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Contact Information:
The Cotswold Listener
21 Rodney Road
Cheltenham
Gloucestershire
GL50 1HX

Tel: 01242 252072

Website: Click Here

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June@cotswoldlistener.co.uk

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Chair of Trustees - Voluntary position

Cheltenham

We would like to appoint a new Chair to take over at the AGM in September 2024 but join us prior to that date to ensure a smooth handover from our current Chair who has completed the statutory six years in post.

The Cotswold Listener is run entirely by unpaid volunteers whose sole purpose is to compile, record, copy and distribute a high quality weekly talking newspaper and magazine.

ROLE TITLE: Chair of Trustees

This description sheet clarifies what you will be doing, with no contract of employment implied and no legally binding relationship created.

FIRST POINT OF CONTACT: The other Officers of the Charity

RESPONSIBILITIES:

To ensure that the Trustees and advisers work together as an effective team, taking collective responsibility for decisions and actions and developing the strategy within the ever changing technical environment.
To ensure that the Charity operates within the law and in accordance with its Constitution and written policies.
To ensure that the Charity operates effectively, that its activities are planned and that it can provide the services in accordance with its Objects.
To ensure that the charity has the flexibility to respond to local needs and develop its services appropriately.
To encourage the recruitment and the efficient use of volunteers with an appropriate mix of skills, knowledge, and experience.
To act as an ambassador for the charity.
To chair the AGM and regular meetings of the Committee.
To ensure that the Charity Commission is kept up to date with any changes to the charity’s details, in co‐operation with the Treasurer.
To undertake such other duties as may be agreed with the committee.

ADDITIONAL POINTS TO NOTE (applicable to all volunteers):

New volunteers will be appointed on a probationary basis for up to six months.
Volunteers may like to familiarise themselves with the Charity’s constitution (available on the noticeboard and website).
Please give as much notice as possible if unable to attend the scheduled volunteering time(s). Please comply with all Health and Safety notices and any other rules posted on the Studio noticeboard.
Please inform the Secretary of any changes in contact details.
Volunteers are members of the charity and as such are entitled to vote at the charity’s AGM and EGMs. Membership of the charity will automatically lapse if, without good reason and after appropriate approaches, a volunteer has not participated for a period of six calendar months.
If a grievance or problem arises that cannot be resolved by your First Point of Contact, please refer it the Treasurer or Secretary to the Trustees who will bring it to the attention of all Trustees.

THE COTSWOLD LISTENER

What we do and how we organise our volunteers.

What we do

We provide a completely free service Fifty-one weeks of the year as we produce a 90 – 120 minute plus recording. This is available to our listeners on aUSB and through our website (protected by a password). Of our current 150 listeners, 4 use the internet and two use Alexa and 144receive a USB.
Each week’s recording comprises 45 minutes of local news taken from the Gloucestershire Echo and The Cotswold Journalwebsites and 45 minutes of our Magazine. The magazine is an eclectic mix of articles from a huge range of sources designed to entertain and amuse. In addition, there is MagXtra and TNF Soundings plus plays, monologues, poetry produced by a local drama group in the Studio.

How we are organised

We currently have 60 active volunteers, several of whom perform more than one role. Included in the 60 are 6 Trustees (Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, Volunteer Trustee plus two Trustees and a Listener Representative) The Trustees also perform other roles.

Broadly, our volunteer roles can be divided into 4 categories – Administrators, Copiers, News teams, Magazine teams.

Administration

We have one Administration Manager and three Administrator who perform their roles every week manning the Studio on a Monday/ Tuesday/Wednesday and Thursday morning. The pouches are prepared on a Monday/Tuesday and the Copier is in on a Thursday with the USBs being collected in the afternoon.

They deal with phone messages and emails and keep the listener records up to date. They also update a computer spreadsheet with Listener details and deal with any queries from listeners and record any feedback.

Copiers

We have 1 copier who goes into the Studio for about 1 ½ hourson a Thursday morning and makes copies of the recordings onto USBs (from masters already made by the week’s news team). Copies are inserted into the reusable pouches for collection by Royal Mail at midday.

The Magazine

We have 4 magazine teams who record once a month on a rota basis. The rota is sent out at the end of each calendar year to cover the next full year. Each team comprises a Sound Recorder and two Presenters andeach Presenterchooses their own material and arrives at the recording session on a Tuesday afternoon with their material. When they arrive, there is a brief discussion to decide the order that the articles will be presented. The whole process can be finalised including any editing in about 1 ½ hours. The Sound Recorder files the finished recording on the Studio PC.

The News

We have 8 news teams which record once every 8 weeks on a rota basis. Each team comprises a Sound Recorder and 4 Readers. One of the team members is also the Team Leader. The news is always recorded on the Wednesday afternoon or evening of each week, so the news chosen is from the previous 7 days (i.e. Wednesday to Tuesday). During the week, the News Editors choose local news articles from around our area. We try to have at least 3 articles from each day’s news, so we record up to 21 – 25 articles. Each article will be recorded as one track. The Team Leaderallocates the articles to each reader who each then records their article in turn. Thus, the listener hears a different voice for each article as they progress through the week’s news.

After any editing the Sound Recorder assembles the completed week’s recording (i.e. Intro music, news intro, news, music, magazine intro, magazine, magazine sign off) and makes master USB for the Copier to use the next morning.

For an informal meeting please contact June via the email address to the right of this advert, or alternatively click on Apply Now if you would like to join us.