As a not-for-profit organisation, BLC is all about you. That’s why we’ve joined in a week-long campaign highlighting some of the many ways we support the community we serve.
It’s called Seriously Social and it’s promoting the work and impact of charitable trusts and social enterprises like BLC all across the UK through six key themes – health & wellbeing, community, employment & skills, inclusion, the environment and social impact.
Each day of the campaign we’ve posted on social media about one of those themes with examples of how we support it.
This all adds up to what’s known as social value, which is measured through factors such as increased life satisfaction and improved individual wellbeing as well as reduced pressure on health services as communities become healthier.
In 2025, every £1 spent with BLC created a social value of £26.48. You can read our social value report here.
We’re proud to support the borough of Burnley, so if you haven’t seen them yet, here’s all our posts for the campaign.
Seriously Social…about putting people above profit
As a charitable trust, all our surplus operating revenues are reinvested in our facilities and services to support communities across the borough, and this includes our Down Town Café in Burnley town centre.
Volunteer-led and not-for-profit, Down Town serves hot and cold drinks and tasty food at reasonable prices with any money made contributing to the delivery of the community cookery school teaching local families how to make healthier meals.
Down Town regularly welcomes 100 people through its doors each day. Here’s what one of our volunteers had to say: “I had no confidence, but since I’ve been coming here to Down Town, I’ve started feeling brighter, being a bit more confident in myself, even branching out to new ideas and communications skills as well.”
Almost 8,000 people took part in our community schemes in 2025 – Down Town being just one of them.
Seriously Social…about health & wellbeing
When the funding ended for an East Lancashire healthy hearts programme, we committed to keep it going in Burnley by funding it ourselves. And one person who’s glad we did is local man Ken.
Ken’s one of 2,000-plus people who benefit from a BLC health referral programme each year, helping them recover from heart attacks and strokes, become less frail by improving their strength and balance, lose weight, fight pain and more.
Ken was enjoying a relaxing camping holiday with his family, when in the middle of the night he felt a strong pain in his chest. As he suspected, it was a heart attack, which eventually resulted in him having two stents fitted in hospital.
Soon after his discharge, the hospital’s Cardiac Rehab Team gave Ken the opportunity to join a 12-week programme run by his local leisure centre. He said yes to the weekly gym and circuit classes, never missed and session and has never looked back!
As his confidence has grown, Ken’s pushed himself more and has set his sights on running in the great outdoors, with a long-term goal of participating in the Great North Run.
Seriously Social…about the community
There are thousands of people in Burnley who are involved in choirs, amateur dramatic or dance groups, music, heritage, and creativity of all kinds.
They have a huge impact on our borough, bringing joy to tens of thousands of people each year through events and projects across the borough’s venues, streets, parks, and public spaces.
The impact these events have, is only going to grow thanks to the Burnley 2027 Year of Culture, which aims to raise the profile of culture in Burnley, drive growth, foster innovation, and create a lasting legacy of benefits – including promoting social cohesion, civic pride, and environmental sustainability.
A foretaste of all that was our Culture Burnley Awards 2026, which shone a spotlight on the creativity, passion and commitment that makes our borough such a special place to live, work and visit.
From long-serving contributions to the cultural, heritage and creative sector to interfaith projects, singing choirs, youth theatre, committed volunteers, rising stars, large-scale exhibitions and events, and artistic trails – it set the scene for what culture can bring to the community.
Seriously Social…about employment & skills
Apprenticeships can help young people build confidence, responsibility and a clear career pathway.
Here at BLC, we’ve hosted over 30 apprenticeships over the last three years, and we were delighted to be shortlisted for Employer of the Year at the Themis Inspire and Achieve Awards celebrating outstanding apprentices, employers, and mentors across the North West earlier this year.
Special mention to Leisure Centre apprentice Alyssa, who was a finalist for Apprentice of the Year in the Sport, Leisure and Beauty category at the Themis awards. Although she didn’t win this time, we are incredibly proud of her and everything she continues to achieve.
Another a brilliant example of hard work leading to success is our Leisure Centre apprentice Maisie, who was recognised at the 2026 Lancashire Apprenticeship Awards.
Throughout their apprenticeships, Alyssa and Maisie have developed not only practical skills and industry knowledge, but also confidence in supporting customers, promoting wellbeing and working as part of our busy leisure teams.
Our apprenticeship journeys reflect the impact apprenticeships can have in helping young people gain life skills and get them ready for the world of work.
All our apprentices are fantastic ambassadors for apprenticeships – especially Alyssa and Maisie!
Find out about working for BLC
Seriously Social…about inclusion
We are dedicated to offering life-changing opportunities to local individuals, empowering them to improve their lives in meaningful ways.
Another way to help people do this is by installing some special software on our website to improve inclusivity. It’s called Recite Me and it’s an assistive toolbar that allows visitors to customise our content so they can consume it in ways that work best for them.
That could be turning text into speech, help for sign language users, changing type size and colours for better visibility, even translating into foreign languages.
Since we installed Recite Me, 924 users have racked up 2,571 page views, with the top pages being Burnley Mechanics Theatre, memberships and timetables.
Text to speech translation has dominated with 723 clicks – a massive indicator that audio support is genuinely needed – while type changes have leaned towards dyslexia-friendly options. Users have requested 24 different languages options, including Czech, Armenian, Polish and Japanese.
Our toolbar is doing real work for real people!
Seriously Social…about the environment
Producing food that is never eaten uses almost a third of the world’s agricultural land. It drives deforestation and habitat loss, destroys ecosystems and biodiversity and increases greenhouse gases that create climate change.
Here at Burnley Leisure & Culture, we believe that small actions can make a big difference. Food waste is a global challenge, but by making conscious choices, whether at home, in our workplaces, or within our communities, we can all play a part in creating a more sustainable future.
‘Waste Not, Feast More’ is a special, once-a-year event made possible through the incredible support of our local suppliers and volunteers.
Through all of our hospitality venues, we aim to create more seasonal specials, reduce food waste wherever possible, and continually improve how we use ingredients across our kitchens.
We are also extremely lucky to have a community café, where our Bistro is able to donate surplus food that would otherwise go to waste. This s then used to help feed local people through a ‘pay it forward’ scheme, ensuring it never goes to waste and instead directly supports our community.
We also work hard to make better choices beyond the plate. Coffee grounds from our venues are sent to local community compost gardens, and we are actively working towards using more recyclable and environmentally responsible takeaway products.
‘Waste Not, Feast More’ is more than just a dinner; it’s an opportunity to see the incredible potential of food that may otherwise have gone to waste. By rethinking how we value food, we can reduce waste, support those in need, and lessen our impact on the environment.
Don’t forget, you can discover more about our community impact and its social value here.
