Talking Newspapers were first started in Sweden in 1960.

The first one in Britain started in Aberystwyth, Wales in 1970.

Back in 1980 Alan Haythorn and Eric Todd raised £2,500 to start a Talking Newspaper in Rotherham.

Subsequently The Rotherham Talking Newspaper was founded in 1982 by a group of Volunteers, many of whom are still very much involved.

In the early days the Talking Newspaper was "of no fixed abode", operating from rooms made temporarily available to us by the Department of Social Services of Rotherham Borough Council at Crinoline House.

In the beginning there were 58 Listeners and the "Paper" was produced on a fortnightly basis.

This lasted for about a month after which time the "Paper" was produced weekly as the number of Listeners increased.

In 1983 the Newspaper was granted more permanent residence at "Brooklands", a Social Services outbuilding in the town. Here it was possible to install a small office as well as cassette copying facilities.

By this time circulation had increased to 350. 1983 also saw the launch of the monthly magazine, known as "The Brooklands File".

In 1984 new tape copiers were purchased with a donation from the Mayor's Charity, the then Mayor being Councilor Stan Etchels.

In 1986 a compact but well equipped purpose built recording studio was constructed and fitted out thanks to a donation of £4,000 from Radio Hallam's 1986 Money Mountain appeal.

In August 2008 Rotherham Talking Newspaper had to vacate its offices at Brooklands on Doncaster Road, Rotherham and move into new premises at The Millennium Centre, Badsley Moor Lane, Rotherham.

This move was the second part of a financial "Double Whammy" that Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council hit Rotherham Talking Newspaper with during 2008.

The first part was the announcement by RMBC, at the beginning of 2008, that it was withdrawing, without warning or notice, its funding support of £14,000 p.a.

The second part was the fact that the new premises would cost £4,500 per annum (Brooklands, being heavily subsidised, only cost £500 per annum).

As one can imagine this left a hole in our finances to the extent of £18,500 per annum which we had to seek ways to fill.

A "Friends" group was started in 2009.

Furthermore, technological development does not stand still and another challenge looming on the horizon is the changeover from audio tapes to some other form of recording media. Soon our existing Cassette Players will be things of the past and we will, sooner or later, have to embrace the new digital technology.

And this will inevitably cost money.

All this means that Rotherham Talking Newspaper is going through a difficult transition period and the Management Committee is now urgently looking into various ways of securing the long term future of Rotherham Talking Newspaper.

At the beginning of 2010, a "Legionnaire's" type bug was found in the premises. All the other users were transferred, but the Talking Newspaper had to stay put and continue without the facilities of toilets and running water. During the latter part of the year the building was re-vamped and normal service was resumed in February 2011.

During 2010 the recording studio was digitalised by the installation of a computer, thus allowing the output to be produced on both Cassettes and CDs. Listeners now have a choice of receiving the news etc. on either Cassette or CD.

The first issue on CD was during November 2010.

The current listener base is around 420.

The Constitution

Amendments to the Constitution have been agreed as follows;-

AGM 26th. May 2009 - Sub Paragraph 2g be removed. Item 3a amended.

EGM 18th. January 2011 - Rule 4 Date of AGM.