A CHARITY that provides recordings of books for blind and partially-sighted people, has received a boost from the mayor of Darlington.

Calibre Cassette Library supplies the equipment to the town's Crown Street Library, to help its two reading clubs for people who are visually impaired.

The clubs meet once a month to talk about books members have enjoyed and, four times a year, everyone listens to the same recording and gives their views.

On these occasions, Calibre supplies the library with multiple copies of a book on cassette, so all members of the reading club can listen to it and join in the discussion.

Darlington Mayor Councillor Stella Robson, who is visually impaired and is a member of the group, has donated £500 to Calibre from her charitable fund.

She said: "The members of the group are drawn together by our love of reading. The library supports us really well by telling us what books have had good reviews or have been enjoyed by other people.

"Thanks to Calibre, we always have a good choice of books and when we all want to listen to the same book they make sure we have enough copies."