The 2025 Banner Exhibition is set for a colourful opening at People’s History Museum (PHM) on Saturday 18 January 2025 (on show until 29 December 2025). Banners are a visual representation of the many stories that are explored at the national museum of democracy and, although lots are historical, the themes that they carry through will resonate with visitors as strongly today as they did during their working life. Now part of an internationally significant museum collection these are banners that have been on marches, have campaigned for rights and have stood on picket lines. Brought together they are a powerful reminder of what can be achieved when ordinary people stand together for ideas worth fighting for.

Messages that march through history
Homelessness is an issue that continues through history. The Homelessness Action Campaign banner is from the 1940s, but could well be from a current campaign. Its particular story is about the housing crisis of 1946 that followed the Second World War, when tens of thousands of people, mainly ex-servicemen and their families, moved into empty military camps. Information about the banner is limited, but it is likely that it was used by the Communist Party of Great Britain to show its support for the homeless people forced to squat.

The 40th anniversary of the Miners’ Strike (1984-1985) is represented by two banners, the Young Communists say Coal Not Dole banner (1984) and the Lesbians & Gays Support The Miners banner (1984), which for the first time will be hung in such a way that you can see both sides of the design. One of the most popular banners in PHM’s collection, it represents a story of solidarity between the activists who founded Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) and the striking miners and their communities, as famously explored in the film Pride (2014).

The fight for equality for disabled people has progressed, but this has been slow and there is still so much further to go. The 2025 Banner Exhibition features several pieces that are intended to highlight a number of key anniversaries that fall in 2025. 55 years ago the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act (1970) was passed. It followed a long campaign championed by many disabled people who called for equality in living, education, transport, recreation and other aspects of everyday life. As a result of the legislation it meant that disabled people had the rights to welfare and support services in their own homes for the first time. It will also be 30 years since the passing of the Disability Discrimination Act (1995) and 15 years since the Equalities Act (2010).

Capturing the theme of disabled people’s rights is the Nothing About Us Without Us banner, which was created at People’s History Museum in 2015 by six learning disabled textile artists. The banner carries words expressing the notion that policies and decisions should be made with disabled people and not for them. There is also a banner that was made for the Triangle Club in 1985. Formerly known as the Kings and Queens Club, it was a social club for deaf gay, lesbian and transgender members based in The Rembrandt pub in Manchester. The Manchester Deaf Triangle Club banner, on loan from the British Deaf History Society, features a pink triangle – a symbol that went from being used to identify LGBTQIA+ people in Nazi concentration camps in the Second World War to being reclaimed by LGBTQIA+ groups and campaigns from the 1970s onwards.

Symbolism in banners
Banners have to carry powerful messages often with few words, so symbols can become a vital part of the communication. One of the most recognisable is the symbol of the dove used to signify peace, which on the Wokingham Peace Group banner (1980) – used at the Greenham Common Peace Camp (1981-2000) – is cleverly done by turning the word ‘peace’ into the image of a dove. In the Redhill Women’s Co-operative Guild banner (around 1900) the rainbow is included as the symbol for international co-operation. And the Fakenham Labour Party banner (after 1987) is an early example of the Labour Party’s use of the red rose as its symbol. It was said to have been introduced to improve the image of the party under the leadership of Neil Kinnock. It’s a timely moment for the banner to go on display in 2025, as February marks 125 years since the founding of the Labour Party as the Labour Representation Committee (LRC).

Standing together
The trade unions that exist today are far fewer in number than they would have been a century ago and that’s largely because so many went through mergers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The National Union of Railwaymen is such an example, which was formed in 1913, by the joining together of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, the United Pointsmen’s and Signalmen’s Society and General Railway Workers’ Union. From 1915 women were able to join and between 1917 and 1921 there were huge increases in membership following the nationalisation of the railways. The National Union of Railwaymen, Hither Green branch banner (around 1917) is one of a number of historic trade union banners featured in the exhibition.

Move to the later part of the 20th century and at the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) – a place so often depicted in television thrillers – workers were banned from being members of a trade union. Some refused to give up their membership and as a result 14 workers were dismissed in 1988. Their names are featured within the central design of the GCHQ banner (1992), which is the work of Sean Cusack.

It will be 70 years since the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) called a strike on British railways. The strike took place in May 1955 and lasted 17 days. Over this time a general election took place and a state of emergency was declared before a negotiated agreement brought the strike to an end. The ASLEF banner that will go on display in 2025 is the ASLEF Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Members banner (after 2001), which highlights the progress being made within the union to represent the interests of its LGBTQIA+ members. The banner’s rainbow colours and clasped hands are all indicators of a desire for unity.

Visiting the 2025 Banner Exhibition is free, but donations are encouraged which help to support the work of the museum. The exhibition is found within the main galleries of PHM, with historical information and conservation insights shared on each of the 25 banners on display; the largest of which is over three metres tall and the oldest of which dates to 1900.

People’s History Museum’s opening hours are 10.00am to 5.00pm, every day except Tuesdays. Open Kitchen Cafe & Bar also opens every day except Tuesdays, from 10.00am to 4.00pm. Museum entry is free, with most visitors donating £10. To find out about visiting PHM, its full exhibitions and events programme visit phm.org.uk and you can keep up to date with the latest news by signing up to receive PHM’s e-newsletter.