Gloucester Cathedral Great Lives

Gloucester Cathedral has hundreds of stories within its tombs, memorials and stained glass windows. Our challenge was how to tell those stories without cluttering its tranquil, contemplative, inspiring space with signs.

The obvious answer was an audio tour but the hardware investment needed meant it simply wasn’t a practical solution for Gloucester Cathedral. But what if we could give visitors inspiring audio content on the hardware in their pockets – their mobile phones?

We created 7 short audio stories about key figures and events commemorated in the Cathedral. ‘Great Lives’ transported listeners back to World War II and the sinking of HMS Gloucester, to Barnwood in the 1930s to accompany poet and composer Ivor Gurney on one of his night walks and to Berkeley Castle in 1327 where, it’s believed, Edward II met his grisly end.

We built a simple IVR system so visitors could listen to the stories on their mobile phone. All they had to do was call the number, select a story using their keypad and listen.

The Great Lives stories received excellent feedback from visitors and from Visit England’s Visitor Attraction Quality Assurance Scheme, which described the stories as ‘interesting and innovative’ and ‘very well produced with engaging voices and sound effects.’

You can listen to ‘The Sinking of HMS Gloucester’ and ‘A Night Walk with Ivor Gurney’ below, or any of the Great Lives stories by calling 0300 900 1327 (a national rate number, included in your mobile free minutes).

If you’d like to chat about creating a mobile phone audio tour for your museum or attraction, just call us on 01242 256970 or email ben@pastporte.co.uk.