A new audio trail voiced by people in recovery from substance use will lead walkers from Oldham town centre into the woodlands of Northern Roots.

Called If You Could Speak to the World, the self-guided walk mixes spoken poetry, brass music and sounds recorded across the landscape. It is a permanent public artwork commissioned by visual arts organisation Portraits of Recovery as part of September's Recoverist Month.

It will also mark the opening of Northern Roots' new community hub and visitor destination on Saturday, September 19.

The trail was created by poet Phil Davenport with people with lived experience of substance use and recovery from Turning Point's Rochdale and Oldham Active Recovery (ROAR) service. ROAR is a drug and alcohol recovery service.

Around 15 people, aged between their 20s and 70s, took part, with support from Northern Roots Natural Health Service. The group met outdoors at Northern Roots through spring and early summer to write poetry, shape the route, choose stopping points and record sounds from the environment.

Davenport mixed the recordings with fragments of brass compositions written by sound designer and composer Sophie Cooper and performed by Milnrow Band. The finished trail features seven spoken works, with routes ranging from two miles to six miles.

Notable stopping points include Alexandra Park boating lake, the beehives at Brook Mills Gardens, the Tip Road path and Park Bridge.

Zac Blinston, a recovery community development worker from ROAR who took part, said: "I think this is a really important project for the town. Oldham has such a rich history and is a larger-than-life place, despite being one of the most deprived boroughs in the country. This audio trail is breaking down barriers and showing that poetry is for everyone, it's only words after all!"

The project was funded by Transport for Greater Manchester's Wheels and Walks programme and forms part of Oldham's Greater Manchester Town of Culture Rising Up programme. Maps are available from Northern Roots' new Welcome Building or online, and a series of free guided walks will take place during September and October to launch the trail.