Celebrating community connections at Barker St Live 2025

On Saturday 20th September, our Stronger Communities team attended Barker Street Live 25, hosted by OL1 at our Barker Street Community Centre. Despite the rainy weather, our team were out in full force speaking with customers, local organisations, and community partners. 

We provided customers with information on how they can engage with our services, along with valuable guidance and signposting to support with issues such as rising costs of energy, food, and other everyday essentials. 

The event was a brilliant showcase of Oldham’s community spirit. We were thrilled to meet The Beautiful Minds, a new charity set up to deliver sessions for older people at the centre in the coming months. Their mission is to ensure older people feel valued, heard, supported, and empowered to enjoy a high quality of life. 

We also had the pleasure of speaking with Oldham Street Angels, who do incredible work supporting people experiencing homelessness. Even more inspiring was meeting one of their volunteers, an FCHO customer, who expressed an interest in our LiveWell service and joining our customer engagement network. A small but meaningful win for community connection. 

Ghazalla Iqbal, Projects and Partnerships Officer at FCHO, shared her thoughts on the day:

“Events like Barker Street Live show the strength of our community and the importance of building relationships that help us support our customers in meaningful ways. It was fantastic to see community partners coming together to make a difference in supporting residents.” 

We’re proud to be part of events that bring people together and strengthen the bonds that make Oldham such a special place to live.