The latest annual report for the charity, which runs Glasgow's sport centres and museums, shows record-breaking attendance figures at sporting and cultural venues.

A total of 16.8m visits were made to the 154 venues run by the arms-length council body across the city.

Councillor Archie Graham, the depute leader of Glasgow City Council and chairman of Glasgow Life, said: "These figures prove, once again, that sport and culture are of huge importance to the people of Glasgow.

"We've enjoyed record-breaking attendance figures and despite the massive economic challenges, none of our facilities has been closed.

"What's more, in its first five years, Glasgow Life has delivered savings of more than £53m to the city. That's a hugely significant figure, which is being reinvested in frontline services."

Bosses said that the savings were due to the organisation's charitable status, which means they don't pay VAT.

The Riverside Museum helped boost visitor numbers by pulling in 1.6m visits in its first year.

Glasgow Life operates Scotland's largest health and fitness network, the Glasgow Club, which has 25 venues. These drew nearly 6m visitors – up 8% on last year, while membership rose 7.5% to more than 24,000 – creating £6.5m of income.

Free swims for OAPs and young people also saw a surge in demand for the fifth year running – up 6% to 270,000.

More than 80,000 young people are now members of Glasgow Young Scot and Kidz Cards used to get free and discounted access to physical activity and major events.

In the city's 33 libraries, visits were up to 5m.

And music is also thriving, with audiences of 485,000 across the Concert Halls, Old Fruitmarket, City Halls and other venues.

Glasgow Life also focuses on education with 11,000 people taking up computer classes, while 6700 parents and carers of pre-school children took part in positive parenting programmes.

Glasgow Life has almost 3000 staff and a turnover or £117m, of which £78m is a funded by the city council.

catriona.stewart@eveningtimes.co.uk