To be an Oxtalk Volunteer
Oxtalk is a small but very important charity for people who have a visual impairment. By producing a weekly talking newspaper Oxtalk helps to keep people who have a visual impairment in touch with the local news and informs them of some of the social events happening in Oxford. There are various volunteering roles within Oxtalk and hopefully there is one that appeals to you!
A News Editor selects articles from the local papers
News Editors – When the Readers are not self-selecting the news items for themselves to read and record, there are 2 News Editors a week.
1 News Editor selects news items from 2 Oxford Mail daily newspapers and the other News Editor selects from 3 Oxford Mail daily newspapers.
If the News Editor is also a Reader then he or she will retain the news items to record. If the News Editor is not the Reader then the news items are forwarded to a nominated Reader for that week. News Editor commitment is once every 6 weeks.
Readers – There are 2 Reader options –
1st – the volunteer who self-selects the news items and then records the items `themselves or the
2nd option – the volunteer Reader who receives the news items from a News Editor which they record at home.
All Readers read and record at home using the audio record facility on their phone.
The recorded news items are forwarded to the Technical Officer (TO) via email, by Saturday evening of that reading week.
The Reader commitment is once every 6 weeks.
Technical Officers (TO) – Technical Officers compile the recorded news items producing 1 weekly hour long Oxtalk talking newspaper.
Recorded news items are forwarded by the Readers to the TO of the week via email. All recorded news items to be received by the TO by the Saturday evening.
A USB master copy, the final version of Oxtalk for the week, has to be with the TO who is going to format it for copying, by the Monday.
The master copy is uploaded onto the website. The master copy recording is available for all audio devices.
The Technical Officer commitment is once every 6 weeks.
Copiers – The master USB produced by the TO is passed to the Copier to be copied for as many listeners as are on the postal list.
The local Postman collects the sack of yellow wallets containing the new weekly recording and delivers the sack of returned yellow wallets.
Copier and TO commitment – every week.
The master USB produced by the TO is copied as many times as is required, this information comes from the listener postal list. Copiers volunteer approximately every 6 weeks.
Web Master – 1 volunteer maintains the Oxtalk website.
Fundraising – Whenever Oxtalk is allocated a fundraising day by one of the local supermarkets an appeal is sent out for volunteers to help and there have always been many offers of help.
Publicity – Volunteers offer to help at various publicity events, e.g. spend time at the Oxtalk stall at the UK Older Peoples Day promoting Oxtalk.
Trustees – There is a Committee of Trustees who meet 4 times a year plus at the Annual General Meeting. The Trustees are responsible for the management and organisation of Oxtalk, a charity accountable to the Charity Commission.
The majority of volunteers are committed to 1 role but there are some volunteers who have more than 1 role. Regular commitment by a volunteer is very important in order for the listeners to receive their Oxtalk recording of the local news every week.
Please contact Oxtalk via email – mail@oxtalk.org.uk – if you would like to receive the Oxtalk talking newspaper or know of someone who has confirmed he or she would like to receive Oxtalk or you wish to make further enquiries regarding volunteering for Oxtalk or to make a donation.
Thank you.
Margaret A Simpson MBE
Chair of Trustees
