Talking paper bids farewell to founder Penny
A FOUNDING member of a Macclesfield Talking Newspaper newspaper has stepped down after 40 years.
Penny Whitney joined the charity’s as a reader to record stories featured in the Macclesfield Express.
She later became a committee member and served as secretary for 23 years.
Penny, who is moving from the area, remembers attending the audition.
She said: “Several people there seemed to know each other, so I felt rather an outsider, but found out later that most of them were members of MADS. A week or so later I heard that I had been accepted as a reader and in late April 1974 read for the first time. The other members of my team were Peter Mann, Nancy Dagleish, who was 82, and beautifully spoken, Renee MacDougall and John Hadfield. John was a well-known member of MADS.”
“In those early days readers had neck microphones which could be quite tricky to put on and get in the right position. Woe betide if you were wearing a necklace as it could bang against the microphone and give a very noisy sound effect.”
In later years Penny volunteered her husband, Jeff, to become a copier, which involved making 300 copies for listener from the master audio cassette.
Penny, who recently recorded her final reading, was presented with flowers by chairman Colin Turner.