To read the review, you can either scroll down the page, or use the chapter headings to jump to a particular section.

Contents

► Overview
A message from the Chair of the Board of Trustees
Chief Executives Message

► Introduction

► Milestones & Highlights 1
Libraries Heritage & Information
Library Service 7
The Heritage Service
Wigan Pier

► Milestones & Highlights 2
Sport & Healthy Living
Active Life
Sports Development
Active Living Team

► Milestones & Highlights 3
Community Regeneration Services
Arts & Festivals
Young People
Community Regeneration
Play

► Milestones & Highlights 4
Environmental Management & Sustainability
Parks & Countryside
Playing Fields
Haigh Hall and Estate
Grounds Maintenance

► Corporate Information
Customer Feedback
Corporate Support
Figures
Employee Information

Overview

Message from the Chair of Trustees
Jacqui Boardman
Welcome to the second annual review of Wigan Leisure & Culture Trust.

It has been a whirlwind year of activity for the Trust, which has provided many challenges, deliberations and successes. We were pleased to receive confirmation of our charitable status in the early part of the year, which is already bringing with it many financial advantages for the Trust.

The Board of Trustees has welcomed a new member, Andy Wiggans, further to the departure of Eddie Runswick. Andy brings with him a wealth of experience from Rochdale Council as Director of Recreation and Community Services. I would like to once again thank all of the Trustees for their continued commitment to the organisation. The Trustees give up their time freely to develop the leisure and cultural potential of the borough. Their hard work and enthusiasm is welcomed and appreciated.

Strong relationships have been built between the Board and the Executive Management Team. In addition, key posts have been recruited into the staffing structure. This has enabled the Trust to forge ahead with many improvements and long-term projects.

A new strategic direction for the Trust has been developed. Revisioning work is well underway and set to continue in order to develop the leisure and culture product for all the people of the borough to experience and enjoy. The Trustees are welcoming a more customer focused approach to the services on offer. We now look forward to the year ahead which will see continued change and development strengthening both the Trust and its services.


Chief Executive’s Message
Rodney Hill
I am delighted to introduce the second Annual Review & Report for the Trust.

Whereas our inaugural operational year, 2003/04, was very much a transitional time as we found our feet as an independent organisation, in 2004/05 the emphasis has been on looking forward and thinking strategically, with our Council partners, about the future direction of leisure and cultural services in the borough.

Our vision was developed under the banner of Getting Wigan Active and this report sets out the numerous ways in which Wigan Leisure & Culture Trust is achieving and developing its goals.

During the course of the year the Board agreed, along with the Council, to the revisioning of three key service areas – Wigan Pier Quarter, Sport & Physical Activity and Libraries & Information.

Of course, as well as thinking about the future, our work has been about improving performance, here and now. To mention just one example, our Library Service has achieved 50% improvement against the Public Library Standards.

The Board has also made and built on a firm commitment to equality and diversity in all we do and Wigan Leisure & Culture Trust led, along with many other organisations, on a range of festivals and activities which have had real outcomes and made a difference.

The Board and Trust are determined to improve our customer focus, and the introduction of new computerised systems should help considerably in enabling us to understand far more about our customers and, just as importantly, who are not using our services so we can make our services more relevant and reach as many people as possible.

Our success is only founded on fruitful relationships with all our partners, not least the Council and the Cultural Partnership; the effectiveness, energy and focus of the Board and, fundamentally, the hard work and enthusiasm of all our staff. I again pay tribute to the wonderful contribution so many have made.

In summary, across all our service areas we have made an excellent start as an independent social enterprise organisation, but we are collectively aware that there is so much more that we can do and areas that we can still improve on. A clear sense of purpose will help us achieve our vision and relish the challenges on that journey. I commend the report to your attention.

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Introduction to the Trust

Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust (WLCT) was formed in 2003. The organisation is a charitable trust working on behalf of Wigan Council to manage and support Leisure and Cultural facilities, initiatives and events for over 300,000 residents across the Wigan Borough.

WLCT is sustained by a combination of external funding and income generation, including an annual grant from Wigan Council. The Trust is a registered charity and a social enterprise, which means that any surplus income generated must be invested in improving facilities and services for the people of the Borough.

The Trust’s remit covers a broad range of cultural and leisure pursuits - from bat-walks in the Boroughs countryside, to involvement in the annual International Jazz festival and some of the North West’s best sporting events.

A trading arm exists for services that are deemed not to be charitable. These are the catering services at Haigh, Leisure Venues and Grounds Maintenance. Each of these services come under the Wigan Leisure and Culture Enterprises banner.

A Board of Trustees has the legal responsibility for ensuring that the Trust is managed appropriately.

Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust provides a wide range of services including the following:
 

Libraries, Heritage & Information Services	Sport & Healthy Living Services	Community Regeneration Services	Environmental Services	Corporate Support Services
Libraries	Leisure Centres & Swimming pools	Children’s play areas and play activities	Parks & Countryside	All support services including Finance, Human Resources & Marketing
Care services for those not able to access mainstream library service	Profiles Gyms	Arts & Festivals	Sports Pitches	Tourist Information Centre
Heritage services inc. History Shop	Sports Development	Community & Youth Development	Grounds Maintenance	Leisure Venues
Wigan Pier	Active Living	Turnpike Gallery	Haigh Hall & Country Park (inc. Golf complex)
			Cemeteries & Crematoria

Since the Trust was formed, the executive management team has been focused on revisioning key areas to provide high quality, modern services.

