I have received the following from UK charity Listening Books. Please consider if this may be a service any of your congregation might enjoy and include in notices or display the posters.
“ We provide an audiobook lending service for people of all ages who find that their illness, mental health condition, disability or learning difficulty (such as depression, dementia, Autism or arthritis, for example) affects their ability to read or hold a book.
We have over 10,000 professionally-recorded audiobooks in our collection for all ages and interests, which listeners can stream and download online. This includes hundreds of non-fiction books, newspapers, and magazines in a variety of languages, as well as children’s and educational titles. We also run a virtual Book Club for our members on Facebook which is a great resource for combating isolation!
We currently have funding which allows us to offer completely free Listening Books Memberships for anyone in Bedfordshire who is eligible for our service but would find our usual membership fees (£20 a year) a barrier to joining It’s likely that many of the people supported by the churches and their various groups may be eligible for Listening Books membership, which is completely free for those experiencing financial hardship.
Our members often tell us that our audiobooks greatly increase their quality of life, literacy levels and sense of well-being, and we strongly believe that money should not be a barrier to enjoying these benefits – especially not during the current cost of living crisis. So, if there is anyone you support who could join us for free, we’d love to make that happen! “
