In the year marking a quarter of a century since local campaigners occupied our public swimming baths on Glasgow’s Calder Street – following Glasgow City Council’s decision to close it – we have engaged 22,635 people in a range of health, wellbeing, arts, youth, heritage and environmental projects.
Alongside the long-running campaign to reopen the Edwardian building as a wellbeing and arts space, we run programmes and services that respond to the realities facing our local communities including the cost-of-living crisis, food insecurity, social isolation, and health inequalities.
The People’s Pantry plays a vital role in Govanhill, supporting 1,500 individuals with affordable and culturally appropriate food while creating opportunities for volunteering skills development and social connection. In total, the Pantry distributed 75,000 tonnes of food last year, as well as 18,500 household and hygiene items, 500 nappies and 100 baby formulas. In 2025-26, membership increased by 13% across 566 households in total and 187,000 meal portions were sold at affordable prices via the People’s Pantry.
Our Community Wellbeing programme creates safe and inclusive spaces for people experiencing isolation, poor mental health and financial hardship, with over 400 participants this year. Existing long-term projects including The Men’s Shed, Cast Offs knitting meet-up and Digital Inclusion sessions support confidence, skills and social
connections, while newly launched project MUMs provided a structured, accessible way to process the emotional complexities of early parenthood. A further 326 young people attended Govanhill Youth Programme in 2025-26. Activities such as drama, creative workshops, storytelling, seasonal community events and group work help participants build confidence, develop friendships and gain new skills.
Alex Wilde, Chair of GBCT said: “We’ve had another really busy and impactful year at Govanhill Baths, engaging a wide range of people of all ages and backgrounds in our programmes, sessions and events. It only serves to remind us how deep the need is in Govanhill and how much more of an impact we could make if our building was open to the public again.”
“This year – for the anniversary of the occupation, festival events, Glasgow Doors Open Day Festival and our upcoming AGM – we’ve been bringing people back into the building again. It’s been such a meaningful step in a really long process, and it’s wonderful to see how people react. There’s a real appetite across the community to get back in and enjoy this multi-faceted wellbeing and arts space.”
“We’ve welcomed members of the public through the doors, and politicians including John Swinney, Patrick Harvie, Paul Sweeney, Jeremy Corbyn, Holly Bruce, Susan Aitken and Paul Leinster, as well as footballer Rose Reilly, have all visited. There’s no dissent at all – everyone agrees it’s a vital community asset which is so valuable to this neighbourhood. We need to get it open again.”
Govanhill International Festival & Carnival demonstrates the growing impact of our arts programme as a platform for cultural participation, community leadership and creative collaboration. The most recent festival in 2026 saw audiences of 10,000. Anchored by two large-scale public celebrations, the festival opened with the Govanhill Parade – a joyful procession through the streets featuring bands, community banners and performers, and closed with the Street Music Festival.
While our Deep End venue hosted 800 events across the year, the creative social enterprises based there have also continue to grow. Ceramics – an integral part of the arts programme – began in 2016 as a pop up in the Govanhill Baths building, focusing on wellbeing classes, and has since become a thriving, community led, self-financing social enterprise. While Rags to Riches transforms materials that would otherwise be discarded and has grown into an innovative social enterprise delivering workshops across woodwork, plastic, and textiles. Our reuse programmes have saved 54 tonnes of food, plastic, metal, wood and textiles from landfill in 2025-26 alone.
Community Gardening is central to GBCT – with two community gardens locally. And in 2025, the Community Champignons group grew 120kg of mushrooms which were distributed throughout the neighbourhood. Within the brand-new Creative Canopies planting project, 72 residents were supported to plant 92 fruit trees in G41 and G42 – areas with the lowest density tree cover in Glasgow.
Alongside the public campaign to reopen Govanhill Baths as a wellbeing and arts centre, the charity continues to provide practical support, and opportunities to build confidence, employability, wellbeing, community, creativity and connection. Thousands of local people have also engaged with other Govanhill Baths projects including the archive and heritage programme, year-round arts events, tours, classes, support sessions, community groups, and volunteering opportunities.
Join our AGM on Tuesday 29 September.