Trustees Report 2022 - 23 Coleraine & District Talking Nejvs Cbarity No: 103499 Introduction The Coleraine & District Talking News has for 46 years been providing a free audio service to those in our community who have a range of visual impairnients. This year we have once again produced on CD 49 weekly 80-minute audio programmes of local community news, useful inforniation on disabilities. items of historical interest, quizzes, humour and music. We aim. in the best tradition of pubjic service, to entertain. educate and infornl. We cover the length and breadth of the borough and beyond. Current listenership.. This figure fluctuates annually and throughout the year due to bereavements, relocation etc. Covid affected our listenership signifjcantly with our numbers halving over the course of those two years. However. our service is hugely appreciated by our listeners with whom we continue to maintain a strong personal connection with weekly name checks. birthday greetings and wedding special anniversary congratulations. ..60 Committee........ ... Volunteers.................18 Frequency....... ..weekly Trustees Barry Williamson (Chairperson) Mary Ellard (Tre&8urer) Maureen McLean John Cunning (Listener Representative) Sharnian Wilson (Secretary) Julie Russell David Terrett Honorary President David Barnes We lost two much esteemed committee members - Stan Lightowler MBE passed away and Elaine Lynch relocated. We wish to thank our team of loyal reliable volunteer reading teams who turn up every week and whose input is invaluable. Core Activity / Public Benefit The purpose of our charity is to support blind or partially sighted people and those living with some temporary or pernianent incapacity or disability which makes reading a strain, by the provision of news and other inforniation via audio Tecordings OT digital transmissions together with the discretionary provision of equipment considered necessary to use such transcriptions. We continue to fulfil our key purwse as ststed above. This work has contributed directly to our listeners, ability to take part more fully in local activits'es and to keep them informed of events relevant to them, thus providing a social outlet to those who might otherwise be isolated from their local community. Libraries Nl duplicates from our master CD and, using the free service provided by Royal Mail. sends out individual CDS to each listener on a weekly basis. Our sincere thanks go to both these organisations for their invaluable help and continued commitmenL
There are cutrently seven Talking Newspapers operating in Northern Ireland with one uploading directly to British Wireless for The Blind website. They are.. Ards, Arn]aglL Coleraine, Craigavon. F¢rnianagh, Mid Ulster and Omagh. Finances It is important to recognise that, while our expenditure is reasonably stsble, our income is totally dependent on grants and gifts. Our thanks to Causeway Coast & Glens Borough Council whose Social Inclusion Grant provides us with essential funding. The committee continue to research and pursue a variety of funding sources which resulted in a generous donation from Garvagh's TBF Trust. We are happy to rert that this year we surpassed our goal of covering our core expenses. ending the year with an operating profit of £329. This was a welcome improvement on the previous year which saw a small loss of £48. Equipment We maintain a supply of CDS and Freepost Wallets with Libraries Nl in Ballymena. We encountered no technical problems this year and continue to monitor this aspect of our work. Location We had to move premises in 2021. due to the sale of the RNIB building in Coleraine where we had been based for many years. Thankfully, Laurel Hill Men's Shed in Coleraine came to our rescue and our studio has been establish there for two years now.