The RCN (Royal College of Nursing) represents nurses and nursing in the UK, with a mission statement of promoting excellence in practice and shaping health policies.

Home to Europe’s largest collection of materials specific to nursing, the RCN’s London based Nursing Library and Heritage Centre has recently reopened to the public after refurbishment and modernisation. As part of the collection there’s over 700 hours of oral histories from nurses dating from the early 20th to 21st century covering a wealth of subjects from WW1 & 2 to the creation of the NHS.

Searching for a way to deliver some of these oral histories to visitors led the Heritage Team to the AF15.

The AudioFrame 15 is an all-in-one 15 button sound point which can be built into various enclosures or directly wall mounted. The RNC opted for a free standing AF15 kiosk with a single handset attached.

Artwork on the front of the device denotes which of the available 15 buttons visitors should press, which is easily swapped out if required. Following the RNC’s ‘DNA’ graphical theme we created some simple button artwork which was supplemented by further signage installed to the front of the kiosk.

Visitors now have access to a selection of the Heritage Centre’s rich oral history collection.

In North Wales lies Bwlch Nant yr Arian, a visitor centre that marks the start of a series of walking trails for mountain bikers, walkers, horse riders and more. The walks offer some of the finest views of the Cambrian Mountains and Cardigan Bay and has been awarded the Gold Award by Visit Wales for the memorable experiences they create for visitors.

A key attraction in Bwlch Nant yr Arian is the Elenydd Trail which combines poetry, sculpture and storytelling to bring visitors welsh myths, legends and folktales that bring the landscape to life. A series of sculptures created by Dan Lock are situated at different points of the trail which are accompanied with the voice of “Elenydd” who represents the landscape and recounts some of the folktales that are known around the area.

As part of the outdoor trail five of our UTR Oversized Through Panels were supplied when Dan Lock got in touch with us looking for outdoor interpretation for the project. As our U-Turn Round units are able to work with no mains power, they were able to lend itself perfectly to the Elenydd trail project. With the Oversized panel version of the U-Turn, it can be installed onto any accompanying panel making the possibilities for outdoor audio endless. They have each been situated by the five sculptures that Dan Lock created himself, complete with accompanying audio content for the specific story ranging from the ‘Knockers’ of Cwmsymlog to tales of the Maginogion and George Borrow’s account of Mid Wales when he in his own words, “went up a hill and came down a mountain.”

Since the trail was launched it has been incredibly popular with visitors and has allowed them to get close to the legends that reside in the heart of the Cambrian mountains.