BRADFORD’S Talking Telegraph, the district’s talking newspaper for the visually impaired, is marking 35 years of existence today.

The team behind the lifeline have successfully made 1,747 audio recordings since the service began in 1985.

More recently the dedicated volunteers have had to find new ways of working to continue operating through the coronavirus pandemic.

Chairman Karen Stansfield thanked the volunteers, particularly those adapting and helping to put together the Coronavirus Special Editions.

She said: “I know that a lot of you have volunteered with the Talking Telegraph for many years while some of you were relatively new to the Talking Telegraph when the rug was pulled from under us.

“You have all freely given your time over the years and your contributions have been much-valued; I hope you will want to continue, however we do it.

“In my 35 years, in addition to being a reader, at different times I have also been an editor and committee member but during the pandemic I have performed all the other roles except that of technician.

“On behalf of our listeners and the committee, I thank all you lovely people for going out of your way over the past 35 years, to help the visually-impaired community in general and our listeners in particular. I hope you have enjoyed your involvement and will continue as a volunteer with the Talking Telegraph in the future.”

As a result of the restrictions that coronavirus has brought, new tactics have had to be employed to keep the service running.

A lot of the production was done in teams, which wasn’t possible due to social distancing, so after a short period of closure and some adaptations, the Talking Telegraph was swiftly back up and running.

A crew of volunteer readers were recruited to record audio clips of articles themselves using mobile phones and laptops and email them in.

These were then compiled, transferred to memory sticks and posted out as usual, although no longer on a weekly basis, due to the added technical difficulties and editing required.

As a three-weekly service, around 40 articles were recorded for each edition, lasting around two and a half hours instead of the usual one, and the team are already on to their eighth special edition.

Karen describes the search for a quieter place at home from which to record, saying: “I carried out an audio risk assessment of each room: wind blowing the trees outside, neighbour’s children playing over the garden wall, Teddy the cat yowling and beating a tattoo on the door of any room from which he was excluded.”

The downstairs toilet, with no window and a lock, proved to be the perfect spot for recording.

The Talking Telegraph was first established in 1985 by Tom and Doris Burgess, as a weekly audio digest of full articles from the Telegraph and Argus to visually impaired adults across the district and beyond.

Bradfordians now living in places such as Wilmslow, Tredegar and Bridlington, are still able to get their fix of local Bradford news.

Mr Burgess lost his sight himself, aged 52, spurring the couple on to set up the Talking Telegraph and nothing similar existing locally.

Potential volunteers can help the group continue their work by emailing talkingtelegraph@yahoo.com.