IN 2025/26, HERITAGE, LIBRARIES AND ARTS WELCOMED:
19,844 Oldham Theatre Workshop Participant and audience visits
729 visitors to the new Oldham Archives
131,643 event attendance – equivalent to more than half of all Oldhamers – across 5,268 events
35,464 social media followers
64,016 visitors to Gallery Oldham
854,826 visitors to Oldham Libraries – that’s the same as 3.40 visits per resident
“Oldham Library is a great asset to our town and it’s free! So thank you for valuing our heritage”
GREAT PLACE TO LIVE
COLLECTIONS & CREATIVITY AND CULTURE
- 15 Exhibitions,including ‘New Life in an Old Building’ with newly commissioned photos, and ‘Pick and Mix’ featuring work by young people from local schools
- 13 Gallery Talks with 427 attendees
- 8 Local History Groups and talks with 173 attendees
- Handled 1207 Local Studies and Archives enquiries, online, in-person and by phone, helping people discover their local and family history
- Worked with 26 artists and performers and commissioned 8 artists supporting new work by local creatives
- Ran 48 Adult Art Classes with 380 total attendance
- Screened 14 Small Cinema shows which attracted 551 people
- Staged 53 Live@theLibrary performance events, reaching audiences of 3,649 attendees
- Delivered 12 large-scale multi-location events with total attendance over 53,000
“Well, what a genuine treasure of a gallery visit yesterday was”
HEALTHIER HAPPIER LIVES
HEALTH & WELLBEING
In 2025/2026 we delivered:
- The Healthy New Year Festival: 10 events across 2 days, with over 1,982 accumulated attendance
- 115 health and wellbeing workshops, author events, walks and classes with 1,027 recorded overall attendance
- 746 booked Sensory Room sessions and 38 Sensory Room showcase events
- And worked with 25 health specialist partners, including Healthwatch, Oldham Macmillan Cancer, and Oldham Social Prescribing Team
“It was really relaxed, well organised, a nice activity at own pace, nice people, nice environment and it was free!” (Chatty Crafts attendee)
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
- 161 volunteers donated 5,797.18 hours of their time
- HLA Staff completed 694 sector-relevant online courses
- 72 HLA staff members received Poverty Proofing training for accessible service design & delivery
LITERACY & LEARNING
- 232,863 Physical Books borrowed: 47 % (109,709) Children’s Books; 53 % (123,154) Adult Books
- 82,817 eBooks and Digital Audiobooks borrowed
- 187 Adult and children’s readers and writers group sessions with 1,222 overall participation
- 12 Author talks with 339 attendees
- GM City of Literature Festival – 7 events and 150 attendees
- 1,848 Children started the Summer Reading Challenge with 876 completing
- 174 English Conversation Classes, with 4,014 attendance
Under 5s Offer
- 47 GO Baby and GO Explorer sessions with 1,954 cumulative attendance.
- 610 Bounce and Rhyme sessions with total attendance of 7,017 babies/toddlers and 7,656 parents/carers
- 22 Little Reads sessions with 1,072 attendees
- 298 other early years sessions with 8,041 accumalated attendance
“I loved Ali’s Big Day as much as the children’ (Development performance of Ali’s Big Day)
- Schools Engagement:
- 77 Schools and Colleges visited Gallery Oldham providing creative workshops for 2,376 children and young people
- 175 Class visits to Oldham libraries welcomed 3,992 children
- 269 new members joined during school visits
- 1,682 Children and adults attended 20 school and group performances of the Oldham Theatre Workshop Christmas show
- 2,186 children saw the Hansel and Gretel Christmas Show in their schools with 508 children taking part in follow-up workshops.
Informal Learning Activities for Children and Families:
- 7,922 total attendees accessed Summer, Winter and Easter holiday activities.
