LiveWire celebrates 10th anniversary as Warrington’s largest provider of leisure, libraries and lifestyles

LIVEWIRE continues to be at the heart of the Warrington community as it celebrates its 10th birthday this month.

The leisure, libraries and lifestyles provider has seen over 400,000 total hours spent on treadmills, 141,090 library books purchased and 5,500 free school holiday meals provided since its beginning.

This month marks a decade since the visit of Her Majesty the Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, to officially open Orford Jubilee Neighbourhood Hub. The opening of the 50-acre site Hub in 2012 signalled the start of LiveWire’s role in providing leisure, libraries and lifestyles services to the people of Warrington.

Since then, LiveWire has helped and supported the people of Warrington to lose 851.2 stone through its Fit to Tackle weight loss programme, 7,071 have been supported to quit smoking and five million books, e-books and audiobooks lent to literature lovers.

The service has gone from strength-to-strength and now operates four wellbeing hubs, two leisure centres, and 13 libraries, which have attracted more than three million visitors over the last year alone.

What does 10 years of LiveWire look like in numbers?

Some achievements to celebrate include:

• 400,000 total hours on our treadmills.
• 71,389 junior tennis lessons.
• 16,560 tennis balls used.
• 1.5 million visits made to our group fitness programme.
• 5,000 total miles covered on health walks.
• 42,600 referrals to lifestyles’ service.
• 141,090 library books bought.
• 7,235 children have completed the summer reading challenge.
• 21,801 library events and activities.
• 5,800 youth outreach hours delivered.
• 5,500 free school holiday meals provided.
• 594 PE & school sport training courses provided.
• 7,381 teachers and school support staff attended/received training.
• 38,025 volunteer hours delivered.
• 87% of LiveWire staff living in the Warrington area.
• 13 library sites across Warrington offering a whole host of great reads from thrillers to healthy-eating, Minecraft to Marvel and everywhere in between!
• Great Sankey Neighbourhood Hub being officially named as the world’s first public building to achieve the University of Stirling’s Dementia Services Development Centre ‘Gold’ Award.
• The Queen’s official opening of Orford Jubilee Neighbourhood Hub in 2012.

To mark the milestone, LiveWire worked closely with Warrington-based creatives Ludovico to produce a video that tells the story of a LiveWire user, as written by local writer Andy Green and performed by Eleanor Curry.

Emma Hutchinson, Managing Director of LiveWire, said: “The team at LiveWire works hard to inspire and encourage users to achieve their aims whether through literature or one of our weight loss, stop smoking programmes or simply taking part in a class or swim session at one of our leisure centres.

“It’s heartening to see the statistics that show we’ve reached into the community and helped so many people. We’re looking forward to the next ten years and the plans we have for the future that will continue to help our communities grow and flourish with the help of our services.”

Warrington Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for leisure and community, Cllr Tony Higgins said: “Over the past decade, LiveWire has played a huge role in our communities, providing a range of vital services which have connected with many thousands of people across the borough. Its work to deliver high quality health and wellbeing, educational and community services have made a real difference, helping local people thrive.

“LiveWire has worked with Warrington Borough Council over the years to achieve a number of notable successes, including the introduction of state-of-the-art community hubs in different parts of the borough, and a successful, ongoing libraries modernisation programme. The organisation has always sought to evolve and change to meet the needs of customers, and this has helped it meet some of the challenges it has faced in recent years, not least the huge impact of Covid-19.

“We are very proud of our leisure and libraries offer in Warrington and we know how valuable these services are to local people. I’m delighted that LiveWire has reached this milestone, and I look forward to seeing it continuing to develop its services in the future, helping to support healthier, happier communities.”