Share, learn and celebrate at the first annual…
Redhills Little Big Meeting
Redhills is the historic Miners’ Hall in Durham city. Also known as the ‘Pitman’s Parliament’ it was built to represent the people and communities of the Durham coalfield.
Redhills was the purpose-built home of the Durham Miners’ Association, where miners joined together and used their collective power to improve the world above ground. The mines have all gone now but Redhills – and its powerful history – still remains.
Our hope is that Redhills becomes a home in the city for the towns and villages of the coalfield – a place where people can come together, be inspired by our past and work together to shape a better future.
We asked for those who know our communities most deeply – activists, organisers and volunteers – to come together, share, learn and celebrate at our first annual ‘Little Big Meeting’ at Sherburn Community Centre on 22nd September.
More than 50 representatives from the community, academic and cultural sectors came together to share and learn about the collective challenges we face working in County Durham.
We also explored some of the solutions and models that might help us work collectively to increase our impact.
Some of the words participants used to describe how the day made them feel include:
One of the day’s focuses was to ask what can Redhills do to help? Having reflected on your answers, we have some immediate ideas to share:
● Building an evidence base: Sharing the findings from the Insights North East report in a visually impactful, easy-read and usable format.
● Convening a conversation about a fair and equitable community-research compact with Higher Education Institutions in the region.
● Space to share, learn and plan with a series of smaller, focused exchanges. We’ll be in touch about this or feel free to drop us an email if you would like to take part or have an idea for a connecting conversation.
We would like to thank Victoria Hughes from Joseph Rowntree’s Foundations Emerging Futures programme, Barbara Slassor from Gaunless Gateway Big Local and our friends from Tottenham who told us about the Wards Corner Community Plan as well as those who shared their initial reflections with us from Blackhall Community Centre, Sacriston Youth Project, Space North East and Woodshed Workshop.
Also to UCL for generously supporting this work.