The Bristol Magazine November 2019 by MC Publishing Limited

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Issue 185

THE

NOVeMBeR 2019

MAGAZINE

THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK

£3.95 where sold

Seal of approval Be part of the conservation conversation via Sir David Attenborough’s new series, and Wildlife Photographer of the Year at M Shed RENAISSANCE MAN

MOTORCYCLE DIARIES

MAKING TRACKS

STEELY DAN

Actor & author Tony Robinson at Clifton Village LitFest

The Bristol nurse who packed up and rode around the world

What’s new in wintersports for the 2019/20 season

10 things we didn’t know about rugby’s indomitable Danny Grewcock

T H E C I T Y ’ S B I G G E S T M O N T H LY G U I D E T O L I V I N G I N B R I S T O L

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Contents

November 2019

REGULARS ZEITGEIST

TRAVEL

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Top activities for the month to come

CITYIST

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Catch up on local news and meet the owner of a Park Street stalwart

BARTLEBY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Reflections on a SAD state of affairs

Delicious reasons to visit Georgia, plus our wintersports round-up

NATURE

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The latest from the city’s schools and colleges

SPORT

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Ten things we didn’t know about Clifton College’s Danny Grewcock

HEALTH & BEAUTY

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FOOD & DRINK Boozy history boys The Thinking Drinkers head for Hen & Chicken

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NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

What’s on at the city’s galleries

Stories from local foodies, restaurants and producers

COMEDY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

RECIPES

Brexit has spurred comedian Ardal O’Hanlon back into action

Try making Briony May’s comforting caramel carrot cake

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REVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 The aces at Acorn Restaurant are branching out into Bristol this month

A round-up of the cream of the autumn/winter gigs in Bristol

A cross-section of the city’s varied events scene

LIT FEST

INTERVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

THE CULTURE

WHAT’S ON

The team at Whiteladies salon Noco Hair are really cutting it

EDUCATION NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

MUSIC

Simon Horsford chats to CBBC presenter Naomi Wilkinson

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ART & EXHIBITIONS

Image: BBC NHU/Alex Board

HABITAT GREAT OUTDOORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

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Renaissance man Sir Tony Robinson chats to Melissa Blease

Andrew Swift talks landscape designer Humphry Repton

WILD BRISTOL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

FEATURES

The ancient hedge that has helped the wildlife of Bristol for centuries

TELEVISION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

GARDENING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

The new Attenborough series has begun with a prestigious local premiere

Do your bit to help the survival of Bristol’s birds this winter by making sure the garden can act as a wildlife corridor

PHOTOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 The Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at M Shed

MOTORCYCLE DIARIES

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The inspiring story of Bristol nurse and biker Jacqui Furneaux

GIFT GUIDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Presence over presents, of course, but gift inspiration doesn’t go amiss

LOCAL HEROES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Meet influential Bristol-based design doyen David Constantine

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ON THE COVER

A Weddell seal swimming serenely beneath the ice in Antarctica – this beautiful shot was taken from new BBC series Seven Worlds, One Planet, presented by Sir David Attenborough. See p22 for more. (Image courtesy of Espen Rekdal/BBC NHU)

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“Now what?” Weddell seal pups are born from the womb straight onto sea ice and can’t swim for the first 10 days of their life (image: BBC NHU/John Brown)

THIS MONTH WE’VE BEEN... Eyeing up...

from the

...Each wee dram in new whisky bar Black Rock on Marsh Street, and positively perving over the bar snacks.

EDITOR

f anyone was worried we might be in danger of missing our autumn/winter flora and fauna fix, what with 2019 being city biennial Wildscreen Festival’s year off, they were way off the mark, weren’t they? Wildlife Photographer of the Year is back at M Shed this month (see p24) with striking visual stories surrounding resilient raccoons and poor tangled turtles that we all need to be made aware of, while Sir David Attenborough’s new series Seven Worlds, One Planet has just kicked off with a premiere and panel discussion at Bristol’s Cinema De Lux (p22). Our gloriously wintry cover image comes courtesy of BBC Natural History Unit’s Espen Rekdal who photographed a Weddell seal swimming under a frozen surface in Antarctica. Did you know that when these creatures are born, skidding straight out onto sea ice, they experience the sharpest drop in temperature any animal will ever face? The issue’s not just about the animal world though; it’s an ode to the outstanding compendium of diverse, dynamic human stories bursting from the city’s seams. Just named at the House of Lords as one of Britain’s most influential disabled people after decades spent as an advocate for wheelchair users in developing countries, clever design doyen David Constantine is the focus of pages 52 & 53, while it’s all about Bristol nurse and globetrotting biker Jacqui Furneaux who upped sticks one day to ride around the world on p30. In the celeb stakes, there’s Sir Tony Robinson, talking about his career in TV, politics and more ahead of his appearance at the inaugural Clifton Village LitFest (p50); on p40, read about how the state of society has spurred comedic commentator and reluctant show-off Ardal O’Hanlon back into action. Flick to p82 to find 10 things we didn’t know about the mettle-testing life of indomitable Danny Grewcock, now Bristol Bears Rugby Academy coach. That man knows how to push himself. Overachievers aside, we fully intend to hiccup our way through the history of hooch at Hen & Chicken this month with Ben MacFarland and Tom Sandham – just a couple of booze-loving cats who’ve peered down to the bottom of the glass and come back with some cracking ‘alco-demic’ comedy theatre. Elsewhere, in travel, Jess Connett has Georgia on her mind as she explores the former Soviet Union country’s ancient wine tradition and we look at off-piste and affordable ski destinations, new festivals and snowy bucket-list experiences to consider as well as eco-discounts for those making their way to the mountains by train this winter. Plus, read on for the cream of the AW19 gigs, and our Acorn review ahead of its residency at Dela – dinner delivered by these vegan innovators proves a conversation-starting kaleidoscope of flavour. In fact we reckon chef Richard Buckley and co should permanently plant an Acorn in the city. Sounds like enough to be getting on with doesn’t it? See you in December, then.

AMANDA NICHOLLS EDITOR

• blackrock.br

Obsessed... ...With the artworks for sale at the RWA this month, especially Netflix1 by Clive Bernie (£75). See p34 for gift ideas including the gallery’s annual art pass. • rwa.org.uk

Learning of... ...A new craft company launched in St George, planning to donate 15% of its profits to charities and employ vulnerable Bristol women to offer them a stable income of their own. Meena Grover started sewing cotton gift sacks for her kids 20 years ago as a Christmas tradition, alongside leaving out some sherry, a mince pie and a carrot. “When I moved to Bristol I was taken aback by the number of homeless people and felt that I had to do something to help,” she says. • giftsack.co.uk

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NOVEMBER 2019

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top things to do in NOVEMBER

WONDER

BROWSE Deck the hall! Made in Bristol’s gorgeous gift fairs return to the foyer of Colston Hall just in time for the start of the festive period, offering three weekends packed with local talent, beautiful creations and plenty of entertainment. There will be products by local ceramicists, jewellers, woodcarvers, printmakers and more on offer, presenting the best makers in the area on the weekends of 23 & 24 November, 30 November & 1 December, and 7 & 8 December. Plus on the first weekend, the creative brains behind Let’s Make Art will be on hand offering a special arts family programme with festive workshops, costume/wearable artwork and other dazzling drop-in activities.

