KEY POINTS:
When people start losing their sight they sometimes feel like giving up, but Betty and Gerald Minchinton have a message of inspiration.
Mrs Minchinton, 87, and her 77-year-old husband have for the past four years travelled all over the Auckland region - to locations as diverse as Waiheke Island and Paremoremo Prison - delivering "talking book" machines for the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind.
Mrs Minchinton, who is herself vision impaired, teaches people how to work the four-track cassette machines and Mr Minchinton takes care of the driving, notching up some impressive mileage.
Chris Shepherd, the foundation's volunteer services co-ordinator for Auckland and Northland, says the Minchintons go beyond the call of duty.
"They're really great for elderly people who have just lost their sight and perhaps don't think they can use the machines. They go to the trouble of ringing people back and asking how they're going. They give such a lot of time to people."
The Minchintons, who have been married for 56 years and emigrated from England in 1967, have always loved reading.
Mrs Minchinton, who is a big fan of murder mysteries, began losing her sight in 1995 and got her first talking book machine soon after.
"A lot of people give up," says Mrs Minchinton.
"They're in shock because they can't read anymore."
She says many of the people they meet think they won't be able to learn how to work the machines because of their age. "Then I say, 'Well don't come the old soldier, I'm older than you'."
The couple usually work nearly every day of the week but have recently had a break after Mrs Minchinton broke her wrist.
"When we're not doing it we're as miserable as sin," she says.
"We get on each other's nerves."
