Yesterday and Today By Dave W Smith, Chairman Talking Newspaper - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Bishop’s Stortford and District Talking Newspaper (BS&DTN) Yesterday and Today By Dave W Smith, Chairman

Talking Newspaper Objectives • To provide a local news service in audio form for visually impaired people and those who cannot physically manage to hold and read a newspaper. • Local news for local people. • A free service to all listeners. Presentation to the Rotary Club of Bishop's Stortford. 11 April 2016

History • The first Talking Newspaper was produced in Sweden in 1968. • The concept was brought to the UK by Ronald Sturt, through whose efforts a Talking Newspaper was set up in Cardiganshire in 1970, initially with 20 listeners. • It proved to be a successful idea – in time there were over 500 TNs across the country (now nearer 400). There is a TN (UK) Association of which we are life members. Presentation to the Rotary Club of Bishop's Stortford. 11 April 2016

How was the local TN formed? • A Public Meeting was called on Wednesday 18 October 1978, chaired by Rtn Brian Purkiss, the then Chairman of the Community Services Committee of the Rotary Club of Bishop’s Stortford (the prime-mover organisation), to consider the possibility of forming a Talking Newspaper in Bishop’s Stortford and district. (Brian became the founder Chairman of the TN, was a reader for many years and is still an active supporter.) • Local Councillors, representatives of the Hertfordshire Society for the Blind, the Essex CC Social Services Department, the Bishop’s Stortford Lions Club, and the Rotary and Round Table Clubs of Bishop’s Stortford and Sawbridgeworth, as well as interested members of the public, attended. • The well-attended meeting agreed enthusiastically to go ahead with the project. Presentation to the Rotary Club of Bishop's Stortford. 11 April 2016

How was the local TN formed? • After much work, the official opening of the Bishop’s Stortford Talking Newspaper studio was carried out by Councillor R F (Fred) Strong, Mayor of Bishop’s Stortford, on Tuesday 12 February 1980. The first tape was recorded on Thursday 14 February 1980. Presentation to the Rotary Club of Bishop's Stortford. 11 April 2016

What did we need to start a Talking Newspaper? • Listeners : 35 people had already been identified. By the time the first edition was sent out there were 56. • Money: The original committee estimated that it would need £5000 to fund the project. Of the £8428 initial fund raising, £5475 was raised by the Rotary Club of Bishop’s Stortford - £4475 from a ‘Sponsored Sun Flower’ Competition where 31 local primary schools’ pupils grew sunflowers, the tallest being 12ft 8 ins grown by a Thorley Hill Primary School pupil - and £1000 from a Boxing Evening. £1500 was donated by the East Herts District Council local Lottery. The balance came from smaller donations from a wide range of local people and organisations. Presentation to the Rotary Club of Bishop's Stortford. 11 April 2016

What did we need to start a Talking Newspaper? • Reading Matter : The Herts and Essex Observer agreed to let us use its paper content and still does today. At the time there were three editions (i) BS and Sawbridgeworth. (ii) Saffron Walden. (iii) Stansted and Dunmow. The aim of the BSDTN is to provide a service to listeners in the towns and villages covered in those areas. • Volunteers: We need a minimum of 60 volunteers to produce the TN. At the moment we have 129, 22 of whom are Rotarians or Inner Wheelers or Rotarian’s partners. • Premises and Equipment : We bought a second-hand portakabin in 1979 for £2250 which became our studio. It was located in the grounds of the Herts and Essex Hospital on Wednesday 6 August 1979 . Other requirements included recording equipment, high speed copiers, wallets, microphones and cassette tapes. • Charity Status • An operational structure. Presentation to the Rotary Club of Bishop's Stortford. 11 April 2016

The Production Process • Our volunteers are involved on a rota basis every five or six weeks. • Thursday morning an editorial team selects the main items from the H&E Observer editions and sorts them for reading. • Thursday evening 4 readers – 2 men and 2 women – go to our studio with a technician to read and record the news. • Friday morning a distribution team sorts out the returned wallets, copies the new recordings and arranges them to be posted. The listeners should therefore receive their recordings on the Saturday morning. Presentation to the Rotary Club of Bishop's Stortford. 11 April 2016

