Calderdale Talking Newspaper stalwart Alan steps down

Local author Alan Titterington has retired from the Calderdale Talking Newspaper Association after 32 years of service, reading and editing local news for blind and visually disabled listeners.
By The Newsroom
Published 10th Jun 2018, 18:00 BST
Updated 19th Jun 2018, 18:07 BST

Alan also served as chairman of the association for 20 years.

Local news is drawn from The Halifax Courier and all of the Calder Valley newspapers by teams of readers and technicians who record and despatch USB sticks weekly from the CTNA recording studios within the Halifax Society for the Blind in Clare Road, Halifax.

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Recorded typically by teams of four readers and a sound technician every Wednesday, fast copying and administration workers go to work despatching USB news copies every Thursday morning to guarantee weekend listening of the previous week’s news.

Alan said: “It has been a pleasure to serve the needs of visually disabled people from our area, resident both within Calderdale and in retirement throughout the UK and overseas as far as Australia and South Africa.

“Our yellow wallets containing USB sticks are carried out and back by UK and international postal services free of charge and as many as 30,000 wallets a year have been bringing our local news to an eager audience both near and far for almost 40 years.

“The best news of all for me is the diminishing need for local talking newspapers generally with advances in eye treatment along with news now being accessible through other digital news services, especially local radio stations and the wide range now of computer-based readers and news providers.

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“CTNA continues with a smaller team as the need for this form of news diminishes and it gives me the opportunity to expand my literary interests both writing and producing audio books.

“My recent novel St John in the Wilderness contains just over 99,000 words which should keep me busy initially recording it.

“I also will offer audio production to other writers not able to record their own works.

“Audio books have a wide listener audience reaching far beyond the visually disabled to be enjoyed generally as in-car or book-at-bedtime entertainment.

“It gives me the opportunity to expand my literary interests both writing and producing audio books.”

Related topics:HalifaxCalder Valley