Volunteer with The Enfield Talking Newspaper
The Enfield Talking Newspaper provides blind and visually impaired residents of Enfield with a free weekly recording of articles read from our local newspapers on memory stick and internet radio. We help our blind and visually impaired neighbours to keep in touch with what's going on in our community.
Around 35-40 volunteers are involved in producing and distributing our recording each week, working in weekly teams for a few hours at a time. Our aim is to provide an audio recording as quickly as possible. We record, produce and distribute our recording on Thursday evenings at the Civic Centre in Enfield, between 7pm and 9pm.
Volunteers will be expected to assist with all aspects of the recording, which includes editing, reading, production and distribution. Some of our more IT savvy volunteers act as recording technicians, manning the controls to make sure our recordings sound great!
We are always looking for new volunteers to help and supplement our current teams. Find out more below. Please get in touch if you are tempted to join us!
Recording Technicians
Role: Recording Technicians
Current vacancies: Yes
When: Thursday evenings from 7pm
Where: Enfield Civic Centre, Silver Street, Enfield
Time Commitment: 2- 3 hours per month
Frequency: Each weekly team has a separate recordist working once a month.
Our recording technicians help set up our equipment, including microphones (for four readers), the mixing desk and laptop. They take charge during the recording process (which is via Audacity), stopping and editing out mistakes as necessary, dividing the recording into tracks and, once the recording is complete, uploading the recordings to Dropbox. Each recording lasts approximately forty five to sixty minutes.
Useful skills:
- Someone with an interest in sound engineering or amateur recording.
- Someone who is computer literate and familiar with sound recording software, such as Audacity or who is willing to learn.
- Someone who is able to act independently after training.
- Someone who is available on Thursday evenings from 7pm for two hours
Readers / Production Assistants
Role: Readers
Current vacancies: Yes
When: Thursday evenings from 7pm
Where: Enfield Civic Centre, Silver Street, Enfield
Time Commitment: 2 hours per month
Frequency: Each weekly team has four readers working once a month.
Our readers work in weekly teams with four readers per team. We aim for a balance of voice types on each team to provide variety and interest for listeners. Each team has a lead reader who introduces the broadcast. Readers then read cuttings aloud in turn. Recordings are ‘as-live’ meaning there is no rehearsal or re-take. New readers are subject to an ‘audition’ with listeners asked for feedback. No experience is necessary but a clear speaking voice is required. New readers often join our ‘standby’ list initially.
Useful skills :
- Someone with a clear voice.
- Someone with the ability to sight read confidently.
- Someone who is calm under pressure.
- Someone who is available on Thursday evenings from 7pm for two hours once a month.
Useful skills:
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Someone who is very organised.
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Someone who is used to working as part of a team.
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Someone with good communication skills.
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Someone who is available on Thursday evenings from 7pm for two hours once a month.
The picture below was taken after the Production Team had copied their final tape, in 2015, when we switched to memory sticks! The new machines are much less noisy!