This message is from Karen Hannah, Social Inclusion Manager for Gateshead Council.
If you have any friends or colleagues who would appreciate a Christmas card in Braille, AIRS can help. We can Braille your own personal message on to any standard card for a very reasonable £1.00. If you stamp and address your envelope, we can even post it out for you! You can send cards to us via your local library or call in to see us at Prince Consort Road - we’re to the left of the Reception desk, opposite the Training Centre.

As well as featuring festive content on our talking newspaper service in the run up to Christmas, the Bishop of Durham and the Bishop of Hexham & Newcastle will be calling in soon to record their annual Christmas messages for our listeners.

Rather than socks or soap, what about an unusual stocking filler or present for that elderly relative or friend who is so hard to buy for and isn’t able to read that well any more? The AIRS talking newspaper service lasts the whole year through and is absolutely free to people in Gateshead. There are four different tapes a week containing news, features, a what’s on, interviews, quizzes, talking book reviews and more. You can try out a copy from your local library or just contact us for a free sample tape at AIRS, Gateshead Central Library, Prince Consort Road. Tel. 0191 433 8450 or email airs@gateshead.gov.uk. The service is also available for a small annual subscription outside the borough, anywhere else in the UK.