A GROUP of volunteers have refused to let the coronavirus pandemic stop them bringing the Advertiser's news and views to the town's blind and partially sighted population.

Redditch and Bromsgrove Talking Newspapers is a voluntary organisation that has been providing local news for blind and partially sighted listeners for more than 40 years.

Until the outbreak of coronavirus, volunteer readers used a small room in Community House, Redditch, to make recordings of news items from the Redditch and Bromsgrove Advertiser newspapers.

The risk of spreading the virus to the volunteers or to listeners, who used to receive their news recording on USB sticks, was too great to continue.

However, local filmmaker Brian Becker stepped in to organise a small group of volunteer readers to record digital files at home which are then edited together and uploaded to the national Talking Newspapers app.

Brian explained: "The listeners were contacted and many are now able to access their local Talking Newspapers again either by their smartphone or home computer."

Anyone with a visual impairment in Redditch or Bromsgrove interested in receiving the local news digital recording, who has not already been contacted, is invited to get in touch with Margaret Mountford on 01527 451292.

Any budding newsreaders with a laptop computer to record at home and who have the time to volunteer a few hours a month, are asked to contact Brian by emailing tobrianbecker@gmail.com