Hundreds turned out to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the St Albans and District Talking Newspaper (SADTN). 

Around 150 volunteers, the visually impaired community and friends and family were joined by Deputy Lieutenant of Hertfordshire, Akhtar Zaman, The High Sheriff of Hertfordshire, Annie Brewster JP, Mayor St Albans Cllr Jamie Day, Harpenden town mayor Cllr Pip Lever and and the newly elected MP Victoria Collins at the The Shenley Club.

In 1974, a St Albans couple Ray and Meg Bousfield recorded the Herts Advertiser onto a reel-to-reel tape recorder and made a cassette copy to take to a blind neighbour.

The number of listeners steadily grew, and soon the couple - aided by a growing band of volunteers - were taking cassette tapes to over 200 local people.

Today’s team record each week an audio programme that’s over two hours long.

SADTN provides visually impaired residents with a weekly audio programme of news, features, interviews, audiobook reviews and more.