CITYIST

The cityist

THE BUZZNEWS BITES NEW BIKE HANGARS FOR BATH

New bike hangars have been installed in three residential areas in Bath as part of a two-year trial to provide secure, on-street cycle parking facilities for residents.

The hangars provide lockable and secure storage for 24 bikes for residents living in Great Stanhope Street, New King Street and Sydney Buildings, who don’t have access to private cycle parking, such as a shed or garage.

The hangars will be installed, maintained and operated by Falco, on behalf of B&NES Council, during the £30,000 two-year trial, which is funded by the Council’s Transport Improvement Plan. Each hangar can accommodate six bikes, with each bike parking space costing £42 a year to rent during the trial.

Councillor Sarah Warren, deputy leader and cabinet member for Climate and Sustainable Travel, said: “We want to encourage more residents to leave the car at home and consider cycling instead, especially for short journeys around Bath, so we need to remove barriers which prevent people from owning and using a bike, by providing dedicated and secure cycle parking near their home.

“The bike hangars will not only enable more residents to cycle, they’re also another significant step towards reducing traffic congestion, improving air quality and achieving our goal of being carbon neutral by 2030.”

Residents can find out more about the new hangars or rent a space for their bike from 4 January at rentals.falco.co.uk

MY BATH

Dave Sawyer

Dave Sawyer spent over 40 years as a maintenance foreman and electrician at Rotork, during which time James Dyson worked there as a young engineer. Now retired, Dave and his wife play a major part in the running of a Short Mat Bowling club in Keynsham

I was born in Inns Court Green, Bristol in 1948. I moved to Keynsham when I was 15. I married my wife Judith at 20 and moved to Saltford when I was 25.

I took up an apprenticeship with Southwestern Electricity Board and qualified as an electrician and electrical technician. I was sent to Hinkley Point Power station for six months, working on Hinkley B Power station. I had two young daughters so this was not ideal as I only saw the girls at weekends.

I then got a job as a maintenance electrician

at Rotork Controls. I thought that I was joining a maintenance team, but I soon found out that I was the maintenance team. My role was to install, service and repair all items of plant, equipment, buildings and associated services. I gave Rotork 42 years loyal service; it was stressful at times but rewarding in the long run, as I never knew what challenges the next day would bring.

In the early days Rotork had a division

called Rotork Marine. A young engineer called James Dyson started his career helping to develop the Sea Truck, a flat-bottom boat much like a landing craft. Dyson then went on to develop the cyclone vacuum cleaner in the workshops of Rotork.

When I was 11, I could often be found

helping my father strip down and rebuild his Sunbeam S8 motorcycle. Some years later I joined Norton Radstock Auto Grass Club, racing with a car consisting of a Hillman Imp Stiletto, powered by a Ford 1600 power unit mated onto a VW Gearbox, mounted, not under the bonnet or the boot, but in the centre of the car. Judith my wife also competed using the same car.

In my late fifties the children had flown the

nest, so we had plenty of free time. Judith noticed an advert in the local free paper for Short Mat Bowls on a Friday night. We went along, and we’ve been hooked ever since. Judith is now the secretary of Avon County Short Mat Bowling Association, and I am the chairman and squad captain, and together we are the competition team. We organise seven annual competitions, and around six county matches. I am also club treasurer and competition captain for my Club.

During the Winter Olympics we all watched that fantastic game of curling, trying to work out what tactics were being used and cringing when our team just missed the shot being played. Short mat bowls is very similar to curling, without the ice. The game is played all year round by over 24,000 bowlers nationwide. All you need to do is bowl your own bowl to a yellow ball, called a jack. Sounds simple doesn’t it? It would be if it were not for your opponents trying to do the same, knocking your bowls out or blocking your path from taking shot – just like curling.

Short Mat Bowls is played by males and

females of any age or ability in church halls, community centres, sports centres, and school gymnasiums. Within the old County boundary of Avon there are around 40 clubs, some social and some more competitive.

I formed Wellsway Short Mat Bowling Club

10 years ago in the newly built Wellsway Sports Centre in Keynsham. We play every Wednesday night from 7–10pm, and Sunday mornings for two hours from 10am. We then expanded into the Scout Hut in Ashton Way, Keynsham, playing on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. There are 14 of our members who play for the Avon County Squad and two play for England.

