Moor Pool Heritage Festival 2026

September 24, 2026
9:03 am

The 17th annual Moor Pool Heritage Festival took place on Sunday 20th September 2026, and it was another wonderful celebration of heritage and community. Whether it was your first visit to Moor Pool or you’re a regular to our Garden Suburb, we hope you had a great day!

The festival was part of Birmingham Heritage Week and Heritage Open Days, and the theme for this year was ‘Everyday Histories: Exploring working life through the ages’. Using census records, findmypast resources and other sources, we mapped how the occupations of Moor Pool residents changed between 1911 and 1939 and evolved over time, uncovering residents employed in industry, retail, teaching and domestic service. Read some of the stories we have uncovered so far.

Our research, along with items from the Moor Pool Collection, was on display in the Estate Office and our fabulous University of Birmingham placement students, India and Clementine, were on hand to answer any questions. We also had a Happy Families trail which allowed people to explore the everyday working lives of Moor Pool residents across the Estate and Rachel West, our former Education Officer and local historian, led an engaging walking heritage tour.

Moor Pool Hall was buzzing throughout the day as some of our regular groups provided tasters and demonstrations of their activities in the Main Hall, while in the Lower Hall local vintage expert Connor McGrath displayed his impressive collection of record players and families played together with vintage board games.

The Bowls, Snooker, Circle Tennis and Skittle clubs were open for people to explore and festival favourites Sovereign Brass Band and Brandhall Community Choir brought the Estate to life with a joyful soundtrack. We were also treated to live performances from the Luke Players and One Day Theatre.

At the Carless Eco Centre, children were kept entertained with craft activities and free glitter tattoos while our wonderful group of gardening volunteers held a mini plant sale.

For the first time at a Heritage Festival, we opened up the area around the Moor Pool for visitors to find out more about the issues facing this iconic Estate feature and meet the team finding solutions. Residents can support this work by sharing ideas, volunteering and helping to unlock funding opportunities as plans develop. Contact Amy Sanghera if you would like to get involved.

We closed the festival by presenting medals to everyone who took part in our Moor Pool 5k Summer Challenge. Thanks to their walking, running and rolling over the summer, we’ve raised over £400 which will go towards our Moor Pool Hall refurbishment project.

There was a lovely atmosphere around the Estate, helped along by the gorgeous sunshine we enjoyed all day, and we’d like to say a huge thank you to our Trust Office staff, Trustees and volunteers for working so hard to put on this annual celebration of heritage, history and community spirit.

Moor Pool Heritage Trust is a charity dedicated to conserving the heritage of the Moor Pool Estate and we rely on your generous support to do this. If you enjoyed your day and would like to help us preserve Moor Pool’s unique character for future generations, please donate. Thank you!