The overall vision for the Trust, ‘Getting Wigan Active’, is a 5-10 year programme primarily focused on increasing participation levels across the community and encouraging good citizenship. At this stage, revisioning focuses on three key areas:

• The Wigan Pier Quarter
• Sport & Physical Activity
• Libraries & Information

Previous under-investment in a number of areas is now being addressed. In addition, the Trust’s investment fund supports major capital projects to enable improvements and new facilities for the future.

Over the next ten years, Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust will be working hard to ensure that the people of Wigan Borough are as active as possible:

• Physically active
• Mentally & creatively active
• Active in the community and as citizens

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Milestones & Highlights 1
Libraries Heritage & Information

Library Service

Wigan Borough has 16 libraries: 2 main libraries, 4 area libraries and 10 branch libraries plus 3 mobile as well as a schools and community service.

The Library service has been through a major process of change in 04/05. Improvements have been made to the quality of service provided and large-scale plans for future redevelopment have been put into place. Over £300,000 per annum has been allocated to libraries revisioning work across the Borough.

The new library ‘vision’ looks at creating a modern and attractive library service throughout Wigan which supports the development of Getting Wigan Active ‘mentally and creatively in our communities’. The vision is based on the views of users, non-users and feedback from key agencies and links into the Borough’s Community Plan with the aim of ‘developing knowledge’.

The overall purpose is to encourage people to explore their library and use the information, learning resources and community services available to them. In the next 12 months an additional £80,000 will be invested in new materials.

New initiatives include the introduction of a programme of events in libraries to make the space more interesting for people to use. Plans include: reading groups, homework clubs, family events and children’s activities.

In order to encourage greater participation by non-users, plans are in place to extend library opening hours in 2005. The delivery of better layout, signage and information will also help users to explore libraries.

New technology is an integral part of the developments. Better ICT equipment will be made available and more community information accessible, in addition, library users are now able to reserve and renew books on-line.

A brand identity has been developed to represent libraries within the Borough -‘Explore’. Golborne Library was the first to see the roll-out of this brand as it underwent a major refurbishment (the first to take place in over 30 years). Ashton library is next in line to see refurbishment take place in 05/06 followed by the introduction of a new Library at Platt Bridge in 2006.

These are exciting times for libraries. The new branding gives libraries a warm and welcoming atmosphere in which to explore.

Future ambitions are to secure funding from Central Government to relocate the library in Wigan Town Centre to a more accessible location, and to refurbish the Turnpike Centre in Leigh which houses Leigh library.

Project Improve
During 2004/05 a real emphasis was placed on delivering improvements to the library service. From a national perspective the official Public Library Standards rating has risen by 7 points in the past year from 14 to 21 out of 26. The perception of the service has improved from poor to good and the position statement scores are now ranked as ‘good’ and ‘fair’ across all categories.

Improvements include:
• Improving reservation supply times for books. This year all 3 public library standards were achieved, in 2003/04 only 1 (relating to books provided within 30 days) was achieved.
• Completing the People’s network of publicly accessible free internet PCs in September 2004 with 181 PCs now available
• Improving customer service and satisfaction, which again is demonstrated by the improved public library standard scores achieved: All 7 standards achieved, compared to 5 last year.
• Installation of the new ‘Talis’ computer system that means it is easier to renew, order and find books
• More information enquiries were received, rising from 217,520 to 264,780 during the year.
• More learning packages were delivered to children and to adults through Learn Direct, totalling over 6,000 for the year.
• Increased use by pupils from four PSA high schools from 31% of pupils’ 3 years ago to 57% during this year.
• Six new Homework Clubs for children and young people opened in the autumn with attendance levels rising.

In April 2005, writer and broadcaster Stuart Maconie became the official patron for Libraries in Wigan. He has backed the new vision and improvements to the library service, having been heavily involved in the unveiling of the new ‘Explore’ brand.

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The Heritage Service

Wigan Heritage Services preserve and interpret local heritage with the aim of making it accessible to as wide an audience as possible. The service operates museums, archives and local history for the borough. ‘Past Forward’ is their flagship publication, produced three times per year.

The History Shop is their main venue in the old library building in the centre of Wigan on Library Street. This venue features all elements of the service: museums, archives and local history in formal display galleries and interactive research / study areas.

The History Shop has had another successful year in 04/05, achievements include:

• Continuing work with Friends of Wigan Heritage Service on indexing including: census data from 1891 and 1901; editions of the Wigan Observer from 1955 through to 1990.

• Wigan Casino exhibition (October 04 - February 05) proved to be a very successful temporary exhibition attracting visitors from all over the country including Newcastle, Coventry and Nottingham.

