In 2024/25, Heritage, Libraries and Arts welcomed:
12,357 Oldham Theatre Workshop Participant Visits
1,334 visitors to Oldham Archives and Local Studies
102,430 event attendance – equivalent to almost half of all Oldhamers – across 5,127 events
33,220 social media followers
53,423 visitors to Gallery Oldham
839,462 visitors to Oldham Libraries – that’s the same as 3.54 visits per resident
“A jewel in Oldham’s crown!….well done to everyone and thanks for your hard work!” from an Oldham Library Facebook follower.
GREAT START AND SKILL FOR LIFE
COLLECTIONS, CREATIVITY AND CULTURE
- Curated 15 Exhibitions, and were the first venue on the regional tour of L.S. Lowry’s iconic painting, ‘Going to the Match’, visited by 14,194 people
- Delivered 26 Gallery Talks to 729 attendees Supported 37 Local History Groups and delivered Talks with over 704 attendees
- Handled 838 Local Studies and Archives enquiries, online, in-person and by phone, helping people discover their local and family history
- Commissioned 20 artists: supporting new work by local creatives
- Ran 24 Adult Art Classes with 502 participants
- Screened 25 Small Cinema shows which attracted 739 people
- Staged 68 Live@theLibrary performance events, reaching audiences over 2,450 attendees
- Delivered 7 large-scale multi-location events with total attendance over 28,400
“Loved it and loved being a part of it even more. What a wonderful event from start to finish” (Illuminate attendee)
LITERACY & LEARNING
- 231,728 Physical Books borrowed: 46 % (106,792) Children’s Books; 54 % (124,936) Adult Books
- 96,046 eBooks and Digital Audiobooks borrowed
- 167 Adult and children’s readers and writers group sessions with 996 overall participation
- 12 Author talks with 410 attendees
- GM City of Literature Festival – 7 events and 234 attendees
- 2,030 Children started the Summer Reading Challenge with 1,038 completing
- 246 English Conversation Classes, with 5,279 attendance
Under 5s Baby Offer
- 39 GO Baby and GO Explorer sessions with 2,110 cumulative attendance
- 582 Bounce and Rhyme sessions with total attendance of 8,510 babies/toddlers and 7,937 parents/carers
- 179 other early years sessions with 3,392 accumulated attendance
“This is the only session we make sure that we come to, it’s our favourite and I love having the routine for me and my baby”
Schools Engagement:
- 38 Schools and Colleges visited Gallery Oldham
- Providing Gallery workshops for 2,000 children and Young people
- 253 Class visits to Oldham libraries welcomed 5,965 Children
- Over 400 new members joined during school visits
- 703 Children and adults attended 10 dedicated school and group performances of the Oldham Theatre Workshop Christmas show
“Fantastic way to start a new topic. Exciting and engaging for the children” (Gallery class visit feedback)
Informal Learning Activities for Children and Families:
- 7,467 total attendees accessed Holiday Activities over the School Holidays throughout the year
- 9 Authors, 8 Schools and 4,683 children taking part in author events as part of Storyfest
- 75 Summer Reading Challenge Events with 2,031 total attendees
Oldham Theatre Workshop delivered:
- 474 workshops with 9,114 inclusive attendance
- 88 Live performances to a total audience of 3,578 people
- 32 Children and young people took part in The Not Forgotten
“Fantastic! We really enjoyed watching. Well done to everyone involved” “Fabulous Performance this afternoon” “Such a brilliant show, well done everyone!” (Feedback for the Not Forgotten)
BETTER JOBS & DYNAMIC BUSINESS
MAXIMISING RESOURCES:
- Hosted 2,267 partner delivered events
- Initiated 38 new partnership and service level agreements
- Was awarded £284,014 in project and capital grant funding
- 25 artists selling original works through HLA shop and events
INFORMATION AND DIGITAL
- 208,405 Digital loans
- 87,274 Online Database Sessions
- 95,299 PC sessions
- 76,408 Hours of PC use
- 49 Mobile devices
- 967 SIM cards with data were gifted
- 406 Chromebooks loaned
- 423 People attended a Digital course
- 92 People attended Lego Spike sessions
“I have no computer knowledge and [the Library staff member] manages to solve my problems in minutes. I have been to see him a few times and his help and support is invaluable” (Digital Drop-in)
For Business:
- 166 Business events with 399 cummulative attendees, including Build a Business coffee morning talks and themed workshops
- 10 Start up Huddle Sessions with 141 attendees
- “They have shown me how to use the resources available at the library for market research…. I have been overwhelmed how many contacts they have and been able to direct me to or make introduction to other services and people who are useful for my business.” (Jayshri Mistry – who set up Mindful Dove CIC with our support)
Healthy, Safe and Well supported residents
Health and Wellbeing
In 2024-24 we delivered:
- The Healthy New Year Festival: 7 Events across 2 days, with over 1,685 accumulated attendance
- 459 health and wellbeing workshops, author events, walks and classes with 5,490 recorded overall attendance
- 799 booked Sensory Room sessions and 37 Sensory Room showcase events
- And worked with 27 health specialist partners, including NHS, TOG Mind, Cancer Research UK, and Age Concern
“The workshop was excellent. Thoroughly enjoyed it. The food was delicious and the staff at the library were so warm and welcoming. It was a wonderful evening.” (Writing for Wellbeing Workshop)
Workforce Development
- 163 volunteers donated 9,449 hours of their time to support HLA offers
- HLA Staff completed 445 sector-relevant online courses
- 23 HLA Development Officers received professional social media training
Marketing and Advocacy and Community Outreach
- 7 Creativity & Cultural Forum events with 71 attendees, sharing creative, funding and networking opportunities for creators
- Monthly Artist newsletter with 194 distribution
- Monthly Love HLA newsletter received by 5,367 subscribers per month
- 31 Attendees to our School Steer Network meetings
- Launch of our new mobile printing offer with 1,054 items printed in the first 3 months
- 128,869 HLA Website and 14,117 OTW unique Website Visitors
- 33,592 HLA Social media followers
- 41 Outreach events with over 5,000 people reached
A Clean and Green Future
Environmentally Responsible
- 10 Exhibitions/Activities relating to Environmental Responsibility Awareness, with 29,332 combined attendance
- 2,587 Sustainable Library Cards issued with 257 entries into the competition to design our new card
- 29 HLA staff attended Carbon Literacy Training
- Shortlisted for CHWA People and Planet Award, for our World Wellbeing Map project
Things we are really proud of
Multiple Award Nominees!
- Highly commended in the British Book Awards Library of the year category
- National runners-up in the Libraries Connected Awards in the information and digital category
- Shortlisted for a Local Partnerships Operational Award for our work with Kajima on Storyfest and the Summer Reading Challenge
Hosted Konnie Huq in a Q&A session as part of the GM Festival of Libraries
Hosted CBeebies Musical Storyland Live performed by musicians from the BBC Philarmonic Orchestra with 111 attendees
Service User Soundbites
“Congratulations. People of Oldham are lucky to have this brilliant library. It’s well used.” (Oldham Library user)
“Such an amazing place with so much to offer for people of all ages! Well done to all the library team! You’re already number one in my eyes.”
“The Art class was the best one yet. It was AMAZING!”
“Absolutely stunning! What an amazing performance – so proud of all involved – art bringing people together in harmony! Bravo” (OTW Harmony Hall Performance
“Wow, what an amazing couple of days. Thank you so much again for having me. … I Really hope I can be involved in the next one” (Storyfest Author)
“I watched this at the Gallery Oldham with my 4 year old nephew before Christmas. It was fabulous” (Tales of the Toymender, OTW)