Sandbach & District Talking Newspaper

Can you read clearly and with expression? Do you have a good microphone voice? Can you interpret the printed page for an audience of listeners, chopping up overlong sentences and describing pictures? And do all that with minimal preparation time? If so, you would make a good reader for us!

We record Newsweek every Wednesday evening, and there are five teams of four or five readers who record in rotation. In addition, there is a team each for Cheshire Life (monthly) and This England (quarterly), so regular readers commit at most to once every five weeks. We also have a bank of relief readers who may be called upon at short notice. If you have never recorded before, we give guidance to new readers.

If all this sounds like you, get into contact using the Contact Page.

Note: We are urgently seeking an editor at present!

Our editors are responsible for each edition, selecting the stories we will cover and distributing the newspaper cuttings among the team's readers. They will generally introduce and wrap up the recording and may supply other items such as quizzes. Each team has its own character and editors are free to develop their edition as they see fit. There are also some administrative tasks to carry out.

Editors must have time during the day of recording to obtain copies of the local papers and select the stories for the evening’s session. If you are not already part of SADTN, we suggest you attend a recording (perhaps as guest reader) and shadow an editor to see what is involved. Please use the Contact Page to enquire.

Technicians are responsible for operating the mixing desk during recording and lighly editing the result, before exporting files and creating a master memory stick ready for duplication. It is not particularly complicated or deeply ‘technical’. All that is required is very basic PC literacy: we give full training and no previous experience is necessary.

Regular technicians are attached to a team of readers (see above) so the commitment is for at most every five weeks (Wednesday evening for Newsweek). Relief technicians fill in where needed on an adhoc basis. We are especially short of technicians at present, so if you would like to see what is entails, contact us to have a sit-in during a recording and see whether it would suit you. We look forward to hearing from you!

Copiers take the master memory stick created by the technician and perform the duplication, copying onto around 70 memory sticks ready for distribution. We have a high speed copier capable of copying a dozen sticks at a time. The sticks have to be put into plastic envelopes and taken to the post office.

This is usually carried out the morning after recording, i.e. Thursday morning for Newsweek. You would normally be attached to a team, so you would be called on every five weeks, though arrangements may be flexible. Some volunteers combine the technician and copier roles.

It is not particularly complicated and full training will be given. Contact us to volunteer!

The Committee is responsible for the governance and running of the Charity. We are a friendly bunch of people who get together to do all the behind-the-scenes organising that goes on, from fund raising to the Christmas Dinner, from outreach and advertising to liaison with listeners. We would love you to join us and let us know about any skills you have that you could contribute to our work.

Sponsorship is open to private individuals and companies. If you are a local company, we feel sure you will benefit from the good publicity you would receive in the local community from being associated with our charity. In return for your sponsorship you get:

Please contact the secretary to discuss your involvement.

If you would like to make a financial donation to us, however small, please contact Pam Johnson, who will be glad to assist, on 01606 833408 or through the Contact Page.