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Halton Libraries Runs More Than 100 Free Events Across the Summer Holidays

Halton Libraries has published a six-week programme of over 100 free activities, from circus workshops to packed lunches, running across the summer break.

· Updated 11 Aug, 17:57 · 4 min read

Halton Libraries has opened bookings for a summer programme of more than 100 free events running through the six-week school holidays. The line-up covers craft sessions, storytelling, table tennis, circus skills, and a weekly free packed lunch, with a reading challenge rewarding children who finish five books.

The programme, published on 8 July under the banner Go All In, runs across the library service’s branches and is free at the point of use. Nothing on the schedule carries a charge.

What is on the programme

The service has grouped the summer offer into several strands. Practical sessions include table tennis and table football, circus workshops, and giant Junkbot building, in which children construct large models from recycled materials. Storytelling appears in a number of formats, including campfire tales and regular story sessions for younger children.

Booknics — outdoor reading picnics — sit alongside the packed lunch provision, and themed craft activities run throughout the six weeks rather than clustering in a single week.

The breadth is deliberate. A library summer programme has to serve a wide age range at once, from pre-school children attending with a parent to secondary-age children arriving on their own, and the mix of physical activities, making, and reading reflects that.

The reading challenge and what children get

Children who borrow and read five books over the course of the summer receive a Halton Libraries goodie bag containing a wristband, a bookmark, a certificate, and stickers.

The structure is familiar to anyone who has taken part in a summer reading scheme before: the target is deliberately achievable, and the point is to keep children reading through the weeks when they are away from school. Research into what teachers call the summer slide consistently finds that reading attainment can slip over a long break when children stop reading entirely, and that the effect falls hardest on children from lower-income households who have fewer books at home. A free public library with a structured challenge is the standard intervention.

Joining the library is free and takes a few minutes at any branch. Children of any age can join, with a parent or guardian signing the form for under-16s. Borrowing is free, and children do not incur overdue charges.

The free packed lunch programme

Running alongside the events, the library service provides free packed lunches to children every Wednesday throughout the school holidays. This is open to any child attending, with no registration for free school meals required and no means test.

That distinction is worth understanding. The council’s £72 supermarket voucher scheme is restricted to children registered for free school meals, but the library packed lunch is universal. A family that does not qualify for benefits-linked support can still use it.

In July, the programme received a donation of more than £500 worth of food and drink from Balvac Balfour Beatty, the contractor that carried out refurbishment work on the busway viaduct at Runcorn Shopping City.

How to find the schedule and book

The full programme, including which activities run at which branch and on which day, is published on the Halton Libraries website. Weekly schedules were also issued as downloadable timetables, which are the quickest way to plan a specific week.

Widnes residents have several branches within reach, with Widnes Library on Victoria Square in the town centre the largest. Sessions at individual branches vary week to week, so checking the schedule for the specific branch rather than assuming a borough-wide timetable is worth the effort.

Some activities have capacity limits and need booking in advance, particularly workshop-format sessions such as circus skills and Junkbot building. Drop-in sessions, including most craft and story activities, do not.

Why the library programme matters for household budgets

Six weeks of school holidays is an expensive stretch for families, and the free things to do around Widnes matter more than usual in August. Holiday clubs and paid activities typically run to tens of pounds per child per day, and childcare costs rise at precisely the point when free school meals stop. A programme of free, indoor, staffed activities within walking or bus distance addresses several of those pressures at once.

Libraries are also open in bad weather and cost nothing to sit in, which is a practical consideration for households managing energy bills through a period when children are at home all day.

What to watch next

The programme runs until schools return in early September, with weekly schedules published branch by branch, so parents should check for late additions rather than relying on the timetable issued in July. Reading challenge goodie bags are claimed at branches once five books have been returned. Halton Libraries also runs term-time activity programmes and half-term events, and the same booking pages carry those listings once the summer schedule ends.

Further reading and sources

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