Cultural Services annual report April 2023 – March 2024
Foreword
Welcome to the Cultural Service's Annual Report for 2023-2024. As always there is an enormous amount of work to celebrate this year, and everyone involved within the service should be very proud of what has been achieved. I know that I am incredibly proud of what we have all achieved, working with a wide range of partners, and collaborating effectively to increase our offer.
The focus for last year revolved around three priorities: sustaining services, audience development and continuing to develop the quality of our services. The report highlights the work that has been undertaken to deliver on these three priorities and examples such as the successful funding grants from the National Heritage Lottery and Arts Council England highlight how the funding has impacted positively towards developing our services.
We are proud to support our communities by offering a wide range of volunteering opportunities for 11 years upwards. This unique offer allows individuals to gain confidence and experience especially if they are seeking employment. As a service we recognise the importance and value of culture in supporting children as they start out in life, and we have contributed through our various reading programmes and events to improve their options in life so they have the literacy skills to succeed.
Cultural Services do understand their communities and the different elements of those communities who require different information, support and cultural activities at different times. The statistical information provided in this report showcases the impressive offer available and how it impacts to enable our communities to enjoy everything that living in Lancashire has to offer. We definitely enrich everyone's lives in Lancashire which is our aim, and this supports the vision of Lancashire County Council in helping to "make Lancashire the best place to live, work, visit and prosper."
Julie Bell
Head of Cultural Services
Lancashire County Council
Lancashire Libraries
Lancashire has 64 static libraries serving a population of circa 1.52 million residents. The Harris library, run by Preston City Council on our behalf, is currently closed for major refurbishment, but a temporary space is delivering a much-valued service.
In 2023-24
- Libraries delivered 26,576
- Loaned 3,202,594
- 2,880,307 eBooks/newspapers/magazines were downloaded.
Lancashire Libraries have helped tackle digital poverty as part of the National Databank scheme. The National Databank provides free SIM cards from Virgin Media O2, Vodafone and Three. The SIM cards have mobile data, minutes and text and are available to those in digital poverty. We have gifted 245 SIM cards to the most vulnerable in Lancashire, all of which have been supported by our dedicated and professional library staff.
We developed a STEM activities programme, delivered by a network of STEM Champions based in libraries across the county. The STEM Champions develop new activities to engage and inspire residents of all ages in science, technology and coding, and to support and encourage all staff in libraries to offer high quality STEM-based sessions. This initiative was supported by a commitment in each library's business plan to host regular STEM activities, with weekly sessions in the larger libraries and monthly sessions in the smaller libraries. The programme will continue to develop in 2024/25, with new resources and closer ties with the Reading Heroes summer reading scheme.
'Warm & welcome' ran from October 2023 until end of March 2024. Access to warm drinks once again have been well received especially in larger town centre libraries and areas of deprivation. This year more young people have accessed warm drinks after school/college, giving them the opportunity to see what our libraries have on offer for them including free Wi-Fi / digital resources and books. Homeless people have also appreciated the access to hot drinks and a warm, welcoming, and safe environment.
One of our commitments following last year’s report, was to offer a range of shadowing opportunities within the service for staff to access. The feedback we received included how it improved knowledge and understanding of frontline management roles and provided a better appreciation of how frontline staff use and promote the stock with our customers. Staff who shadowed an Operational Library Manager told us this offered insight into management roles and enabled a more informed understanding of the whole library service. Staff also felt it gave them networking opportunities which could open doors to professional development.
"Great fun and learning at the same time!"
Parent customer, Ormskirk Library.
“It was so lovely to see all the children having fun making things, and excited about the science behind it.” Parent customer, Fleetwood Library.
‘I absolutely love attending the Men’s Club. I look forward to it every week and it’s really made a difference to my life. I wouldn’t normally come to something like this. They’re a great bunch, really friendly. Thank you so much for putting this on.’
Dave, Chorley Library Men’s Club member.
"The Rainbows and Brownies really enjoyed the session, they were really engaged and couldn't wait to get their cards and visit the library themselves". Brown Owl, 1st Rossendale on a visit to the Rainbows and Brownies group by staff from Whitworth Library.
Home Library Service (HLS)
The Home Library Service deliver books and more to customers who can't get to the library. Our staff choose a selection of books, audio books, films, and music which volunteers deliver, providing not just the items but a friendly face, a chance to chat, as well as social interaction.