2005/06 will see work take place on the creation of a new vision for heritage in Wigan. A proposed development of the History shop is in the early planning stages to create better physical access and more exhibition space.

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Wigan Pier

Wigan Pier has won 27 national awards and was the first visitor attraction in the country to obtain the newly revised Charter Mark accreditation in 2003.

Progress has been made in 04/05 on transforming the Wigan Pier site into a vibrant cultural quarter. The Trencherfield Mill Engine restoration project was completed after 12 months of preparation and an investment of almost £600,000. Described as ‘one of the worlds marvels of engineering’ and at almost a century old, it re-opened to a VIP reception on 3rd September 2004. The world’s largest original mill steam engine was revealed to the public at a well-attended weekend celebration with street entertainers, music and dancing.

Early in 2005, detailed plans were unveiled to the general public on the regeneration of Trencherfield Mill and the surrounding area. The redevelopment aims to breathe new life into the area and give borough residents a cultural quarter on a par with other major towns and cities.

Plans include the newly restored Trencherfield Mill engine sitting alongside a new heritage-themed attraction and a purpose-built performance space.

Also on-site will be speciality shops, pubs and a restaurant. A new hotel will be built and major landscaping will take place to improve the look of and access to the canal-side. The first phase of the Cultural Quarter will be complete in late spring 2007.

The Museum of Memories and the Mill at the Pier closed in April 2005, to make way for developers Nuttalls to start work on the new development.

A series of working project groups were set up which covered all aspects of decommissioning the Trencherfield Mill site as well as the transitional arrangements for the operation and service of The Way We Were museum and Engine house.

The Museum of Memories, Mill at the Pier, Café, Parlour and the TIC (plus the Machinery Hall which has now re-opened) all closed on 3 April. Between 4 April and 5 May all furniture and equipment were removed from the site and artifacts returned to the owner Robert Opie. Staff successfully undertook this large-scale work within the timescales.
The transitional operation of the service commenced on 10 April when Wigan Pier re-opened to the public. The emphasis during this period was delivering a quality, value for money service with life long learning and Theatre company community and outreach work continuing to be developed.

A strong marketing plan has been set to re-define the ongoing service at Wigan Pier.

Over 50 staff were in a potential redundancy situation and virtually all secured posts either on-site within the transitional operation, within the Trust or externally. Staff and Trade unions were fully involved in the process with consultation and briefing sessions on all aspects of decommissioning, transition and the future development progress.

Wigan Pier once again achieved Visit Britain’s increasingly recognised Quality Assured Visitor Attraction Accreditation (VAQAS). This tourism industry accreditation involves independent assessment on the quality of the visitor experience from pre-arrival onwards and evaluates all aspects of the attraction, including interpretation. The assessor commented in his report that “Visitors with limited mobility were seen to be enjoying the site”.

Delivery of excellent customer care and value for money feature highly in working towards continuous improvement in visitor service. The latest visitor feedback indicates 99% and 97% satisfaction levels respectively for these areas.

In 2004 Wigan Pier received the Sandford Award for excellence in Heritage Education for the fourth consecutive time. One aim for the future is to ensure that this work is carried through to the new development.

The Learning section continues to develop links with hard to reach groups through their commitment to outreach work in the community. They are working with elderly groups who take part in reminiscence sessions, 16+ young adults taking part in projects funded through the Aim Higher initiative and young family groups who are focusing on learning together. Themed Reminiscence sessions are held both on site and at venues throughout the area and are designed to engage participants in an enjoyable experience using objects and photographs to trigger memories. Aim Higher students have been working in the museum on arts based projects ending the current year with a performance at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. Family group visits have been organised by Wigan and Leigh college to encourage learning together for young children and their parents.

The “Pier into the Future” project developed by Wigan Pier Theatre Company gained momentum during 2004/05 with the formation of Youth Theatre groups around the borough as well as a number of community theatre and partnership projects.

The Theatre Company now runs groups in Wigan, Worsley Mesnes, Shevington and Higher Folds with new groups planned for 05/06 in Swinley and Abram.

The Community Theatre Company at Wigan Pier performed a new play in March in a shared evenings entertainment with a performance from members of a new inclusive theatre project developed with Wigan & Leigh Scope.

Another joint initiative project was “Higher View” performed by the Wigan Pier Youth Theatre in Higher Folds for Words 05 as part of the Arts and Festivals Intergenerate initiative. The project also involved the Golden Years social group from Higher Folds and the Scriptshop writers group from Leigh.

Other projects during the year included – “Say hello” with Age Concern, Replay cabaret with new local writers for Words 05, roleplay facilitation and training for different sections of the chief executives dept.

Projects initiated in 04/05 and carried over into the new year include “Down Memory Lane” – an intergeneration community project, “Haigh Fever” a promenade production in Haigh Hall and “Say the Word” a sex education theatre piece in conjunction with Arts for Health steering group, Positive Futures, Wigan & Leigh College, Brook and the Teenage Pregnancy education section.

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Milestones & Highlights 2
Sport & Healthy Living

Active Life

Wigan Borough is the first authority in the North West and only the third nationally to launch such a fully inclusive initiative that the Trust plan to run indefinitely.