What else can you do for the cost of a cup of

coffee, in a clean, dry, warm environment, where you can meet new friends? ■

All ages are welcome to come along to Wellsway Short Mat Bowling Club and no experience is necessary. wellswaysmbc.co.uk

Inspiring future generations

Contemporary arts and architecture project Forest of Imagination (FOI) has won a prestigious national award. The annual Bathbased pop-up arts festival brought ‘Living Tree Mirror Maze’ to the city in 2022, and it was one of just four projects from around the country to be shortlisted in the ‘one off activity –children’ category of the Inspire Future Generations (IFG) Awards. Not only was it announced as the winner, but it was also commended in the ‘Research’ category.

FOI is co-led by Dr Penny Hay, Research Fellow, Reader and Senior Lecturer at Bath Spa University, and Director of Research at House of Imagination, in collaboration with Andrew Grant from Grant Associates, and Peter Clegg of Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, working alongside the creative, cultural and educational community of Bath. The aim is to reimagine a familiar space, inspire creativity and heighten a sense of nature in an urban environment.

Dr Hay said: “In the face of the ecological emergency, Forest of Imagination shines a light on the importance of global forests and the capacity of forests to inspire our collective imagination.”

In 2023, FOI are inviting people to ‘Assemble in the Forest’ at Bath Assembly Rooms in partnership with the National Trust.

forestofimagination.org.uk

Exotic adventures in South East Asia

A new travel company, Bespoke Getaways, recently launched at Vietnamese restaurant Noya’s Kitchen. Owner and CEO Hem Patel has been creating his unique ‘Hem’s discovery tours’ for many years for groups of no larger than eight people. These are safe, culturally enriching experiences that avoid the overrated tourists’ hot spots and allow for diversions depending on a tour group’s interests at any time on the trip, but without compromising on luxury accommodation.

Hem is British born, of Indian heritage, has lived and worked as an expat with his wife and three children in Southeast Asia for almost 20 years. With the borders of Southeast Asia now fully open, and no restrictions after the pandemic, Hem’s unique tour company. Bespoke Getaways is redefining what exotic adventure means with its ‘trip of a lifetime' offering appealing to modern times and for the more discerning traveller.

Hem has just returned from a trip to Vietnam, the ‘Land of the Blue Dragon’, to check out new places of interest for future tourists. A tour to Vietnam could include boat trips along the lake Ninh Binh, picturesque fishing villages, and views of hills and rice fields along the way. The itinerary, however, is up to any group and the individual and does not need to be predetermined. Bespoke Getaways offers 14-day tours to Thailand, Vietnam, and India starting at £2,950, and a 17-day southeast Asia trip starts at £3,500, visiting Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. bespokegetaways.co.uk

The Wife of Bath: a biography

In her new book The Wife of Bath, Marion Turner tells the fascinating story of where Chaucer’s favourite character came from, how she related to real medieval women, and where her many travels have taken her since the 14th century, from Falstaff and Molly Bloom to #MeToo and Black Lives Matter.

Ever since her triumphant debut in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Alison the Wife of Bath, arguably the first ordinary and recognisably real woman in English literature, has obsessed readers and writers from Shakespeare to Zadie Smith. Few literary characters have led such colourful lives or matched her influence or capacity for reinvention in poetry, drama, fiction, and film.

A sexually active and funny working woman, the Wife of Bath talks explicitly about sexual pleasure. She is also a victim of domestic abuse who tells a story of rape and redemption. Turner sets Alison’s fictional story alongside the lives of real medieval women and tells the incredible story of Alison’s post-medieval life, from17thcentury ballads and Polish communist pop art to her reclamation by postcolonial Black British women writers.

The Wife of Bath is published this month by Princeton University Press. Marion Turner is also talking about the book at Topping & Co. Books on 16 February at 7.30pm. toppingbooks.co.uk To order email carolyn.cowley@yahoo.co.uk

New wheelchair fencing facility

A new dedicated training facility for the world-leading Great Britain wheelchair fencing squad has been opened at the University of Bath, along with a rehabilitation studio for athletes from other Olympic and Paralympic sports.

World Champions and Tokyo 2020 medallists Dimitri Coutya and Piers Gilliver, fresh from winning four gold medals apiece at the 2022 European Championships, treated guests from the University, the English Institute of Sport (EIS), British Fencing, UK Sport and other partners to a demonstration of their sport at the opening of the Wheelchair Fencing National Training Centre. The spacious facility, built in the multi-purpose Jumps & Throws Hall at the Team Bath Sports Training Village (STV), will provide a permanent home for the hugely-successful GB squad who have been based in various locations around the STV during the past seven years.

