Family Hubs news

Oldham's Family Hubs have spent the past year quietly turning everyday struggles into small victories for parents across the borough. From Royton to Medlock Vale, free winter coats, 10-week parenting courses and home literacy visits have reached hundreds of families who say they now feel steadier and more connected.

The Winter Wardrobe Appeal, run jointly by Our Community Wardrobe and the Hubs, handed out coats, duvets and even a replacement pram to more than 100 households at a single November drop-in. October's launch event was so busy that organisers opened the appeal a month earlier this year, repeating the pattern set in 2024 when 70 families left the Chadderton Hub carrying warm clothes they could not have bought themselves.

Parallel programmes have tackled learning and confidence. In December, Royton schools wrapped up the festive "Making it REAL" literacy sessions that saw children practise reading and writing while making Christmas decorations. Earlier, parents on the Baby Bonding course told how a simple set of weekly meet-ups helped them leave the house for the first time after premature births or long stretches of post-natal anxiety.

Fathers are turning up in growing numbers. A summer course aimed at dads, including 24-year-old Joshua Bardsley who is on the autism spectrum, focused on play techniques that strengthened bonds with toddlers. One graduate, John Taylor, a single parent who says he was "on the brink", now urges other men to walk through the Hub doors because, in his words, "it changed my perspective.

Council figures show the network has expanded to seven sites since the first Hub opened, part of a £3.6 million plan that began with a public consultation in January 2024. Staff report thousands of visits already, and parents repeatedly describe the same outcome: children who "came out of their shell", mums who no longer "cry all the time", and families who feel they have found a place that belongs to them.