In 2023-24
We have developed partnership work to extend our services, promote our offers and to develop our group of volunteers. We have worked with partners in the Lancashire County Council Age Well team to provide Home Library Service in some Extra Care Scheme housing, this was delivered in Whitworth, Ingol and Accrington and something we want to extend in the coming year. We have worked with the Cultural Development team to promote HLS at wellbeing events, attending events in libraries and at outreach events. We have developed safeguarding with regards to volunteers and customers by working with Lancashire Volunteer Partnership to ensure our safeguarding policy and training is up to date.
538 customers received HLS per month, whilst 4,406 homes were visited to provide the HLS service. An average of 79 volunteers provided HLS support each month.
"Having these books delivered is a real lifeline to me. It keeps me going seeing as I can't get out and about. A big thank you to all of the staff who select them and to Peter for delivering them and always taking the time to stop for a chat." HLS customer.
"I don't know what I would do without my talking books. They take me to another place. Hearing such a cheery voice on the phone and Hilary is just wonderful, this has changed my life." HLS customer.
"The borrowers are so grateful for their books, it's a lifeline and a connection to the outside world". HLS Volunteer.
"I work within the social prescribing team. We have a client who lives in Great Harwood and is housebound as he is living with stage 4 Cancer and was very lonely and isolated. One of the things the social prescriber signposted him into was the library at home service. She visited the client last week and he thanked her for letting him know about the service as he said it has been brilliant and Rachel the volunteer has been really lovely. I wanted to give you the feedback for her as we and our clients are really grateful for your service."
Social Prescriber.
Mobile Libraries
The Mobile library service has continued to provide a library service to the rural parts of Lancashire, providing a lifeline to those who do not have a static library near to where they live. With over 600 stops, Mobile Libraries reach many customers providing stock and resources, information and guidance and promoting library service offers.
In 2023-24
We developed our outreach work using Mobile Libraries to promote the service, expand our universal offers and work in partnership to deliver initiatives such as Lancashire Stories and Reading Heroes. This was achieved through attendance at various outreach events. We delivered presentations in Village Halls, attended Gawthorpe Hall family days, attended the Councillors Conference at County Hall and hosted a 'Lancashire Stories' author for a day on the Mobile Library providing extra stops and author talks.
An average of 1,934 customers visited our mobiles each month, and an average of 374 stops was provided by our mobiles each month.
"I love seeing everybody and having a chat, it's the only time I see anybody local and catch up with the community things." Mobile Library customer.
"The kids love coming on the mobile, they really look forward to it, choosing and stamping their books, the library's more fun on wheels." Mobile Library customer.
Prison Libraries
This year we have continued to develop our services under new regimes and ways of working across five prison libraries. This comes with challenges when working with five different prison regimes and Governors. We have continued to provide a service providing access to books, literature, information, wellbeing resources, learning resources plus much more for men in prison within Lancashire.In 2023-24
We have been committed to delivering the universal offers across our prison libraries; providing opportunities to improve and promote reading with storybook dads, raising readers and prison reading groups among other initiatives. We've worked with Lancashire Adult Learning to provide sessions to help with Health & Wellbeing. We helped with the development and implementation of the use of laptops within some prisons. We have provided culture and creativity opportunities with displays and sessions for Gypsy, Roma Traveller month and worked with The Harris on an art project. We continually help with research and provide a variety of information for prisoners who have limited options for information gathering.
"In my journey at HMP XX earned the ability to choose my next role, so chose my passion for books to join the library (I am currently on book 1123 in 33 months). The library at HMP XX is a haven of normality in the HMP environment. A place of welcome and variety of services where you are treated like a person individual and not a number. A place where real support and trust is freely given." Prisoner.
"This is a tribute to the staff who make it a haven for all and a great place to work, who go above and beyond for all who come through the doors, providing so much more than books and DVDs." Prisoner.
Museums
Our public museums enable people to explore the history of Lancashire. We operate Judges’ Lodgings in Lancaster, Queen Street Mill in Burnley, and Helmshore Mills in Rossendale and Gawthorpe Hall in Padiham, which is a National Trust property. We provide guided tours at Lancaster Castle and manage Clitheroe Castle Museum on behalf of Ribble Valley Borough Council.