The Sport & Healthy living service is constantly evolving to meet the needs of residents and visitors to the Borough. The overall aim is to increase participation in sport and physical activity amongst residents, through improving access to sport and leisure facilities and by creating more opportunities to take part at a local level. The Trust also provides a range of coaching and instruction programmes to encourage more people to take up sport and exercise.

The summer of 2004 saw the most comprehensive sports and activity programme the Sports Development Team has ever offered. Activities were organised borough wide for young people aged 0 -18 including those with disabilities. The programme attracted over 757 people an increase of 200 from 2003.

In recent years, there has been a huge amount of national media coverage about children’s health problems and childhood obesity. One major initiative launched this year to tackle the problem head-on is the introduction of free swimming for all young people in the borough.

April 1st 2005 saw the launch of ‘Freestyle’, a free swimming scheme for people aged 16 and under, aimed at encouraging children to swim more often. Eight-thousand applications were received prior to the launch of the scheme and the target is to sign-up 20,000 young people to Freestyle by the end of 2005. Freestyle is the forerunner to 2006 launch of ‘Lifestyle’, a scheme aimed at getting a large proportion of the community more active.

In 2004/05 there have been many improvements to local leisure centres, with a £250,000 investment in a state-of-the-art fitness centre at Hindley Leisure Centre. Howe Bridge and Robin Park have also benefited from new equipment to improve the facilities on offer.

In addition, a £70,000 investment has transformed an under-used cricket facility at Robin Park into a new multi-games hall – ‘The Powerade Multi-Games Hall’ catering for cricket, netball, football and health & fitness sessions.

Sports Development

Wigan Sports Development took a team of over 250 young sporting enthusiasts to represent the borough at the Greater Manchester Youth Games. The team brought home a total of 15 team medals – 9 Gold, 5 Silver and 1 Bronze. Preparation for the Games began in January 2004 and close partnership working with the schools and the voluntary sector was essential. The games provided the opportunity to develop volunteers and coaches and give young people the chance to compete against other boroughs across the county.

Wigan Sports Awards were held in February 2005 and proved an outstanding success with the numbers attending increasing from 95 (in 2004) to180 (coaches, volunteers and performers). The event promoted the excellent work that the sporting fraternity of Wigan produces, for the local community. The event was made up of six awards which received a record total of 55 nominations across 16 different sports with nominations coming from an age range of 13 - 60 yrs. The winners of the Wigan awards progressed to the Greater Manchester Awards in April and won 3 out of 6 regional Awards for the 2nd consecutive year.

Sports Development in partnership with the Specialist Sports Colleges and Greater Manchester Sports Partnership launched the National Community Coach Scheme and appointed two full time coaches in December 2004. Employed to drive forward the Sports England accredited scheme LTAD (Long term athlete development), the coaches work towards the goal of increasing participation in physical activity. The Wigan scheme is a model of good practice and is substantiated by excellent participation figures

In 04/05 the Rugby Service Area attracted £15,000 of external funding through voluntary organisations. This money helped to develop physical activity across the borough by providing taster sessions for new players and was used to launch the first Wigan coach mentoring scheme whereby 24 new coaches undertook training to develop their sporting knowledge and skills.
The Disability Officer increased participation in physical activity for people with disabilities. Sports specific disability clubs have been formed in Wheelchair Basketball and Tennis, Football and Athletics.

Special projects have included the following:

• Two new Disability Athletics Clubs have been established at Lowton and Wigan.
• Football festivals for all special schools were run for the first time throughout the borough.
• Work to widen the inclusive sport and youth development programme from the original target areas of Hindley and Westleigh has got underway.
• Trust colleagues have been involved in the set up of the Voluntary Sports ‘one stop shop’ that assists voluntary sporting organisations to seek advice and external funding to develop facilities. Chief Executive Rodney Hill leads on the Voluntary Sports ‘One Stop Shop’ advice surgeries.
The purpose of the Surgeries:
1. To improve awareness and understanding across a range of Wigan MBC Departments of the needs and aspirations of local sports/cultural groups in the borough and the barriers faced by them to reaching their potential.
2. To encourage a ‘joined up’ approach across the Council to addressing the problems and issues raised by the groups.
3. To enable local sports/cultural groups to overcome perceived or actual barriers to their development through dialogue and agreement with a range of Council departments in one forum.

During 2004, Atherton Pool reached the end of its active life at over a century old and was closed at the end of March 2005. It was the least used pool in the borough and had poor access for disabled users. Swimmers have been redirected to nearby Tyldesley. The £100,000 saved in the closure of the pool has been re-invested into the Freestyle scheme. New swimming facilities at Leigh Sports Village and Wigan Town Centre have been proposed.

In March 2005, the first sod was cut on Leigh Sports Village Project. Work by the Leigh & District Sports Partnership towards the construction of a new stadium, athletics arena and swimming pool; creation of playing pitches and changing facilities; development of commercial leisure/retail parks and private housing is now underway.

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Active Living Team

The Active Living Team plays an important part in getting the local community more active. They work with groups and individuals of all ages, some of which have specific health issues, to encourage a more active lifestyle.