Kids can watch the animated film concert Magic Piano and the Chopin Shorts

Bristol Keyboard Festival returns to St George’s Bristol from 1 – 8 November for a second year, offering an array of magical animations, MOOG synthesisers, harpsichords and Steinway grands, all in celebration of the keyboard. From the classical to the avant-garde, the programme includes Aurora Orchestra, one of Europe’s leading chamber orchestras, pianist Lucy Parham’s exploration of the works of Clara Schumann, Luke Jones performing Mussorgsky’s magical Pictures at an Exhibition, and much more. Plus the Magic Piano and the Chopin Shorts is a perfect way to introduce the music of Chopin to children accompanied by a beautiful animated film. Full programme and tickets online. • stgeorgesbristol.co.uk

DEBATE The first Clifton Village LitFest kicks off this month with a weekend of talks, music, poetry and lively discussion. From 15 – 17 November, names from the world of literature, history, poetry and broadcasting will be heading to venues around Clifton, including Jonathan Dimbleby, Kalpna Woolf, Jane Shemilt and Sir Tony Robinson (turn to page 50 for our interview with the actor, comedian, author, presenter and political activist). For those who want to expand their knowledge, there will also be workshops on children’s literature, poetry, performance and creative writing. Get online for the full programme and tickets.

• madeinbristolshop.co.uk

Sir Tony Robinson will be speaking at the festival

CELEBRATE LISTEN Join Bristol Choral Society for the first concert in its new season, where a collection of exciting and inspiring works by contemporary British composers, accompanied by piano duet and percussion will fill Bristol Cathedral. Taking place on 16 November, 7.30pm, the programme includes Cecilia McDowall’s A Time for all Seasons, and Bristol Youth Choir will feature Bob Chilcott’s Songs and Cries of London Town. Tickets £5 – £28. • bristolchoral.co.uk

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The 15th annual Afrika Eye festival is back from 4 – 10 November, showcasing African arts, cinema and culture at venues around Bristol. Sharing sights, stories and sounds from more than a dozen countries, the festival’s programme includes a figurative journey to Senegal aboard SS Great Britain, a rare showing of Sundance award-winning film The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind at Watershed, and award-winning author and broadcaster Gary Younge talking about the future of journalism at Arnolfini. • afrikaeye.org.uk

NOVEMBER 2019

No 185

• foccal.com/litfest2019

Watch The Krar Collective live at Watershed

Bristol Choral Society: Evan Dawson/Tony Robinson: Paul Marc Mitchell/Krar Collective: Sebastian Bottcher

ZEITGEIST

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THE CITY THE BUZZ

BRISTOL We meet Emma Choremi, owner of Park Street stalwart McQueens Hair

My parents met in Malta; my mother was British and my father is Egyptian Greek. They moved to Gloucestershire together to run a business so I was brought up there until my father bought a restaurant in King Street, Bristol. I get up around 6.30am to get my son ready for school and head to the gym for a PT session before starting my day at the salon. I love Park Street – it’s never quiet, always busy and I do feel proud I have had my business here for so long.

On board with the Arc? Plans have been unveiled for a £13.5million tourist attraction in the form of a glass passenger cabin raised 69 metres above Bristol’s harbour – intended to offer a unique way to view the city’s landscape. The cabin would be located in Millennium Square, suspended between two robust carbon fibre masts capable of lifting 42 passengers into the sky for a scenic 20-minute ‘flight’. The 360-degree views would be accompanied by explanations of the city’s history and sites of importance by an on-board pilot. A public consultation event about the Arc project and exhibition of the proposals was held last month at We The Curious, whose chief executive Donna Speed has welcomed the proposals. “Arc shows how when existing technology is reimagined and combined with ground-breaking engineering, the results can be dramatic and inspiring,” she said. “We were blown away by the designs and the potential to view our city in a new and truly unique way.” Destination Bristol’s chief executive John Hirst added: “Arc will bring a new, iconic landmark; something totally unique and a global first. This is great news for Bristol – it will really put our city in the international spotlight once again.” Arc Bristol is submitting a planning application to Bristol City Council and expects to open in spring 2022. Details are also on Arc’s website where anyone can provide their feedback. “Bristol has a unique maritime and engineering legacy,” said Arc’s project manager Alice Ellis. “Arc will tell that story in a new and really exciting way which showcases Bristol’s unique history and reputation for innovation.” • arc.global

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We are coming up to 30 years in business this December. I opened the salon at 46 Park Street a month after my 18th birthday, after a business deal my dad did over a latenight drink... The rest is history. My team have so much talent; they make me so proud and they really are so up to date with what’s going on in the hair world. I admire anyone who puts their ideas and ambitions on the line to open up a business – it’s tough at times, very lonely and the public can be hard to please. Bristol has so many hard-working independent businesses; I support the Gallimaufry on Gloucester Road and my amazing gym Body Focus in Staple Hill is a total hidden gem. I admire places that stick to what they believe in and use individual touches. I’m a huge music fan – anyone who knows me knows my playlists are so varied. I am seeing Rival Sons at the Bristol Academy in November and always pop to the Fleece to see a great Prince tribute each December when they visit. I saw Grace Jones at the Downs Bristol this summer and I’m still buzzing from that so she’s on my radar right now. I’m keen to find some good music pub quiz nights in Bristol and I’m making a playlist of songs we all need to listen to once in our lifetime... It’s taking months to create! As a hairdresser my weekend starts at 5pm Saturday. I love catching up with friends as I don’t go out in the week. I love the restaurants we have in this city; we are blessed. Pasta Loco never fails to surprise me – I just

love the service and the guys there know their stuff. Big fan of The Ivy too – such lovely food – and I love the small plates and artwork in the Gallimaufry. Spare time is rare; I train three times a week and have done for three years now. It keeps me fit and active and focused. I love taking my son shopping and he also has a real love of food so we enjoy that together with family and friends. If I was mayor of Bristol... From a selfish point of view and for my fellow business owners, we need to reduce the rates. Being an independent business owner, it keeps me awake at night. I feel if they were reduced we could introduce so many more businesses and help them flourish. Parking costs and bus charges are also ridiculous. Did you know? London celebrity hairdresser George Northwood – who is responsible for maintaining the looks of Rosie Huntington-Whitely and Alexa Chung and was the man behind Meghan Markle’s evening look for her marriage to Prince Harry – started his career at McQueens over 15 years ago. We remain the best of friends and speak most days; it keeps me motivated. n • mcqueenshairbristol.co.uk

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Aberdeen . Aberdeenshire . Beverley . Brentwood . Bristol . Cardiff . Chester . Chichester . Farnborough High Wycombe . Linlithgow . London North . London West End . Manchester . Orpington . Preston Romsey . Sheffield . Shrewsbury . Southport . Sutton Coldfield . Tunbridge Wells . Wilmslow . York

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THE CITY

Bookings open for the world’s largest free film fest Bristol children can attend free cinema trips and access free resources this month through the Into Film Festival, which returns for its seventh year from 6 – 22 November. The world’s largest free film festival, whose many themes can be utilised by educators across the curriculum is hosting almost 60 events in Bristol, targeted towards primary and secondary students, including several with a strong environmental focus to engage young people with one of today’s most urgent issues. The festival will launch with ambitious premieres, supported by Greenpeace and UNICEF, of climate-change documentary 2040 at Watershed and Everyman Bristol with a Q&A with director Damon Gameau. Documentary Biggest Little Farm will also premiere with talks by Greenpeace ambassadors and other events include Dirty God featuring a Q&A with lead actress Vicky Knight, Mary Queen of Scots with a talk from creative skills body ScreenSkills, and an animation workshop with the British Board of Film Classification.