In 2023-24
We delivered a vibrant public programme and supported the annual Heritage Open Day and 'Fun Palaces' events. The cafés at Queen Street Mill and Helmshore Mills have also become popular with local communities and groups taking part in craft activities. Overall, we welcomed 118,237 visitors to our museums and heritage tours, including 11,196 as part of schools' visits led by our Heritage Learning Team or site teams. We had 102,873 visitors to our webpages. A new permanent exhibition 'Gillows of Lancaster: A Global Story' opened at Judges' Lodgings funded by the Art Fund and Regional Furniture Society. This explores the story of famous cabinetmaker Gillows of Lancaster and London, and the people involved. From making cabinets and coffins in Lancaster to becoming high end British furniture designers and makers. This includes how enslaved Africans in the Caribbean were used to supply the mahogany used by Gillows.
Conservation and Collection Team
The Conservation and Collection Team undertake the specialist curatorial, conservation, technical and design support for museums, Cultural Services, and the public. We interpret and care for museum collections and heritage to make it as accessible as possible to our communities. We upskill museum staff, heritage professionals and the public in collection care and preservation objects to tell the storey of Lancashire's rich heritage.
In 2023-24
The decant of the large object store in Preston was undertaken by the core curatorial and conservation and technical team. Over 110,000 objects were moved from Preston to Leyland between March – June 2023. This project allowed us to review collections and to plan a new strategy to increase access to these important large objects, agricultural and technology collections. It is envisaged that these will become 'storage on display' at Queen Street Mill, Burnley and in Preston in coming years.
Blackpool's newest visitor attraction 'Showtown' opened in March 2024. The Conservation & Collections team undertook work on a range of museum objects for this venue, including Mary Copperfield's Tiger and the costume from the clown Charlie Cairoli. Items from our own Northern Comedy Collections are also on display.
The new 'Gillows Gallery' at Judges Lodgings, Lancaster replaces the 1992 display about the history of Gillow furniture in Lancashire. This has been a collaborative project with all the specialists of the team working with the museum service to deliver a reinterpretation of Gillow furniture manufacture and history within a contemporary context including linking to new artworks commissioned from Leila Harris as part of Facing the Past project. The permanent display was developed and delivered over 12 months with the installation of the exhibition in June 23.
Heritage Learning Lancashire
Are a multi award winning cultural learning and education organisation, providing learning programmes for the primary, secondary, further, and higher education sectors. Delivered within our museums, libraries, archives, and as outreach into various learning and education establishments. The team also provide family learning, teacher training/professional development, bespoke projects, consultancy, and a range of public programme events.In 2023-24
We launched the 'Crime Through Time' Learning Session at Lancaster Castle at the request of the Duchy of Lancashire and in association with LCC Lancaster Castle. In addition, we introduced the new STEM special events week 'Castle Crushers' at Clitheroe Castle Museum investigating the use of science and technology in medieval siege warfare. Our new 'Transfer of Power' STEM session at Queen Street Mill was created to understand 'How things work'. From Sept - Dec 2023 we delivered over 60 outreach sessions working with over 2,600 pupils.
On the digital front, we have been developing a stop animation session at Helmshore Mills Textile Museums, and our ‘Whole lot of History’ podcast witnessed three new episodes going live, with more on the way.
We ran the second year of the 'Lancashire Schools Magic Fest' using the art of magic to develop numeracy and literacy, and other soft skills. We are also delighted to have delivered over sixty teacher training sessions this year.
Lancashire Archives
Lancashire Archives and Local History collects and preserves the County’s unique collections of archives, making them available in person and online for exploring personal, family and community history. We are an Accredited Archive Service as designated by The National Archives and supported by an amazing team of volunteers and the Friends of Lancashire Archives.
In 2023-24
We secured a £222,000 investment from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Friends of Lancashire Archives for the 'Keeping East Lancashire in the Picture' project working with photographic collections in East Lancashire libraries. We have supported over 100 volunteers contributing over 3500 hours of their time to our collections and digitisation projects, and modernised local history facilities at Chorley Library including a Windrush 75 exhibition working with Chorley Heritage Centre Group. The 'Clarets Collected' project was launched working with new collections relating to Burnley Football Club and secured external investment for a project officer post.Lancashire Archives accepted 170 new collections into the Archives and created 77,000 new public catalogue records. We also welcomed over 5,000 people to 144 events, activities and school visits, including Fun Palaces, Heritage Open Days and our Christmas Craft Market.
We developed a new programme of exhibitions working with Lancashire Museums Conservation and Collections team, culminating in the launch of Shaping the Future: Lancashire Women's Lives, 1950-1980.
