Talking newspaper needs £20k for digital upgrade

A STRUGGLING talking newspaper which still uses outdated cassette tapes desperately needs £20,000 to 'go digital', it claims.

Birmingham Talking Newspaper Association, which distributes to over 200 blind and partially sighted Sutton residents, uses the same system of recording it adopted at its launch in 1976.

To safeguard its future the Association has decided it must ditch tapes and cassette players and join the digital revolution – but it needs £20,000 to make the switchover possible.

"The cassette tape is becoming an obsolete medium," said chairman Tom Allen, aged 69 of Boldmere.

"People are finding it more and more difficult to get hold of tape-playing equipment.

"As a result we're not attracting the younger generation of listeners."

The Association needs to buy 500 memory sticks onto which news can be recorded and sent out, free-of-charge, to subscribers across Birmingham.

Sutton Coldfield Vesey Probus Club got the fund-raising started this week by donating £400.

Mr Allen added: "We live in the age of communication. "National news and regional news is readily available.

"But local news can only be found in the local newspaper.

"When you are blind you can feel out of the loop and socially isolated. Receiving the Talking Newspaper does mean a lot to these people."

To donate contact Tom Allen on 0121 354 9572.