Visitors get the Red-Carpet Treatment as Video Tours make their Premiere

Visitors to three of Tees Actives venues, Splash, IB Leisure and Billingham Forum can now feel more confident about what to expect as they will be able access videos which will give them a tour of the facility and more importantly there are numerous pop up information boxes that will provide in depth information around  specialised accessibility features that are available.

The videos were funded by Stocktons Sport England Place partnership project Active Stockton. Active Stockton commissioned several small Test and Learn projects to help collect insight, to discover the barriers and enablers to increasing the communities’ levels of physical activity. Catalyst were the insight leads for the disability community and feedback they gained highlighted the need for video tours to be available to inform and ultimately help alleviate any anxiety that individuals may have in visiting large busy leisure venues.

Drew Brockbank Tees Actives Marketing and Design Officer said” The videos are accessible to all members of public who maybe nervous about taking their first steps on their physical activity journey. We have attached a questionnaire on our website which will enable the public to make recommendations on how we can improve accessibility to all members of the community. The launch of the videos is the start of the project, and we expect the content of the videos to be constantly developing over time.”

Catalyst having given a sneak preview to some of the local groups they have been consulting, and initial reaction has been very positive with one of the groups stating that “This virtual tour could make me cry. It’s something so simple but is so important for so many people.

I cannot tell you the number of times I’ve rang places to be told its accessible, spend the time to get there to find out it isn’t – that there are steps or that I can’t use the toilet. Its soul destroying when it happens.

Having a resource like this means I, and many other disabled people, can be independent and make our own decisions. Thanks for the work you put into this – it’s more important that you know”

You access the videos and leave feedback on the attach link: https://www.teesactive.co.uk/venue-tours/