THE director of a Kendal business specialising in audio and video equipment has been suggesting innovate ways to help visitors and tourists engage with the town.

Adrian Thiedeman, director of Optiport-Audio on Stramongate, had been speaking to Kendal's Christmas Lights and Festivals Committee about ideas for the town.

Among his suggestions included a 'noise trail', which would highlight different parts of the town through recognisable as well as lesser known sounds.

"Noise trails are quite common," Mr Thiedeman said. "Cities do them, you can do underwater ones, you can do all sorts of stuff these days.

"It's becoming a more common point of view, identifying a place through sounds. For instance in Kendal, you know where the town hall is and you know the sound of the bell ring.

"That might be something people identify with and what you try to do is draw sources of sound that people say 'oh yes I know what that is' and then you try and draw on unfamiliar sounds and heighten their awareness to those things as well."

The ideas are still in their 'infancy', Mr Thiedeman said, and will largely depend on funding and what was thought appropriate in terms of how the sound was delivered. It could be the noise is 'set off' by the user or that a pair of headphones is used.

"It's interests and opportunity for doing things a little bit different," he explained. "So people can be drawn to the town without a single stage event or one focal point but being drawn to the lesser known areas of Kendal.

"That could be through audio or visual installations. Just to open it all up a bit because it's in need of some creativity."

Mr Thiedeman also told the Gazette that there had been discussion of staging events in the Market Square, to provide evening entertainment.

He also said that there had been talk of how audio and video could be utilised within the town's festivals.

Councillor Chris Hogg, Christmas Lights and Festivals Committee vice chair who presented the report of the presentation to Kendal Town Council, said: "We need to look at new ideas and to embrace digital technology and you can contact the guy who came to talk to us too."