An exciting initiative of TrailTale has been to collaborate with different Councils across Great Britain, to create exciting digital routes accessible by phone for both residents and tourists, to explore the local heritage and beautiful countryside, while also promoting local businesses on the high street to entice shoppers after the Covid-19 lockdowns. One of TrailTale’s most exciting and successful projects in 2021, has been working with Bolton Borough Council to promote the fascinating history of the different towns within the borough. Here is the journey to success, working with Bolton Borough Council.
The number one priority when starting the new partnership with Bolton Council, was to understand the requirements for the project. One key requirement for Bolton Council was to celebrate the multicultural history of Bolton and the surrounding area, where many communities immigrated from Pakistan, India and East Africa. These communities helped enrich the council’s industrial history, helping build the Bolton we see today. The heritage of Bolton’s multicultural communities is featured in ‘The Communities of Bolton’ walk, which I highly recommend. In addition, a particular focus for TrailTale and Bolton Council is to feature human stories, to personalise the routes around the people of the borough.
However, probably the most important priority, for both TrailTale and Bolton Council, was to ensure that routes were made to be accessible across different disabilities. When choosing the route between the points of interest, TrailTale aimed to identify roads and paths that are easy to use for people who have assisted mobility needs. A new addition to the TrailTale app, is the use of AltText alongside audio clips, to describe the pictures used throughout the route, and improve the TrailTale experience for people with visual impairments. TrailTale is proud to work with Bolton Borough Council to enhance the app so that it accommodates these new features.
TrailTale was very privileged to collaborate with a team of specialists based in Bolton. The team’s extensive local knowledge shed light on some of the more obscure details as part of the stories behind each of the points, which helped bring to life the multicultural community stories on the TrailTale App.
One of TrailTale’s goals throughout this project was to create an immersive online route, to allow people to use the TrailTale App from the comfort of their homes. This facility has been incredibly important during the Covid-19 pandemic, providing accessibility for people who may be Shielding, or unable to leave their homes. TrailTale is always looking for new ways to reach more people and provide exciting content for all.
The final result of this collaborative project with Bolton Borough Council has allowed TrailTale to create a number of exciting historically rich routes of different towns around the borough. The different Trails are designed for different users who are looking for a leisurely stroll, or an invigorating hike, while also providing both child-friendly and bicycle-friendly routes. This project with Bolton Borough Council can definitely be considered a success!
