Womens Health Day Collaboration with Torus
Closing the Gap: Free Women’s Health and Maternity Family Celebration Comes to Toxteth for Baby Week 2026
Improving Me and the Torus Foundation join forces to blend accessible health information and advice with a cultural celebration aiming to fully integrate health and wellness into the community.
Families across Toxteth and South Liverpool are invited to a free community celebration on Thursday 19 November 2026, bringing together local organisations, maternity and healthcare professionals, and community groups to help tackle health inequalities and improve access to support for women, babies and families in the community. Food, refreshments, translation support will be available.
Taking place at FireFit Youth and Community Hub, 115 Upper Warwick Street, Toxteth, Liverpool, L8 8HD, from 10am to 2pm, the event is a collaboration between Improving Me, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside's Women's Health and Maternity Programme, and the Torus Foundation, as part of Baby Week 2026.
The event will bring together a diverse range of local organisations offering advice, information and opportunities to connect, alongside cultural presentations celebrating the rich diversity of South 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 shape women's experiences of healthcare, pregnancy, birth and early parenthood.
As Improving Me celebrates its tenth anniversary, the programme is drawing attention to the barriers that prevent women and families from accessing the care and support they need.
For many families, those barriers extend beyond healthcare itself. Language differences, financial pressures, cultural misunderstandings, disability, social isolation and unfamiliarity with local services can all affect opportunities for good health.
By bringing organisations together in a familiar and welcoming community setting, the Toxteth event aims to build trust ,make support easier to find, encourage conversations and strengthen connections between families and the services available to them.
Breaking Down Language and Cultural Barriers
A particular focus of Improving Me's work is ensuring that women from migrant and minoritised communities are not disadvantaged by language barriers when accessing maternity and healthcare services.
Its innovative ESOL Baby Steps initiative, commissioned in 2025, has developed a free English language learning programme specifically for pregnant women and mothers with babies who speak little English.
Developed through collaboration between Improving Me, academic researchers, midwifery students and adult education specialists, ESOL Baby Steps combines practical language learning with information about pregnancy, birth, infant care and navigating health services.
The programme aims to improve health literacy, build confidence and reduce social isolation, while helping healthcare professionals develop greater cultural and linguistic awareness.
Visitors to the FireFit event will have an opportunity to connect with ESOL representatives and discover information about learning and community support from both public sector and voluntary sector agencies.
The initiative reflects the wider purpose of Baby Week: improving communication, building trust and ensuring that every woman has the opportunity to understand and participate in decisions about their health and care.
Bringing Communities Together
The event will feature information stalls, presentations and opportunities to meet representatives from local health and community organisations.
Contributors include:
● Beyond Midwives, providing maternity-related information and support.
● Kush Community and Bridge 2, sharing information about community services.
● Sudan Almahana, offering a cultural presentation celebrating community identity and heritage.
● Autism Embrace for Mothers and Children CIC, delivering a presentation.
● Central Liverpool Primary Care Network, offering social prescribing advice, wellbeing information and community resources.
● Granby Children's Centre, sharing information about support for children and families.
● Family Health Infant Feeding Services, providing information about infant feeding.
● ESOL representatives, highlighting language learning opportunities and support.
● Torus Foundation, sharing information about its services and opportunities for local residents.
Other community and healthcare partners have also been invited to participate.
The day is designed to encourage families to meet local organisations, ask questions, discover new resources and celebrate the diversity of the communities that make Liverpool such a vibrant city.
Supporting Health Where People Live
The collaboration with Torus reflects a growing recognition that good health begins in communities, homes and neighbourhoods, long before someone enters a hospital or medical setting.
FireFit Youth and Community Hub is an established community resource in Toxteth, providing opportunities for young people and adults to improve their wellbeing, develop skills and build social connections.
Torus Foundation has also been recognised through Liverpool's Fairer, Healthier Liverpool accreditation, reflecting its commitment to tackling inequalities and improving the conditions that support better health.
By creating opportunities for local people to meet health professionals and community organisations in an informal environment, the event demonstrates how partnerships between housing, public health, education and grassroots community organisations can make a meaningful difference.
The Toxteth celebration is one example of how the programme is working with local partners to strengthen communities, promote prevention and ensure that women's voices and experiences remain central to improving care.
Join Us — Everyone Is Welcome
The event is free and open to local families, expectant parents, carers and community members.
Whether you're looking for advice, information about local services, opportunities to meet other families or simply a welcoming community event, come along and find out what's available.
Event details
Date: Thursday 19 November 2026
Time: 10am–2pm
Venue: FireFit Youth and Community Hub
Address: 115 Upper Warwick Street, Toxteth, Liverpool, L8 8HD
Cost: FREE
Find out more about Baby Week 2026:
https://www.improvingme.org.uk/community/baby-week-2026/
Together, we can close the gap and build healthier, more connected communities for women, babies and families.
Notes to Editors
About Baby Week Cheshire and Merseyside
Baby Week 2026 takes place from 16–22 November under the theme Closing the Gap. The programme celebrates ten years of Improving Me and brings together public services, community organisations, healthcare professionals and families to improve health and wellbeing and reduce inequalities affecting women, babies and children.
About Improving Me
Improving Me is NHS Cheshire and Merseyside's Women's Health and Maternity Programme. It works across healthcare, education, research and community partnerships to improve women's health outcomes, strengthen prevention and address health inequalities.
Website: https://www.improvingme.org.uk
About Torus Foundation
Torus Foundation is a charitable organisation supporting communities across the North West through programmes addressing health and wellbeing, employment, skills, financial inclusion and opportunities for young people.
FireFit Youth and Community Hub is a cornerstone of its community activity in South Liverpool.
Website: https://www.torusfoundation.org.uk
About ESOL Baby Steps
ESOL Baby Steps is a free, adaptable English language learning programme for pregnant women and mothers with babies who have limited English proficiency.
Commissioned by Improving Me in 2025, the programme supports communication with maternity and healthcare professionals, health literacy, confidence and social connection.
Programme resources are freely available at:
Media enquiries
Improving Me – Baby Week Team
Email: wham.engagement@cheshireandmerseyside.nhs.uk
Photographs, interviews and further information available on request.