Stoke-on-Trent: Celebrating 100 years of strength, kindness and creativity as a city

Today (15 July 2024) Stoke-on-Trent City Council and partners unveil plans to celebrate the city’s Centenary at a major partner event at Gladstone Pottery Museum, Longton.

The first application for city status was refused by the Home Office because Stoke-on-Trent had fewer than 300,000 inhabitants - the usual minimum population for city status - even after becoming a federation of six towns in 1910.

But a direct approach to King George V changed that and, on 5 June 1925, Stoke-on-Trent gained city status in recognition of our considerable contributions to the pottery industry.

Stoke-on-Trent is the key centre of The Potteries, the only region in the country to be named to this day after the product for which it is best known. But there’s even more to the city than ceramics and we’ll be celebrating across seven themes of Civic, Children and young people, Culture, Heritage, Community, Environment and Futures.

The launch was held at Gladstone Pottery Museum which is celebrating its own anniversary this year. In Gladstone’s spectacular cobbled courtyard, in front of its bottle kiln, the Lord Mayor, Councillor Lyn Sharpe unveiled the very first look at the Stoke-on-Trent Centenary logo. The logo and branding will represent the prestigious centenary brand throughout 2025.

Lord Mayor, Councillor Lyn Sharpe, said: “As a proud fourth generation Fentonian, it’s an honour to be Lord Mayor of this fantastic city as it enters its centenary year. We’re planning so many wonderful events that acknowledge our proud past at the same time as looking towards our future as a great city. 

“As a city we’re built on the coal and clay deposits under our feet but also on our strength in diversity. Whether you’ve lived here all your life, were born here and moved away, or came to live here recently, our centenary celebrations are for you!”

The event, hosted by Reverend Geoff Eze, was attended by Deputy Lord Lieutenant, Hannah Ault; High Sheriff of Staffordshire, Julia Mitchell and representatives of organisations including Stoke City and Port Vale Football clubs, Stoke-on-Trent BID, Staffordshire and Keele Universities as well as Arts Council England and the Heritage Lottery Fund. Guests were offered a sneak peek at what’s to come in 2025, as part of a year-long programme of events celebrating 100 years of The City of Stoke-on-Trent as well as being treated to:

• Oatcakes provided by FEASTED – a local studio kitchen that specialise in celebrating our city’s heritage, creating dishes that mean something to the city.
• A demonstrator from Gladstone Pottery Museum – a chance to watch the experts at work from a member of the museums demonstration staff who have decades of experience in the pottery industry.
• A reading of ‘I Come from a Town’ by local poet Nick Degg.
• The event was be launched with tea served in Stoke-on-Trent made mugs supplied by Duchess China in ‘Gladstone Blue’.
• Performance from Bollywood-style dancers from the Dharshanodiyaa Dance School representing the city’s strength in diversity.
• Performance from schoolchildren from St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Primary School, Hartshill as part of the City Music Service’s City Songbirds.

Leader of the city council, Councillor Jane Ashworth said: “It was great to see local businesses, organisations and people come together to launch our plans for the centenary year. I am passionate about our city and I truly believe that Stoke-on-Trent is a unique and amazing place.

“It was forged through its industrial past, built on layers of enterprise and craftsmanship, and infused by waves of migration. We’re a tightly-woven city where the importance of family, community and place all contribute to a strong sense of identity. It is a city of unusual kindness, where care for one another runs deep. It is a green city with a superb network of parks and open spaces, traversed by the waterways that once connected our pot-banks to the great ports.

“We want to marshal energy across the city, to celebrate what makes us unique and to combine our energy and resources to improve people’s lives. To look to the future and celebrate where we’re going as well as where we’ve come from.”

Residents who want to share their memories of Stoke-on-Trent and organisations that want to be involved in the celebrations can email sot100@stoke.gov.uk.

For more information on the City of Stoke-on-Trent’s Centenary and to keep up with the latest announcements go to www.sot100.org.uk or follow updates on social media:

X: @stokeontrent100

Facebook: www.facebook.com/stokeontrent100

Instagram: @stokeontrentcentenary