A DEDICATED volunteer with almost 50 years of work with York’s ‘talking newspaper’ under his belt is to be presented with a prestigious award.
Graeme Robertson will be presented with the High Sheriff’s Award at York Minster on Sunday for his ‘commitment to the county’s community’.
For almost 50 years, Mr Robertson has been recording news and features items for York Talking News, a ‘talking newspaper’ that goes out monthly to visually impaired people.
He was a co-founder of the charity – and, at 89, is the only remaining original volunteer.
Mr Robertson was also a senior magistrate for many years – and is well known to Press readers for his ‘Quick Eats’ column, which he wrote for The Press for 15 years from 1999-2014.
He has also done voluntary work for a host of other charities and organisations - as the first lay chairman of the Friends of York Minster, a fundraiser for RAFA, and a steward at a Covid vaccination centre during the pandemic, amongst others.
He still acts as a York Minster guide – and is also a former vice chairman of the North Yorkshire Police Authority.
But his daughter Alison Mattinson said it was mainly for his volunteer work with York Talking Newspaper that he will be honoured on Sunday.
Alison said his work for the organisation involved sourcing local news items and other interesting articles, and then taking part in monthly recording sessions. “These ‘talking newspapers’ are then distributed to visually impaired people in York, Yorkshire, the UK and beyond,” she said.
“He has made over 550 recordings and is still going! He is very proud of his commitment to YTN and his family are very proud of him!”
Mr Robertson is due to be presented with his award by the High Sheriff of North Yorkshire Mrs Clare Granger at the 5.15pm Evensong service in York Minster on Sunday.
Mrs Granger said: "Graeme .. is an incredibly deserving recipient.
"He has done outstanding voluntary work for many years in various fields, most notably with The Talking News for the visually impaired.
"Graeme has been involved with this charity as a reader since the first edition in 1976 and continues to this day. It is right that Graeme should be recognised for this and for all the other wonderful contributions he has made to the community."
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