IT was in the age of a national movement, during the 1970s, when the first talking newspaper was created.

The number of visually impaired people was being recognised, as well as their limited access to information about their local area.

“What were all those car sirens for?" “What was that row was about in the local shop?”

Those were just a couple of the unanswered questions for the many visually impaired people, unable to read their local paper, The Bolton News, to find out.

But it wasn’t until 1976 when Bolton Newstalk was founded by David Jones, who was blind himself, and Bob Bradley, that the visually impaired had their answers.

Now, 40-years-on, Michael Tatman, who began as one of the first volunteer newsreaders, speaks about the charities journey.

The 82-year-old said: “Everyone wanted to know what was going on around them and for many they could read the local paper, but if you were visually impaired you could not.

“The Bolton News was full of the news everyone wanted to know, but it was inaccessible to one in 30 people.

“So David and Bob approached The Bolton Evening News, as it was at the time, and joined together.

“But they now needed people to read the news and that is where I came in and I haven’t looked back since.”

Mr Tatman, of Appley Bridge, was, and still is, a member of Bolton Little Theatre and to get the paper off the ground the local am-dram groups were approached.

He added: “A group of readers was quickly established, we had a studio, so then it was the distribution element.”

Bolton Newstalk, a registered charity, was offered a free first class distribution service by the Royal Mail which delivered a 60 minute C-60 cassette of news, to the services listeners, every Tuesday.

The news, read by two male and two female readers, is selected by the team of volunteers for a weekly digest and includes varying types of news, which is recorded on a Sunday from 2pm until 3pm, in the Sensory Centre at Thicketford.

There are now 100 volunteers in different roles and as the years have moved on so has technology, with news moving from the cassettes to CDs and now to USBs.

The service has also received a number of grants, including from Gannet, The Bolton News’ parent company and resources from the council to continue.

The money has helped to allow Bolton Newstalk to produce 1,780 recordings to homes and help other services including Transport for Greater Manchester, Bolton Royal Hospital Bolton Council.

And while the number of people using the free service has, Mr Tatman says, “diminished”, 200 people a week still continue to do so.

Mr Tatman, who is now a senior producer, said: “It is quite an achievement.

“I personally feel that I am giving something back to the community, in fact I know that I am.

“We did a survey last year to see what our listeners thought and someone said, ‘It’s like a friend dropping through the letter box every week’.

“We are so happy to provide this service for free and to be celebrating 40 years.”

For more information contact: 07547914637, email newstalk@icloud.com or use the online contact form on http://www.boltonnewstalk.org.uk/contact/