The Dubbo resident shared the story of the birth of Talking Liberal, the challenges and fun moments.

It all began in 1989 when Vision Australia, then known as Royal Blind Society (RBS), called a meeting at the Dubbo Country Women's Association room to see if there was interest to establish a talking newspaper.

A group of people raised their hands and were happy to start reading the Daily Liberal for those who could not.

"I love reading and the fact some people can't read is a problem," she said.

"To give them (vision impaired persons) that opportunity to help them is wonderful."

Mrs McGrath said the presence of Talking Liberal was important as radio and television did not give people enough local news.

The talking newspaper included local news, letters to the editor, public notices which included births, deaths and marriages, sport and editorial.

Four groups were formed to read the newspaper and each had two news readers, four production crew, one selector of news and one co-ordinator.

"You didn't have time to read all the stories as one cassette went out each week with 90 minutes of recording," she said.

An average of 16 stories were read on Talking Liberal each week.

Mrs McGrath said the beauty of having four different groups preparing the audio edition of the paper was the diversity in chosen stories.

"Rarely, would we pick the front page as it was likely to be covered by TV and radio," she said.

"I was more inclined to look at education stories. There were quite a few of us who were interested in the arty stories like the heartland and the Eisteddfod.

"Each week there were different selectors so over the month you get a good mix of stories from crime to schools and everything in between."

The length of the stories also played a big part in whether they were read or not.

Feedback from the listeners showed they wanted more golf news and several said they didn't enjoy sport news and wanted more local news.

Volunteer readers had to first pass an audition test by the RBS before recording news stories.

"There was no dramatisation, just clear, understandable reading at a reasonable pace," Mrs McGrath said.

"You didn't put on voices for him or her but read it as a news or sport item."

Sometimes the recording machine did not work and played up at the last minute or while recording.

"The biggest challenge was working with machines which were wearing out," she said.

"We were all reliable but the machines failed us at times."

Mrs McGrath said her 24 years of involvement felt like yesterday and she was sad it all came to an end.

"We're finished, our job is done," she said.

Vision Australia has moved to newer technology, using a DAISY software player which can record the entire Daily Liberal on a CD.

Mrs McGrath said she was proud of her achievements with the rest of the volunteers.

"The best part is the satisfaction of knowing people have been able to access articles from the paper where they wouldn't have been able to otherwise," she said.

Friendships, fellowship and fun were the secrets to the long lasting success of Talking Liberal.

"We are the second talking newspaper to be established in the state and one of the last to close," she said.

Although there will be a Talking Liberal, production will be moved elsewhere and Dubbo volunteers no longer have a role to play.