The team was delighted to win first place in the Customer Satisfaction category at the 2004 Team of the Year awards. This was as a result of all the hard work and enthusiasm that the team has put into working with local people of all ages to help them become more active.

Successful schemes ran throughout 2004/05 include:
• Steps to Health – 1,392 people were referred on the popular Exercise Referral Scheme to encourage people who are inactive to take up some form of physical activity. The adherence rate for last year was 55%.
• Next Steps – Aimed at helping people become more physically active within their own community. Over 100 activity sessions took place per week during the last year including sessions for parents/carer’s and their under 5’s through the Surestart programme, Children’s Health and Activity sessions and a wide variety of activity sessions for adults. The sessions took place in a variety of community and leisure centres across the borough. The number of visits in total last year was 42,307.
• Children’s Health and Physical Activity Project – The team have been working closely with the School Sport Co-ordinator programme, the Fit Friendz programme, (Family based therapy for children who are overweight/obese) and are piloting a Children’s Fit 4 Fun Academy, (Children’s Exercise Referral Scheme). The Children’s team have run 19 sessions per week, have had 855 participants and 1,613 visits to activity sessions.
• Training – The team have trained 146 local people last year on physical activity courses such as the NVQ Health and fitness Qualifications, Moving More Often and Healthwalks training.
• LEAP – Wigan is the regional pilot for the national LEAP project, funded 2004-6. The team has developed a range of opportunities for people over the age of 50 to test what is effective in engaging and keeping people physically active. There were 4,249 attendees to LEAP project sessions in the last year. The team had a very successful launch of the Healthwalks initiative with Wigan Warriors and a Dance the Day Away event which attracted over 250 participants.

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Milestones & Highlights 3
Community Regeneration Services

Arts & Festivals

During 2004/05 the Arts & Festivals team supported over 900 arts development events.

It has been a vibrant year for the Arts in Wigan. A culturally diverse programme took place including the introduction of ‘Hot on the Streets’ – the delivery of street art events in Atherton, Leigh & Wigan. The programme for 2004 was a mix of street theatre, music, comedy, acrobatics and circus skills.

The development of successful events such as the Wigan One World (WOW) festival has enabled people from all areas of the borough to become involved. The WOW festival is about celebrating individual cultures from all around the world, promoting multiculturalism, ensuring inclusivity and breaking down barriers that exist within communities.

Work on a brand new arts development strategy got underway in consultation with local people through the Citizens’ Panel and stakeholders through the Arts Forum.

Highlights for the year include:
• In August the second Wigan One World (WOW) Multicultural Festival attracted more than 4,000 visitors to Mesnes Park.
• The Words 05 Literary Festival attracted interest from within and beyond the borough boundaries with poet Lemm Sissay and journalist and broadcaster Stuart Maconie in attendance. This attracted several hundred more visitors than the previous year.
• Arts in the Park, the annual showcase of community and voluntary arts across the borough, again enjoyed success generating a good level of attendance and interest.
• A Disability Arts Forum was established and a Dance Development Network introduced.
• Wigan Pier Theatre Company has established new youth theatres at Higher Folds, Shakerley, Shevington, Wigan and Worsley Mesnes
• The Community Development Team worked with more than 80 community groups and voluntary organisations across the cultural voluntary sector on project development and resource procurement, securing over £50,000 for investment.
• Looking towards the future, the Turnpike Gallery in Leigh has committed to a new vision for cultural development in the community and the growth of closer links with Libraries & Lifelong Learning. The Gallery receives over 10,000 visitors per year.

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Young people

The Linc newspaper provides information for young people on a wide variety of issues. Four editions were produced in 04/05 and distributed to 30,000 young people across the borough.

Over 60 press releases were issued by the Young Persons’ Press Officer in an effort to counter negative publicity and create a more realistic and positive image of young people in the local press.

Through the Extreme Sports Development Officer work is underway to develop new facilities at Ashton and Tyldesley. The Extreme Scene newsletter has continued to keep young people up to date with local developments.

Community Regeneration

In 2004/5 further progress was made on the six key cultural strategy priorities including:
• improving access and getting more people involved in cultural activities;
• developing the role of culture in the community and
• focusing on young people’s needs and hopes.

Over 1,000 people were involved in the Kick Racism Out of Football event to positively promote multi-culturalism and a zero tolerance attitude to racism. The programme concluded in December 2004 and included two community football competitions, a schools tournament, the National History of Black Footballers’ Exhibition displayed at the Turnpike Gallery and a children’s art workshop. Two pitch-side presentations were held at Wigan Athletic and a celebratory event took place at Wigan Town Hall.

A cultural toy making scheme was successfully delivered on Hag Fold through its area-based Community Development Project. This brought people of different ethnic minorities together with long-term local residents on Hag Fold to share something of their culture and heritage through toy and costume-making projects. Its success was recently recognised by the Home Office in it's Community Cohesion Toolkit where work on Hag Fold features as a model of good practice from which others across the country might learn.

