The volunteer producer will operate and maintain the recording equipment in our small studio to record the volunteer readers who come in to record excerpts from the local newspapers, books, magazines etc. The recordings are copied to USBs which are then sent out to our sight impaired membership. When the service users have finished with them, they return the USBs to us so that we can delete the old recordings and replace them with new ones. We need volunteers with relevant skills/expertise in audio software such as Audacity/Windows 10, who can work on a digital audio recording system for our Talking Newspapers Service for the Blind. Volunteers are needed to help us maintain and keep this vital recording equipment in good running order.

We need volunteers to run, maintain, produce, edit and dispatch weekly audio newspapers for the partially sighted and blind people of Ayrshire. Volunteer readers must have a good, clear speaking voice & enjoy reading; they must feel comfortable reading aloud and be able to put a bit of colour and personality into the stories they are recording to make the experience more interesting for the listener. Someone with a journalist or radio background would be a great advantage, although this is not a requirement. Computer digital recordings are saved on USB memory sticks & distributed to members each week by post to those on our membership list (post-free). Service users keep the memory sticks for a few days to give them time to listen to all of the stories. They then return them to us where the old recordings are wiped and the memory sticks re-used for the next batch of recordings.

Admin Assistant Duties: Volunteer admin support needed to help manage, maintain and organise our administration & keeping our records up to date. Volunteers must be computer literate with knowledge of Microsoft Office and relevant software packages.

There is nothing more satisfying than being a volunteer, whether actively with them or behind the scenes, making a huge difference changing people’s lives in reducing isolation and improve their mental health and well-being. We are promoting our awareness campaign this year for those people who are unable to see the written word on a magazine, leaflet, and newspaper, for the visually impaired in Ayrshire. Due to our campaign, we are expanding and are looking for volunteers who are outgoing, sociable, and friendly, in supporting the visually impaired in events, activities and daytrips. We would like volunteers who are confident in pronouncedly speaking and able to complete tasks to complete our expansion.