BRISTAGRAM Some of our favourite recent snaps taken by folk around the city! Tag your Bristol pics using #thebristolmag Beautifu l framing (@lz.brist ol)

• intofilm.org/iff19

Image by Nic Smith

City of science: five-year plan for pioneering study Bristol’s Children of the 90s study will be Professor Nic Timpson supported for the next five years through an established collaboration between The Wellcome Trust, University of Bristol and Medical Research Council. A new commitment of up to £8.2million will enable research to continue into health, wellbeing and social science using data and samples from thousands of families. Set up in 1991, CO90s recruited 14,500 pregnant women from the Bristol area and has been charting their health, plus that of their children, ever since. Almost 30 years later, the study is now recognised as the premier multi-generational birth cohort internationally with an outstanding reputation for enabling research. The study’s future plans include using face-to-face data and sample collection along with a growing collection of remote data collection technologies. This will ensure that as many participants as possible can take part and help the study thrive and that CO90s will continue to lead the way in safe data storage and access for exciting new science. “Children of the 90s is now the largest and most detailed resource of its kind in the world for the study of the environmental, biological and genetic factors that affect our health, well-being and development,” said principal investigator Professor Nic Timpson. “The next five years are incredibly important. We are very excited to collect new data and samples from our amazing participants who form the heart of the study. It is a key time in the lives of those involved and 30 years of Children of the 90s will mark a whole series of life events that are often understudied. We can’t wait to get on with the important work of maintaining, optimising and extending the study. We are, of course, indebted to our study participants and the city as a whole. With this exciting funding news, Bristol really does cement its place as a city of science.” Lifelong participant Richard, aged 26, added: “The study collects a huge amount of data and opens itself up to a potentially infinite range of ongoing, developing, evolving questions. Like the children and adults it studies, the project is always developing. I am always delighted to be contributing.” There are also plans to increase data collection from under-represented groups in health research such as fathers, to continue recruiting the new generation (children of the Children of the 90s) and to find ways to make it easier for participants to stay involved with more flexible clinics, remote data collection and by making better use of existing official records. • childrenofthe90s.ac.uk

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SAD state of affairs

hen I was growing up I had no idea there was such a thing as Seasonal Affective Disorder. I just found that come November I would be miserable. Old diaries always peter out at this time of year, reflecting my diminishing energy levels. Schoolwork would suffer. Relationships tended to falter. Having no idea that this was what we now call A Thing, I just hunkered down and waited for spring. I don’t remember exactly how I found out I wasn’t alone but I suspect that sometime in the 1990s a flaky friend told me they suffered from this thing called SAD. I probably took no notice, on the basis that anything with so convenient an acronym had to be nonsense, until I read about it in the paper for myself and realised that my symptoms fit. I say ‘symptoms’ with the greatest reluctance, but you know what I mean. My first feelings were of relief. In the same way that it was nice to discover that the ‘summer cold’ I had often suffered was actually hay fever, there was something reassuring about knowing what was going on. But was there anything I could do to prevent the onset of SAD come autumn? Or at least to make SAD less… sad? I think we’re often better able to understand other people’s needs than our own. I’d always assumed that the correct response to feeling tired and depressed in wintertime was to retreat under the duvet, but the opposite is true. The more desperate you are to stay in, the more urgently you need to go out, especially if the sun is trying to shine. It was probably the eternally wise Ms B who taught me about vitamin D, although I’m still not entirely sure what it does, let alone how. I was brought up in Lincolnshire, where the options available for the light-craving SAD sufferer were a) trudging around a marsh or b) trudging around a ploughed field. Bristol has much more to offer in this respect (although you’re probably less likely to see a snipe, if marshland birds are your thing). From the Blaise Estate to the Harbourside it’s a city made for winter walking, with no shortage of destinations to head for if you find ambling round in circles tiresome. It helps if you have a duty of care towards someone or something that needs to spend time outside. We always used to say that the youngest Bartleby was rather like a dog, i.e. only able to relax into the weekend once he’d had a good run in the park. I can’t say I looked forward to venturing out at 8am on a grim Saturday but it definitely helped. Now we have a four year-old dog rather than a human of the same age and things are much easier, since the dog sits quietly and waits to go out rather than jumping up and down on my face. But you can’t just put yourself out for the winter like a horse. You need to keep functioning in human society. One of the problems with SAD, as with all forms of melancholia, is that it makes you want to retreat from other people, whereas what you need is to be sociable. Christmas forces us to join in, like it or not, but what about the rest of the time? Again it helps to live in a city like Bristol, where there’s always so much going on, from pub quizzes to stitch’n’bitch sessions. My winter lifesaver over the past decade or so has been music. I’ve played the guitar badly for years, but more recently began playing with friends in an occasional band. Mindfulness is a word I would only use under duress, but rehearsing and playing music live does make you focus fully on the moment. And somehow this helps keep the SAD at bay. Reasons to be cheerful… ■

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Conservation conversation Bristol’s Natural History Unit has scoured the planet and captured astonishing footage of wildlife and scenery from the Earth’s seven continents for the latest BBC series Seven Worlds, One Planet

This magnificent male cassowary is a solitary, dinosaur-like creature that stands at almost six-feet tall and can be found in the ancient Australian jungle. Considered by many as the most dangerous bird in the world, this keystone species is very shy and wary of humans, and possesses a dagger-like claw of up to 10cm in its inner toe – one well-placed kick could disembowel a person. Attacks are rare, but in 1926 one boy died when the bird’s claw slashed his jugular. Male cassowaries make good and gentle fathers, and the females’ territories encompass several males with whom they leave the eggs and young. The adults eat mostly fruit which they swallow whole; in fact the cassowary plum is named after these flightless birds.

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The cassowary

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TELEVISION

fter the runaway success of the likes of Blue Planet II, Planet Earth II and Dynasties, we wondered what on Earth the clever brains at the Natural History Unit in Bristol could come up with next… But lo and behold, they’ve done it, with new BBC series Seven Worlds, One Planet, which kicked off in late October and explores the extraordinary wildlife, land and seas that make up our planet’s seven continents. Using cutting-edge technology, remarkable close-ups and sweeping shots of the world’s landscapes, this landmark series provides unique insights into animal behaviour, extreme habitat conditions, and the drastic impact climate change is having on the environment. Over the seven episodes, each continent will have its moment to showcase its beauty and

the challenges it faces, with Sir David Attenborough narrating the awe-inspiring on-screen events. The series took four years to create and was made by a team of 1,500 who captured 2,000 hours’ worth of footage in 41 countries in often treacherous conditions – many of the ground teams faced political unrest, tropical diseases and severe seasickness just on their journeys to their destinations. The first episode – Antarctica – took 240 days to film, and 80,000 people applied for tickets to watch an exclusive screening of it in Bristol last month. Speaking at the screening, Sir David said: “Bristol has put natural wildlife filming on the worldwide map.” Highlighting the series’ message of the importance of conservation, he said: “We’ve got to understand why the natural world is so delicate and how it works, and The Natural

History Unit has enabled this.” As well as revealing the damage global warming is having on habitats, there are many positive stories to explore in this series, such as filming newly discovered species in Asia that have never been seen on screen before, and capturing on film the largest aggregation of humpback whales since the commercial whale ban of 1986. One thing is for sure, there are more stories to be told of the world around us, and Bristol’s Natural History Unit is continuing to bring these creatures and habitats into the nation’s living rooms. Below we look at just some of the wonderful creatures featured in the series... n • Seven Worlds, One Planet is currently being shown on BBC One on Sundays

The Sarada lizard

This male Sarada (fan-throated) lizard displays his bright colours to females on the plateaus of India – the orange patches are attractive to females, the blue and black tell other males to keep their distance. Many of these lizards, which you can find in Western Ghats of south-west India, die or are forced to run away on their hind legs during breeding season due to the fights that break out between competing males.

The humpback whale Using a feeding technique called ‘bubble netting,’ humpback whales blow bubbles as they rise up under a shoal of krill. The bubbles act like a net to the krill, and the whales spiral inwards to concentrate the swarm. This incredible scene was a welcome shot captured by the Natural History Unit team as it helped to confirm that the number of whales has increased in recent years following the 1986 commercial whale ban, when the whale population was almost decimated through hunting.

Rolf Steinmann films the thousands of penguin chicks that line St Andrews Bay in South Georgia, Antarctica, waiting for their parents to return from the ocean with food. The young chicks must stand in the same spot until their parents come back so that they can be found among the crowds. But some chicks risk not getting fed when they go exploring – there’s so much to see on the island, such as elephant bull seals which the penguins have fun poking with their beaks.

