EVERY week, 350 people are kept up-to-date with news and features from around Darlington by the town's Talking Newspaper for the Blind.

Imminent Government legislation on disability access for community groups forced the charity to leave its home in Darlington Arts Centre, but The Northern Echo stepped in to help out.

Thanks to Newsquest North-East, publishers of The Northern Echo, studios and office space were developed on the ground floor of the paper's head office, in Priestgate, Darlington.

After months of preparation, the talking newspaper arrived in its new home last month.

Now settled in, the service is back in full swing, making the most of its new studio and separate copying, packaging and a despatch area.

The team of 45 workers help to make The Northern Echo and its sister newspapers, the Advertiser series and the Darlington and Stockton Times, come to life for the blind.

Teams of four readers are selected after taped auditions, to ensure the quality of their voices is clear enough for listeners.

With two producers trained to control the recording equipment, they arrive on Wednesday evenings to begin the process of recording news items for side A of the tape.

A news editor will have been working throughout the week to select items from Newsquest's newspapers, cutting them to length and ensuring about 40 items can fit into the time available.

It is hoped that all items of interest to the Darlington area will be covered.

Recording is made a little more fun with any reader making a mistake being encouraged to put a donation into a collecting tin for the Guide Dogs for the Blind charity.

Once the news items are finished, more readers come in to help put together the magazine side of the tape, covering features such as consumers' slots, pavement work updates and anything else of particular interest to people with visual impairments.

The talking newspaper also features interviews with a variety of personalities and dignitaries from the area.

In the short time since moving to Priestgate, interviewees have included Darlington MP Alan Milburn, Mayor Councillor Isobel Hartley and Peter Barron, editor of The Northern Echo.

But even when the recordings are complete, there is still much to be done.

A master tape is copied and the finished tapes are placed in resealable envelopes, with reversible address labels, allowing the listener to send it back free of charge.

The Post Office then sends out the tapes free to anybody with visual impairments or who, for other reasons, cannot read a newspaper.

While most live in the Darlington area, some tapes are delivered as far afield as the Isle of Wight.

Cassette players can be lent to anybody who does not have one of their own.

Once tapes have been posted back, they are wiped, and the process begins again.

Producer Paul Greenwood said: "We are there almost 365 days a year."

Even during the short summer break, volunteers are on site carrying out maintenance work - and the charity's work is made easier by its new home.

"We tried to get it as near to a radio studio as possible," said Mr Greenwood.

"Without going to the BBC, we are as far as we can take it.