BRISTOL

I was born and raised in Knowle West and went to Nover’s Lane Infants and Juniors before going to Merrywood Boys school (now closed). I grew up in the 70s and 80s in Bristol and had a childhood like many others there. It was a pretty rough area but when you grow up in it, it’s just the norm. Knowle West is a very underrepresented section of Bristol and is almost invisible to other areas, but it has such a community spirit, a working-class comradery that has kept it strong for so long.

I pretty much dropped out of school around 15 and decided to join the Royal Marines as soon as I could (16 years and 3 months). My time in there was short but it helped me above all to cope with the mental challenges that life throws at you. When I left, I stumbled into Taekwondo and fell in love with it. I was a black belt within two years and was competing all over the world. I was a father of three children at that point and when I suddenly became a single parent, I had to stop training and close my clubs to focus on them. I fell into education having set up a club in my old school of Merrywood. I volunteered teaching kids to read and write and loved it, so when a teaching assistant post became available I went for it. I then took a degree, worked across many different schools, eventually becoming an assistant headteacher.

During that time when I created heated sports gloves to help my son play rugby through the winter. I developed them into a product and created a company to sell them worldwide. I appeared on Dragons’ Den and ran the company despite not being successful on there. Life is full of opportunities if you see them and sometimes you have to set yourself challenges in order to push yourself out of your comfort zone. That’s what I did in the summer of 2016 when listening to the Olympic games. I decided to start a new sport and go from a complete novice to an Olympic champion in the four years in between. I chose pistol shooting, joined a club and began training. I competed in the British Championships the following year and came in 7th. Then a coach told me about a new sport of laser-run, part of the modern pentathlon. There was a training event the following week with the British Championships and qualifying event for the World Championships the week after. I thought, why not! So I turned up and qualified for Team GB, heading to South Africa for the Worlds. During all of this time I had been writing just short stories and poems in cards but never thought I was able to write a whole novel, until one day I decided I would.

The Black Path was written from memories of childhood and is set in Bristol. The Black Path is actually a place in Knowle West, somewhere that, for those of my age, was filled with fear and local legend. It was a place you simply didn’t go. The book took six years to complete, five and a half of which was trying to start but being unable to. That is until I saw an interview with Stephen King on his writing process. He has a general idea about the story before he just puts the characters in the situation and simply writes what they do. I had nothing to lose, so tried it, and within three months the book was written.

The second book, Souk Daddy, came from a dream. It was fully formed with twists and even the name. When I woke up I had to Google it to find out what it meant. The story is about five children in prison who are just about to be transferred to the adult facility where survival is unlikely. The parents come together and decide to break them out. There are many twists and turns as you go. I used the same technique as before and it came out the same year.

My third book is out this summer and for this one all I had was a piece of technology and a character. From that, I let my imagination go and allowed the story to develop naturally. It examines the nature of humans, government and big business in a world where most of life has been stripped back to basics and ignorance and compliance are the norm.

For inspiration, there’s nowhere better than the water and forest. I love the harbourside and will sit on the edge thinking for hours. Walking in Blaise or Leigh Woods also helps blow the cobwebs out. Bristol is a place that has everything for entertainment, but for me, The Old Duke on Kings Street is my favourite.

My philosophy is a real mixture. I am very much a stoic in that I believe that we should try to learn more than we knew yesterday, we should be kind and understanding to others and that we only have control over ourselves, so worrying about external factors is often pointless.

• antony-curtis.com

Bristol Opera: Centenary Concert

Bristol Opera is celebrating its centenary with a spectacular concert under the wings of the iconic Concorde at the Aerospace Museum in Filton on Saturday 24 June at 7.30pm. Doors open at 6.45pm, allowing the audience to walk through Concorde to their seats situated below the airliner. The concert is set to be packed with popular choruses, solos and fully orchestrated overtures from operas performed during Bristol Opera’s 100 years. Plus, concert-goers can enjoy an exciting world premiere of a specially commissioned short opera by Joel Baldwin, based on the life of local illustrator and cartoonist Anne Harriet Fish, born in Horfield (1809-1964).

International baritone Andrew Shore plays the role of Omar Khayyam, whom Anne Fish illustrated for ‘The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam’ in her inimitable Jazz Age style in the 1920s.

• Premium tickets cost: £25; standard: £20; child: £15. Book your tickets at: tickets@bristolopera.co.uk.

The Invisible Circus presents Weekends of Wonder!

The Invisible Circus has recently received funding from Bristol City Council to bring Bristol’s Broadmead to life with an outdoor street performance festival spanning four weekends this May and June (13 –14 May, 20 –21 May, 27 –28 May and 3 –4 June).

Weekends of Wonder (WOW) is a street theatre festival with wow-factor, bringing local and international artists together to light up the town with bedazzling acts to amaze audiences of all ages. WOW will bring together veteran street performers alongside cutting edge new talent to create a truly magical atmosphere on our city’s central high street. Expect vibrant circus and theatrical ‘Covent Garden-style’ performances in circle shows and interactive walkabout acts, plus a treasure hunt of artistic window installations to discover. Themes centre on connection, creativity, playfulness, sustainability and inclusivity; sparking imagination for positive futures and re-igniting hope.

WOW Bristol is the first street performance festival of its kind in the city. Street theatre is one of the most inclusive, barrier-free and equal forms of entertainment available. By the very nature of it being free to attend, it is open for everyone to enjoy.

The performances are created specifically to suit outdoor locations, and are either designed to be language free or easily interactive with minimal language required, therefore welcoming non-English speakers and D/deaf audience members just as equally as anyone else.

Invisible Circus’ Weekends of Wonder is being delivered as one of the activities under the City Centre and High Streets Recovery and Renewal programme, funded by Bristol City Council and the West of England Combined Authority’s Love our High Streets project.

• For more information, visit: unit15bristol.com/wow-bristol. Image by Dom Moore

Forest Live returns to Westonbirt Arboretum

Forest Live is a major outdoor live music series presented by Forestry England. Forest Live 2023 takes place between 8-18 June and introduces forests to new audiences in unique, natural woodland arenas around the country. Over two million people have attended a Forest Live gig in the last 22 years, experiencing great music and supporting the nation’s forests when buying a ticket. Going to a concert helps Forestry England create beautiful places for people to enjoy, run important conservation projects and keep growing trees. Last year they planted some 6.8 million trees, caring for the nation’s 1,500 woods and forests sustainably and welcoming 363 million visits annually. Forest Live in this region takes place at Westonbirt Arboretum, near Tetbury, Glos and this year’s headline acts are: Paul Weller + special guests Far From Saints and guest support Seb Lowe – Thursday 8 June; Tom Grennan + special guest Matilda Mann and support Liv Dawson – Friday 9 June; Jack Savoretti + special guest Natalie Imbruglia – Saturday 10 June.

• For more information and to buy tickets, visit: forestryengland.uk.

Image of Paul Weller by Derek D'Souza

The Watersmeet Hotel in Woolacombe, a four star hotel on the water’s edge. Indoor and outdoor pool & spa. Two restaurants to include a bistro and a fine dining option, both with stunning sea views.

‘Ramblers Package - 3 nights’ Explore the coastal footpaths on our doorstep.

• Deluxe sea view room

• 3 course dinner

• Devon cream tea for 2 £990 per couple inclusive

‘Luxury Suite Offer’

• Luxury Suite

• Bottle of champagne

From £410 per night

‘3 Night Break’ (Sun-Wed)

• Deluxe sea view room B/B

£675 per couple inclusive

Selected dates apply.