The penguin

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INTOTHE

WILD

A renowned photography exhibition from the Natural History Museum is back in Bristol this month with 100 new images that will make you wonder at the living world

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ow in its 55th year, Wildlife Photographer of the Year is a showcase of some of the world’s best photography, revealing some of the most arresting and spectacular images of the natural world. This year’s competition attracted more than 48,000 entries from young, old, professional and amateur photographers from 100 countries, all helping to raise awareness of the beauty and fragility of the world around us. The popular exhibition is coming back to Bristol this month, opening at M Shed on 23 November, to present 100 new photographs which have been selected for their creativity, originality and technical excellence. Here we present a preview of just some of the photography on display at this year’s show, featuring everything from atmospheric work by a budding teenager, to haunting depictions of humanity’s interference with nature in Texas.

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PHOTOGRAPHY Big cat and dog spat by Peter Haygarth / Wildlife Photographer of the Year

PETER HAYGARTH Having been highly commended in the Behaviour: Mammals category, Peter Haygarth’s image captures an encounter between a lone cheetah and a pack of African wild dogs in the Zimanga Private Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. “I was in an open-topped safari vehicle following a pack of African wild dogs that had failed in a chase of a warthog, [which] then came across a lone male cheetah that appeared to feel threatened as the number of dogs increased, and started to hiss and lunge,” says retired police officer turned professional photographer Peter. “I had managed to capture such a look in the cheetah’s face that represented so many emotions. These are both endangered species [with fewer than 7,000 left of each, mainly due to habitat loss and fragmentation], so the fact that they came together and fought was rare.”

CARLOS PÉREZ NAVAL

Canopy hangout by Carlos Pérez Naval / Wildlife Photographer of the Year

The grand title winner in the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2014 awards, and category winner in other competition years, teenager and budding talent Carlos Perez Naval has always taken a keen interest nature photography. This photograph, which was highly commended in the Young Wildlife Photographers: 11 – 14 Years Old category, was taken during a family trip to Panama’s Soberanía National Park. “I was staying in the terrace of the Canopy Tower. Early in the morning I saw there was a sloth feeding in a tree next to me. I first took some portraits with the 400 zoom, but it was foggy and there was a nice atmosphere, so I decided to take a picture with the landscape,” he says.

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PHOTOGRAPHY

JO-ANNE MCARTHUR Nothing could prepare professional photographer Jo-Anne McArthur for what she would witness when she attended the annual Sweetwater rattlesnake round-up in Texas. Each year tens of thousands of rattlesnakes are caught, tossed into pits and then decapitated for entertainment. Remarking on her powerful photograph, Jo-Anne says, “At first glance, it’s like you’re witnessing a fun kids’ event. Red hand prints, signatures, drawn smiley faces. But what are those skins about? Some images are obvious. This one isn’t. It’s a solemn image, and my hope is that people will reflect on this very direct form of violence against others, and question whether these acts should be such a celebratory affair. “The killing is on display, and there are events like the snake-eating contest and the Miss Rattlesnake beauty pageant,” she continues. “I found it so strange that people didn’t see the animals as I saw them – deserving of protection and respect.”

The wall of shame by Jo-Anne McArthur / Wildlife Photographer of the Year Nikon D800 17-35 mm f/2.8 lens 1/250 sec f /3.2

Sleeping like a Weddell by Ralf Schneider / Wildlife Photographer of the Year Canon EOS 7D Mark II 100-400 mm f/4.5-5.6 lens 1/500 sec f /8

RALF SCHNEIDER This image is a world away from what automotive industry project manager Ralf Schneider is used to seeing on a daily basis. The amateur photographer travelled to a branch of the Drygalski Fjord in the south of South Georgia to discover this snuggly Weddell seal. Shooting from an inflatable boat, Ralf had to be careful not to not wake the sleeping creature. “[The] conditions were perfect; only low swell and overcast skies for fantastic, soft portrait light,” he says. “The main challenge was to take the best part with the special posing of the seal with a long focal length of 600mm from the moving Zodiac. Despite the calm sea, I had to be very careful not to go overboard because of my enthusiasm.”

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Lucky break by Jason Bantle / Wildlife Photographer of the Year Nikon D810 70-200mm f/2.8 llens 0.4 sec f /2.8

JASON BANTLE It’s not every day that you see a racoon poking its head out of the windshield of a 1970s Ford Pinto. And this is definitely the case for professional nature photographer Jason Bantle who put in a huge amount of planning to capture this remarkable image on a deserted farm in Saskatchewan, Canada. “It was multiple years of being in a hide, waiting in the evenings for this mother raccoon to emerge from the interior of this old Pinto. [Throughout] the previous two years she did not [appear] during the time when she would be having and raising her young, inside of the car. It was evident the only way in and out was through the hole in the windshield. Finally, on year three, she emerged,” he says. “I think the image speaks of Mother Nature’s resilience to work around human impacts and encroachment. Raccoons are an incredibly adaptable species; not all species are.”

Beach waste by Matthew Ware / Wildlife Photographer of the Year Canon EOS Rebel T5i 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 lens 1/1250 sec f /4.5

MATTHEW WARE Postdoctoral researcher at the Florida State University Marine Turtle Research, Ecology, and Conservation Group, Matthew Ware took this haunting photo of an endangered turtle that had been strangled by debris attached to a washed-up beach chair in July 2018 on the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge, Alabama, where his team were surveying the water’s edge. “We knew immediately that this incident held an important conservation message, particularly since the nearby cities of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach had recently enacted Leave No Trace ordinances on their beaches requiring visitors to remove their items from the beach at night,” he says. n Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London. The exhibition runs at M Shed from 23 November – 4 May. • bristolmuseums.org.uk/m-shed THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK

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ADVENTURE

ENFIELD & CHUM

Last month Jacqui Furneaux’s trusty motorcycle starred in a political film for live arts festival In Between Time at Arnolfini, which got us wondering what other adventures it had been on. Turns out, it’s traversed the globe. Jacqui filled us in on their inspiring shared past...

ittle did I know when I was an 18-year-old student nurse at Bristol Royal Infirmary in the late 1960s, being shouted at by the fiery ward sister to tidy the beds or scrub the sluice, that one day – a long way off – I would pack in my long career and ride round the world on a motorbike. Even 10 years before it happened I was still the happily married mother of two teenage daughters. If someone had suggested that the course of my life would change so dramatically I would have told them they must have me mixed up with someone else. The summer of 1976 was long, hot and dry and despite my experience working in the casualty department and dealing with motorbike road traffic accidents, against my better judgement, I agreed to my husband’s suggestion to cool off by riding his Honda 70. He minded our small daughters and I set off on the quiet roads of Headley Park. After 20 minutes I was hooked. I took my motorbike test in Bedminster at a time when if you could stop when the examiner stepped into the road with his arm raised and you could answer a few questions from the Highway Code, you

were deemed a competent rider. I passed and have owned a motorbike almost ever since. Many years later, my good, solid, 20-year marriage fell to bits leaving me standing in the middle and wondering what had happened. I eventually packed a backpack and set off for Asia. Eight months later in India, a chance meeting with a travelling Dutch motorcyclist riding a 500cc Royal Enfield Bullet changed my life. I ended up buying one like his and travelling with him for a while before continuing alone. TBM: Did your line of work come in useful while you were away? Jacqui: My excellent general nurse training at the Bristol School of Nursing, my subsequent training to be a psychiatric nurse at Barrow Hospital and working as a health visitor stood me in good stead for many of the events that took place during the seven years I was on the road with my 500cc Enfield Bullet. Not least, the ability to keep a cool head when things went awry. I could see my leg was broken after a truck ran into me on a mountain road in Continued on page 32

Jacqui travelled the world for seven years with her faithful machine

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Indian army engineers stop an oil leak – with garden string

xxxxng inxxxx

Jacqui and Enfield near Hay on Wye (image by Joseph Lewiston)

Palmyra, Syria, 2003 – nearly destroyed in recent years while it was occupied by ISIS

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Spokesman in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. No more wobbling!