Development of a new Cultural Manifesto has started. This document will capture what makes Wigan unique; what makes the Borough special to those who work and spend leisure time here. It will also serve as a tool for cultural development and with the challenge video also planned, offer a basis for strategic integration.

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Play

The Play section has worked with over 18,000 children throughout the year. Work continues on maintaining and developing 137 play areas across the borough in addition to working alongside voluntary organisations to deliver a programme of play based activities.

Highlights of 04/05 include:
• 650 play sessions have been delivered throughout the Wigan Borough
• National Play Day, held at Norley Hall Adventure Playground with over 1000 children attending.
• The Sure Start Play Patch garden project at Hindley has secured funding for another year enabling the delivery of play sessions and family activities throughout the year. 250 sessions took place during 04/05 with 4,750 children in attendance.
• The Tot's Plot at Astley is being developed on the back of the Hindley success story through Environmental Management & Sustainability. This represents an investment of £104,000 and is a great example of partnership working.
• A new community park facility has been developed at Stubshaw Cross through the parks service and economic regeneration. The facility includes a community recreational area, tree planting and play facilities.
• A complete refurbishment of the play area at Langtree Lane, Standish, has taken place. Improvements have also been made to Marsh Green Teen Meet, Highfield Gardens, Redwood Park and Hilton Street, Ince.
• Implementation of the new Community Playgrounds Strategy is now underway.
• External funding has been acquired from a number of sources thhat include, Single Regeneration Budget, Coalfield Regeneration, Wigan Children’s Fund, National Road Safety Initiative, and Brighter Borough.

The Play Section is proud to work alongside and to support voluntary organisations such as the Wigan Play Association and the Norley Hall Play Association.

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Milestones & Highlights 4
Environmental Management & Sustainability

Parks & Countryside

Over two thirds of Wigan Borough is countryside with 150 parks and open spaces.

With many events and activities taking place in 04/05, the borough’s parks and countryside has never been so busy. Pennington Flash recorded a record number of 700,000 visitors throughout the year making it the borough’s most visited attraction.

A number of development projects have also taken place to improve the facilities available:

• Grant funding was received from the Environment Agency to develop an area accessible to wheelchair anglers by the side of the water, including the installation of a suitable path from the car park. Disabled fishing pegs specifically designed for wheelchair users were also constructed and are being well used by the disabled angling community.
• Further emphasis has been placed upon the Three Sisters Recreation Area as a gateway into one of the region’s most important wildlife areas. New initiatives in 2006 will see the whole of Wigan’s countryside promoted under one banner as ‘Greenheart’.
• The Joined-Up Mesnes Park or JUMP Project was launched this year for Mesnes Park, which aims to constructively address anti-social behaviour issues using a multi-agency approach, along with environmental and site improvements.
• A Heritage Lottery Fund ‘project planning grant’ has been approved, this will fund the further enhancement of the supporting documents which will inform the proposed bid for restoration work at Mesnes Park including the bandstand, cafe pavilion and Dalton's steps. Costings are also being generated for safe, well-illuminated routes and CCTV.
• The main footpath that weaves into Wigan Flashes from Three Sisters Recreation Area was upgraded with assistance from New Opportunities funding.
• Hindley Play Patch a Sure Start partnership project continues to develop and provide an excellent ‘green issues’ facility for junior members of the community and their parents/carers.

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Playing Fields

The Playing Fields Strategy continues to progress. This year has seen important drainage works completed at Leyland park in Hindley and Laithwaite Parks in Newtown these schemes have been financially supported by the ‘Football Foundation’ grass roots major investor.

Improvements have been made to 17 grass football pitches across three sites - Parsons Meadow, Laithwaite Park and Leyland Park, resulting in 43 local teams benefiting weekly from quality grass pitches. Changing room improvements are due to come on line during 05/06 to accommodate segregated facilities, enhance child protection policies and provide facilities for female grass pitch sports.

Haigh Hall and Estate

There was a significant uptake and increase in the participation of event and activities at Haigh, this has included:
• 639 adults & 3,537 children taking part in environmental and craft based activities March 2004 until April 2005 delivered by the Wardens team and other's on site.
• 2,765 adults & 2,346 attending events and activities as part of the events programme from March 2004 until April 2005 (mainly delivered by the Wardens team).
• Total participation reached 9,287.
• Estate being used approximately 90+ days for activities for both internal and external organisations including Positive Futures, orienteering societies, Manchester 2 Blackpool bike ride and sponsored walks.
• The Estate playing host to major events including Race 4 Life 1,500 participants raising a substantial amount of money for Cancer Research. Partnership working with Arts section in delivering Haigh Festival (4,000 attendance) and Arts for All (3,000 attendance).

Haigh Hall Golf Complex underwent a successful review by the Sports Lottery, further to the £3million investment that took place to redevelop the 18-hole and 9-hole course in 2003. The condition of the 18-hole course has vastly improved and a new membership scheme has been launched, whereby golfers get the opportunity to play for free.

The ‘Tigers club’ for junior golfers has proven to be an amazing success with 80 members. The Junior Golf Organiser has worked with every primary school and every disabled school in the borough to offer free lessons. Work has now begun with senior schools. One young person under the tuition of Haigh Golf, Caroline Atherton, won the Lancashire Junior Girls title.

