We’ve had a very busy 2024 at Moor Pool Heritage Trust! Here are some of our highlights:
Our Heritage Talk series returned with seven fascinating talks. We welcomed speakers on a diverse range of topics, including early co-operative housing, growing up in Birmingham between 1914 and 1924, the Birmingham Blitz, photography, Louisa Ryland and Mary Quant. We also had an heirloom evaluation evening with Fellows Auctioneers. The 2025 programme will be announced soon and we hope to see you at one of our talks next year.
Our Education Officer, Justine, kept children entertained with school holiday fun throughout the year, with seven free Let’s Do Lego sessions, four craft sessions, four Forest School sessions in our Orchard and a morning making scarecrows. She also organised several free adult crafting sessions with funding from Edgbaston NNS, and hosted Victoria School for weekly accessible gardening sessions at the Carless Eco Centre over the spring, summer and autumn.
Our gardening volunteers grew an abundance of organic fruit, vegetables and flowers at the Carless Eco Centre, and raised over £865 for both the Eco Centre and Nettlefold Garden at a plant sale in June. We constructed a new raised bed at the Eco Centre, meaning that even more produce can be grown in 2025.
Cathy Perry and the Wildlife Group volunteers made a start on transforming the Circle into a wildlife haven with improved planting and landscaping. The beds they have already tackled outside the Hall and Estate Office look fabulous and we can’t wait to see what they get up to next year.
We completed phase one of our current major project with the installation of a permanent access ramp to the side door of the Main Hall. We continue to work towards the next phase of this project, which will see a full refurbishment of the Main Hall washrooms and lobby area. There will be more on how you can help with this soon!
We successfully applied for grant funding totalling £31,400, which has been used towards our Main Hall refurbishment project and educational activities.
We held three of our popular Fish & Chip Quiz Suppers in 2024, raising almost £2,000. Thanks as always to Margaret O’Hara, our fabulous quizmaster, who puts so much time and energy into making these events a success.
Our two Halls have been very well-used throughout the year, with two wedding receptions, two elections, 84 parties, five craft markets and two theatre productions, as well as various other events. We also welcomed five new regular hirers. Our 14 Moor Pool clubs and societies continued to meet regularly throughout the year too.
Our Marketing & Fundraising Coordinator, Clare, created two crochet trails for everyone to enjoy, with a swarm of bees in the summer and a flock of Christmas robins in December. These trails attracted new visitors to Moor Pool and we hope they put a smile on your face!
Our 15th annual Moor Pool Heritage Festival was a great success, welcoming around 800 visitors to the Estate as part of Birmingham Heritage Week and Heritage Open Days.
Our Hall Manager, Barbara, transformed the former Trust Office into a new archive room, where we can conserve Moor Pool objects and documents for future generations. Three collections of Moor Pool objects were donated to us last year and we would love to receive more. The next step is to apply for grant funding for specialist environmental monitoring equipment and restoration work to some of our older documents.
We had five wonderful student placements last year: Theo, Charlie and Annabel (Year 10 work experience), Amber (MA Early Modern History Student, UoB) and Rosie (2nd year History (Professional Skills Module), UoB). They all got involved with specific projects, events and day-to-day Trust Office work. Read Amber’s blog post here.
Once again, we had an incredible turn-out for our Santa events in December! A record number of children met Father Christmas in his Grotto and, despite rescheduling due to Storm Darragh, Santa’s sleigh tour of Moor Pool was very well supported. We raised over £920 from both of these events.
On 21st December, we will mark 10 years of community ownership. Throughout 2025, we will be celebrating this milestone, sharing challenges we’ve met along the way and our highlights from the last 10 years.
So yes, a very busy 2024! None of this would have been possible without the dedication and hard work of our eight Trustees, Trust Office staff and our 100+ volunteers. A very big thank you to them for their continued support and enthusiasm.
We look forward to seeing you at Moor Pool in 2025!
