West Midlands: "Witley Court Revisited"

As part of English Heritage’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, two recent projects at Witley Court have sought to make the site more accessible to groups previously less able to enjoy many heritage sites.

Access at Witley Court consults on physical, intellectual and sensory access. Its focus is a group of volunteers including people who are wheelchair users, have learning disabilities, have visual impairments or are Deaf or hearing impaired. Last summer these groups were invited to Witley Court to make recommendations as to how English Heritage might improve access at the site and enhance visitor experiences. Numerous changes have already been initiated based on these visits. Currently work is being developed which includes an accessible orientation point and new signage scheme; a more accessible audio tour; and British Sign Language tours. A CD Rom of the Witley Court case study will be disseminated across the heritage sector and disability networks.

Visitors with visual impairments discussing the site graphics scheme. Reinterpreting Witley looks at cultural and intellectual access. So far, the project has consulted the South Asian community, Chinese elders and young people from African and Caribbean communities. On the basis of their recommendations, a series of guided tours in community languages is being run over the summer. These will include: Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Cantonese and Mandarin. Free transport from Birmingham, Dudley and Worcester is available, to make travelling to the site easier. The tours and transport are being run as a pilot this year and accompany a trial marketing scheme, focussing on ethnic and ‘hard to reach’ communities. The pilot scheme is being funded by the Outreach Department who are using Witley Court as a test1 bed for initiatives in audience development.

Chinese elders exploring Witley Court, their first visit to a heritage site in England. The project has been successful so far thanks to the focus groups’ invaluable feedback, time and expertise. This project is focussing on Witley Court, but the lessons learnt will be disseminated across the organisation and will be fed into all the sites in the English Heritage property portfolio.