School Library Service
Lancashire School Library Service provides library and reading support to early years' settings, primary, special, academy and independent schools. Subscriptions are delivered through a Service Level Agreement. Lancashire School Library Service offers a complete range of reading and library services, from resourcing book collections to creating exciting libraries and reading spaces.In 2023-24
We loaned 59,564 books to primary, special and nursery schools, and 19,034 pupils were engaged in reading and learning activities offered by the Service. Lancashire School Library Service held their first Fantastic Book Awards and Brilliant Book Award celebration event at University of Central Lancashire. Nearly 300 children attended the exciting celebration event and saw the winning authors and illustrators receive their awards. Lancashire School Library Service provided a 5-month work experience placement for a young person as part of the 'Project Search' supported internship scheme. Using the Social Value Fund from Peters, Lancashire School Library Service were able to organise and offer a multi-school ‘Meet the Author’ event with ‘Wildsmith’ author, Liz Flanagan. 5 Preston primary schools attended and around 140 pupils took part. As part of the Fantastic Book Awards offer, over 800 pupils attended virtual author visits.
"My class loved the variety of the books (BBA) and the variety of the activities they could complete alongside reading them. They were thrilled with the idea of voting for an author and enjoyed the videos the authors added to the website." On Brilliant Book Award.
"The team at the School Library Service continue to provide high-quality resources, delivered with expertise, knowledge, enthusiasm and understanding of literature to help us grow our whole school reading culture." Teacher.
Lancashire Music Service
Lancashire Music Service provides tuition to meet the needs of young people wishing to learn a musical instrument and sing. Nine Music Centres offer ensembles from beginner to intermediate levels. The five County Ensembles: two Symphony Orchestras; Jazz Orchestra; a Concert and Brass Band, provide opportunities for our advanced musicians. Performance opportunities are available to all pupils at every stage of their musical journey.
In 2023-24
The 'Girls Can' project which encourages young female musicians and technicians aged 12-18, to build confidence by providing opportunities to learn from female music industry professionals, held one of their workshops with Manchester based punk band Loose Articles who are due to support Foo Fighters in 2024. Amplify, our Youth Voice group, attended the Citizen’s Assembly event in Birmingham, organised by Music for Youth. They helped to develop a manifesto for music education to be presented to government. Our SEND strategy and has helped to create an accessible instruments library with a wide a range of instruments designed for SEND pupils. Use of technology to support instrumental tuition has continued to grow with over 12,949 hours of digitally supported teaching and 10,180 new students being provided with access to online learning. Teachers across schools amassed 21,884 hours of vocal activity to support the model music curriculum which has singing at the centre of learning.
Lancashire Outdoor Education Service
Our approach at Lancashire Outdoor Education is to use the outdoors to learn about ourselves, others, and the environment. We want people to try new things outside their comfort zone and explore their potential, making lifelong memories. We offer a broad range of outdoor experiences, primarily to schools but also for youth and uniformed groups, families, and corporate groups.
In 2023 – 24
Lancashire Outdoor Education continued to increase the reach and impact of our delivery. Achievements include a 98% satisfaction against our seven brand promises encompassing activities, accommodation, and core business offer. 6,500 participants and 288 schools came to our centres as part of their year, engaging in an outdoor experience, furthering our reach and impact as a contribution towards young people’s education across Lancashire.
Central Support Teams
Information Development Team
We work with colleagues across Cultural Services to develop and deliver digital services to our customers, provide access to reliable information, and support the development of our workforce and work systems. The team also works with internal and external partners to support the development of multi-media resources and training materials.In 2023 – 24
We developed and launched a new What's On event listing booking system. We listed over 2,000 events including 13 paid events which generated sales of £716. We supported wider communications through e-Marketing and social media, and supported the corporate printer rollout in libraries, museums, archives, and registration services. We rolled out Assisted Digital training packages for Courts and Tribunals, and Voter ID, and working with libraries supported the distribution of 500 SIM cards as part of a project with the Lancashire Digital Skills Partnership to tackle digital poverty.
Team members have worked with libraries to develop a range of new STEM activities and we have supported the development and implementation of the online mobile library map so customers can find out where their nearest stop is. Work has also begun on the migration of shared drives to SharePoint and compliance of e-Commerce, and we have completed work on the library management system, including new staff logins and a data cleansing exercise.
