Following on from recent Audio Description training by Freelance Describer and Trainer Andrew Holland for VocalEyes, Barnsley Museums are now offering up access to objects and works of art from their collections for blind and partially sighted people through online recorded descriptions.

RNIB Connect Radio’s Toby Davey caught up with Ally Beckett, Formal Learning Officer and Accessibility Champion from Barnsley Museums to find out a bit more about the background and history of Barnsley museums, their collections and why they wanted to offer access to blind and partially sighted people through online descriptions of objects and works of art from their collections.

Ally also explained in a bit more detail to Toby about the audio description training by Andrew Holland, how both Ally and her colleagues found the training and the craft of writing and presenting audio descriptions for a recording.

In Toby’s interview with Ally you will also hear Ally’s description of one of her favourite works of art from the Barnsley Museums Collection, an oil painting by John Atkinson Grimshaw titled ‘A Wooded Valley’. 

To listen to more descriptions of the objects and works of art from Barnsley Museums collections do visit the description pages of their website via the following link -

https://www.barnsley-museums.com/accessibility/audio-description

(Image shows RNIB logo. 'RNIB' written in black capital letters over a white background and underlined with a bold pink line, with the words 'See differently' underneath)