CRAIG Hoy, a Conservative MSP for South Scotland, has recently joined volunteers from East Lothian’s talking newspaper for blind and visually impaired people to celebrate its 30th anniversary.
The East Lothian Messenger provides blind and visually impaired people from across the county with spoken recordings of articles from the East Lothian Courier.
Articles are selected by editors and then recorded by a team of volunteers who meet every Friday following the East Lothian Courier’s publication. The recordings are then delivered by memory stick to subscribers of the service who can listen to it via USB players, all provided by the talking newspaper free of charge.
The East Lothian Messenger has this year celebrated its 30th anniversary, with the first edition of the county’s talking newspaper having been recorded and distributed on January 8, 1993.
Craig Hoy MSP said: “I would like to send my best wishes to the team at the East Lothian Messenger for its 30th anniversary.
“Reading out articles from the East Lothian Courier was much more difficult than the volunteers at the service made it look.
“It was a privilege to read articles for subscribers of the service and meet volunteers from the talking newspaper.”
Co-ordinator Veronica Wallace said: “The Messenger volunteers were delighted to welcome Craig Hoy to our recording session and he proved to have a very good voice for the job, clear, well-modulated and pleasing to the ear.”
Those interested in volunteering for or subscribing to the service are encouraged to contact Veronica Wallace on 01368 830363.
