Hi again With apologies for my unhelpful typos in the email below (my brain is still getting back into gear), please note that Wikimedia UK's informal Watch Party for the Wikipedia 25 Virtual Celebration <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Event:Wikipedia_25_Virtual_Celebration> is *NEXT WEEK on Thursday 15th January* with RSVPs to me needed by next Tuesday 13th January.
The online celebration event being organised by the Wikimedia Foundation is taking place from 4 - 5pm, with a pre-party at 3.45pm. There will be drinks and nibbles available at the Watch Party from 3pm. I will only share details of the venue with confirmed guests, so do make sure you've emailed me by the end of the day next Tuesday if you'd like to come. All best Lucy On Wed, 7 Jan 2026 at 15:47, Lucy Crompton-Reid < [email protected]> wrote: > Dear all > > Happy New Year! I hope you've all had a good start to 2026. I wanted to > share with you our plans for celebrating Wikipedia's 25th birthday and the > 15th anniversary of Wikimedia UK becoming a registered charity. > > Firstly, we are treating the whole of 2026 as the birthday year, and not > focusing solely on 15th January (although we will be doing something that > day - more later). We are planning a mixture of events and campaigns > targeted at different stakeholders, including the media, supporters and > partners, as well as - crucially - volunteer contributors. > > I've included a brief overview here of what we currently have in store, > but will obviously be in touch with more details about specific events and > campaigns nearer the time, once details are confirmed: > > - Next week, we will launch our *Birthday Gifts campaign *encouraging > contributions, donations, content releases and more > - We will be hosting a *Watch Party for the Wikipedia 25 Virtual > Celebration > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Event:Wikipedia_25_Virtual_Celebration> > *at > the British Library. RSVPs are essential (see below). > - Please save the date for the *Big Birthday Party on Thursday 2nd > July*. Venue tbc but this will be in person, in London. > - We are planning to hold events in *Scotland* and *Wales*, which we > will share once dates and venues have been confirmed. > - Our budget for *volunteer microgrants* has been increased to £5000 > for the birthday year > - In addition, we're hoping to support more *volunteer attendance at > Wikimania Paris *this July > - In November we will *celebrate the 15th anniversary of Wikimedia UK > becoming a charity* with a public-facing campaign > - Our annual *Community Celebration* will take place online in > November, as per the previous three years > > We are also working with the Wikimedia Foundation on joint press > activities for the birthday, as we are hoping to secure positive media > coverage of the UK editing community and chapter. > > Whilst our focus in terms of bringing people together to celebrate this > milestone will be the birthday events in London, Scotland and Wales, we > will be *hosting an informal Watch Party of the Wikimedia Foundation's > Virtual Celebration, taking place next Thursday 15th July.* Please join > staff and trustees for a drink from 3pm, in good time for the pre-party at > 3.45pm. We are holding the Watch Party at the British Library and RSVPs by > Tuesday 13th June (to me please) are essential for security reasons. > > As always, we are very open to your suggestions for how best to mark this > year, including local meetups and other initiatives. > > All best > Lucy > > > > > -- > Lucy Crompton-Reid > Chief Executive > 07803 505 169 > > *My pronouns are she/her and my name is pronounced like this > <https://namedrop.io/lucycromptonreid>* > -- Lucy Crompton-Reid Chief Executive 07803 505 169 *My pronouns are she/her and my name is pronounced like this <https://namedrop.io/lucycromptonreid>*
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