Entering a new state along the Roper Highway, Northern Territory, Australia

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Most surreal experience? Outback gods answering all my wishes in Australia. What was the best thing you ate? I carried tins of sardines, dried peas and a bag of rice as my basic food when I was alone in deserted places. Breakfast of fresh fruit from the market in Papua New Guinea was very special. Passion fruit were so prolific, I almost made myself ill with them! Who were the happiest people you met?

...I began to feel I had a guardian angel but what I think happened was that I learnt to trust. Making oneself vulnerable gives people the opportunity to be kind... Pakistan, but quite calmly corrected the strange direction my foot was pointing in rather than have someone else do it. It just seemed the best thing to do. I also think that my experience as a nurse furnished me with the ability to approach people with confidence and warmth and to not be afraid.

I stayed with a family in a tiny village in Mexico where there was no guest house. They had few needs, were noticeably content with a simple life and I found myself envying them. What did you learn about yourself? That I am as good as anyone else and most people are kind and good. When did you know it was time to come home? After almost seven years, travelling had become a way of life. I don’t want to spoil the story for anyone who may want to read my book but it was a good thing. What are your thoughts about the Dutchman now, as the catalyst for this memorable chapter of your life? I hope he is really happy and although we are rarely in touch, I acknowledge his importance in changing my life. I am, and will always be, immensely grateful to him.

Which countries did you find the most and least hospitable? Pakistan and New Zealand were the most hospitable. No country has been inhospitable but I travelled with some frightening Australian and Italian skippers on small boats in South-East Asia and South America. Did you encounter any extreme acts of kindness? Absolutely. That is what struck me the most. We fear that we’ll be left stranded in need somewhere. But it never happened like that for me. A solution to every problem always presented itself or someone came to help. I began to feel I had a guardian angel but what I think happened was that I learnt to trust people. Making oneself vulnerable gives people the opportunity to be kind.

How did you adjust to life back in Bristol? Not very well. It was hard coming back to this country after seven years of being on the road. I lived on a large barge in the harbour at first. I think Bristol was and is the best place for me. It’s such a sociable city and the choice of activities and entertainment prevented me from grieving for my travelling life. I now live in the lively city centre which I enjoy. I still do a lot of travelling with the bike though. What is your next adventure? I don’t know yet. I spent last winter with the bike in Australia so am looking forward to being with my family this year. As usual, I shall wait to see what happens!

What did you miss about Bristol? Wallace and Gromit. They are mentioned in my book! What moments might not have come about without the rough times? Teaching English in Islamabad when my broken leg was healing. It was almost worth breaking my leg for; I had a great time, relearned some English grammar and met some wonderful people. Funniest moment? As you might imagine, there were so many during the years I was travelling. I found myself in many hilarious situations. Living for months with a family of Pakistani comedy actors when my leg was broken was pretty amusing! Recently, my bike was in an art installation called The Ride at the Arnolfini. 65 people came to be filmed, sitting on it with the artist against a moving back-projection and industrial fans to reproduce a fictitious ride. Having my funny old bike used for this tickled me pink but I loved the whole experience.

Are there places or challenges you’d still like to tick off? It once took me all day to ride an extremely difficult track in Indonesia to see a turtle lay her eggs on a deserted beach. It was the most moving experience. She wheezed up the beach, dug a hole in the sand with her flippers, laid dozens of eggs and returned, exhausted, to the sea. Our labours to get to the same place inspired me to decide I would never have to prove anything to anyone ever again. Including myself. So no more challenges for me! I’m not a tick-list person, preferring to accept what comes my way – but that could be because I am indecisive... What are your ambitions for 2020? To keep riding the Enfield wherever and whenever I want to. It is still my only means of transport. We have ridden 74,000 miles together. It will be 20 years old next March. What would you say to anyone nervous about taking on an adventure? Go and make some memories. I don’t regret a moment of it! ■

Were there moments when you felt bored with travelling? Yes. Sometimes it was all too much. I felt like a spoilt princess even though at other times I felt like an aimless wanderer.

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• ‘Hit the Road, Jac! Seven Years. Twenty Countries. No Plan’ is available from Amazon.UK, Kindle and Audible or jacquifurneaux.com

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SHOPPING | CHRISTMAS

Part and parcel

The festive season will soon be around the corner and while the core essence of Christmas – presence over presents – should be kept in mind, here’s a little inspiration for those shopping for gifts

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❹ ❻ ❼ ❽ 1. Seven Worlds One Planet, BBC Books, £25, Waterstones; waterstones.com 2. Calvin Klein True Icon Crew Neck, £63, Clarks Village; clarksvillage.co.uk 3. Festive Fancies Hamper, £40, Harvey Nichols; harveynichols.com 4. Only Fools And Horses Monopoly, £29.99, Amazon; amazon.co.uk 5. Orchard Blush Gin 35cl, £19.99, Thatchers Cider Shop; thatcherscider.co.uk 6. Winter Berries Ring 9ct Gold, £950, Julie Ann Palmer; julieannepalmer.com 7. Motu Tane Blush, Highlighter and Bronzer Face Palette, Nars £36, Harvey Nichols; harveynichols.com 8. Art Pass (free entry to all RWA exhibitions for a year), £15, RWA; shop.rwa.org.uk

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SHOPPING | CHRISTMAS

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1. The Bristol Food Tour Gift Voucher, £50; thebristolfoodtour.com 2. 18ct White Gold Diamond Encrusted Necklace, £4,515, Nicholas Wylde; nicholaswylde.com 3. Handcrafted Ceramic Horse Sculpture, £150, Clifton Contemporary Art; cliftoncontemporaryart.co.uk 4. Customisable Bristol Map, £45; Lást Maps, lastmaps.com 5. Aecorn Aromatic Non-Alcoholic Aperitif 50cl, £19.99; seedlipdrinks.com 6. Silver ‘Lacy’ Ear Studs, £85, Diana Porter; dianaporter.co.uk 7. Diamond Solitaire Rings from £200, Kemps; kempsjewellers.com 8. Harvey Nichols 200g Confectionery, £3.95; harveynichols.com 9. Men's Grooming Luxurious Gift Set, £13.95, Kondi Gifts; facebook.com/kondigifts

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EXHIBITIONS

STATE OF THE ART North Bristol Art Trail, various venues, 23 & 24 November Over 100 artists will open their homes, studios and galleries across North Bristol to display their artwork. With paintings, sculptures, jewellery and ceramics, this long-established trail is a perfect way to meet artists and find original artwork and handmade designs for yourself or loved ones. One of the most popular venues is the home of Toni Burrows, which is totally covered with amazing mosaics using found pieces of ceramics. Other venues such as Gloucester Road’s Alchemy 198, offer live music, tea and cake or a glass of wine. It’s a wonderful way to pass the weekend – visit Room 212 on Gloucester Road to see the pre-trail exhibition and pick up a trail map. • northbristolartists.org.uk See work by Jenny Urquhart

Lovers Walk by Toni Burrows

Guðjón’s Church #4 by Jack Latham

Sugar Paper Theories, RPS, until 22 December Forty years ago, two men went missing in south-west Iceland. The facts of their disappearances are scarce. An 18-year-old set off from a nightclub, drunk, on a 10km walk home in the depths of winter. Some months later, a family man failed to return from a meeting with a mysterious stranger. The Guðmundur and Geirfinnur case became the most controversial murder investigation in Icelandic history and drew Bristol-based photographer Jack Latham to immerse himself in all aspects of the case, from meeting key protagonists to locating and photographing key sites of the investigation. The resulting project, Sugar Paper Theories, brings together original photographs with a range of archival and documentary materials to explore the case. • rps.org

The Consoling Sea, Portside Gallery, 2 – 16 November

The Consoling Sea by Jane Reeves

Portside Gallery in Clifton is showing a new collection of fused glass seascapes by Jane Reeves, inspired by the north Cornish coast. “I hope you feel a sense of consolation and peace as you look at my work – a very real and powerful solace in the midst of life, with a healthy dose of mood improving nostalgia,” says the artist, “and that my seas remind you of your seas – stirring memories and taking you on a journey to that favourite beach again...” Jane’s paintings will be accompanied by the beautiful blown glass work of internationally renowned glass artist Cathryrn Shilling.

