In a time of Lockdowns - report on Cultural Expeditions 2020-1 by Paul Main

Report on Cultural Expeditions 2020-1

Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, at the time of writing, there have only been two events in the Bristol 1904 Arts season of 2020-21. They were both commemorative plaque walks around Clifton in September. Commemorative Plaques of Clifton and the Mansions of Pembroke Road: Ten 04ers and spouses did two hour walks around some of the commemorative plaques in Clifton. Our Guide was the knowledgeable and enthusiastic Gordon Young, who is a volunteer guide at the Clifton Suspension Bridge. He also chairs the Bristol Civic Society’s Blue Plaques Panel. The tours were limited to ten people. Intermittent showers were the order of the day! Our first plaque on Clifton Park was to Sir Archibald Russell who started his distinguished engineering career playing with Meccano. At the Bristol Aeroplane Company he was involved the design of WW2 bombers, the Blenheim and the Beaufort. He later designed the Brabazon and finally Concorde, for which he was knighted.

Clifton Park Canynge Road Buckingham Vale

In Canynge Square we saw plaques to Samuel Jackson, the ‘father of the Bristol Society of Artists’ and Jeremy Rees the founder of the Arnolfini. We admired the gas lit street lamps and the sink hole into the Georgian vaults. More plaques followed; about artists, scientists, poets and a sportsman. In Pembroke Road, amongst the seven mansions, we saw the two houses where James Fuller Eberle (‘Bongie’) lived. We also looked at copies of two paintings ‘Dinner at 110 Pembroke Road 1907’ (Stanley Lloyd) and ‘After Dinner at 110 Pembroke Road 1927’ (F G Swaish).

Of the ten plaques we looked at all, apart from two, were green plaques put up by CHIS (Clifton and Hotwells Improvement Society ), whose main aims are: to improve the amenities of the area, to preserve the best features, and to maintain the quality of life within the area.

It is hoped that when the Covid pandemic has become truly endemic we will be able to have our Arts and Crafts day: visiting the wonderful Wilson Museum in Cheltenham and Rodmarton Manor which was planned for June 2020 and had of course to be cancelled.

Paul Main