MEMBERS of the Plymouth and West Devon Talking Newspapers for the Blind were keen to listen to their guest speaker when they met at the Methodist Church in Tavistock last week.

They heard a talk from retired BBC broadcaster Jessica Thurtell, who now runs a talking newspaper in Dorking, Surrey.

Mrs Thurtell told the Times: 'Having worked in the BBC, editing for radio, presenting and recording at a professional level, I thought, when I retired, that it would be a waste of those skills not to use them so I set up a talking newspaper where I lived in Surrey.

'The best bit is meeting other people and learning that there are many different ways to run a talking newspaper.

She was joined by Mike Wood, from the Talking Newspapers Federation, which has 500 such branches — including the Plymouth and West Devon branch which is based in Tavistock.