• portsidegallery.co.uk

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EXHIBITIONS Initial I with Witch by Eric Gill

Do You Believe In Magic? Bristol Museum, until 19 April This major winter exhibition features over 200 objects and stories that reveal how magic has been used to heal, hunt and harm across the world. From ancient uses of witchcraft, to belief in the power of gods and ancestors, it explores the complex intersection between magic, science and religion. Extraordinary artefacts have been selected from the museum’s collections, including European works of art, North American shamanic artefacts, delicately preserved plants, beautiful clothing and spiritual figurines. Through Ancient Egyptian amulets, Mexican charms and items collected from the altar of a practising witch, it uncovers ways of understanding worlds beyond our own. At the end of the exhibition, visitors are asked to decide where they stand on the spectrum of magic, science and religion. The points are mapped onto the floor to give an overall insight into what Bristol believes. • bristolmuseums.org.uk

Nick Veasey, Castle Fine Art, ongoing

See work by Expressions participants

A British X-ray artist makes his debut with this collection, using an innovative method which combines art and science, seeking to strip away layers of everyday life and show was lies beneath. In a process he likens to putting together a jigsaw, Nick’s imagery – everything from Christmas trees, teddy bears, to the fashion designs of Alexander McQueen – is created with machines used for medical and industrial radiography, and inspired by floral radiographs of photographer and dental scientist Albert G. Richards. • castlefineart.com Matchless Rider by Nick Veasey

Expressions, Centrespace Gallery, 23 – 26 November Expressions – the arts programme run by Milestones Trust to support people with mental health, dementia and learning disabilities – presents an exhibition that profiles the creativity, diversity and skill of its participants. It celebrates and showcases the journey of making art – equally as important as the final piece. Collaboration, openness and creative thinking are at the heart of Expressions and the focus has always been to make the arts accessible, interactive and a source of wellbeing – encompassing all forms including film, ceramics, textiles, photography and sculpture. • centrespacegallery.com

Pattern, Rainmaker Gallery, 1 November – 31 January

Native Pattern by Jordan Ann Craig

Explore the recurring theme of pattern in contemporary Native American art. Jordan Ann Craig, a Northern Cheyenne painter and printmaker, draws inspiration from Indigenous porcupine quillwork, beadwork, textiles and pottery to create peculiar geometries. Potawatomi artist Jason Wesaw pushes pattern to the simplest of elements in his minimalist works on paper. In contrast, Jemez Pueblo and Korean artist Debra Yepa-Pappan delight and inform with rich and colourful juxtapositions of Asian design and Indigenous imagery, while Diné and Ute digital artist Adrian Standing Elk-Pinnecoose mixes photography with kaleidoscopic tribal motifs. This exhibition highlights the range and depth of pattern investigation, cultural knowledge and experimentation flourishing within 21st-century Native American art.

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COMEDY | INTERVIEW

The man in the mirror: Ardal loves performing but has always been conscious of and slightly uncomfortable about the idea of showing oï¬&#x20AC;

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COMEDY | INTERVIEW

THE SHOWING OFF MUST GO ON The state of society has spurred comedic commentator Ardal O’Hanlon back into action. Brian Donaldson bags a chat with the reluctant show-oﬀ

aving admitted he was happily sliding into middle-age, fairly sure he knew all that he needed to know about the world, Ardal O’Hanlon has been jolted out of complacency by recent world events. The good news is that this has meant the Irish stand-up, writer, and star of such TV hits as Father Ted and Death In Paradise has felt compelled to write a new stand-up set which he’s touring across the UK. “There’s an awful lot to talk about,” Ardal admits. “Especially in the last two or three years, the world has changed dramatically. There are lots of new things to deal with. I thought I’d cracked everything and then suddenly you have to completely re-engage with the world as it shifts. There are always things to say, but at the moment there’s a kind of urgency. I think as you get older you have to be true to yourself. “For me, it’s more about material rather than just gags; it’s about expressing yourself and it has to be based on real feelings and emotions. I hope it still has the silly and surreal qualities that I always brought to stand-up but it has to be based on something.” Inevitably, the likes of Trump and Brexit will raise their less than pleasant heads, though in Ardal’s hands, the treatment of the work will be typically off-kilter. “I think it’s incumbent upon a comedian to find clever and imaginative ways to come up with stuff. I personally prefer watching comedians who aren’t too blunt or too partisan, so while I have strong political views, I don’t want to hit an audience over the head with them. Comedians have to be cannier than that. I’m not going to mention Trump or Brexit by name, but I hope to be able to do stuff on them while trying to keep it a bit light and user friendly. “What seems clear about these events is that feelings will always trump facts in making decisions. All the decisions we make in life are irrational: our consumer choices are irrational, our choice of life partner might be irrational. You could end up marrying the craziest person in the world. ‘They might stab you.’ ‘Yes, but they have lovely hair!’” As well as displaying his talent for a decent pun, the title of Ardal’s touring show reflects the part of his personality that he’s had to draw upon to get on in the entertainment world, despite his upbringing doing everything it could to dampen that spirit.

While I have strong political views, I don’t want to hit an audience over the head with them. Comedians have to be cannier than that... “I’m a very reluctant show-off,” he says. “I come from a part of the world where showing off is anathema; it’s the worst thing you could possibly do. When you grow up in a border area of Ireland, people are very wary and cagey and keep their head down at all times. Don’t speak unless it’s absolutely essential, and don’t give anything away. So showing off was a really terrible thing to do; it’s up there with armed robbery.” This left Ardal feeling somewhat conflicted. “I love stand-up comedy and I love performing, but I was always conscious that this is showing off and I’m slightly uncomfortable about that,” he continues. “I suppose the

question I ask myself almost every day is ‘why do I do this?’ And as I get older, ‘why do I still do this?’ I suppose to some extent this is what I’m addressing in the show.” As Father Dougal McGuire, Ardal charmed the socks off the nation when Father Ted reigned supreme on Channel 4 in the late ’90s. Although he’s not involved in any way with the proposed Father Ted musical (“I wish them well with it”), he still looks back with fondness on the Craggy Island-set sitcom which helped raise his profile in Ireland and far beyond – with the show proving popular in Australia and America. “I’m so grateful of the show and proud of my part in it. I sometimes pinch myself that I was in it and that it was so successful. I was in the throes of a burgeoning stand-up career at the time when we made it, and that was always my focus at the time; we’d be rehearsing during the day and I’d be gigging at night. I arrived in London the year before and things were going well for me, and Father Ted was almost like a distraction from that, a brilliant distraction obviously. At the time I didn’t know what that would mean for my career.”

