the local papers for any reason, can be a listener."

Presentations were made by representatives of the national Talking Newspaper Federation and the Harpenden Lions Club. The club’s 2014 Easter Egg Raffle is funding a communications package for SADTN, which will help develop its soon to be launched first website.

The charity provides a free news service to visually impaired people and is supported by volunteers that have included local celebrities, the late Eric Morecambe and Philip Madoc.

The Mayor of St Albans added: "St Albans & District Talking Newspaper does a fantastic job helping members of our community who are visually impaired. Those of us who enjoy the benefit of sight often forget that visual impairment can leave you excluded from what’s going on around the community.

"I offer my congratulations for the first 40 years of this very important local charity.

"This is one of the oldest talking newspapers in the whole of the UK - long may it prosper."

To register for the St Albans newspaper get in touch with Linda Randall on 01582 832275 or email randalllinda@btinternet.com.