HCHA produces the printed quarterly newsletter for tenants. But as almost a quarter of our tenants are aged over 75, many have sight related difficulties with print. With this in mind we approached the charity Harrow Talking Newspapers (HTN) 3 years ago and requested an audio version of the HCHA Tenant Newsletter. Barbara Turner, long-time volunteer with HTN took on the challenge, and has become the regular voice of our audio newsletter.
HTN was set up about 50 years ago primarily to produce the audio version of the local weekly newspaper, the Harrow Times and other publications relevant to people with a visual impairment. At its height the charity served 300 blind or partially sighted people in Harrow. Today there is a HTN rota made up of 30 volunteers with roles as varied as presenting, producing, sound mixing, administration and accounts.
Upon receiving the Community Star Award, Barbara Turner of Harrow Talking Newspapers said, ‘Well thank you very much! It’s been a pleasure to be involved with HCHA in terms of recording their newsletters. I wish I could be a tenant!’
Below left, Barbara Turner reading out the quarterly HCHA Tenant Newsletter with sound producer Linda Casey in the HTN recording studio
You can listen to current and back copies of the audio newsletter read by Barbara by visiting our website www.hcha.org.uk/publications