When you grow up in a border area of Ireland, people are cagey and keep their head down. Showing off was a really terrible thing to do; it’s up there with armed robbery... After Father Ted, Ardal’s stand-up career took off as he toured in front of sold-out crowds across the world, made acclaimed festival appearances in Edinburgh and Montreal, filmed his own stand-up special for Comedy Central (US), released two live DVDs, and appeared on Live At The Apollo. Meanwhile, in 1998 he published a bestselling novel The Talk Of The Town, which was translated into several languages and voted as one of the 1001 Books To Read Before You Die. On the TV front, he starred in BBC’s My Hero as a regular guy called George who also happened to be Thermoman, is the lead detective in Death In Paradise (back on BBC One in January), appeared in Doctor Who and Skins, and presented several documentary series including the upcoming BBC NI programme about Irish showbands, Showbands And Me. On the big screen, he played concerned dads in coming-of-age dramas Twice Shy and Handsome Devil. But stand-up remains his first showbusiness love, and Ardal gets almost giddy over the prospect of taking a show onto the road. “I’ve been lucky to have other dimensions to my career, but I’m constantly drawn back to stand-up; there’s something compulsive about it. For this tour, I have a modest saloon car and my little bag of jokes and a toothbrush. I always enjoy touring, and going up and down the country. I do love the performing aspect of it but equally I love the whole process of it, engaging with the world, and trying to figure stuff out. Stand-up is the best medium for that.” ■

• The Showing Off Must Go On, 6 December, Anson Rooms; mickperrin.com/tours/ohanlon-showing-autumn THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK

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MUSIC

BOOGIE NIGHTS Amanda Nicholls rounds up the cream of the November gigs going down in Bristol

nce the nights draw in, our default mode is gig-hunter; Googling for news on which hot acts will warm us up best as winter approaches. In addition to the brimming local concert offering, the Doc’n Roll Bristol premiere of Where Does a Body End? has caught our eye this month – over at Rough Trade on 7 November, it’s part of Doc’n Roll Film Festival, supported by the British Film Institute and aiming to grow audience appetite for independent film. It’ll offer an intimate portrait of the band SWANS, going back to their roots as a confrontational post-punk band that emerged from the early 1980s. Meanwhile on the live show front...

Portico Quartet, Trinity Centre, 7 November

The Mercury Prize-nominees, who have crafted a unique soundscape over the course of their critically acclaimed discography, are back to showcase songs from new album Memory Streams. The London fourpiece blend jazz and electronica to create ambient minimalism and push their cinematic sound to mesmerising heights.

The Heavy, SWX, 8 November

This Bath-born band defy the old pigeonhole, drawing on soul, funk, hip-hop, rock and more. Still going strong over a decade into their career, The Heavy are now giving fans a new fix of their infectious sound with the uplifting Sons. Remember breakthrough single How You Like Me Now? and What Makes A Good Man? (It featured in the Guinness ad with the sharp-dressed Congolese ‘sapeurs’.) Even if not, they’re well worth a punt.

See bluesy Bristol singer-songwriter Elles Bailey at Thekla

Elles Bailey, Thekla, 8 November

Cass McCombs plays St George’s Bristol (image: Silvia Grav)

Singer-songwriter Elles Bailey hails from Bristol and weaves rootsy blues, country and rock with a contemporary edge. Join her for the hometown date on her Road I Call Home tour – the album, demonstrating a deeper musical maturity, was recorded in Nashville, naturally, with some of Music City’s top musicians.

RE:IMAGINE Daft Punk, O2 Academy, 12 November

This 16-piece orchestral rendition of Daft Punk’s signature house, electro, funk, rock and synthpop fusion has become a sought-after musical experience, with immersive visuals and an elaborate light show – get yourself a piece of the action at the O2 this month.

Heavy Lungs, Thekla, 16 November

Formed in 2017 in Bristol, Heavy Lungs have gone from packed shows at Crofters Rights, and recording an EP in three days, to a raucous set at Simple Things and support slots for best pals Idles’ sold-out UK tour. Looks like this is the beginning – support the homeboys while there’s still just enough room to wiggle to the front.

Cass McCombs, St George’s Bristol, 18 November

Californian Cass has become renowned for his soulful, contemporary Americana and astute lyricism over his eight albums. He’s back this month with his idiosyncratic ninth, Tip of the Sphere, plus a newfound confidence, fervent rock songs and beautiful ballads.

Hawkwind, Anson Rooms, 19 November

A 50th anniversary tour to accompany the space-rock pioneers’ Royal Albert Hall gig in November and follow on from 2018’s sell-out tour of groundbreaking production In Search of Utopia.

Happy Mondays, O2 Academy, 23 November

The legendary Manchester band is back in Bristol as part of a marathon headline tour, performing a variety of hits from across their hugely influential career. What a way to round up 2019.

Quantic, Marble Factory, 29 November

The forward-thinking electronic music of Quantic crosses borders and embraces Will Holland’s own love of travel, bridging gaps across cultures and genres. Best enjoyed, we think, with a full live band. n

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WHAT’S ON IN NOVEMBER Elf Lyons brings her new show to Tobacco Factory Theatres

Much Ado About Nothing Until 9 November, times vary, Tobacco Factory Theatres Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory returns to celebrate its 20th Bristol season, with Elizabeth Freestone (Henry V) back to direct Shakespeare’s comedy about the precarious path to finding love. From £12; tobaccofactorytheatres.com

Queens of Sheba 6 – 9 November, 8pm, Spielman Theatre, Tobacco Factory Theatres Loosely based on the DSRKT nightspot incident of 2015, Queens of Sheba tells the hilarious, moving and uplifting stories of four passionate black women battling everyday misogynoir – where sexism meets racism. From £12; tobaccofactorytheatres.com

Doug Allan: Wild Images, Wild Life 11 November, 7.30pm, 1532 Performing Arts Centre Join multi award-winning wildlife cameraman Doug Allan for an evening of behind-thescenes stories for all the family, with highlights from the most challenging assignments of his 35 years filming wildlife in the remotest places on Earth. £20; 1532bristol.co.uk

Bristol Keyboard Festival 1 – 8 November, times vary, St George’s Bristol Magical animations, synchronised paintbrushes and surreal films accompany inspirational music from MOOG synthesisers, harpsichords and Steinway grands for the second Bristol Keyboard Festival. There will be events for all ages and interests including iconic works by Gershwin, Bartók and Prokofiev, an exploration of Clara Schuman’s life and work, and the stories of Katie and Ella Bella Ballerina will be brought to life. Full programme online; stgeorgesbristol.co.uk

Into Film Festival 6 – 22 November, venues around Bristol The world’s largest free film festival returns, offering more than 60 free events for teachers and students including collaborations with the likes of Greenpeace, UNICEF, the BFI London Film Festival, Afrika Eye, an animation workshop with the BBFC and many more; intofilm.org/iff19

Bristol Ensemble Baroque 13 November, 7.30pm, St George’s Bristol The Bristol Ensemble unveils its Baroque specialist ensemble for the first time under the directorship of Adrian Chandler. The programme will include works by Johann Christian Bach, Francesco Geminiani, Nicola Matteis and violin concertos by Antonio Vivaldi performed by Adrian Chandler. £14 – £25; bristolensemble.com

Sherry Week 4 – 10 November, Bar 44 A series of events including sherry masterclasses, sherry flights, specially paired dishes, cocktails and live music, all in celebration of the much-loved fortified wine; sherryweek.wine Raju Rage: Art in the City 6 November, 6.30pm, Arnolfini UWE and Arnolfini present Raju Rage, an interdisciplinary artist who is proactive about using art, education and activism to forge creative survival. They explore the spaces and relationships between bodies, theory and practice, text and the body, and aesthetics and the political substance. £4.40; arnolfini.org.uk 44 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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Christmas lights switch-on extravaganza 9 November, 5 – 8pm, Clarks Village The festive season launches in style as Clarks Village treats its guests to a spectacular Christmas lights switch-on with musical performances and an amazing LED stage show before a mystery performer turns on the lights and signals the countdown to Christmas. Plus all stores will be open until 8pm and restaurants even later; clarksvillage.co.uk

Wapping Wharf Christmas switch-on 14 November, from 5pm, Wapping Wharf Expect music, magic and festive fun at Bristol’s much-loved harbourside quarter when the Christmas lights are switched on and the cast of Tobacco Factory Theatres’s Snow White performs some lively musical numbers. Plus there will be plenty of music, delicious food and hot drink offerings. The lights switch-on will take place at 5.45pm.

