An opportunity to hear the reports from the Chair and Treasurer covering the past year's activities and to ask any questions you may have.

This will be followed by a talk about The Cotswold Listener from June Little.

Most of us take reading a newspaper or magazine for granted but for anyone who is registered as sight-impaired or blind or struggles to hold or read a newspaper due to a disability, staying connected with what is happening locally becomes more difficult. With the changes in local BBC radio, many of the local news features people have previously relied on will or have disappeared.

We offer an invaluable service providing an outstanding source of local news and interesting magazine features for our registered listeners. For people living in Cheltenham, Tewksbury and the North Cotswolds as far as Chipping Camden

The Cotswold Listener is run by a team of volunteers and Trustees and together we ensure that local news stories are recorded weekly and sent out on memory sticks under the Royal Mail’s concession ‘Articles for the Blind’ in special pouches and we also record a weekly magazine fifty-one weeks of the year. Registered listeners are supplied with suitable USB players to listen to the recordings, or they can access recordings via the British Wireless for the Blind app for listeners to enjoy via Alexa Smart Speakers and our website . The service is entirely free of charge to anyone who is a registered with us. We are a registered charity and fundraise, apply for grant funding or sponsorship to enable us to offer this invaluable free service.

If you ask a listener what they gain from receiving the recordings you will be told that they bring much enjoyment and provide a highlight to what can be a lonely week. Some of the recordings include short stories, audio described visits to local events, articles about places around the county and they are recorded in such a way that anyone who cannot see or visit places themselves can gain a valuable insight into what the activity or event is all about. Items selected can be of interest to a wide age range of listeners. We bring the world to our Listeners.

If you know someone who would benefit from receiving a recording of The Cotswold Listener, please contact the Admin Manager at The Cotswold Listener in the first instance who will be able to register them to receive our free service. The email is admin@cotswoldlistener.co.uk and our website is www.cotswoldlistener.co.uk, and the telephone number 01242 252072.