Seekers Create have teamed up with CityFibre, Casemates Studios and Clarke Reynolds (The Blind Braille Artist) to bring an interactive family experience to Portsmouth North that is fun, gets people out into their local environment and provides education around disability. Seekers are encouraging the people of Portsmouth to get out into their local environment this winter on a fun and interactive local trail.
Clair Martin, Seekers Create Director, said “Our Winter Diverse City Trail is an exciting experience that connects people to their local environment and community-minded businesses and we are very grateful to our wonderful collaborators that have helped create these free resources for the community.
Over this Christmas and winter period, our trail is accessible whatever happens with Covid restrictions. Our aim is to enable families to enjoy time together, have fun learning, learn Braille and connect to local businesses at a time when they need it most.”
There are two options for people to enjoy. The first is a heritage audio trail that can be followed all along the Hilsea Lines created in collaboration with Portsmouth Creates.
The audio trail is GPS triggered on the ECHO XYZ app. Local people can take a walk along the Hilsea Lines and learn the local history of the area.
The second is a family friendly activity trail where families follow a bespoke map around the Hilsea Lines. Families can decode the Braille signs along the way.
Once they have the secret message, they can return to Casemates Studio where they are rewarded with a hot drink and a mince pie.
They can also colour the beautiful original art, created by Clair, a fun activity that enables the learning of Braille.
The trail creates a much-needed connection within the city, from larger businesses to smaller businesses, to local people and the beautiful environment on their doorstep, which is rarely accessed.
Our Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress will officially open the trail on the 18th of December at 11 am at Casemates Studios. The Winter DC Trail runs until the 31st of Jan, so families and local people can enjoy walking off the Christmas dinner for the whole start of the year.
To access the trail map you can register at https://www.seekerscreate.com/winter-dc-trail.
You can print it yourself but if you don’t have access to a printer you can collect a hard copy from Casemates Studio.
You will need to register to get your free drink, which is available to the first 100 trail users.
Jon Russell, City Manager at CityFibre, said: “Christmas is about coming together and spending quality time with loved ones. It’s that feeling of connection that makes the festive season so special.
“CityFibre is building a first-class broadband infrastructure across Portsmouth as part of a £32m investment which will future-proof the city’s digital future and allow people to stay connected not just at Christmas, but all year round.
“The Hilsea Trail is a fantastic project which encourages people to come together and explore their city. We’re delighted to be supporting such a worthwhile project.”
