A NEWS service for the blind and partially sighted will close after 32 years because of a lack of subscribers.

Blackburn and District Talking Newspaper has been run by volunteers since 1976, but will record the last edition on March 26.

Subscription has fallen from 150 members to 53 and it is no longer financially feasible to run the service.

Chariman Trevor Proctor, 69, said: "We still record on tapes, and now everything is moving to iPods.

"For us to switch over, it would cost about £8,000 and with the falling number of subscribers, it's not feasible to do.

"I do not believe that there are less people with eye problems these days, but they are not being referred.

"We put notices up in doctors surgeries and at the eye clinic at the Royal Blackburn Hospital last year, but it has made little impact.

"There are also a range of new technologies that blind people are using on their own computers to read to them these days.

"We will all be sad to see it go, and I feel sorry for the 50 odd who will miss out, but it has had it's time."

The team of 40 volunteers gather highlights from the Lancashire Telegraph each week and record a 90 minute tape every Wednesday.

They package the tapes up and send them out, and each week collect them back in to record the next week's edition for a fee of £6 per year.

Tapes get sent to former Blackburn residents living as far away as Portugal.

All of the funding comes from the voluntary sector in the Blackburn area, with help coming from groups such as the Blackburn Lions Club, Blackburn Rotary Club, Blackburn West Rotary Club, Blackburn Inner Wheel, Roterats and the Soroptimists.

Vivien Fay from Olive Lane, Darwen is partially sighted and has been receiving the talking paper for 10 years.

She said: "I am fortunate in having a husband who reads interesting snippets out of the Telegraph, but what about the totally blind, living on their own who look forward to the talking newspaper?

"It's not just that, we will miss the friendly banter."

The council newsletter, The Shuttle, will still be available in talking newspaper form.

Anybody intested in receiving it is asked to ring Jane Woodall on 01254 585177.