FRIDAY 2 – SATURDAY 3 OCTOBER 2026
HOW DO WE REBUILD OUR COALFIELD
COMMON WEALTH?
We’re inviting people from across the region to assemble at Redhills. Come and explore how we can rebuild the shared institutions, assets, relationships, community ownership and collective power that make a decent life possible.
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Two days. One conversation.
The Assembly follows one shared journey.
Rather than choosing between competing conference sessions, we’ll come together for short talks, stories, films and provocations before working in smaller groups to explore the same questions.
The emphasis throughout will be on participation rather than presentation. Short contributions are there to inspire, stimulate or provoke the conversation that follows – not to present finished answers.
We’ll learn from the past, hear from people doing the work today, look at inspiring examples from elsewhere and ask what those ideas mean for our own communities.
FRIDAY 2 OCTOBER
Day One:
What is our Coalfield Common Wealth?
9am - 5:45pm
Arrival, registration, tea and coffee from 9:00am. The Assembly opens at 10:00am
Day one asks what makes a community wealthy – not simply in financial terms, but through the things we own, share, create and sustain together.
Across the day, we’ll explore six interconnected elements of Coalfield Common Wealth, combining short provocations with stories, film, culture and participatory breakout sessions.
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 9.00am | Arrival, registration, tea & coffee |
| 10.00am | Welcome to the Assembly A short welcome and introduction to the two days. |
| 10.20am | Our Living Culture How can culture, history and creativity give us the confidence, identity and imagination to shape the future? |
| 11.00am | Short break |
| 11.10am | Mutual Aid How can we organise collectively to look after each other and look out for each other? |
| 12.05pm | Coffee break |
| 12.35pm | Collective Ownership What changes when communities own and control the buildings, land and resources on which they depend? |
| 1.30pm | Lunch |
| 2.15pm | A Solidarity Economy How can we create our own jobs and keep wealth in our communities? |
| 3.15pm | Short break |
| 3.25pm | Take Back Control How do communities build the agency and democratic power to decide what happens? |
| 4.25pm | Coffee Break |
| 4.50pm | Look After This Place How do we care for our places and what we pass on to future generations? |
| 5.45pm | Day One closes |
| 6pm - late | Culture, food and connection For those who want to stay on, the Assembly will continue into Friday evening with an optional, separately bookable programme bringing together culture, food and conversation. The exact programme is still being developed, with ideas including live performance, music and food. Full details coming soon. Click here to book |
SATURDAY 3 OCTOBER
Day Two:
How do we rebuild it?
8:45am - 4:45pm
Arrival, registration, tea and coffee from 8:45am. The programme begins at 9:15am.
If Friday asks what we need to rebuild, Saturday asks how we do it.
Across the day, we’ll test five connected stages of the Redhills Model. Each session combines short provocations with time for participants to work together, challenge the ideas and apply them to their own experience.
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 8.45am | Arrival, registration, tea & coffee |
| 9.15am | Our Coalfield Common Wealth A short recap of Day One and introduction to the Redhills Model. |
| 9.30am | ACTIVATE Harness pride in our inherited and living culture to build motivation, hope and the belief that change is possible. |
| 10.25am | Short break |
| 10.35am | EDUCATE Uncover the root causes of deprivation and build the understanding and practical capability to govern institutions, manage economic assets and exercise collective power. |
| 11.35am | Coffee break |
| 12.00pm | ORGANISE Form and strengthen democratic community institutions that can campaign, collectively own assets, employ people and make decisions. |
| 12.50pm | Lunch |
| 1.35pm | CAPITALISE Build community wealth by securing and deploying patient, non-extractive capital, assets and enterprise for community benefit. |
| 2.45pm | Short break |
| 2.55pm | FEDERATE Connect organisations so learning, practice, resources and power accumulate - building collective power and solidarity across communities. |
| 3.40pm | Coffee break |
| 4.05pm | Now We Build A final challenge to turn the ideas, relationships and possibilities developed over the two days into collective action and power. |
| 4.45pm | Assembly closes |