Richmond Talking Newspaper is celebrating its 42nd birthday this week, but celebrations will have to be put on hold for the time being until lockdown finally eases.

The very first programme was recorded on April 21 1979, with four readers sitting round a table in the basement storeroom of MIND's charity shop at 64 Sheen Road in Richmond. Pat Ingham, one of its original founders, remembers that day as if it was yesterday.

"We read articles out of the Richmond & Twickenham Times of that week. To start with there were about 30 listeners, but numbers quickly swelled as word got out. Social Services generously gave us 20 cassette players, and other listeners were able to use their own equipment," she said.

Since then a lot has changed, although much has remained the same.

The number of listeners has increased markedly – at one time there were more than 200 registered.

There are now around 300 talking newspapers for visually-impaired people throughout the UK, but the very first one was established in Aberystwyth, Wales in 1970.

Over the years, Friday recordings have continued to take place in a number of venues around the Borough – the old Fortescue House, Teddington School Library and the United Reformed Church in Twickenham.

RTN's vice chair Valerie Munro said that when COVID hit last year, they had to radically change the way the talking newspaper was produced.

"We couldn't meet up as a team, so we decided to exploit technology to the limit," she said.

"We were already using very basic recording equipment, which turned out to be extremely portable. Before the church was locked up, our gear was quickly removed to my dining room table.

"The plan was that weekly scripts could emailed to the four readers of the week, recorded in the comfort of their own homes, using little more than a smartphone and then emailed back to the production hub for editing, balancing and stitching."

Valerie said: "Our volunteers were amazing, and rose to the challenge of this new way of working. We managed to keep the total production going without anyone having to leave the house – except, of course, to take the postal pouches to the postbox.

"Our publication day moved from Friday to the Wednesday of that week – apart from that, listeners shouldn't have noticed any difference."

She said: "It was rather like the sight of a swan gliding peacefully across the lake, when we all know that it's feet are whirring away at speed!"

Combatting isolation has always been one of RTN's major challenges. Most of its listeners are elderly and less likely to be connected to the Internet. Although the weekly Richmond Talking Newspaper is available on its website (www.rtn.org.uk), The British Wireless for The Blind Streaming service, Alexa, as well as a smartphone app, the trustees felt it was vital to keep the postal delivery going.

"Many of our listeners find it difficult to get out and about at the best of times, so under lockdown the RTN weekly memory stick that plopped onto the doormat became an even more important link to the outside world," said Valerie.

"Listeners have told us that their talking newspaper became an absolute lifeline."

Valerie continued, "Facing difficulties last year was one thing, but an unexpected bonus was the arrival of the local Nub News family of websites – Richmond, Teddington and Twickenham.

"Without doubt this made our rather tricky news-gathering process much, much easier," she said. "Stories that were fresh, well written, local, and accompanied by cracking photographs."

Richmond Talking Newspaper is free to the listener, and a USB player can be provided. Recordings can also be listened to at www.rtn.org.uk.

The Wednesday recording will be available from Thursday at the latest. Anyone who would like more details visit the website and fill in the contact form or telephone 020 8892 0826.