THE organisation responsible for libraries, leisure and lifestyle in the town marks its first birthday this week.

And while there will be no Royal visit or Olympic torch to deal with this May, it has been a time to reflect for the bosses at LiveWire.

We sat down at the Orford Park offices almost a year to the day since the Queen visited on a rainy day last May to look at performance during the past 12 months and look ahead to the future.

Because LiveWire, which is funded by the council but runs fee of formal Town Hall control, is not just about its £30million shiny centrepiece.

It also manages the other former council leisure centres as well as libraries and healthy eating and stop smoking services.

Jan Souness is the managing director.

She said while Orford Park has been a massive success, with a 400plus per cent increase on members compared to Fordton, all centres have seen a boost post 2012.

She added: “We are here for everyone and that has been really important for us.

“We want to get people through the door and we must be one of the best in the north for people who have never used services before.

“And we have an awful lot of people joining who have never been to a leisure centre before but wanted to look round.”

It is the hub feel or Orford Park, and Woolston, which has helped increase membership.

According to Jan, by visiting a library or seeing the doctor, it gets people over the ‘fear factor’ of going into a leisure centre.

She added: “It is the case the library say staff are able to reach people in a way that leisure centre staff may not be able to reach.

“They can build up a level of trust to be able to speak about the other services we offer which you may not be aware of, such as stop smoking or healthy eating.”

But without such focal points as the Queen’s visit and the torch relay, can the success of this past year be replicated.

“We won’t have the Queen every year.

“But what we do have is a unique offer, different to anywhere else. And we have the Rugby League World Cup and Orford Festival here so still plenty to look forward to.”