An story by our volunteer coordinator - Noeleen

Hello and welcome to The Talking Gazette Team

This story is about a wonderful group of Mountain Volunteers

Back in 2003,  I and many others read an article in The Blue Mountains Gazette about recording and having the recording go out to those in the Mountains who for various reasons were unable to read the local news for themselves.  The article asked for interested people to attend a meeting at the Springwood Neighbourhood Centre to find out what this was all about.

Dianne T and myself attended this meeting along with about 20 others.  The meeting was chaired by Thelma Murphy OAM and Morna Colbran and there we found out what the plan was and what would be expected from us.  I think initially we felt a bit daunted by what we were going to do but now  23 years later, Dianne and I are the only remaining members of the original group.

Over the years some volunteers  moved from the Mountains area to be closer to family and others passed away.  Dianne and I remained, still committed to maintaining  this community service as not only does it help vision impaired people but those who for various reasons are unable to hold and read the local paper, thus missing out on knowing what is happening in their local area.

We originally started using cassette tapes, then as time went on we moved onto CDs, continuously using a FREE postal service for our listeners.

Each Wednesday, a volunteer reads the news, and various other happenings onto a computer program, which is then burned to a CD. Each narrator has brought their own unique skills, personality and commitment to this service. These days the narrator also uploads the weekly readings to a website for those who wish to listen online. The master CD is then reproduced to other CDs on Thursday mornings by 3 other volunteers and posted to those who have requested this. 

With both these services our thoughts are that everyone in the local Mountains LGA, will have the opportunity to be aware of happenings in their area.

Throughout the 23 years Dianne and I have been involved with this service, we have met and made friends with so many wonderful people and as the narrators do their narration from their own homes, we regularly all get together for lunch and a catch up, thus continuing our close friendships.

This service is entirely run by Volunteers under The Neighbourhood Centre banner, and Australia Post provides the FREE weekly Postal Service.

I hope you’ve enjoyed learning about our service and we are most willing and looking forward to welcoming new members onto our team to narrate or be a listener.  Please contact the Springwood Neighbourhood Centre if you are interested in joining our group.

Thank you
Noeleen