Who we are

Do you - or anyone you know - have difficulty in reading the local newspaper because of vision impairment or a physical disability? If so, the Andover Talking Newspaper (ATN) may be able to help. We are a registered charity that since 1977 have provided weekly audio recordings of items taken from the Andover Advertiser.
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The recordings are sent to registered listeners on USB memory sticks, and these are played back using a special player also provided by us. The service is entirely free of charge for anyone with a visual impairment, providing they live in Andover or the immediate surrounding area. The recordings are also available on line each week.
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If you are interested in becoming a listener or require any further information, please contact us.

Image description: One of the players which we provide free for registered listeners.

A brief history ...

• Mrs. Betty Waters, who was a member of Hampshire Association for Care of the Blind, was approached in 1976 about the possibility of forming a Talking Newspaper (TN) for Andover.
• Meetings were held, a committee formed and fund raising was begun immediately, mainly by Rene and Les Coleman, a well-known     Andover couple. They were successful enough to raise sufficient money to get the Andover Talking Newspaper (ATN) underway in 1977, with Betty Waters as its first Chairman. The local newspaper, the Andover Advertiser, was approached and they willingly gave permission for the paper to be used. Derek Tempero, the then Editor, was an active supporter and volunteer.
• A room was supplied at what was then Andover Blind Home in Eastfield House, which was the Studio for some years. In the early     1990’s Hampshire County Council decided to sell the Home, so Betty approached Test Valley Borough Council (TVBC) for help, and was offered the shared use of the local studio of Radio 210 in the basement of TVBC’s Beech Hurst offices.
• Volunteers were recruited for the various functions. The date of the first recording of the new ATN in 1977 is thought to have been 13 October.
• Significant help was provided by Talking Newspapers Association of the United Kingdom (TNAUK).
• Charity status was applied for and granted in 1979 - the Charity is now one of over 500 Talking Newspapers nationwide.
• TNAUK gave advice on setting up the Charity and any legal requirements needed. TNAUK was later replaced by a successor     organisation, the Talking News Federation (TNF), and they have continued to provide valuable advice and assistance over the years.
• Initially, recordings were made on C90 cassette tapes, with listeners using tape recorders either loaned to them or their own. In 2012 the format changed to a digital one and Memory Sticks were used instead of tapes, which improved the quality of the recordings by 100%.
• Speaker boxes to play the new format were purchased and issued to all Listeners. A programme of checking those Speaker boxes out on loan was inaugurated in the Summer of 2015, and is still ongoing.
• There have been five holders of the post of Chairman  over the years, Betty Waters (serving for 17 years), Pat Bayliss (18 years), Jan Surtees (2 years), Michael Shellard (10 years), and the current holder Freddie Viggers. 
• There are currently (2025) around 25 Listeners who receive memory sticks directly. As almost all of those over the years have been elderly, numbers have inevitably declined (at one time it was over 140).However, recordings are now available on the TNF website and via smart speakers which allows anyone worldwide to listen, regardless of any or no disability. For that reason, the committee has since about 2022 been actively promoting ATN more widely in the local area. As at 2025, our recordings receive an average of about 220 “hits” per month online or via the BWBF app.
• In 2025, ATN introduced its own website through an external web designer, and one volunteer took on the role of developing an ATN Facebook page, both of which will provide further publicity and hopefully a consequential boost to listenership.