Birmingham Museums Trust helping the community

While the doors to the nine Birmingham Museums Trust sites have had to close, the team have still been working hard for the community by supporting the NHS and others who need help most at this time.

Donations to the NHS and local charities 

Birmingham Museums donated supplies of antibacterial wipes to Birmingham Samaritans. The city branch remains open to telephone callers and they are doing all they can to ensure their volunteers are able to continue to support people in distress, often with suicidal thoughts, in a safe clean branch. This donation will help the branch to remain open so their volunteers can provide this vital support.

The Birmingham Museums collections care team have donated boxes of gloves and masks to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Birmingham at a time when personal protective equipment is much needed by their frontline staff. The safety equipment is usually used by museum staff when caring for objects and artworks, but the team quickly responded to a call out from the University of Birmingham who were looking to redistribute supplies to those who need it most in the NHS at this time.

The Edwardian Tearooms at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery worked with Simon Carlo from the Meat and One Veg blog to donate soup and bread to Tabor House, which offers shelter, safety and support to vulnerable people. Further food was distributed to hostels in the city.

Brum Cup – help us to help our NHS heroes

Last year the Brum Cup launched, an environmentally friendly, reusable cup which helps to raise funds for Birmingham Museums Trust. For every Brum Cup bought until Friday 10 April, Birmingham Museums will donate a second free of charge to the University Hospitals Birmingham Charity, who will distribute them to staff at the four largest hospitals in Birmingham, The Queen Elizabeth, Heartlands, Good Hope and Solihull, so they can enjoy a hot drink when on shift.

Find out more about the Brum Cup campaign here.

Sarehole Mill Community Shop 

To help make it as easy as possible for the local community in Hall Green to stay well fed, the shop at Sarehole Mill, one of Birmingham Museums’ historic properties, has been transformed into a small food shop stocked with items like flour, pasta and tinned goods. Fresh bread, baked on site, is also available.

The shop is open from 11am – 4pm, Monday – Friday. Find out more here.

Thank you to all the key workers working tirelessly during this crisis. Small acts of kindness from across the museums sector are going some way to help.