Park arts project organisers frustrated by decision delay

year, there has been no further indication from the council as to whether the art project will be given a final go-ahead.

Guglielmo and Tamara set up a community interest company called the Circular ArtSpace and started to offer online virtual art exhibitions while they waited to finalise details of a physical gallery.

But the space they want to use is also wanted by other projects which passed stage one of the Future Parks process, including the Eastville Park Lido group, which wants to build a new outdoor swimming pool there.

With no decision made on which projects should be given final approval, all of the applicants are left in limbo.

The wait for a decision is made more urgent for Circular

ArtSpace because Tamara has a serious health condition, Behçet's Syndrome, which causes an inflammation of the blood vessels resulting in symptoms including joint pain, headaches, mobility and vision problems.

Guglielmo said: "We're just waiting, waiting and waiting. Tamara's health condition is getting worse. She would like to do something while she has the energy. She doesn't give up but it's more than frustrating. Maybe for the council 18 months are not a problem but for Tamara, every day is a problem."

Guglielmo said the long delay had meant Circular ArtSpace had been unable to apply for funding and some potential partners had lost trust in the project.

Cabinet councillor for Public Health and Communities Ellie

King, who has responsibility for parks, said there could soon be movement.

She said: "Over the coming weeks the parks department will be talking to groups who submitted an outline application to Future Parks to talk about the outcomes of their proposals and next steps. "What we’ve recognised from the diversity of the applications for Eastville Park is the shared aims and potential for collaboration between proposals.

"The committed Friends of Eastville Park group have worked hard to create an engaging, fun and inclusive space, and this could be an opportunity to further support the development of a vibrant hub which will benefit the wider Eastville community and park users."

NEWS that a plaque will be created to remember four teenagers killed by a German bomb in Eastville Park has brought back vivid memories for Fishponds pensioner George Bennett.

George was just nine years old when his cousin Bert Bennett died in November 1940.

Bert and three others were killed when a Luftwaffe bomber on a raid over Bristol dropped its payload over the park in November 1940, while being pursued by a fighter from Filton.

One of the bombs hit and destroyed Eastville Lido, where Bert had met up with another of his cousins and some friends.

Bert, who was 17, had been adopted by George's grandfather, also named George - a former miner who had built a thriving family business as a coal merchant and greengrocer, which became a well-known Bristol transport company, GH Bennett & Sons, and operated until 2018.

George senior was the brother of Bert's dad, and brought Bert and his three siblings to live with the family in Greenbank Avenue, Easton, where the family had a shop.

Sharing a home with George, his parents and his five brothers and sisters, conditions were cramped, and George and Bert had to share a bed with another child.

Bert attended Bannerman Road School and Greenbank School for Boys, before leaving at 14 and joining the family business.

George still remembers the day Bert died.

Although the Battle of Britain was over, the country was still braced for a possible invasion at the end of 1940, and just before he died Bert had been delivering concrete blocks to prevent enemy planes from landing in fields north of the city.

He had gone to the park to enjoy some time off.

George said: "Everybody used to go up to the park on a Sunday. Bert liked to go up there and play football and rounders.

"If you had a crowd there you could make your own entertainment."

George understands that the bomber that killed Bert was probably heading for another target but dropped its load over the park so it could fly faster to escape a fighter trying to shoot