Leisure and culture news

Oldham Council has locked in a season of free events that will run from late November through mid-December, giving families four straight Saturdays of no-cost activities in the town centre. The pledge arrives alongside a wider £80,000 package to refurbish three well-used community sites and the reopening of renovated park tennis courts in July, signalling a push to keep residents outdoors and spending locally without opening their wallets.

The cultural calendar is filling up fast. Gallery Oldham is marking the borough's 175th birthday with an exhibition built around 175 objects drawn from local collections, while the Old Library-scaffolding finally down-will host an open day on 16 August so people can see the restored stonework for themselves. Around the corner, the Old Town Hall's Egyptian Room is being converted into a new food hall after a national hospitality group signed on, adding another evening draw to a town centre that...

Not everything is ready yet. The Coliseum building, once home to the much-missed theatre company, will stay shuttered until 2026, and traders from Tommyfield Market have only just requested a move into the revamped Spindles site, so stalls will not shift until the new year. Meanwhile, NxtGen Boxing has taken over the refurbished Marlborough Centre in Glodwick, promising gym space and community classes in a building locals feared might stay empty.

Chadderton Wellbeing Centre now runs a women-only gym session, and children living in temporary accommodation have been offered free leisure passes for the school holidays. Together the measures add up to a council trying to keep leisure within reach while longer projects, like the £228,000 Heritage Fund grant to restore Grade-II-listed Foxdenton Hall, work their way through the planning pipeline.