Changes over the Years • 1980 – 2000 : relatively stable period. Same premises, same recording system (producing 90 minute cassette tapes), same 3 editions of the Observer. Steady listener numbers peaking at over 200 (and an eye unit at the H&E Hospital!) • 2000 onwards : Hospital site redeveloped, portakabin sold, studio moved into new hospital in April 2003. Saffron Walden edition of Observer stopped. Number of listeners in steady decline. Rapid changes in digital recording and associated technology. Purchased digital recording equipment for the studio in 2007 (cost £2500 after Lottery Grant of £2500). End product still cassette recordings. Presentation to the Rotary Club of Bishop's Stortford. 11 April 2016

Changes over the Years • Cassette tapes and players were becoming obsolete . What technology should we change to? How would our listeners react? How would our volunteers cope? • Decision taken in early 2012 to switch to USB sticks and players. We would make a clean break from using cassettes and donate a USB player to all our listeners (and new ones!), including providing individual training in its use. • We would revamp our publicity leaflets – many thanks to Simpsons Creative of Bishop’s Stortford for providing their services free and for helping us establish our web-site. • A year’s planning, choosing the best players, USB sticks, copiers. Visiting all our listeners. Retraining our volunteers as appropriate, recruiting and training two new technicians. Embarking on a major publicity programme. Presentation to the Rotary Club of Bishop's Stortford. 11 April 2016

Changes over the Years • First recordings on USB sticks were sent out at the end of February 2013. • Initial conversion cost approx. £6000 – mainly players, sticks and copiers. • New players demonstrated to every listener (and new ones). • Listener numbers have fluctuated from a low of 75 to 90 today. • No listener dropped out as a result of the new technology! Presentation to the Rotary Club of Bishop's Stortford. 11 April 2016

Today • Our recordings often contain an additional feature, which can take the form of an interview/discussion with a local person on a subject which we hope will be of interest to our listeners, as well as a selection of music. In total the recording lasts for some 90 minutes – the same time as for the historic cassette tapes. We welcome suggestions of potential interviewees. • Other people are involved in helping the organization to run efficiently, ranging from the management committee to volunteers organizing coffee mornings. Presentation to the Rotary Club of Bishop's Stortford. 11 April 2016

The Challenges Ahead • Continuing to replace those long-serving volunteers who wish to retire. • Finding new listeners. We could cope with double the number with only a small increase in distributor (copier) volunteer effort. • The need to constantly refresh our publicity efforts. • The H&E Observer moving to a web-based only basis i.e. no hard copy papers? • Would you, or someone you know, care to help us? Presentation to the Rotary Club of Bishop's Stortford. 11 April 2016

Readers seen from the Technician’s Room Presentation to the Rotary Club of Bishop's Stortford. 11 April 2016

The Technician and Lead Editor Presentation to the Rotary Club of Bishop's Stortford. 11 April 2016

Mark Prisk MP, interviewed by Chairman Dave W Smith December 2004 Presentation to the Rotary Club of Bishop's Stortford. 11 April 2016

Winners of Primary School ‘Through the Magic Door’ Story Competition, 2007. Many thanks to Simpsons Creative. Presentation to the Rotary Club of Bishop's Stortford. 11 April 2016

Winners from Hillmead, Northgate, Thorley Hill and Richard Whittington Primaries, recording their stories in the studio. Presentation to the Rotary Club of Bishop's Stortford. 11 April 2016

Mayor-elect Cllr Keith Warnell interviewed by DWS on 30 March 2016 Presentation to the Rotary Club of Bishop's Stortford. 11 April 2016

Conclusion • We are proud that we have never missed producing a single issue since we started recording back in 1980 and we are now 36 years old! • I’d like to place on record my appreciation of the support given to us by the PCT, the Post Office, the Herts and Essex Observer and all our volunteers – the technicians, readers, editors and distributors, without this support we could not provide such an excellent service. • We also thank those individuals and organisations that continue to make generous financial donations to support our activities. • Remember that we are always looking for volunteers, especially editors and distributors, but our greatest need is new listeners !! Presentation to the Rotary Club of Bishop's Stortford. 11 April 2016