Oldham Active Communities is built around a simple principle, we don’t wait for people to come to us, we go to them.
Across Oldham many residents experiencing some of the greatest health inequalities can be years away from entering a leisure centre or starting and structured physical activity.
Confidence, isolation, health conditions, cultures, homelessness, cost, perceived beliefs, even not having the ‘right clothing or footwear, can create barriers and a feeling that traditional leisure is ‘not for me’.
Our approach starts with trust, not exercise.
Working alongside community groups, residents, health professionals, Oldham Council, local business, schools, housing, care, emergency services, faith and the voluntary sector, we take health and wellbeing into the places people already know and trust.
Over the last 12 months, our core community provision alone generated 4,523 visits across 268 sessions/events, alongside major health events, outreach, volunteering and training.
What makes our approach different is what can happen by simply being there. A conversation, a chat or a hug can be the moment someone who has struggled for far too long receives support. That relationship can create a pathway into physical activity, NHS services or specialist support.
Our longstanding relationships across Oldham enable us to respond quickly, bringing partners together around individuals and communities instead of working in isolation.
The result is more than participation, earlier interventions, increased confidence, greater connection and stronger communities.
Oldham Active Communities demonstrates what leisure can achieve when it moves beyond its buildings and becomes part of the community itself.
Oldham Active Communities responds to a national challenge, the people who could benefit most from physical activity and preventative health support are often those facing the greatest barriers to accessing them.
Sports England’s Active Lives data demonstrates persistent inequalities in activity levels, particularly lined to deprivation, disability and long-term health conditions and ethnicity. This reinforces the need to work differently with communities experiencing multiple barriers.
Behind someone not being active can be poor health, poverty, loneliness, cultural barriers, homelessness, mental health, caring responsibilities, low confidence, safeguarding concerns or simply never feeling that leisure is somewhere they belong.
Our approach supports Oldham’s ambition for Healthier, Happier Lves including prevention, earlier help and stronger community connection. It also complements NHS approaches to reducing health inequalities and reaching communities experiencing deprivations, social exclusion and poor access to traditional services.
Our work starts much earlier than a leisure membership.
We work within the places and alongside the people communities already trust, supporting local priorities around prevention, reducing health inequalities, increasing physical activity, improving mental health and social interactions, strengthening communities and helping residents access support earlier.
Our approach is not about arriving in a community with a programme already designed. We listen first.
At Fatima Women’s Association, conversations with women aged 59-97 years young, identified pain management as important. This developed into gentle movement, nutrition support and health checks with 20 women completing checks within a setting they already trust.
At Werneth & Freehold similarly combined targeted women’s health checks with conversations around diabetes and healthy eating and exercise planned for outside which is not the norm within the community but now with trust built the ladies are happy to exercise outside, including their own walking group, also some have now progressed and joined Oldham Active’s women’s only gym.
Additionally, listening to women who told us menopause support is needed but the accessibility was always in the daytime and never in the evening or weekend, we responded by hosting the Oldham’s first dedication Menopause Evening on a Saturday evening at Oldham Leisure Centre.
It was a struggle to get this off the ground at the first planned date due to professionals’ availability & not fully committing, but with some more pushing and the kindness of the professionals we managed to host this event and 102 women booked on, with 78 women turned up, this has now led to monthly Menopause cafes being hosted across our leisure centres.
Our core community provision demonstrates sustained engagement during the year, including Parkinson’s provision, neighbourhood groups, Womens health, Friday Club and family provision.
Major activity extends their reach further including 600+ residents at our annual Oldham Health & Wellbeing Event, 300+ at Healthy Baby, Happy You, 250+ at the Healthy New Year Festival and 400 attendees at the Mama Health & Poverty Partnership
Event at Oldham Leisure Centre, Give, Support, Healing-centred spaces, cultural celebrations, wellbeing sessions, and community talks with a focus on Black African and migrants.
Our longstanding partnerships across communities, NHS services, Oldham Council, housing, education, emergency services, businesses and the voluntary sector mean we can respond quickly. Rather than simply signposting, wherever possible we connect the right people around an individual or community.
The impact is not measured through attendance alone. It is earlier health conversations, increased confidence and knowledge, social connection, community leadership, progression into activity, greater community resilience and people feeling able to ask for help.
We don’t define successful engagement simply as getting somebody through a leisure centre door, we define it as earning enough trust for someone to take their next step.
Our ambition is to develop this work into an increasingly connected community prevention model that is sustainable, measurable and capable of growing.
Community Hubs will continue taking health, wellbeing and physical activity into trusted community settings, while developing work with Family Hubs and Live Well will strengthen connections between leisure, community organisations, health services and neighbourhood based prevention.
Sustainability doesn’t simply mean Oldham Active delivering more, it means leaving stronger communities behind.
The introduction of Volunteero, alongside Active Kindness, will strengthen how we recruit, support, recognise and develop volunteers. Our Community Health Champions will further increase local knowledge and confidence, enabling trusted local people to support prevention within their communities.
Our offer will continue responding to identified need, including women’s and men’s health, cardiovascular health, healthy ageing, dementia and brain health, mental wellbeing and wider health inequalities.
We will also strengthen our evidence, capturing not only attendance but referrals, behaviour change, community stories, partnership outcomes and social value.
The model is scalable because scaling does not mean delivering the same programme everywhere. It means replicating the principles
• Listen locally
• Build trust
• Understand the barriers
• Connect the right partners
• Respond together
Our ambition is to demonstrate what a charitable leisure trust can contribute to place, not simply operating facilities but becoming part of the social infrastructure that helps communities become healthier, stronger and more connected.
