A LINCOLNSHIRE church has turned to up-to-the-minute technology to welcome visitors, by providing a tour guide that is accessible on a mobile phone.

St Swithun’s, Long Bennington, in Lincoln diocese, has worked with Info-Point, a company that provides “self-contained devices” that deliver content to mobile phones. Neil Rathborne, of Info-Point, explained: “Info-Point technology generates its own web and WiFi ‘out-of-the-box’, which can be placed anywhere, and used by anyone.”

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The church’s joint project leader, David Andrews, said: “We were able to use it on our own phones, and were struck by how well the system meets our needs. The fact that it works reliably, and that we can update the content ourselves was important to us.

“We also realised that we would save money on printing paper-based visitor information. We had to get our head around what we could do with the technology, and I was often calling Neil with questions as we progressed, but he was able to answer them all, and our confidence just grew and grew.”

Mr Rathbone said: “The churches I’ve met are usually amazed at the great strides that have been made since the days of the hand-held audio guide. According to OFCOM, 80 per cent of adults now carry smartphones in our pockets; so we can easily browse web content, watch videos, and play interactive games as part of a visit.

“Giving a discreet and engaging tour on your smartphone is simply a modern way to be attractive and open to a wide spectrum of visitors.”

The village of Long Bennington has joined in, adding information points to other places of interest.