Trail explores history of town

Sleaford Little Theatre portray Julia Kirk, wife of Charles Kirk, who designed a number of buildings in Sleaford. EMN-170324-143647001

The Sleaford Heritage Trail is the brainchild of The Sleaford and District Civic Trust, funded by the Dulverton Trust and Sleaford Town Council.

Tasked with helping to preserve the history and architecture of the town, The Sleaford and District Civic Trust have been working on a new approach and they need your help.

The Trust need suggestions for locations, ideas for residents and characters, and help with research and script writing.

Sleaford Little Theatre has offered the use of their actors, and Tin Hat Productions, a film production company, will be doing the filming and editing.

Hodgson Brothers LLP have volunteered the time and services of their Special Projects department, and Aztec Web Design has created the website.

The trail will combine three technologies - a smartphone, bespoke quick response (QR) codes and near field communication (NFC) chips to let users discover more about Sleaford.

Each location on the trail will have a video playing where somebody will be portrayed who either worked or lived there more than 100 years ago.

The videos are only accessibly by visiting each site and scanning the QR code or NFC chip which will be mounted onto a plaque.

Initially, there is set to be eight locations on The Sleaford Heritage Trail and once these have been established, further locations can be chosen.

Grants manager at The Dulverton Trust, Sarah Hale said: “The Dulverton Trust is delighted to have awarded £3,000, via the Lincolnshire Community Foundation, to the Sleaford and District Civic Trust towards the Heritage Trail.”

Sleaford Town Council has given a further £1,000 towards the project.

Christopher Hodgson, from Hodgson Brothers LLP, said: “Audio trails are becoming a common feature in parks and heritage sites. We are aiming to produce something that will be more interesting with visual content accessible to smartphone users through the use of QR codes and NFC chips.”

Special project manager at Hodgson Brothers LLP Richard Hodgson said: “Although my family have been resident in Sleaford for several generations it’s only by working on this project that I’ve become aware of just how fascinating and varied the town’s history really is.

“I’m looking forward to discovering more as the project moves along.”