News
Awards for All Helps With Listener Appeal - 05 Nov 2005
44,000 registered blind people but just 200 of them getting The Herald Talking Newspaper, that is the dilemma being faced by the team at Cue and Review Print Speaking to the Blind.
All the man hours and resources ploughed into the recording studios and training the volunteers but less than half a percent of the registered blind community taking the tapes. Now however a sponsor, Awards for All, has agreed with the charity that what is needed is to appeal to reading impaired people in their homes via radio.
From Bonfire night SAGA 105.2FM, Awards for All and Cue and Review Print Speaking to the Blind, will be working together to reach people who find reading a strain. The 50 second advert to be aired four times a day for 6 weeks will highlight the full range of 15 print newspapers and magazines that the Bishopbriggs based charity records on to audio cassette and distributes throughout the UK using the Articles for the Blind freepost system.
Alastair McPhee Managing Editor of Cue and Review Recording Service said "I am delighted that not only did the Big Lottery Fund provide us with the equipment to copy our tapes some 18 months ago but now the Awards for All fund has provided the money to allow us to appeal to reading impaired people via radio in their homes. This is a major step forward for our organisation and we now just hope that a 6 week campaign will be sufficient to allow us to reach many of the reading impaired community in the West of Scotland."
Margaret Strain volunteer Editor of The Herald Talking Newspaper said, "our team of volunteers have been delighted to come in to the Bishopbriggs studio every Monday to record our 90 minutes of Herald columnists and news for the last eight years. We have always felt however that for all the effort that we put in ensuring the audio title is recorded, checked and copied ready for distribution, more people did not sign up to receive our yellow postal packages through their door."
Evans Dickson, Chairman of the charity went on to say "when we are recording our titles we are not just thinking about those visually impaired people who are able to get out and about, but also the majority of blind people who have lost their sight in later life and are far more likely to be dependant on family and friends for their local news. This advert will encourage them to phone 0141-563-0306 and to sign up to the 60p per week membership scheme."
-Ends-
For further information please contact:
Alastair McPhee, Cue and Review Recording Service
Tel: 0141-563-0306
Mob: 07802967486
Email: alastairmcphee@cueandreview.org.uk
Notes to Editors:
Cue and Review Recording Service is Scotland's largest independently funded talking newspaper group, transcribing fifteen print magazines and newspapers into audio formats for the benefit of visually- and reading-impaired people.
Cue and Review Recording Service is one of over 600 talking newspapers and magazine groups throughout the United Kingdom, but the only one providing the specific titles that it records.
Cue and Review Recording Service is based in Bishopbriggs, Glasgow. It is a Scottish registered charity and a company limited by guarantee but without share capital. As a non-statutory organisation it must raise every penny it spends. Income is drawn from membership fees, donations, street collections, individual grants and from transcription work carried out for public and private sector clients. This helps them meet their responsibilities under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. In 2004 over 5,000 Scots were helped by the charity specifically through its recording of public/private sector information.
Since January 2004 the service has introduced a membership fee which presently stands at 60p per week enabling people to gain access to the full range of audio titles.
Titles recorded by the service are The Herald, Sunday Herald, Evening Times, Scottish Sun, Radio Times, Inside Soap, Earth Matters, Star Trek, SFX, Empire, History Today, Kerrang, Cue and Review, Four Four Two and More magazines
