'Take part’ and volunteer with heritage and arts services

"Take Part", a joint venture between the services, is an online space that makes it easy to see what opportunities are on offer for residents to get involved with.

The website will act as a one "one stop shop" for anyone interested in getting involved with events or activities in the selected services.

Whether you have a minute, a couple of hours, or if you’re looking for a more regular volunteering role, there’s something to suit everyone.

The volunteering opportunities available will be posted as ‘challenges’ and residents ‘complete’ them when they can.

The challenges can be as little as engaging with the services on social media, taking part in some history research, or helping at one of the many events such as the Illuminate Festival or our growing programme of performances and concerts.

All you need to do on the site is choose your challenge, accept, and enjoy.

Challenges will be updated regularly so if something doesn’t take your fancy right away be sure to re-visit the site and get involved with something else.

The website is a great way for residents to meet new people, learn new skills and get valuable experience for developing a career in music, history, libraries or arts. You can even print off challenges for CVs and request references for completing selected challenges.

Volunteering can also really benefit our health and wellbeing as you can make a difference to the lives of others, feel like part of a team and gain confidence though a range of activities.

Leader of Oldham Council and cabinet member for economy and enterprise, Cllr Sean Fielding, said:

“We’re always looking for people to get involved in our activities and our ‘Take Part’ website makes it even easier for people to do just that.

“I have volunteered in Oldham at various events and I have to say I loved getting stuck in and meeting like-minded people from Oldham.

“We know volunteering can often be looked at as time consuming, but this website proves that you don’t have to commit a huge amount of time to get involved. It could be as simple as helping at a town centre event for a few hours or engaging with the services on social media.

“Oldham has always been a place full of culture and creativity and our arts, library, theatre and music services have been delivering top class events and performances for as long as I can remember.

“And with the addition of the new OMA building set to open in late 2021, we’re excited to see what the future holds for Oldham’s cultural and arts programme.”

OMA, the new heritage and arts centre for Oldham, will transform Oldham’s former Library, Museum and Art Gallery into a vibrant multi-use cultural complex on Union Street.

OMA will feature ambitious new displays of our collections and provide a new home for Oldham Archives and Local Studies Library.

The new building will include a performance space, a new café and a bigger and better shop.

This work has been made possible thanks to funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and local philanthropist Sir Norman Stoller.

Oldham’s cultural and arts services offer access to a wide range of services and resources that can benefit health and wellbeing in a welcoming environment.

In addition to accessing services and opportunities for positive social interaction Oldham Libraries can offer the invaluable resource of free internet access to reach and maintain contact with family, friends and support services, help with getting online and resources in community languages.