The Octagon Theatre is going on tour bring stories of fun and adventure to Bolton's libraries.

The theatre is staging free storytelling sessions as part of the Octagon’s three-year Sharing Stories community project funded by The Oglesby Charitable Trust, which works with families across Bolton to put on literacy-based activities for young people.

Visiting six libraries during the summer holidays, families can enjoy a live story reading of popular children’s books, followed by a creative session, with activities varying from dance, puppetry, arts and crafts.

Activities will be suitable for the whole family to enjoy, from babies and toddlers to children up to 11 years old.

Libraries on the tour include: Central Library, Saturday, July 22; Farnworth Library on Friday, July 28); Breightmet Library on Tuesday, August 1; Horwich Library on Friday, August 11; High Street Library on Thursday, August 17; and Westhoughton Library on Monday, August 21.

Each venue will have two sessions available: 10.30am and 1pm, except Central Library which will have arts workshops between 11am-12pm and 1pm-3pm, with storytelling available at 11.30am, 12.30pm, 1.30pm and 2.30pm.

To tie into the Octagon’s festive show, which this year is a brand-new musical adaptation of the classic adventure book Around the World in 80 Days, the theme of all the storytelling sessions will be ‘Around the World’, with stories and activities taking inspiration from this theme.

Each venue will include a different story and a new activity, so families are welcome to attend more than one event. All the sessions are free to attend, and no booking is required.

Taylor Barnes, family engagement lead at the Octagon said: “We’re thrilled by the response from families since launching Sharing Stories at the beginning of the year. We’ve been hearing from families about what they’d like to see from the Octagon and summer holiday activity across Bolton was at the top of the list.

" With fabulous support from our partners, Bolton Libraries and Museums, we can’t wait to bring exciting storytelling opportunities to a range of local libraries this summer.”

These storytelling sessions will form part of the Octagon’s summer family programme, which also includes the return of their third annual free Family Festival which takes place during the August Bank Holiday weekend – providing 3 fun-filled days of indoor and outdoor family activities.