Strathearn Talking News currently has about eighteen volunteer readers and copiers. There is a rota in place for both groups with each person doing two weeks at a time.

For example, a reader will have two dates, both a Thursday, as that is when the Strathearn Herald comes out. There will be a corresponding copier on those two dates ready to copy from the master card provided by the reader onto a master memory stick. The copier then uses the master memory stick to make copies, ready to put into the wallets.

It often comes as a surprise to people when they learn that we do not have a specific recording studio for our reading and copying. We do everything in our own homes. For example the Strathearn Herald is opened out onto the dining room table and the reader for that week reads the news into a microphone. It is attached to a digital recorder which has a small memory card in it, very similar to a digital camera card.

The reader reads all the News articles, Intimations of birth, marriage and death, Planning applications, the Memory Lane page with items taken from past papers of 25, 50 or 100 years ago. There is always a weekly Diary of upcoming events of interest, and news from the Clubs and Local organisations.

We also read some Sport items and news of local youngsters who have achieved success in music, sport or academic work.
Their stories are very welcome, particularly as some of them may be grandchildren or even great-grandchildren of some of our listeners. It can take up to three hours to read the paper.

The memory card is handed over to the copier for that week and copies are created very quickly on a digital copier. It is also part of the copier’s role to take the wallets to Crieff Post Office by Friday lunchtime. Thanks to the very efficient postal team, the wallets arrive at the listeners’ homes on Saturday morning. This happens fifty two weeks a year and is a proud record for all the volunteers at Strathearn Talking News.

Strathearn Talking News may need new volunteers in the future. If it appeals to you, do get in touch. You need no special skills as we provide training.

If you want to know more please go to our Contact Us page.