A charity has seen a large demand for a Bermudian-made audio recording of the New Testament.

Members of the Bermuda Bible Society recorded all 27 books with help from Wycliffe Associates, a US-based non-profit, between February and July 2023.

Thirty MP3 recordings were made available in January.

Beverly Daniels, of the Bermuda Bible Society, said: “We just wanted to see if people would be interested and to ensure that the ten people who had actually done the recording would have something in their hand they could share with their family.

“We got the recordings in January, distributed them in February and by March, they were gone.”

She added: “We already ordered another batch of 40 recordings — ten have been requested by a church and four people are waiting to receive them, so there’s definitely a demand.”

Wycliffe Associates helps communities translate scripture in their native languages and dialects.

Mark Roberts, the organisation’s chief administrative officer, said he does not often get the chance to work with English-speaking populations.

He explained: “I’m accustomed to hearing projects that are completed using dialects that are completely unknown to me, that I don’t speak and don’t have an ear for.

“It was unique to hear a group that wanted to do a project in English — probably the most resourced language in terms of Bible translation — but it reflects the Bermudian culture and way of speaking.”

Mr Roberts, who will address the Bermuda Bible Society’s annual meeting at the Willowbank Resort today, added: “We want to make sure that the way that you speak speaks to people’s heart.”

Wycliffe staff trained participants at Willowbank for three days and Ms Daniels, who recorded some books in a three-person team, said the process was simple but the audio sometimes picked up background noise.

She said: “Our team would finish a piece and upload it to Wycliffe, who would come back and either say ‘no problem’ or that they heard birds or other noise in the background.”

Ms Daniels added: “It was suggested that we let Brown & Co distribute the recordings and Wycliffe indicated that they would put the recordings on our website and it will be available for people to access through their phones.

“However, we haven’t explored those options yet. We’ve just scratched the surface. The demand was for the physical MP3 recordings.”

The Bermuda Bible Society is organising a recording of the Old Testament, and a teacher at the Bermuda Institute has voiced an interest in the school doing its own recording.

• Visit the Bermuda Bible Society’sFacebook page to learn more about the organisation or the upcoming recording