MPs pay tribute to Portsmouth charity for 50 years of service

MPs Penny Mordaunt (Portsmouth North), Dame Caroline Dinenage (Gosport) and Suella Braverman (Fareham), sent congratulations and tributes to the chairman, Christopher Golding, for the tireless work carried out by PATN over 50 years. So, too, did the leader of Portsmouth City Council, Steve Pitt, and Mark Waldron, publishing editor for National World, who said "You have been taking [The News] content and sharing it with your listeners [for fifty years] in the way they need to receive it. I thank you for all you've done to bring the words of The News into the lives of so many people we would not ordinarily have reached."

A nationally affiliated charity, PATN began recording news and magazine articles for the visually impaired in the basement of the Royal Portsmouth Hospital in 1973/4, the site later becoming Sainsbury, Commercial Road. Following the hospital's closure in 1979, a new location was found for PATN at the Portsmouth Hospital Broadcasting Association studio at Queen Alexandra Hospital, Cosham. There was considerable change in 1983 when sufficient funds were raised for a dedicated studio in the grounds of Portsmouth Association for the Blind (PAB), Stubbington Avenue, and officially opened by the then Lord Mayor, Councillor John Fisher.

In 2016, the sale of the PAB premises left PATN again needing a new location. A temporary solution was found at the offices of the company Clarity at Victory Business Centre, Portsmouth, for eight months before a move to the Stacey Community Centre, Portsmouth. This was made possible after a meeting with Councillor Lynne Stagg, a Stacey Community Association trustee. Difficulties caused by Covid constraints ended this four-year partnership in late 2020, following which PATN decided to become a 'cottage industry', with recording, technical and administrative functions conducted from volunteers' homes - advances in technology making this a practicable step forward.

PATN produces seven audio publications including the Portsmouth News and Navy News. These are available via memory stick, the PATN website and other media platforms.

The charity relies wholly on donations, with no charge to visually impaired listeners for using the service. All PATN staff are dedicated volunteers who receive no expenses.

Those attending the 50th Anniversary Lunch were Christopher Golding (chairman and trustee), Janet Crabtree (treasurer and trustee), Trevor Muston (technical matters and trustee), Irene Knowles (V.I. representative, with David Knowles), Charles Timberlake, Tony Shepherd, Anne-Lise Kadri, Ian Crabtree, Joy Day, Shirley Henley, Peter Downton, Richard Potter, Marilyn Waterman, Margaret Gibbs, and Pat Huxtable (also a former News columnist).

Having become chairman in 2015, Christopher Golding commented that all setbacks experienced by PATN since 2016 have been calmly overcome, making the charity stronger than ever and paving the way for the next 50 years to be just as successful.