Cultural Development Team
The Cultural Development Team support Cultural Services and the wider cultural sector to offer dynamic programmes to engage our customers and communities in quality cultural, health and reading activities. We also work in partnership with strategic sector stakeholders including Arts Council England and the Reading Agency.
In 2023-24
We launched 'Reading Heroes' as the children's summer reading scheme which saw 9,420 children across Lancashire signing up. 42% completed the scheme and a total of 22,535 books were read alongside the range of activities in libraries, museums, and archives.
Our new Early Years scheme 'Little Steps' was launched in libraries, based on the principles of chat, play, read and learn. It has seen over 3,500 children register and received the 2024 Family Learning Award for Early Years.
Crowdfund Lancashire supported 82 successful projects, bringing amazing culture and health and wellbeing projects to Lancashire communities. Eligible projects are supported by Lancashire County Council's Lancashire Culture & Sport Fund, of up to 50% of their project target. Over £544,000 was contributed by the Lancashire Culture & Sport Fund to community arts and sport projects, which levered an additional £840,000 in funding from local people, businesses and both local and national funders. Overall, over £1.3m has been raised by community projects across the county.
Library Friends groups continue to grow with three new groups setting up this year. Kirkham Friends supported improvements to the library garden. Leyland Friends helped to organise a 'Libraries of Sanctuary' event with over 100 members of the community attending. Barrowford Friends supported their library 'Fun Palace' event, raising £150, and through their advertising helped significantly raise the footfall and library signups on the day. We also launched a new Online Friends platform on MS Teams, to help our Friends' Groups stay more connected.
Lancashire Choir of the Year was held for the second year with choirs from all over Lancashire applying to take part. The grand live final at Lancaster University Great Hall saw exceptional performances from the six finalists and the winners, Nelson Civic Ladies' Choir announced. A brand-new competition Lancashire Artist of the Year 2023 was launched aimed at celebrating the artistic talents of Lancashire's residents. Voted for by the public the winner was Martin Williamson, for his beautiful artwork 'Lytham Hall Gateway'. Calendars with all twelve finalists' works were sold in cultural service venues raising £2,725 to support activities for Lancashire young care leavers.
Our young volunteer Culture Hack offer gives opportunities to gain valuable experience by volunteering with Cultural Services. This year they have used their skills and enthusiasm to support many of our library reading programmes and activities and we arranged an away day for Culture Hacks to Hothersall Lodge in August. We are continuing to develop this role with around 130 Culture Hacks across Lancashire.
We successfully secured funding to deliver the 'Know Your Neighbourhood' Project in the Burnley area. This national project aims to widen participation in volunteering and tackle loneliness in 27 disadvantaged areas across England. The project, running until March 2025, will allow the development a range of activities to increase volunteering opportunities and engage people at risk of loneliness and social isolation.
Library Resources Team
The resources team contribute to the success of the library service through careful selection of stock to make sure we get value for money for every book we buy. We monitor our success through issue and stock turnover figures and by listening to operational colleagues. We advise and support staff across a range of areas including stock management, requests and Inter-Library loans.
In 2023-24
We have continued to train and develop staff in branch to help them make the best use of their book collections. We have continued to develop and invest in the fiction and non-fiction reserve at Skelmersdale library to ensure we have as wide and diverse range of stock as possible with particular emphasis on popular backlist titles, award winning books as well as building up our collections of LGBTQ+, Holocaust and Black History titles. We work with colleagues in libraries and the Cultural Development Team to support events and activities such as 'Make Music Day' and 'Lancashire Choir of the Year'. We are continuing to review and refresh our non-English language stock to meet the changing needs of our communities. We provide advice and guidance on systems and cataloguing and have worked with colleagues in LCC Exchequer Services as well as external suppliers to manage the transition to Oracle fusion.
Business Support
The Business Support team supports Cultural Services colleagues with all service projects and normal business delivery requirements.
In 2023-24
We have supported and enabled suppliers and colleagues to navigate procurement changes whilst also changing our working practices in-line with a new council system enabling us to process over 3,600 orders and financial transactions for Cultural Services colleagues.
We have planned, organised, monitored, and distributed all 'warm and welcome' supplies to support this key winter libraries' offer. We have arranged the change in supplier for withdrawn stock and implemented new processes across the library service to ensure all daily internal resource movement is completed to support frontline delivery. We have processed over 7,000 library membership changes and over 5,100 new library members, and have orchestrated the updating of publicity, across all 64 libraries, to incorporate the new LCC branding. Throughout 2023 we have administered over 250 appointments to the service.
