Exhibition: People’s History Museum’s 2022 Banner Exhibition, Manchester

The People’s History Museum (PHM) in Manchester is preparing to launch its Banner Exhibition for 2022.

Banners which have appeared as part of groundbreaking moments of protest, banners created to remember those that marched before them, and the role of banners in contemporary culture all make up a compelling exhibition that will open to the public on January 29, 2022.

Banners featured in the exhibition include the Walthamstow and Chingford Solidarity Committee banner which was part of a 1930s movement when a series of hunger marches took place, with the National Hunger March of 1932 at its core, and a European Nuclear Disarmament banner from the 1980s. A protest closer to home is the 1990 Withington Against the Poll Tax banner, made when the Community Charge was introduced by Margaret Thatcher’s government. It was carried to represent the people of Manchester, 70 per cent of whom refused to pay the poll tax, at a demonstration on March 31, 1990 attended by 70,000 people in Trafalgar Square, London. 

In all there are 26 banners in exhibition, covering the period 1850 to 2021. They will be located throughout the museum’s main galleries with further links to the stories they tell.

Main image: Withington Against the Poll Tax banner, 1990. Image courtesy of the People’s History Museum. 

The 2022 Banner Exhibition will be on from January 29, 2022 to January 8, 2023. The exhibition is one of a number of free activities at the museum where entry is free with a suggested donation of £5. The museum is open Wednesday to Sunday from 10am to 4pm. During Manchester’s school holidays it is open Monday to Sunday from 10am to 4pm. To find out more about visiting the People’s History Museum, visit phm.org.uk.