If you are new to Crediton, or have never ventured beyond the High Street, why not explore the town using an interactive trail map. Developed by the Turning Tides Project, it is designed to be informative, fun and accessible by all. Project manager Roger Hill explains what this innovative trail can offer to both locals and visitors to our town.
During the first lockdown, the Turning Tides Project developed an inclusive trail around Crediton to encourage people to explore the town and to have some fun interacting with their environment.
The Turning Tides Project is a not-for-profit organisation which believes everyone has an equal right to access music, the arts and life. We work to make this right a reality for people with ‘learning disability’ or ‘autism’ labels by offering workshops, training, social activities and employment opportunities.
Our idea for the trail was developed as part of our Making Waves sessions and was funded by the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership.
We decided that we wanted it to be informative, fun and be easily accessed by all.
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One side of our map shows a trail around Crediton with pictures that are linked by numbers. Lots of people who are part of the project do not access the written word, so having photos of each stop means that people can access the trail more independently.
On the back of our map, we have included some information about each stop. We conducted our research as part of our sessions and decided what was the most important to include, whilst not using excessive amounts of text.
Excitingly, there is also a task for people to do at each of the places which links to that stop: score a goal in the park; do a street performance outside the Arts Centre; or write a poem at St Lawrence Green.
We thought it was important for people to have fun and enjoy themselves around the town. By sharing your videos, photos and poems to social media using #CreditonTrail we hope we can create a virtual wall of creativity.
We also wanted to create a virtual trail so that people from further afield, or people who could not take part physically, would be able to explore Crediton.
Again, we wanted to make this entertaining and accessible, so we unleashed our very own Makaton signing Saxon who guides us around the town and provides us with the information from the back of our map.
Including Makaton signing, a clear voice over and subtitles was our way of making sure the information was multisensory and as accessible as possible.
These videos are available on YouTube
and are linked to a QR code on the front of the map. You can also see our extended ‘Making of’ film on our YouTube channel.
We’ve had some great feedback on the map and physical copies are currently available from the Turning Tides headquarters at the Crediton Station Tea Rooms as well as at Crediton Library, Crediton Arts Centre and Crediton Town Council.
This article was written jointly by members of the ‘Making Waves’ session run by Turning Tides at the Crediton Station Tea Rooms.
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