Spotlight Projects in 2023-24
Archives - Keeping East Lancashire in the Picture
This is a two-year project, led by Lancashire Archives and Local History which aims to make the collections of historic photographs in East Lancashire Libraries more accessible, sustainable, and representative.
Since December 2023, supported by Lancashire Volunteer Partnership, project staff have recruited and trained 65 volunteers across Accrington, Burnley, Nelson and Colne libraries, where new workspaces have been created and IT equipment installed. Our wonderful new volunteers have already spent a total of 1500 hours listing and digitising the collections so that everybody can enjoy the images on the Red Rose Collections website.
The project will also provide opportunities for people to get together in their local library and explore the history of where they live. There will also be engagement work with primary schools and community groups, and everybody will be invited to explore the collections, create a response to them and share what they have made and learned. An important project aim is to bring the collections up to date so that they reflect the experiences of those who live in the area now, particularly people of Asian heritage.
All of this is possible thanks to a grant of £192k from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and an additional £30k from the Friends of Lancashire Archives.
Clarets Collected
Prompted by the donation of his collection of memorabilia by Dave Thomas (Burnley FC "super-fan" and author of over twenty books on the club), Clarets Collected is bringing together a fan-led archive collection at Burnley Library. Fundraising by the Friends of Lancashire Archives and a grant from the Government's Know Your Neighbourhood scheme has enabled the recruitment of a project officer who is maximising the outreach potential of the collection in a town that loves its football club.
A team of ten volunteers has been recruited to help list and digitise the donated items – match programmes, scrapbooks, photographs etc - and every Saturday home match day, there is a public drop-in session, at which people can explore the history their club and enjoy the latest exhibition. There are craft activities for younger fans and table football and Subbuteo for young and old alike!
We are also very pleased to offer a free primary school session in partnership with Burnley Football Club in the Community. This consists of a session at Burnley Library exploring the heritage of The Clarets followed by a walk up to Turf Moor for a stadium tour.
Conservation and Collections Team New Partnership working
2023-24 saw the development of a new partnership with Lancashire Archives. Linking with our specialist design & technical team the Lancashire Archives we have developed a new temporary exhibition space at the Archives on Bow Lane, Preston. The first exhibition (July to December 2023) The Shaping the Future: Lancashire Women's Lives, 1950-1980 exhibition looked at Lancashire women at work, in politics and civic society, in entertainment and recreation, home lives and fashion.
Pride of the Pitch chronicles Preston's footballing icons, from the Invincibles of the 1880s, Dick Kerr Ladies of the early 20th Century through to Tom Finney to tell a story of pride in Preston – pride of the place, pride on the pitch and pride in our communities and opened March 2024. These exhibitions provide a new venue for our collections and an opportunity to work with partners such as The Harris Museum and the National Football Museum.
Facing the Past – Black Lancastrians
In 2023 Judges' Lodgings Museum revealed the results of its work as part of the 'Facing the Past' project, a collaboration between Lancaster Black History group, Judges' Lodgings Museum, The Institute For Black Atlantic Research at UCLan, Sociology at Lancaster University and local schools. 'Black Lancastrians' – a Portrait Exhibition by artist Lela Harris was opened by Turner Prize winner Lubaina Himid. The six new portraits highlight the lives of Black Lancastrians who lived in the area in the 1700s when Lancaster was Britain's fourth largest slave trading port. The portraits show Thomas Anson, Frances Elizabeth Johnson, John Chance, Isaac Rawlinson, ‘Ebo Boy’ and Molly and sit alongside portraits of individuals who benefited from slavery.
Accompanying the exhibition was work by school children who got the chance to work with Lela Harris. They created their own portraits of the boy known in records as 'Ebo Boy' who had lost his true identity. The children helped to give him a new name to reflect his African heritage and life story, Afamefuna. This means ‘my name will not be lost’ in the Igbo language. The project was funded by grants from the Art Fund, and the Association of Independent Museums and National Lottery Heritage Fund. It was also shortlisted for the Decolonising Museums Award by the Museum Association's 2023 Museum Change Lives Award.
Fantastic Book Awards and Brilliant Book Award 2023 - First annual Celebration event.
