Volunteers from Richmond Talking Newspaper have celebrated their 2,000th recording of the week's news.

It comes after the group, which creates audio recordings of the news to help keep people living with sight loss informed, celebrated some other milestones this year.

Volunteers honoured the talking newspaper’s first milestone of the year at its 40th anniversary in April.

This was followed by listeners being given the ability to listen to the talking newspaper via smart speakers, such as Amazon's Alexa, as well as the introduction of a new smartphone app.

Valerie Munro, RTN’s Production Editor said: “On a Friday evening it takes a team of eight volunteers to put the whole recording together.

“Although the team will change from week to week, the routine is the same from sorting out postal pouches, preparing scripts, reading the news, recording, duplicating sufficient memory sticks to be returned to postal pouches and then into the hands of the postman for delivery to listeners the following Monday.”

Launched in 1979 – the RTN has spent decades providing both local and community news to Richmond residents living with blindness or partially sighted vision.

Upgrades in technology this year means that listeners can listen to the news whilst being on the go as well as being able to catch up with any missed publication recordings.

Ms Munro continued: “The recent technology developments now mean that our Friday recording can also be heard on Saturday on our website http://richmondtalkingnewspaper.org.uk/, on Alexa and on the smartphone app.

“Each and every volunteer feels privileged to be able to offer such a vital service for those who are not able to read the newspaper for themselves.

“Our talking newspaper is provided absolutely free of charge to the listener, and we continue to be extremely grateful for organisations such as Hampton Fuel Allotments, Richmond Parish Lands and the local Rotary Clubs for their support.”