It’s been a busy year for everyone at Live from Worktown, which started with our Bolton Observed programme of events, all run as a part of Bolton’s tenancy as the Greater Manchester Town of Culture. We ran call-outs for poetry and photography, plus a series of Side Door radio shows broadcast on Bolton FM. All this culminated in an extravaganza held in the Bolton Museum, featuring poetry readings, performances of music and song, an audiovisual soundscape and the launch of an illustrated commemorative anthology, comprising writing and photos submitted by Bolton residents. The Bolton Observed anthology of local writing and photography proved to be well received and also went on to be distributed freely across the town’s libraries and community centres.
Our online anthology Worktown Words has gone from strength to strength, with bi-monthly issues featuring poetry and prose on a diverse range of subjects from The Outdoors to Resistance as chosen by a different guest editor each month, every one a leading writer from Bolton and Greater Manchester.
Our summer season of My Place Walks continued for the third year running, proving to be as popular as ever. This year we added new routes, exploring the Burrs Country Park area and Tonge with the Haulgh.
In addition, we put on a special event in conjunction with Bolton at Home and the Library and Museum Service, where our Hall i’ th’ Wood Walk was run to give nearby local residents access to the Hall while it is being restored.
Following our successful collaboration last year for the National Mass Observation Diary Day, we continued to cooperate with the University of Greater Manchester on community literature initiatives, including their Writing the North Project.
The Bolton Socialist Club was a venue for an evening of music and spoken word in July, organised as a tribute to the late but much-loved Hovis Presley. Plus, by request of the Library and Museum Service, we created a public event in December as part of the Put Big Light On Festival to celebrate the Luke Jerram Mars installation. Both of these events featuring talented local poets and performers.
We also embarked on the Bradshaw Valley Inclusive Communities Project in partnership with Friends of Harwood and Longsight Park, HERA/Friends of Seven Acres and Headspace. This initiative aims to get more people involved in using the Bradshaw Valley for recreation, leisure, health and well-being.
Expect to see more in 2026 from this project and of course, our regular features such as Side Door, Worktown Words and My Place Walks.
Having recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of co-founding Write Out Loud, LfW’s Dave Morgan has closed out the year by stepping down as host of Write Out Loud Bolton. He will be sadly missed but has handled over the reins to the capable team of WoL regulars Helen Shenton and Laura Kovaleva, who kick-off the poetry night again in February 2026.
As a final note, we’d like to extend a big thank you to everyone who has attended events, participated in projects and generally supported us throughout the year. As a community-based arts and heritage organisation, we’re so dependent on people engaging with us and our projects, so you’ve very much played a part in helping us stage so many varied activities this year – we couldn’t have done it without you!
Very best wishes from the Live from Worktown team.
Glyn
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