The first Fantastic Book Awards and Brilliant Book Award celebration event was organised by Lancashire School Library Service in partnership with UCLan's library and IT department. Nearly 300 children attended the exciting celebration event and met the winning authors and illustrators. During the selection process, thousands of children from years 2, 5 and 6 voted for their preferred books and illustrations, shared stories and got the chance to meet the authors and illustrators. The awards are aimed at encouraging a love of reading for pleasure while also promoting independent reading and motivating pupils to read more widely. Following the celebration event in May 2023, it was time to launch the awards for 2023 – 24 and a successful launch for Fantastic Book Award (FBA) 2023 - 24 took place in September 2023, where we were joined by the author, Phil Earle. The Brilliant Book Award for 2024 was launched in January by the author Susannah Lloyd.
"We have found FBA inspiring, and it has encouraged us to read more. We have had the opportunity to read books that we might not have chosen before. We liked doing the activities based on the books." Teacher.
Fun Palaces
Fun Palaces is an annual weekend of events where arts, crafts, science, tech and digital are a catalyst for community engagement and fun participation for everyone. In October 2023 we held 23 Fun Palaces in Cultural Services venues, including libraries, museums, and Lancashire Archives to celebrate the 10th Anniversary.
We invited local communities and organisations to help plan and run sessions that were free to visitors, offering a chance to learn something new or try something a bit different whilst sharing the space as a community. We had a fantastic range of activities going on and welcomed 8,756 visitors to our venues.
Instrument 'petting zoos', wildflower planting, textile workshops, giant chess, pottery throwdown, Chinese calligraphy, Morris dancing, Morse Code (on an original Morse Code machine!), Lego building and even goo making! were just some of the activities available to visitors. Once again Lancashire Adult Learning supported many venues with a range of learning sessions, and Music Service tutors ran some fun instrumental activities for children and families.
"We had a fabulous time. Such a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. We have all now got a library card." Rawtenstall Fun Palace Library visitor.
"There was such a lovely generous community atmosphere. Members of each group complimenting members of the other groups. A lovely experience." Longridge Library Fun Palace visitor.
Lancashire Outdoor Education enhancing the customer experience
All three outdoor education centres; Borwick Hall, Hothersall Lodge and Tower Wood have been working to further enhance and modernise the customer experience. The centres have made improvements in their drying and storage facilities to ensure our customers start each day ready for the weather outside. Ropes courses have been rebuilt and improved giving increased access to high adrenaline options. Tower Wood and Hothersall Lodge are also awaiting delivery of electric minibuses ensuring we are investing in Lancashire's future to experience our surroundings using transport with minimal environmental impact and securing this legacy for future generations.
Lancashire Schools' Storytelling Festival: Heritage Learning Lancashire
The Lancashire Schools' Storytelling Festival celebrates the ancient art of storytelling whilst supporting literacy and encouraging young people to engage and be creative with words and movement. Storytelling has a place in every culture and every culture has its own stories. Myths and legends that have developed over time to become part of the rich fabric of life. These stories give a sense of identity, a sense of belonging, an understanding of what went before. These stories engage and entertain.The primary focus of this project is to examine folk tales as a connection to our cultural heritage and encourage not only the celebration of existing stories but the creation of new ones. It is open to all Lancashire County Council Schools.
Now in its third year the festival has embraced the folklore of Lancashire and Ireland so far and in 2023-24 we took our cultural inspiration from Wales. The programme involves workshops, professional development for teachers and the opportunity for young people to stand up and tell the stories that have been created. We are committed to encouraging young people to embrace the idea of storytelling to engage with literacy whilst engendering creativity and confidence.
Lancashire's Young Musicians shine
On Sunday 17 March 2024, 120 young musicians aged six to eighteen, spent the day working with 20 students from the Royal Conservatoire Birmingham and professors Dougie Mitchell and Richard Shrewsbury, Head of Learning and Participation. The day culminated in a spectacular concert, held at Ormskirk High School and was a sellout, with nearly 200 parents and invited guests attending. Music from folk, classical and rock genres, was performed being professionally arranged and premiered by Lancashire's young musicians. The event was organised by Jay Hall, Progression and Ensembles Lead for Lancashire Music Service and supported on the day by music service teachers and parent volunteers. There was a great atmosphere throughout the day, with the young musicians having an amazing experience.This feedback sums up comments received after the event:
"We just wanted to say a huge thank you for the experience and memories you gave our children today. Words cannot express what a phenomenal performance the young people gave after their workshops. Incredible! Many thanks for the musical opportunities in Lancashire".
