Colchester & District Talking Newspaper

13/02/2026

Due to the digital phones changeover we may need to change our phone number during the next month. We are working hard to avoid this - time will tell on what one.
If you try to phone and our number is not accessible please email if you are able to on [email protected].
We will keep this page updated as soon as the problem is resolved.

01/02/2026

Did you know that apart from the Colchester based weekly news reports we also produce a monthly audio magazine, nine tracks each of which is a magazine in its own right, each one being about an hour long and having between seven and a dozen articles read by our wonderful team of volunteer readers?
What is in the magazine? As this is aimed at a very general audience, apart from there being items focussed on Colchester and the wider county of Essex where these can be found (copyright free or copyright approved), there are as wide a range of subjects covered as are possible to find in the copyright free or approved publications available to us.
The February magazine has just been uploaded to our web site and will remain available until the 28th when it will be replaced with the March edition. The last four editions of the weekly news reports are always available.
To access either the weekly or the monthly audio either visit our web site at www.colchestertn org uk or ask your smart speaker to "find talking newspapers" then once you have that, ask for Colchester weekly news or Colchester magazine.
Visually Impaired people in the Colchester area are supplied by post with our output on memory sticks along with suitable players, if needed, on request to 01206 872275.
Feedback from visually impaired people, or sighted people who choose to use our service is always welcome either on this page or direct to [email protected].

14/01/2026

We continue to produce a weekly audio news report including family announcements, a what's on column and a sports report.
In addition to the weekly report there is also a monrhly Audio Magazine which has nine tracks each about an hour long with reports from a number of sources and covering as wide a range of subjects as we can find but avoiding politics, items that have been in local or national news broadcasts or opinion pieces which have no basis in fact.
All our recordings are available on memory sticks, delivered post free to visually impaired people by Royal Mail, and also accessible on our web site www.colchestertn.org.uk through the good offices and technical support of the Talking News Federation to whom we are indebted for their support.
Anybody in the Colchester and Tendring area in need of a memory stick player will be supplied with one free of charge on application access to the weekly and monthly recordings on line is open to all.

25/05/2025

As from the first edition in May 2025 the Colchester Talking Newspaper has gone entirely digital. Due to lack of replacement equipment for producing cassettes and very low cassette listener numbers the trustees decided that our output would only be on memory sticks, for which we provide recipients with players free of charge, or, using the good offices of British Wireless for the Blind Fund (BWBF), on Smart devices or via our own web site (www.colchestertn.org.uk). Smart speakers are provided free of charge to those who need them.
Both the weekly news, which is recorded and uploaded every Thursday, and the monthly Audio Magazine (which is uploaded at the end of each month as well as being sent out on dedicated memory sticks), are available free of charge to all.
The weekly news recordings will now slowly be restructured to reflect the new situation, restructuring if the Audio Magazine has already taken place with a total of nine tracks, each about one hour long and covering a exceedingly wide range of topics, being recorded each month.

Our monthly audio magazine continues to be produced and made available on the first weekend of every month both by clicking on the link below and it will be sent out with with the weekly news reports.

10/12/2024

The Colchester talking newspaper continues to be produced every week and circulated by post to visually impaired people in the area in time to arrive by Saturday morning each week. A memory stick player is supplied free of charge to those who need one.
The monthly magazine is sent out on the first weekend of each month and normally had eight tracks about 50 to 60 minutes long with a wide variety of different areas of life covered on each track.
Both the weekly news reports and the monthly magazine can be accessed from our web site www.colchestertn.org.uk or on smart speakers by asking 'enable talking newspapers' then asking for either Colchester weekly news or Colchester magazine. Where needed we will provide an echo dot smart speaker. A broadband connection is essential for this to work.
We thank the British Wireless for the Blind fund www.bwbf.org.uk for providing the Internet facilities allowing these uploads to take place.

Our monthly audio magazine continues to be produced and made available on the first weekend of every month both by clicking on the link below and it will be sent out with with the weekly news reports.