TODAY WE CELEBRATE fifteen years of B31 Voices serving communities across south west Birmingham!
On the 7th July 2010, we launched ‘B31 Blog’ hoping to record some things that were going on close to our home at Hollymoor, Northfield.
We started off with news, arts, events and more in and around Northfield, Longbridge, Rubery, Frankley, Rednal, Lickey Hills.
in 2011, with a following over a wider area, we changed our name to B31 Voices and launched a new website – this very one!
Still run by volunteers, B31 Voices has evolved over the years, engaging with a much larger following spread over the whole of south west Birmingham – helping to connect communities to businesses, community groups, charities, local government, police, fire and other community stakeholders.
Over the past years we have:
• Expanded our reach organically from a small housing estate on the fringes of the city to the majority of the south west corner of Birmingham;
• reported on everything from lost or injured animals to murders to elections;
• shared crowd-sourced information for features such as #SWBrumSnowWatch (originally #B31SnowWatch) and #SWBrumRainwatch;
• informed and supported the local community and helped coordinate the response from local community organisations during the COVID 19 pandemic;
• supported residents, local groups and businesses with #SWBrumCROWDSOURCE #B31SupportingLocal an events calendar and a directory;
• helped local community campaigners;
• live-blogged events;
• developed invaluable links within the community;
• supported local people privately, with help, advice and signposting to relevant services;
• grown as a community resource;
• assisted community organisations with social media workshops and support;
• promoted the positive with #PositiveSWBrum / #PositiveB31;
• worked with volunteers who have helped with B31 Voices – from articles to social media
None of this would have been possible without YOU!
Every share, like, contribution, mention, retweet, referral, comment, donation, has helped B31 Voices grow into the community and the resource that it is today.
THANK YOU to every single one of you who is part of this immense community called B31 Voices!
B31 Voices is run by volunteers and is committed to supporting communities across south west Birmingham and surrounding by keeping them informed and engaged. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Support us by donating at www.b31.org.uk/donate. Send us local story ideas to hello@b31.org.uk
