Audio Tour FAQs

1. How do you start?

Remember to bring your headphones!

• You can use your smartphone to scan the QR codes in each location
• Download the Echoes.xyz free app App Store or Play Store and search for Liverpool Holding Time Tour
• If you have the APP, go to https://explore.echoes.xyz/collections/9D7GiBz5La3v61q3 to begin
• Scan our QR code to go straight to the Echoes APP and start walking!

2. When is the best time to do the tour?

You can do the tour anytime but please if you plan to stop off in the venues along the way, please note that the following venues will be closed every Monday:

Museum of Liverpool

Bluecoat

Open Eye Gallery

Homebaked cafe at St George’s

Maritime Museum

World Museum

FACT (cafe & galleries)

Victoria Gallery & Museum (cafe is open/gallery is closed)

Walker Gallery

For information about each venue, see our google map

3. How long is the Tour?

Across Liverpool there are 16 stopping-off points which are marked with a QR code. Each is a breastfeeding and family friendly space, with facilities for parents and babies. Many have a schedule of free events for families.

This free and fully-accessible trail begins at Central Library and ends at Lime Street Station but you can join at any point. The whole tour should take you 60-90 minutes. There are loads of opportunities to stop for refreshments on the way and we have indicated where there is a café.

Warning: Please be aware of your surroundings and be extra careful nearby or when crossing roads. Please use the pedestrian crossings.

Enjoy the trail, we hope you have a memorable walk. Don’t forget to tag @theholdingtimeproject along the way.

4. Do you have to do it all in one go?

No, you don’t have to walk the tour in one day. Below we have created three separate walks to try, covering different parts of the city:

The Docks

The Cultural Quarter

The Knowledge Quarter

5. Why an Audio Tour?

According to a recent survey by Maternity Action, women on maternity leave with young children report that financial pressures are impacting on their health and wellbeing. Some women were unable to afford healthy food and a worrying 2% of respondents used food banks during this period.

Women consistently reported stress and anxiety due to financial pressures. For some women, financial pressure exacerbated social isolation and led to depression. For all women, stress during pregnancy increases risks of poor health for mother and baby, including lower birthweight and premature birth.

The Audio Tour is a welcome opportunity for mothers to meet, walk and talk whilst finding the images and audio on the tour around the city.

Walking is described as the ‘most underrated form of exersize’ but for many mothers, it is the only possible exersize. Buggy and sling walking is a great way to lose baby weight and recover from birth. Walking with others is an enjoyable way to see the city and all it has to offer whilst experiencing the mental and physical health-giving properties of walking and talking.

As the cost of living crisis impacts household budgets, breastfeeding is a free superfood that protects from food poverty.

‘ Jo Ward from Improving Me says: ‘Breastfeeding protects babies and children from a vast range of illnesses, including infection, diabetes, asthma, heart disease and obesity, as well as cot death (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). It also protects mothers from breast and ovarian cancers and heart disease; as well as having a profoundly positive impact on perinatal mental health. It’s basically a huge public health issue and we will continue to focus attention on the value of breastfeeding working with our mums. This commitment is supported by a Cheshire and Merseyside wide focus on addressing health inequalities and the value of a best start for every child.’

UNICEF add ‘Breastfeeding is a natural ‘safety net’ against the worst effects of poverty … Exclusive breastfeeding goes a long way toward cancelling out the health difference between being born into poverty and being born into affluence … It is almost as if breastfeeding takes the infant out of poverty for those first few months in order to give the child a fairer start in life and compensate for the injustice of the world into which it was born.’

James P. Grant, Executive Director of UNICEF (1980-1995)