Is there still a demand for the Davy Duff Tape Service? Meeting called to chart way ahead for talking newspaper
A MEETING is to be held next week to discuss whether there is still a demand for the Davy Duff Tape Service.
The service, established more than 35 years ago, records the Northern Times for playback to blind and visually impaired people.
However, it has not operated since 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
A spokesman said: “It is felt that this is a good time to assess whether there is still a demand for the service and, if so, to look at whether production needs to be updated to take advantage of new technology.”
The meeting takes place in Fountain Road Hall, Golspie, on Tuesday, May 2, from 7pm, and it is hoped that potential volunteers, recipients, their representatives or anyone else with an interest in the service will come along and feed in their ideas.”
The service is named after its founder, local musician Davy Duff, the lead singer of local country and western band Colorado. Davy, a hairdresser who became blind as a result of diabetes, died in 1989.
The paper was initially recorded in the back room of his house in Ross Street, Golspie, on cassettes – in recent years it has been on USBs.
It was Davy who came up with the idea of starting each tape edition with a jazz piece called “The Black and White Rag,” in homage to the Northern Times’ nickname.
After Davy’s death, the tape service for a time operated from the language lab at Golspie High School before finding a home in the gallery of Fountain Road Hall, courtesy of the Board of St Andrew’s Church.
The church hall has since been sold to development group Go Golspie, and is used as a community asset.
