Holy Trinity Goodramgate York is officially a 'Sight Loss Friendly Organisation'

When a member of the audience who had come to one of our carol concerts first pointed out how good our venue could be for those with sight loss, it was a little bit difficult to believe. Our floors are uneven and light levels are low with most of the illumination being provided by candles.

However, we also have high-sided box pews which house seating that faces every which way and place the focus squarely on listening rather than seeing. In fact, they can cause problems with sightlines. Was there something here that was worth exploring further? Could we work together with those with sight loss to make Holy Trinity Goodramgate not only a more welcoming place, but to actually learn how to make a virtue out of one of our largest issues as a venue? 

That is exactly what we have worked with MySight York to consider. MySight offers venues around York the chance to work towards being recognised as “Sight Loss Friendly in York”. The award is designed to support venues to improve accessibility to members of the public with sight loss. MySight York provide the tools to fill in any gaps in your accessibility offer with the aim of improving your confidence and inclusivity in service provision. 

On Wednesday 10 September 2025, a group of consultants with lived experience of sight loss came to visit our site. We enjoyed a wide ranging discussion about their experience and concerns about coming to a new place like our venue and volunteers completed training in sighted-guiding. One of our volunteers, Lyndie, described the experience (which included the use of special glasses which mimicked the experience of various sight loss conditions to give the volunteers the experience of being guided as well as being the guide) as “transformative”. It really got us all thinking about how we could better help others to navigate our space. 

A representative of the charity also took a look at our new website and commented favourably on its accessibility features. 

Since the review, we have made sure that large print versions of our 10 Things to See leaflets are available, added illuminous tape to all the steps that we are permitted by conservation to put it on to and at least one of our volunteers, Irene, has had occasion to offer sighted guiding to a visitor. They were happy to explore unaided, but they said that they were pleased to be asked.  

The other part of the work we have been doing related to the creation of sensory tours.  MySight volunteers reviewed our tour which was intended to allow visitors to experience our unique venue in a whole new way. The finished tour, which was presented during Heritage Open Days, on 19 and 20 September, engaged senses of hearing, touch and smell. The content and structure were amended following discussions with the group with the route around the building being simplified, location of the group moved during one of the stops and the holding of objects at the start focusing on the particular candle holders we use (which are hard to accurately convey through audio description alone) and active use of the candle snuffer to extinguish a candle and enjoy the smell. The tour was open to everyone (those with sight and those without) and was very popular. The tours were highlighted by Heritage Open Days in a blog about accessible events.

We are hoping to use the tour in full again in the future – ideally by adding it to our new interpretation project when that gets going. We will definitely add the audio description of the East Window and aim to have that available on request on site. We have already added sensory elements (smell, taste and object handling) to tours which have been running over October half term. 

We received our Sight Loss Friendly in York Award on Wednesday 22 October from the Chief Executive, Scott Jobson. The award was collected by Gemma Murray (site co-ordinator) and Lyndie (volunteer). We have been provided with virtual stickers plus a certificate to show our new status! The experience has been both productive and fun and will hopefully ensure that our welcome is more inclusive and welcoming for years to come. 

We have one final piece of training that we are still to benefit from. The charity will be providing CCT staff members with online training to show us how to make our social media communications more sight loss friendly.