A Closing the Gap Library Marketplace

Liverpool Central Library Hosts a Free Women's Health Market Place for Baby Week 2026 

Improving Me and Liverpool Libraries bring together NHS services, community organisations, language learning initiatives and family activities for a welcoming day of health information, support and connection.

Families across Cheshire and Merseyside are invited to a free women’s health event at Liverpool Central Library on Tuesday 17 November 2026, from 10am to 2pm, bringing together healthcare professionals, community organisations and local services to help improve access to women's health, maternity and family wellbeing support. Taking place as part of Baby Week 2026, the event will transform Liverpool Central Library into a lively community marketplace, where visitors can meet local organisations, discover services, take part in interactive activities and find information and advice in a friendly, informal environment.

Organised through Improving Me, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside's Women's Health and Maternity Programme, in collaboration with Liverpool Libraries and participating partners, the event forms part of a week of celebrations focused on this year's theme, Closing the Gap. From pregnancy and infant feeding to women's health, language learning and early childhood development, the day aims to make health and wellbeing information more accessible while celebrating the diversity of Liverpool's communities.

Closing the Gap: Making Health and Wellbeing Everyone's Business

This year's Baby Week theme, Closing the Gap, highlights the inequalities that continue to affect women's experiences of healthcare, pregnancy, birth and early parenthood.
As Improving Me celebrates its tenth anniversary, the programme is bringing organisations together to address the barriers that can prevent women and families from accessing the information, care and support they need.
For many families, these barriers extend beyond healthcare. Language, social isolation, education, financial pressures, cultural misunderstandings and unfamiliarity with local services can all influence health and wellbeing.
The Liverpool Central Library event aims to help overcome these challenges by bringing services directly into a familiar, accessible public space where families can meet professionals, ask questions and build connections.
Like the Let's Talk Women's Health event taking place at FireFit Youth and Community Hub in Toxteth on Thursday 19 November, the library celebration will demonstrate how community partnerships can help make health information and support part of everyday life.

A Marketplace of Health, Wellbeing and Community Support

Throughout the day, visitors will be able to explore a marketplace of organisations offering information, advice and opportunities to connect with local services.
Participating organisations and initiatives include:
●    Improving Me – NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Women's Health and Maternity Programme, sharing information about women's health, maternity care, prevention and wellbeing.
●    Peaches Womb Cancer Charity, raising awareness of womb cancer and the importance of women's health information.
●    Women's Health Hub, providing information about women's health services and support.
●    Maternity Action, highlighting information and support relating to maternity and parental rights at work, pay and benefits to pregnant women and new parents 
●    Essential Parent, sharing resources and information to support parents and families whilst demonstrating the Women’s Health App.
●    ESOL Baby Steps, introducing an inclusive English language learning programme for pregnant women and mothers with babies and young children.
●    MARI Project, connecting with women who are trying to conceive, are pregnant or new mums looking to understand more about harm related to alcohol .
Visitors will have opportunities to speak with  representatives, learn about local services and discover practical resources to support their own health and their families' wellbeing.
The event is designed to be informal and welcoming, with families encouraged to drop in, explore the marketplace and join activities throughout the day.

Celebrating Languages, Stories and Early Learning

Alongside the health and wellbeing marketplace, Liverpool Libraries will host interactive activities celebrating language, reading and family learning.
Families can enjoy Rhyme Time from 12pm to 1pm, providing an opportunity for parents, carers and young children to share songs, rhymes and early language experiences.
From 1pm to 2pm, visitors can discover LOTE4, a digital library of audio-picture books for children available in more than 115 languages.
The hands-on demonstration will introduce families with primary-age children to a resource that helps children enjoy stories in their home languages as well as English.
For multilingual families, access to books and stories in familiar languages can help children maintain connections with their cultural heritage while developing confidence and enjoyment in reading. This also provides a good excuse for women learning English to get some homework in whilst reading with their children.
Together, these activities reflect the wider purpose of the event: supporting communication, celebrating cultural diversity and ensuring families feel included in the services and opportunities available to them.

Two ESOL Baby Steps taster sessions are scheduled throughout the day at 10.30am and 12.30pm.