History of Fenprobe
When Tony May of Stretham in Cambridgeshire gradually lost his eyesight in his early thirties, he determined to find a way to make local news available to others with similar afflictions. In 1978 the talking news service, Fenprobe, was born.
Money was raised enthusiastically to buy recording equipment and cassette players, and readers were recruited from Ely dramatic societies. Early recordings were made in the living room of our President, Richard Hobbs.
Initially, tapes were a combination of news from local newspapers with local people. Nowadays there are separate news and magazine tapes.
By March 1989 Fenprobe had become a weekly service to more than 100 visually-impaired listeners in East Cambridgeshire . Costs - such as rent, recording and copying equipment, cassette tapes and players - are met by private and corporate donations and by fees charged for recordings made for other organisations.
