In 1976 the first talking newspapers were published in Shropshire. Blind people had said they needed an audio news service and a public appeal achieved both the necessary funds and an initial team of volunteers to produce and publish the recordings for the new charity. The service has always been, free. News stories are taken from the Shropshire Star and Shropshire weekly newspapers and we are grateful to the publishers for their continued permission.
We record in high quality digital sound and then make our programmes available in a number of easy-to-use formats. Blind people and anyone with a vision impairment who qualifies for the Royal Mail’s 'Articles for the Blind' free post can receive a returnable memory stick through the post. This plays on a computer or portable USB player. Internet, Alexa and telephone formats are detailed below. In addition to the weekly newspaper a monthly magazine is also published.
The WSTN service costs around £11,000/year which is raised from donations, collections and fund raising Christmas cards. A Friends group was established in 2019 - see home page.
The West Shropshire Talking Newspaper is a registered charity (Charity No. 504996)and our constitution is viewable in PDF format with this link (opens in a new tab)
The West Shropshire Talking Newspaper Annual Report for 2019-20 is viewable in PDF format with this link (opens in a new tab)