FOR TWO decades Mary McKenzie has been a member of one of Swan Hill’s best kept secrets — the Talking Guardian.
From humble beginnings in March 1983 the Talking Guardian has provided the vision impaired with a link to Swan Hill for over thirty years.
Many Talking Guardian recipients no longer live locally but want to keep abreast of the developments and happenings in Swan Hill and the service relies wholly on the goodwill of volunteer readers, like Ms McKenzie, a group which has dwindled until just five readers remain.
Taking it in weekly stints, the local readers narrate the Monday, Wednesday and Friday editions of the Guardian (all at once) onto a tape recording device supplied by Vision Australia.
Ms McKenzie usually begins by reading the Births and Deaths notices, to make sure they fit on the tape, then selects stories she thinks will be of the most interest to the listeners, leaving out the police reports and the sports section.
But despite her hours of reading time clocked — each reading session takes around 2.5 hours to complete, with the tape painstakingly rewound for every mistake — Ms McKenzie says her motivation to read comes from a desire to connect people with Swan Hill.
“The people who have been readers, most of us did it because we wanted to give back to the community,” Ms McKenzie said.
“That’s one of the reasons why I read — I feel I might be giving some pleasure to someone.
“And when you’re isolated, as many people with vision impairment are, it’s very important.
“I do believe it is a service that still has value and I hope it still has value when the changeover comes.”
The changeover Ms McKenzie refers to is a country-wide trend which has seen local recording chapters close down in favour of readers at city headquarters.
Ms McKenzie believes it is an inevitable outcome, but worries a local flavour will be lost.
“It will be difficult for them to know how to pronounce local towns like Piangil,” she said.
If you wish to read for the Talking Guardian, contact coordinator Joyce Pollard on 5032 5748.
