A charity which provides a free news serivce to the visually impaired has celebrated its 40th birthday.

St Albans & District Talking Newspaper (SADTN) is supported by volunteers and during its existence, it has interviewed such celebrities as the late Eric Morecambe and Philip Madoc.

Mayor of St Albans, Cllr Annie Brewster, joined the 40th anniversary celebrations at St Mary’s Church in Marshalswick and cut the anniversary cake (pictured below right).

She said: “St Albans & District Talking Newspaper does a fantastic job helping members of our community who are visually impaired.

“Through their weekly audio programmes, the charity keeps listeners in touch with what’s happening across the district.

“Those of us who enjoy the benefit of sight often forget that visual impairment can leave you excluded from what’s going on around the community.

“I offer my congratulations for the first 40 years of this very important local charity.”

She added: “This is one of the oldest talking newspapers in the whole of the UK – long may it prosper!”

SADTN chairman, Rob Pearman, added: “Our fantastic volunteers, we have about 80 of them, work hard to get these programmes into the homes of our listeners.

“We raise the cash every year so we can provide this service at no cost to our listeners.

“Our commitment is to reach out to everyone in St Albans, Harpenden and all the villages within the district.

“Anyone who is visually impaired, or unable to read the local papers for any reason, can be a listener.”

To register for the St Albans newspaper, contact Linda Randall on 01582 832275 or email randalllinda@btinternet.com