2025 What a year!

24 January, 2026 Marcus Belben

As the sun sets on 2025, International Year of Co-operatives, it’s the perfect time to look back at what we’ve been doing:

From our local libraries to the streets of Birmingham, 2025 has been a dramatic year, celebrating community, resilience and sharing our history. Here’s a couple of highlights:

Turning Pages, Shaping Lives: Book Marks

Book Marks team photo at Stirchley Library — Book Marks team, from left to right, Richard Albutt, Anton Malcolm, Diane Malcolm, Soheila Javaheri, Nikki Thorpe, Marcus Belben

A lot of our work this year related to the Book Marks project. Launched during World Book Week in March, we looked at the profound impact of Birmingham’s libraries. We spent time in Druids Heath, Selly Oak, and Stirchley Libraries, recording oral histories and uncovering the “marks” libraries have left on people’s lives.

Friction in the Making

Photography with the builders to show the changing face of the Edge

The National Archives Resilience Fund to work with Young Artivists at Friction, develop the Archives resources and engage more people through workshops and events like the CREATE Youth Festival in the Summer. Friction Arts is renowned for its socially engaged projects and this will ensure the long-term health and sustainability, preserving and making accessible the unique stories of Birmingham.

Celebrating “Space for Community”

Chair from exhibition Windrush 75 — Stormy Weather film screening, with others

In a year where community spaces havebeen under pressure in Birmingham, we’ve has been working with our partners to make a difference, and through our first Community Film night, we screened five very different films about community spaces in Birmingham.

Finding our Space for Community at the Edge

Our ongoing Commitments, Paganel Archives and ‘Home in Highgate’

Another great year with Paganel Archives and we now chair ‘Home in Highgate’ supporting a range of initiatives in Highgate, in particular celebrating the lives of Highgate people.

Solidarity and Anniversaries

Mrs. McGhie-Belgrave MBE at Woodcraft Folk Birmingham for Windrush Day

We marked several significant milestones this year:

We helped explore the century-long history of Woodcraft Folk – a co-operative youth organisation with Kings Heath and Moseley Woodcraft Folk, reflecting on the lessons from the 1930s and the rise of Fascism.
Eunice McGhie-Belgrave MBE celebrated her 91st birthday. We honour her lifetime of work with ‘Shades of Black’ for community cohesion and the Windrush legacy – valuable work and workshops with youth groups in Kings Heath and Stechford
Place making and future making in Druids Heath. We’ve been working with Jayne Murray and plan to continue this in 2026, supporting residents living there, documenting and raising awareness the impact of City Council plans to demolish.
Whether at the Community Archives and Heritage Group, at UCL or collaborating with local partners like Friction Arts, we’ve spent 2025 proving that cooperation and cooperatives play an important role in our past and future.

Looking Ahead to 2026

We’re not going anywhere – are you joining us? We’re going to keep finding new ways to support our members – archivists, artists, historians and heritage practitioners.

Thank you to all our members, volunteers, and partners who made 2025 so memorable. If you’d like to get involved or share a story, please reach out to us email or Insta: https://www.instagram.com/peoplesheritagecoop/

Here’s to another year of making history, together!