Reflecting on Jolly January 2026: Highlights from the Northfield Neighbourhood Network Campaign

Despite the weather, we were back for our 4th year of our Jolly January campaign and were out and about chatting to local citizens in the Northfield, Frankley, Kings Norton, and Hawkesley areas.

Jolly January first began four years ago and has now become a local initiative which was designed by the Northfield Neighbourhood Network Team. During the week, we really concentrate and address social isolation and loneliness particularly targeting areas of need and we do this by door knocking and having those good old-fashioned conversations!

We know January can often be a challenging time for many of our citizens but just imagine being isolated in your own home, not meeting another person from one day to the next, struggling with mental health, financial difficulties and food poverty.

To try and combat these issues, we go out, armed with lots of useful information about all the wonderful things including activities, support and services available in the local area. If we don’t get to have a chat with a citizen and someone isn’t in, we post the leaflets through their door. We want as many citizens as possible to access local activities and support and get involved in their wider community. This year, we managed to deliver a staggering 538 leaflets and had 182 doorstep conversations!

One citizen we spoke to was surprised to learn that there were so many amazing activities in the area and was

interested in getting involved and another citizen asking about pottery classes. Other conversations varied from recovering from surgery and needing to reintegrate back into the community, activities for children and coffee mornings. We also made referrals to our Family Well-Being Team and signposted to other relevant services/organisations.

The campaign is organised by Northfield Community Partnership (NCP) and this year we were delighted to be joined by local partners and volunteers from across the Northfield constituency. This year, we were joined by South Birmingham Stroke Club, Birmingham Boxing Community, Councillor Carmel Corrigan, Northfield Arts Forum, The Sweet Project, Digi-Kick, CASBA, Birmingham City Council (BCC) including Community Network Support Officer Andrew Mullaney, Councillor Esther Rai, Creative Support, Bromford Housing, Loconomy, and Systems Fitness.

We also hosted a drop-in run by our Northfield Disability Forum (NDF) specifically for disabled adults. During the drop-in we had various services including Birmingham Mind, Birmingham Community Boxing Project, Sign Away Café and Prevent BCC.

We also filmed a live podcast focusing on the many issues and challenges citizens face when using public transport, accessing buses, trains etc. If you’d like to view this podcast, please find the link here.

All in all, the week was ‘Jolly’, productive and a worthwhile mission! By reaching out to isolated citizens, we’re proving that the work we carry out each year is having a great impact so, therefore, we will continue!

Word is out we may be running a similar campaign in June; we’ll keep you all posted and keep an eye on our social media platforms for further updates!

If you would like to find out more information about any of the services/organisations mentioned in this article, please do not hesitate to drop us a line by email NNSTeam@northfieldcommunity.org and you can also find much more information, support and services on our Connect 2 Support website (Citywide) by following this link https://birmingham.connecttosupport.org/