Over 50s Black Men Forum (O50BM) officially launched our new O5BM Birmingham Community Table Tennis Centre at Handsworth Wellbeing Centre this month.

Almost 20 people joined us for the opening – an encouraging start to O5BM’s first community physical activity hub in the West Midlands.

But why Birmingham, and why Handsworth?

Birmingham faces a significant physical activity challenge. Birmingham City Council reports that 45% of adults are not meeting recommended levels of physical activity, with activity levels below both the West Midlands and national averages.

And this is not just a city-wide issue. Handsworth is one of the areas specifically identified by Birmingham City Council because of its diverse communities and lower levels of physical activity.

When we began discussions with Birmingham City Council earlier this year about bringing O5BM to the city, the data also pointed us towards Birmingham West. Around 19.3% of its population is Black, compared with approximately 9% across Birmingham as a whole.

So, our decision to begin here was deliberate. We wanted to take our community physical activity model into a part of Birmingham where there is both a strong Black community and a clear need to create more opportunities for people to become and remain physically active.

From One Centre to a Growing National Network

The Birmingham launch continues a journey that began with O5BM’s first community table tennis centre in Chelmsford in 2023. Since then, the model has expanded through centres in Essex, Luton, Stevenage and London, creating regular weekly opportunities for older Black men to participate in physical activity within trusted community settings.

The programme has also grown through O5BM’s annual Older Black Men Community Table Tennis Championship. In August 2026, more than 100 older Black men came together in Grays, Thurrock for O5BM’s 2nd Annual Championship. That event was supported by Sport England, formally recognised as “Encouraged by the ITTF Foundation”, and subsequently featured on BBC Look East.

The Birmingham centre now provides an opportunity for men in the West Midlands to become part of this growing national community.

From Health Strategy to Community Action

The new centre also reflects many of the principles set out in the Government’s Men’s Health Strategy for England, including prevention, community-based support, physical activity and the importance of strong social networks. For O5BM, one of the most effective ways to engage men around health is not necessarily to begin with a health message. Sometimes it begins with a table tennis bat.

By creating places where men want to come regularly, relationships are developed first. Those relationships can then create the trust needed for wider conversations about physical health, mental wellbeing, prevention and healthy ageing. The Birmingham hub is therefore not simply another weekly activity.

It represents O5BM’s wider approach of meeting men where they are and bringing health, wellbeing and connection into everyday community life.

Thank You

We were delighted to welcome Shimul Haider, Head of Equality at Sport England, who joined us for the launch, and Rupert Aikman, Health Equity Manager at Prostate Cancer Research.

Our thanks also go to Birmingham City Council, particularly Anne Goodall (Health and Wellbeing Programme Manager) and Mark Brown (Handsworth Wellbeing Manager), who worked with us over several months to help identify the right locality and connect us with local opportunities. Thanks also to ITTF Foundation for providing some of the balls used for the launch.

And a huge thank you to Sport England, whose support has enabled O5BM to take this next step in the expansion of our community physical activity programme. Now the launch is over, the important work and fun begin.

The Birmingham centre will meet every Tuesday, 7pm–9pm at Handsworth Wellbeing Centre, Holly Road, Handsworth, Birmingham B20 2BY. If you are a Black man aged 50+ living in Birmingham, come and join us. You do not need to be an experienced table tennis player. Come along, pick up a bat, get active and meet other men.

And if you are a Birmingham community organisation, health organisation or local group working with older Black men, we would like to hear from you too. 

This is not simply another O5BM centre.

It is the beginning of our work in Birmingham and the West Midlands.