How it works

The procedure is started with two editors (on a monthly rota), one prepares the ‘news’ and the other the ‘magazine’ articles, over the weekend. Each editor delivers her script to the studio by 6.00pm at the latest each Tuesday, along with the time sheets.

On Tuesday aftemoons the Royal Mail deliver the sacks of incoming memory sticks in their plastic wallets. The postal reception team set to work and remove the memory sticks from the wallets and wipe them clean. The Wallet labels are reversed from our address to that of our listeners and placed in alphabetical order in boxes. On Tuesday evening two Registrars mark the register with what has been returned and deal with any correspondence.

In the evening the sound engineer and readers arrive, the engineer sets and checks the recording equipment, including the microphones in the studio and the four readers start to read the scripts in turn - with a coffee break halfway through.

During the break we upload the completed news section of the recording to the online player here on this web site, so that's probably the easiest - and certainly the quickest - way of listening to our news service.

Our Truro studio

After the break we continue wth the recording, completing the magazine section. Both sections are then copied to the master USB stick ready for the copying engineers who arrive on Wednesday morning to produce the required number of memory sticks. A memory stick is put into each of the labelled wallets and then into the Post Bags. These are then collected by the Royal Mail.

USB sticks being copied

A typical 'Boombox' USB stick player

This whole process takes 24 hours, 16 volunteers and 10-12 hours to produce our weekly newspaper, plus all the administration that it takes to run the charity.

As well as recording our own weekly Talking Newspaper we also record audio versions of the Cornwall Blind Association's magazine 'Outook' and the Devon and Cornwall National Trust newsletter 'Near You' for a small donation.

We are always looking for volunteers particularly those people who may be prepared to take on a background role. The commitment would be about two hours once a month. Please contact the secretary for more information. If you would like to help us by doing some fund raising or making a small donation towards our running costs please contact the secretary, Jenny Salmon on 01872 277762.

The Cornwall Talking Newspaper and Magazine Association
Registered charity no. 266112
Secretary: Mrs Jenny Salmon, Tel: 01872 277762
Click here to contact us by email