Adjoining the fencing centre is a newly-built EIS Athlete Health & Performance Studio, which will be used by support staff working with high-performance athletes based at Bath – including British Swimming, Pentathlon GB and the British Bobsleigh & Skeleton Association (BBSA) – for collaborative rehabilitation. teambath.com

Discover the alternative Combe Down

Written for the children of Bath by Rosemary Simmons, this heartwarming and hilarious tale takes young readers on a journey below the surface of Combe Down, following in the footsteps of mysterious, nocturnal creatures to discover the creative and magical ways in which badgers make use of the disused stone mines.

Artist and local historian Rosemary Simmons has used her knowledge of the village and her career in the visual arts to compose this joyful new publication, in a playful twist on the city’s history, and it’s jam-packed with activities to entertain the whole family. Families can join the Brock clan deep underground and discover the wild and wonderful lifestyle of these furry friends, out of sight from the watchful eyes of surface-dwelling humans. Rosemary has even intertwined noteworthy, historical figures into this tale and readers will enjoy finding badgers personified into the likes of William ‘Strata’ Smith, Ralph Allen, George Steart and Patrick Alexander and their contributions to the modern world are introduced throughout the book.

The publication is available from The Museum of Bath Stone, 54a Combe Road, Bath for £5. museumofbathstone.org

Learn the lore of literary cats

A recent publication by Bodleian Library Publishing is Literary Cats by Scott Pack and Judith Robinson, who is a lecturer at Bath Spa University’s Business School. The book features such famous feline characters as Puss in Boots, Tom Kitten, Pangur Bán, the Cheshire Cat, Macavity, Pluto, Bob the street cat, and lesserknown stars such as Homer, the cat with no eyes. Literary Cats (£16.99) is a whirlwind journey through the history of literary cats. It uncovers their domestication, early cultural beginnings and religious associations, and explores their roles in different literary genres. It also reveals some real-life authors’ cats, including those belonging to Edgar Allen Poe, Ernest Hemingway, Patricia Highsmith and Muriel Spark. A section on cats in world literature introduces narrator cats and cat companions from Japan, Eastern Europe, France, Greece, Germany and Finland, demonstrating their enduring worldwide appeal. With its deep delve into the rich and complex treasure trove of cats in literature, this book celebrates the inspirational connections between our favourite feline friends and the literary imagination.

Judith Robinson is a Senior Lecturer at Bath Spa University’s Business School and a PhD candidate at Humboldt University, Berlin. Scott Pack is a writer, editor and publisher.

Festival of wellbeing

Wanting to work on your wellness this year? Then let us introduce the ReBalance Bath Festival from 7–25 February, which will bring venues, hotels, therapists, and practitioners together for a three-week celebration of wellness and the city’s connections to thermal waters for local residents, city-centre workers and visitors to enjoy.

The Festival is centred around the seven pillars of WE.DNTPLAY, who combine modern fitness with wellness: physical (rejuvenate), ancient Indonesian yoga and martial arts, at mental (refocus), social ReBalance Bath; wedntplay.com (rediscover), financial (reinvest), spiritual (restore), vocational (resilient) and environmental (refresh). The activity programme will include many free events and taster sessions alongside luxury spa hotel packages and bookable activities.

BID Chief Executive, Allison Herbert, said “As the UK’s number one spa city, Bath should be delivering an event that celebrates the city’s unique thermal origins to bring new visitors to Bath, encourage local residents to try out wellness experiences in their city and give city-centre workers new lunch time and after work activities to enjoy.

“We wanted to bring an event to the city in February when footfall needs boosting, and the time of year works well for wellbeing. The festival has a dynamic and broad range of events and activities to suit all ages, increase awareness for participants’ business and further promote Bath as a key spa and wellness destination.”

ReBalance Bath will have themed days including Motivational Mondays, Water Wednesdays, Food Fridays and Soulful Sundays.

welcometobath.co.uk/ rebalance-bath-guide

Precious manuscript

The Herschel Museum of Astronomy has been successful in buying Caroline Herschel’s handwritten manuscript draft of her memoir, thanks to generous funding from the National Heritage Memorial Fund , ACE/V&A Purchase Grant Fund and the Friends of National Libraries.

The fascinating 57-page document, The Manuscript Memoir, represents Caroline’s life in her own words and is an important addition to the collection, not least because her scientific achievements were historically overshadowed by those of her brother, William Herschel (1738–1822).

The memoir gives us a unique and personal insight into the life and formative years of one of Britain’s most prominent astronomers and pioneering women in science. Much of Caroline’s personal correspondence and writing is still held by the Herschel family, so the acquisition of this manuscript provides a rare opportunity for public access in the site at New King Street. This acquisition is particularly special as the museum only owns one artefact directly connected with Caroline. herschelmuseum.org.uk