A Capsule production and a Home of Metal project, commissioned by Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture, this project explored the remarkable story of liberty, equality and solidarity at the centre of Bradford’s radical history.
The 1 in 12 Club, founded in 1981 by the Claimants Union, grew from a self-managed, member-run social centre for the city’s unemployed community into a thriving hub of DIY culture, rooted in anarchist principles of co-operation and mutual aid. Capturing that legacy has been an inspiring journey.
We collaborated with a brilliant group of volunteers to collect oral histories and digitise decades of ephemera, and to host a special weekend event Everything for Everyone!: an all dayer of talks and live music.
We also commissioned Black Lodge Press to make a series of banners, designed as a result of a series of workshop sessions with volunteers and members of the 1 in 12 Club. The banners were then permanently gifted to the Club and its members where they are now on display.
The oral histories conducted by the team and committed volunteers formed a three part podcast series. With such a range of personal accounts of the club, this project has painted a vivid portrait , told by the people who know it best: the members and artists, who have kept it going across four decades. Their reflections reveal a space shaped by solidarity, resistance, transformation, shared struggle and chosen family. To listen to the series, please visit the Home of Metal website.
And to accompany the podcast series, we also created a new publication, bringing together memories and ephemera gathered over the past year by a brilliant group of volunteers. From photographs tucked away in personal archives to flyers, and handwritten notes. The publication offers a tactile, intimate portrait of the 1 in 12 Club’s evolving history. It stands as both a celebration of collective memory and a testament to the care, curiosity and dedication of everyone who contributed to it. An online copy of the publication we created can be viewed here
The Capsule team were honoured to bring the Home of Metal signature approach to this work: to celebrate the creativity and community that build cultural movements, and to treat these underground scenes as vital pieces of contemporary heritage. It was such a privilege to help ensure these stories are documented rather than left to fade.
