The guide launched on Monday 8 November by invited guests and Tate staff in the Sculpture Garden.

The students, their parents, Head Teachers and other guests including members of the Cornwall Blind Association, Royal National Institute for the Blind, Cornwall Healthcare Trust Access Officer, Sensory Trust and the Devon Blind Association all attended the launch.

Building on the Barbara Hepworth Museum Touch Tours, Tate St Ives was keen to develop a resource for visitors with visual impairment which could be used during any visit.

River Form - Keiran Willey

Starting in May 2004, four Year 10 visually impaired students from the West of England School & College for Children with Little or No Sight in Exeter teamed up with four Year 10 and four Year 12 students from Helston Community College.

Working with Bridget Crowley, Project Coordinator in the Education Department of Tate St Ives, the project was to make an audio-description resource for the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden including orientation and descriptions of the parts of the Museum not easily accessible to visually impaired visitors.

Over three months of the summer term, the students worked together on this huge descriptive task. Visits were made to the Museum, from Helston to Exeter and from Exeter to Helston. Clifford Sykes of the Audio Visual Department at Helston College then recorded the students reading their text.

This project will be part of their GCSE and A-Level course work, and the audio-guide will be available from the Barbara Hepworth Museum. The students also gained great benefit from interacting and experiencing new ways of working with each other.