Catering Manager, Gary Povall, was appointed to Haigh in October 2004 to develop all aspects of the catering throughout the Hall, the Stables cafe and the golf complex. A charity dinner in aid of the Disasters Emergency Committee Tsunami Appeal took place on 4 February, highlighting Gary’s new ‘fresh produce’ policy and raising over £3,500 towards the appeal.

Partnership working has been carried out with:

• Woodland Management - work being carried out by Youth Offending Team is helping to improve the area of the plantations. Creating accessible footpaths and conservation work will allow members of the public greater opportunities to experience this area of the Country Park. This is also an ideal environment to challenge existing behaviours of young people who are given reparation and it allows them to contribute to their local environment.
• Wildflower Nursery - External funding gained from Red Rose Forest - 'Local Heritage Initiative' to set up one of six wildflower nurseries within Gtr Manchester area. The funding has been used to refurbish a redundant glasshouse and produce native wildflowers which are in decline. These will be re-planted at Haigh and also used to exchange with other partners within the scheme.
• British Trust Conservation Volunteers (BTCV) - now have a base at Haigh and have restored a redundant glasshouse. They are using this for training proposes to work with both volunteers at Haigh and from within the Gtr Manchester area including Bolton Alcohol and Drugs Service. The ultimate aim of the project is for the unit to supply the Estate with plants which will make the Estate more sustainable
• Young Roots Project (20K Heritage Lottery funded project) - Partnership working with Education Dept and Wigan Pier. The project allowed young people to explore the history of Haigh Hall through reminiscence, research, drama workshops and exploration of the building itself. It focused on the key moments in Haigh Hall history - i.e. The Siege, Lady Mabel, the Prison Hospital. Each school focused on an area and prepared a piece that was performed as promenade theatre at Haigh Hall. The evening was a fantastic success with over 150 people attending the performances.

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Grounds Maintenance

The Grounds Maintenance service achieved ISO9001 international standard for quality management in 2004. Registration to ISO 9001 demonstrates a commitment to customer satisfaction, quality standards and continuous service improvement.

The Grounds Maintenance Service is responsible for maintaining the following portfolio of green spaces on behalf of Wigan Council:

• 500 hectares of recreational green space
• 19 formal parks
• 10 countryside sites
• 44 playing fields with 97 sports pitches
• 29 bowling greens
• 2 golf courses and golf academy
• 50 other significant areas of recreational green spaces
• 9 cemeteries and 1 crematorium
• 10 war memorials
• 155 hectares of Council housing land
• 60 hectares of Council highway land
• 140 school grounds
• 4000+ street trees

The Grounds Maintenance Team provides a wide range of services not just to the public sector but have expanded their service provision and are now successfully completing for private sector business.

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Corporate Information

Customer Feedback

The History Shop

Eric Winstanley from Ashton started to research his family tree a number of years ago. His first point of reference was The History Shop. Eric used the genealogy material to trace his family history and has built up a database of 30,000 names he can link to his own family with the details traced as far back as 1650.

Active Living

Hilda Bradshaw (58) from Tyldesley attends the Active Living Team’s Gentle Paces class to improve the stiffness in her muscles caused by multiple sclerosis. She hasn’t missed a week in 11 months and in this time she has seen numerous health benefits.
Hilda can’t speak highly enough of the team, “The staff are brilliant – helpful and approachable. I really look forward to the class and enjoy the sessions”.

Youth Arts Challenge

Rafiki (an educational and social group for black young people) worked on a project, with funding from the Youth Arts Challenge Scheme, to promote a positive image of ethnic minorities in Wigan and Leigh, supported by the Trust.

The group produced a 12ft collage representing black and minority groups. Reproductions have since gone into schools and libraries.

Haigh Golf

Rachael Stockley (13) from Beech Hill has played golf for three years and attends tuition at Haigh Hall Golf Complex. The Academy is home to a successful juniors club, where programmes are provided for youngsters of all ages and abilities. Rachael has made lots of new friends and her confidence in the sport has gradually built. Her next step is to enter the Senior Ladies competitions.

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Corporate Support

The Tourist Information Centre (TIC) was relocated to the town centre in April 2005 from its former home at Trencherfield Mill.

The TIC forms part of a national tourist information network with over 60,000 visitors and tourism telephone enquiries anticipated. The facility supports tourism students, local attractions and hotel managers as well as providing information to help potential tourism developers make investment decisions.

In addition the Tourism unit gained the Charter Mark award for excellence in customer service in March 2005.

The 19th Annual Jazz Festival proved to be the most successful for over a decade in terms of participation and revenue. Over 3,000 visitors to the week long festival generated high levels of income with a healthy surplus available to fund the event in future years.

The five leisure halls in Hindley, Aspull, Formby, Ince and Lowton have been rebranded ’Leisure Venues’. A new marketing campaign is underway to promote the facilities to the general public.

Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust
Charity registration number 1105278
Annual Report 2004/05

Review of the Year

The Trust and its trading subsidiary Wigan Leisure & Culture Enterprises Limited, have performed well in meeting the group’s operational, financial and social objectives and in achieving net incoming resources of £505,783 which is available for investment in future years. The principal activity of Wigan Leisure & Culture Enterprises Limited is to generate a trading surplus to fund and expand the work of the Trust and in 2004/05 the company recorded a 38% increase in its trading surplus.

The Trust has adopted a reserves policy that safeguards the future financial viability of the Trust but at the same time, through a continuous review process, minimises excessive levels of reserves so as to maximise investment in service delivery. The Board of Trustees will continue to adhere to that policy in future years.

After a successful year during which the Board approved in excess of £500,000 in additional investment in library, sporting and tourism facilities, in support of its “Getting Wigan Active” strategy, we are committed to and confidently predict a further development and improvement in the services that we supply to the residents of and visitors to the borough.

Ms J Boardman
Chair of the Board of Trustees

Mr R F D R Hill
Chief Executive

Auditors’ Report
The auditors to the Trust are Grant Thornton UK LLP and their report to the members of the Trust states that, in their opinion, the financial statements give a true and fair view of the state of the Trust’s affairs as at 31 March 2005 and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, in the year then ended and have been properly prepared in accordance with the Companies Act 1985.

2004/05 Annual Accounts

The following statements represent a summary of the information contained in the full accounts for 2004/05, which are available upon written request from:

Director of Finance
Wigan Leisure & Culture Trust
1st Floor, The Indoor Sports Centre
Loire Drive
Robin Park
Wigan WN5 0UL

The Directors of the Trust confirm that the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2005 have been prepared in accordance with applicable accounting standards and follow the recommendations in the statement of Recommended Practices Accounting by Charities (SORP) issued in October 2000. This is the first time that the SORP has been adopted by the charitable company for its financial statements.

The consolidated statements for the group include the results of the charitable company and its 100% owned subsidiary, Wigan Leisure & Culture Enterprises Limited.

The charitable company is a company limited by guarentee and its income and property shall be applied solely towards its objectives, which are still appropriate and valid:

• the advancement and support of education, culture, arts, heritage and history
• the provision and assistance in the provision of facilities for recreation or other leisure time occupations
• the promotion and preservation of good health through community participation in health recreation
• all other charitable purposes consistent with the above.

The company gained charitable status on 3rd August 2004 and its registration number is 1105278. It operates under its Memorandum and Articles of Association as modified in June 2004, which delegate operational decisions to the executive team. The company’s Memorandum of association gives authority to invest in investments, securities or property as may be thought fit.

The Board of Trustees was set up through a mix of identified specialists, council nominees and advertisements in the local press. The Trustees are as follows:

• J Boardman (Chair)
• J B Baldwin (Audit)
• D A Bartle
• T Bradshaw
• J Garlick (Audit) (F&P)
• W Hampson (Audit) (F&P)
• D A Lea
• S Louden (resigned 20 May 2005)
• D A Newman (F&P)
• G M Patmore
• E H Runswick (resigned 3 Dec 2004)
• A Wiggans (appointed 20 May 2005)

(Note: Audit/F&P denote permanent members of the relevant committees).

The members of the executive team are:

• R Hill (Chief Executive)
• A Johnson (Finance Director)
• K Bardgett (Executive Director)
• I Bancroft (Executive Director)
• M Eden (Executive Director)
• P Gascoigne (Executive Director)
• S Murray (Executive Director)

In preparing the accounts, the Directors have:

• applied, on a consistent basis, suitable accounting policies which are regularly reviewed
• made judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent
• stated whether applicable accounting standards have been followed
• prepared the financial statements on the going concern basis

In addition, the Directors confirm that they have kept proper accounting records, have responsibility for safeguarding the assets of the organisation and have taken reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Mr R F D R Hill
Chief Executive

Mr J A Johnson
Finance Director

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Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2005

Statement of Financial Activities for Year Ended 31 March 2005

NOTE: Consolidated figures for Wigan Leisure & Culture Trust Ltd and wholly owned subsidiary, Wigan Leisure & Culture Enterprises Ltd.

Income Sources

Expenditure

NOTE: Community Services Fee is the fee paid to the Trust by Wigan Council in return for the Trust providing a range of community services on behalf of the Council.

Employee Information

Wigan Leisure & Culture Trust is an Investors in People organisation totally committed to supporting the development of its employees. Individuals are recognised for their contribution and encouraged by their manager to continually improve through the annual EDNA (Employee Development Needs Appraisal) process.

The Trust takes a positive approach to diversity and is fully committed to equal opportunities. Applications are welcome from all sections of the community regardless of gender, age, colour, nationality, national or ethnic origin, religious belief, disability, social class, marital status or sexual orientation.

The Trust provides the opportunity for all its employees to develop their full potential.

The average number of permanent employees during 2004/05 was 806. The full-time equivalent was 708.8.

As at 31st March 2005, the number of staff and volunteers in the various operational areas of the Trust was as follows:

The Directors of the Trust have no beneficial interest in the Trust and did not receive any remuneration from the Trust during the year.

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