The beginning of this new decade is one of special celebration for Papur Sain Ceredigion Talking Newspaper.

Its first edition of 2020 on 8 January reflected on and celebrated its first appearance in January 1970, 50 years ago as the Cardiganshire Talking Newspaper.

It was the first ever talking newspaper in the UK. With 18 people initially receiving it, today it has 112 listeners living in West Wales and further afield who have various degrees of visual impairment.

The talking newspaper initiator and creator was Ronald Sturt, a Surrey man who came to be lecturer at the College of Librarianship Wales in Llanbadarn Fawr, having previously worked as specialist librarian at a number of London hospitals.

When Mr Sturt died on 6 January 2003, aged 81, obituaries appeared in The Times and The Guardian, paying tribute to his work.

He believed people with disabilities should have access to the same information sources as everyone else. When similar enterprises followed, he went on to establish the TNAUK/Talking Newspaper Association UK, now known as the TNF/Talking Newspaper Federation, and was its first president. His legacy, which was significant and vital, led to him receiving an MBE.

Involved in the task of setting up the Cardiganshire Talking Newspaper were well-known Aberystwyth people: Mr Sturt’s boss, the Head of College of Librarianship Wales/CLW, Frank Hogg; Cambrian News proprietor Henry Read; the National Librarian of Wales, David Jenkins; University of Wales principal Sir Goronwy Daniel; and famous journalist and broadcaster Tom Evans, of whom Eileen Sinnet Jones, who has volunteered for the whole 50 years, said: “Tom brought his special expertise to the venture. Without him, I don’t think we would have survived!” He stayed until 1997.

Read our full feature on the Ceredigion Talking Newspaper in this week’s Cambrian News, on sale now