The charity, Cornwall Tapes for the Visually Impaired and Housebound, has closed down after four decades.

The organisers said the ending of the service, on its 40th anniversary, followed a large drop in the number of people using the tapes because of the advance of other technologies.

Throughout the past 40 years, a team of ‘chatters’ have produced individual and personalised conversation tapes for the visually impaired and housebound.

The charity’s remaining funds have been donated to four Befriending Groups around Cornwall.