Five Valley Sounds – Stroud’s Talking Newspaper – has a marvellous team of volunteers. Our Readers, who read the local news, are recorded by a Producer on Wednesday when the ‘Stroud News & Journal’ is published. We also include stories and features from a variety of other sources. Volunteer Duplicators then copy the recording onto USB sticks and these are sent out to our blind and partially sighted listeners.
We have a small Committee and Trustees who help us run our charity. Ask for more details to see if we have vacancies – we have a role to suit everyone!
Producer:
The Producer’s role is to select a balanced selection of stories from the local newspaper for the team of Readers to read. The Producer is also responsible for the quality of the audio recording, editing out mistakes, ensuring no background noise, getting the sound levels right, etc. You’ll record each edition onto a master copy and add the other stories and features chosen for duplication for the listeners. You also upload our recording online. Full training will be given.
Reader:
Once the Producer has chosen the stories, you can read the article, checking for punctuation and how to make it easy for our listeners to follow. We welcome readers with different voices and accents as our cheerful voices are what makes a talking newspaper so special. You will be asked to do a short audition on your first visit and we have an experienced team to offer advice.
Duplicator:
It’s your job to make copies from the master copy onto USB sticks ready to post out to our visually impaired listeners. You will re-label the pouches returned and keep a record of which listeners have returned and are going to receive the recordings. You are also responsible for posting the pouches at the nearest convenient Post Office.