- 3,561 attendees at StoryFest, featuring 9 authors
- 95 Summer Reading Challenge Events with 3701 total attendees
Oldham Theatre Workshop delivered:
- 584 workshops with 14,034 inclusive attendance
- 72 Live performances to a total audience of 8,043 people
- 25 Children and young people travelled to Poland as part of a joint trip with Oldham Youth Council
- Co-Developed and delivered Flip It, a partnership project supporting pathways into employment for young people with SEND
“Oldham Theatre Workshop came to our school to perform Hansel and Gretel to years 3,4 and 5! It was an amazing morning with fantastic acting and the children loved every minute of it”
MARKETING AND ADVOCACY AND COMMUNITY OUTREACH:
- 5 Creativity & Cultural Forum events hosted to share creative and funding opportunities and nurture networking
- 7 School Steer Network meetings and CPD sessions
- Monthly Love HLA newsletter with 70,989 emails opened.
- Launched OPAC, a new network for teachers, educators and practitioners using performing arts as a medium
- Delivery of the OTW Satellite programme, taking theatre into communities across Oldham helping to remove barriers and increase engaement in the arts.
- 43,589 HLA Website and 54,900 OTW unique Website Visitors
- 24 Outreach events with over 4,532 people reached
INFORMATION AND DIGITAL
- 243,250 Digital loans
- 64,657 Online Database Sessions
- 82,835 PC sessions
- 66,551 Hours of PC Use
- New Inclusive Bytes sessions at 3 libraries providing digital help
- 418 Mobile devices and 965 SIM Cards with data gifted
- 512 People attended a Digital course
- 381 Chromebooks loaned
For Business:
- 204 Business events with 363 cumulative attendees, including Build a Business coffee morning talks and themed workshops
- 16 Build a Business Workshops with 142 attendees
- 103 business 1-1s assisting clients and offering advice in setting up new businesses
“I love all the activities especially the movie making”
“Great activities for the kids and something for everyone” (Digi-Fest attendees)
GREEN AND GROWING
MAXIMISING RESOURCES
- Hosted 1711 partner delivered events
- Initiated new partnerships with organisations including Stand and Be Counted Theatre, Mahdlo, and the NHS
- 13 artists selling original works through HLA shop and events
- Was awarded £152,690 in project and capital grant funding
ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIBLE
- New LED lighting fitted at Gallery Oldham to improve energy efficiency and lower costs, funded by Arts Council England.
- Creative workshops as part of the Flying the Flag for Green Libraries project, designed to raise awareness of climate change and our natural world. Oldham hosted the debuted exhibition before a tour across GM in 2026
- Exhibition Connecting Threads 2 – A partnership between artist Dr Lynn Setterington and English learners at Oldham Library to co-create The World Wellbeing Map, a monumental wellbeing embroidery made from recycled materials. The map has been exhibited at the London Gallery and shortlisted for the Cultural Health and Wellbeing Alliance award for healthy people and planet
PROJECT CASE EXAMPLE:
THINGS WE ARE REALLY PROUD OF
In November Toddler Takeover Day welcomed over 150 families. Children were able to contribute artwork which will feature in a new digital animation
In 2025-26 a number of our capital projects came to fruition with Northmoor reopening after refurbishment, and the new Archives centre opening, and the New Gallery in the JR Clynes building opened in Sept 2025
The first Oldham Performing Arts Network Youth Theatre Festival took place involving 10 schools and over 100 pupils
OTW Created and premiered a new musical, Chasing the Wind, in partnership with the British Heart Foundation, to raise awareness of the impact of heart transplantation and heart health on young people and families
Service User Soundbites
“Absolutely phenomenal you have done an excellent job yet again! Well done, you make us proud!” (new JR Clynes exhibition spaces)
“Wow, wow & wow! Visited the new gallery at Oldham Art gallery. Truly beautiful setting ”
The event was great lovely to see so many people attending, Thank you (Baby Fair stallholder)
The event was great, lovely to see so many people attending, Thank you (Baby Fair stallholder)
You’re so awesome and cool and thank you so much for this opportunity to be a part of this show (OTW OPAC Festival)
Brilliant. I never thought I would be so impressed by Bird photography (and moved)
You guys in the archives are amazing! Thank you so much for the information