Library Reserve Collection
The Library Reserve Collection is an amazing resource for Lancashire Library members, with over 32,000 titles available, including many in large print and as spoken word.
Library Stock Officers and branch staff have been busy developing the collection, held at Skelmersdale Library. The focus is making sure that library members have access to titles that will stand the test of time and that borrowers will want to read now and, in the future, but which may not be part of the current lending offer in branches, particularly smaller libraries.
This collection is vital to providing a comprehensive requests service to borrowers and reduces our need to loan books from library authorities outside Lancashire. By taking care of our books and investing where we can we are building a collection for the use and enjoyment of Lancashire residents for many years to come.
The collection includes longlists and shortlists of major writing prizes such as the Booker Prize as well as full collections of popular authors. We've also focused on collecting books which will be important for future generations to have access to relating to Black History, LGBTQ+ and Holocaust/Genocide themes and we will acquire books specifically for the collection when we feel that there is an important new title published.
Mobiles are on the Map!
Working with colleagues in the Information Development Team and Digital Services, Mobile Library managers developed a webpage detailing the current Mobile Library stops and routes. It was launched at the Lancashire County Councillors' Conference at County Hall in November 2023. The website can be viewed by clicking 'find your nearest stop' on our Mobile Library page: Mobile library - Lancashire County Council. Mobile Library - Stops
Prison Libraries and Lancashire Stories
Working with the Cultural Development team and author Nathan Parker we promoted the 'Lancashire Stories' book to Prison Libraries. A story written by Nathan is included in the book. Workshops and talks were arranged with the workshops focussing on writing, creativity, and spoken word. Nathan talked about his childhood and his journey into writing and self-publishing his books. He gave a motivational speech on the possibilities of writing to anyone who might be involved in this type of pathway and captivated the audience made up of prisoners and staff. He was inspirational and entertaining with his style of poetry, and he touched the hearts of many in the audience. For most people this would be considered a 'tough gig' but Nathan was up for the challenge and took it in his stride. His delivery and stories captured the interest of the men and they remained fully engaged throughout. The second half of the sessions involved the men collectively penning their own verses with a rap style effect. This was an optional extra but all men at the sessions chose to stay and be involved. Nathan has received amazing feedback from the audience. He told us how much he enjoyed doing the visits and working with the prison libraries."He was very inspirational in the way he came across to everyone, it was a great experience to have him here and he connected with people well. His poetry was entertaining and definitely touched the hearts of the crowd who had come to listen to him, a larger than expected one at that." Prison library staff member.
"An enjoyable time was had by all and we thank him for taking the time to come and present his work and open our minds to the possibility of taking a path we might not have ever considered previously." Prisoner.
Rochdale Town Hall Redevelopment
The second phase of the Rochdale Townhall works was completed, and the building opened to the public on 11 March 2024. These works have been part of a major multimillion pound renovation project. Since 2021 specialist painting conservators have been working at Rochdale Town Hall undertaking the conservation cleaning of the Victorian decorative schemes and paintings. The Conservation and Collections Team have also undertaken three specialist heritage skills training programmes upskilling volunteers to support and promote the heritage of the building. These courses were very successful and increased the confidence and abilities of the participants, some of whom have continued onto further education. The Conservation and Collections Team continue to work on phase 3 and will be working on the Old Court Room and the Mayor's meeting room with an expected completion date in June 2024.
Supporting SEND families
A review of how we support SEND children, young people and their families has started in 2024. Some of the current ways we are supporting these families includes; Our School Library Service has a new accessible Book Bus for exchange of stock and is equipped with a wheelchair lift, enabling easy access for all pupils. Resources such as story sacks/Bag books can include multi-sensory stories and workshops can be adapted to suit individual schools' requirements. Lancashire Music Service has created an accessible instruments library with a wide a range of instruments designed for SEND pupils.In libraries, we offer 'Library Quiet Hours' during which each library creates a calm atmosphere by muting barcode scanners, reducing lighting where possible, and ensuring that there are no events running. Sensory Tents and equipment are available which can be used to create a quiet, calm area for children to enjoy. Libraries also offer the Reading Well for Children reading programme to support children’s mental health and wellbeing. The collection can help children understand their feelings and worries, cope with tough times and cover a range of conditions.
Every mobile library is fully accessible, with a lift for people who may need assistance with their mobility. They are however unsuitable for large, motorised wheelchairs due to the limited space available.