No, not the gossip kind of news, but sometimes there's some of that as well. I'm a reader for my local Talking News for the Blind. About once a month I go to a small local recording studio where four of us sit around a table facing individual microphones and read, aloud, articles from the local newspaper. Sometimes we read articles from magazines and periodicals as well. We introduce ourselves to our listeners, and feedback has told us that they come to recognize individual voices. That's nice.
Volunteers are divided into Reading Groups, Copying Groups, Delivery and Collection Groups and we are rostered throughout the year. We also have volunteer editors and technicians and some people take on more than one role.
It's a fun thing to do and takes only a couple of hours at the most from a morning, once a month or as often as you like. Something will be being recorded every week.
As this is an activity usually undertaken by newly retired people who like to keep active and involved in the community, we are always losing members from the upper age group. This requires us to recruit. If you enjoy reading aloud, it's such a rewarding thing to do. Occasionally we have a social event where we meet some of our blind listeners who tell us that Talking News is a lifeline for them and keeps them involved in the local community.
Talking Books is another branch of the same type of work, but these are usually read by experienced actors.... I'm sure the authors appreciate their work being in professional hands.
If you're looking for voluntary work and enjoy the written word, why not find out the location of your local branch of Talking News? To be honest, it's the only time I get to read the local paper right through!
http://www.tnf.org.uk/ Talking News Federation
http://www.tnauk.org.uk/ Talking News Association of UK
What a great thing to do! Sounds like a lot of fun too - thanks for the links.
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