Exultate Singers: Lux Aeterna 10 November, 6pm, St George’s Bristol On Remembrance Sunday evening, experience a programme of music on the theme of light as a symbol of hope, including Thomas Tallis’ O Nata Lux, Rachmaninov’s Nunc dimittis from All-Night Vigil, and a piece by Nicholas O’Neill who composed a poignant setting of words by John Donne in memory of MP Jo Cox. £12 – £21; exultatesingers.org

BUMP roller disco 15 November – 5 January, Millennium Square As part of We The Curious’ climate emergency declaration earlier this year, a BUMP roller disco is replacing the seasonal ice rink this winter, offering visitors of all ages the chance to get their roller skates on. Includes Skate with Santa sessions, lessons and accessible skating sessions; wethecurious.org

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Lankum: Miguel Ruiz

Listen to the traditional folk melodies of Lankum at Fiddlers Club

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EDITOR’S PICK... HERE COMES TROUBLE 24 NOVEMBER, 8PM, WESTON STUDIO, BRISTOL OLD VIC

A rigorous personal investigation into womanhood and Keira’s individual identity, presented by Impermanence. Through a series of robust episodes drawing on social and cultural influences from Yorkshire, Ireland and Jamaica, Keira rhythmically weaves together traditional music, authentic song and gutsy dance. She shares hard-hitting and heart-warming chapters of her life to courageously address stereotypes and challenge labels. Witness her build bridges and burn them again, each time revealing a deeper layer of herself and her heritage. £10; bristololdvic.org.uk

Bella Hardy 15 November, 7.30pm, The Folk House A retrospective of the uncompromising journey of celebrated folk singer, songwriter and BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards winner Bella Hardy. £16.50; bristolfolkhouse.co.uk Clifton Village LitFest 15 – 17 November, venues around Clifton The first Clifton Village LitFest will feature a weekend full of talks, workshops, music, poetry and lively discussion. The line-up includes Jonathan Dimbleby, Catherine Johnson, Tony Robinson, Nikesh Shukla, Kalpna Woolf and more; foccal.com

A Time for All Seasons 16 November, 7.30pm, Bristol Cathedral In the first concert of the new season, Bristol Choral Society presents a collection of inspiring works by contemporary British composers, accompanied by piano duet, percussion, and the vocals of Bristol Youth Choir. £5 – £28; bristolchoral.co.uk Elf Lyons: Love Songs to Guinea Pigs 16 November, 8pm, Spielman Theatre, Tobacco Factory Theatres Following her sold-out run at last year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 2017’s Edinburgh Comedy Award Best Show nominee Elf Lyons

hits the road with her new show – a surreal tale of love and loneliness. Join Elf as she embodies her inner Katherine Hepburn on an absurd narrative of heartbreak and love with live music, terrible mime, silly characters, enthusiastic accents and entirely true stories. £12; tobaccofactorytheatres.com The South West Homebuilding and Renovating Show 16 & 17 November, Bath and West Showground The essential homebuilding and renovating event in the South West, perfect for those looking for some inspiration for changing Continued on page 46

SLOW RETREATS in the beautiful Forest of Dean millendmitcheldean.co.uk | bordellobanquets.co.uk | facebook.com/events

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Join comedian Angela Barnes at the FareShare SouthWest fundraiser

their homes. Get advice from the experts, learn about new products and services and discover how to turn your property dreams into reality. Tickets from £8; homebuildingshow.co.uk/somerset

Heartbeat: Bristol Symphony Orchestra 23 November, 7.30pm, St George’s Bristol An exploration of all aspects of the heart – physical, emotional and metaphysical – and its relationship with music. The programme includes a world premiere of a specially commissioned new work composed by William Goodchild for percussionist Harriet Riley and Bristol Symphony, and culminates in a performance of Rachmaninov’s magnificent Second Symphony. £11 – £20; bristolsymphonyorchestra.com

Lankum 18 November, 8pm, Fiddlers Club Named after the child-murdering villain from the classic ballad, Lankum is a four-piece traditional folk group from Dublin, Ireland, which combines distinctive four-part vocal harmonies with arrangements of uilleann pipes, concertina, Russian accordion, fiddle and guitar. £17.60; ents24.com

Made in Bristol Gift Fair 23 & 24 November, 30 November & 1 December, 10am – 4pm, Colston Hall Deck the hall! Made in Bristol’s amazing gift fair returns showcasing the unique creations of lots of local talent, as well as plenty of entertainment. You’ll find everything from ceramics to jewellery, to woodcarvings and prints, making this a great opportunity to shop local and find a handmade gift for the festive season. Plus on the top floor, Let’s Make Art will be there, offering a special creative family programme including costume/wearable artwork and other dazzling drop in activities; madeinbristolgiftfair.co.uk

Cass McCombs 18 November, 8.30pm, St George’s Bristol Called “one of the great songwriters of his time” (New York Times), Cass McCombs has become renowned for his soulful, contemporary Americana. Over the course of his extensive career, the California native has carried his astute lyricism across eight albums. £14; stgeorgesbristol.co.uk FareShare SouthWest fundraiser with Angela Barnes 19 November, 7.30pm, FareShare SouthWest Warehouse, Little Ann Street After a sell-out first night, Belly Laughs is holding a second pop-up event in the FareShare South West warehouse with an allfemale line-up, and all proceeds being split between FareShare and charity One25. Join them for a unique evening of surplus feasting, belly laughing and celebration of female comedians including Angela Barnes (Mock the Week, The News Quiz). £20; getawriggleon.com

Expressions at Centrespace 23 – 26 November, 12 – 6pm, Centrespace Gallery A group exhibition that profiles the creativity, diversity and skills of all its participants. Expressions is the creative arts programme run by Milestones Trust, which supports people with mental health, dementia and learning disabilities. This exhibition celebrates the journey of making art – just as important as the final piece; milestonestrust.org.uk

Clifton College Wine Festival 22 November, 6pm, Grand Hall, Clifton College An evening of wine tasting, food and music. Try different wines from around the world at this informal showcase and talk to the team from one of the country’s oldest wine merchants, Averys of Bristol. £35; redgravetheatre.com

Rife: Twenty-One Stories from Britain’s Youth 26 November, 7pm, Waterstones Rife: Twenty-One Stories from Britain’s Youth is an anthology of young voices that has been curated by Nikesh Shukla, editor of the bestseller The Good Immigrant, and Sammy Jones, written content editor at Rife – an online magazine for young people run by

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young people and produced by Watershed. Listen to their ideas and the topics featured in the collection including race, money and education. £6/£8; ideasfestival.co.uk John Barrowman: A Fabulous Christmas 30 November, 7.30pm, Bristol Hippodrome It’s almost the most fabulous time of the year – join entertainer extraordinaire John Barrowman as he celebrates the festive season on this dazzling new UK Christmas tour, which coincides with the release of his new album of the same name. From £29.40; atgtickets.com/bristol

PLANNING AHEAD Bristol Concert Orchestra 7 December, 7.30pm, St George’s Bristol The rollicking overture to Colas Breugnon by Kabalevsky raises the curtain on this winterwarmer concert of Anglo-Russian greats. Renowned cellist Matthew Barley makes a welcome return to play Walton’s Cello Concerto, and to finish, a true classic in Tchaikovsky’s 5th Symphony. £8 – £15; bristolconcertorchestra.org.uk Santas on the Run 8 December, 11am – 2pm, Bristol Harbourside Join Bristol’s biggest festive fun run! The 2k course, which begins at Lloyds Amphitheatre and winds its way round Bristol Harbourside, is suitable for all ages and abilities. All sponsorship raised by participants supports the work of Children’s Hospice South West. Santa suit, medal and festive treat included. To sign up, visit chsw.org.uk/santasbristol French Film Festival 12 – 15 December, times vary, Watershed The only festival dedicated to French and Francophone cinema is heading to Watershed to showcase four films celebrating the best of French film. On the programme is Happy Birthday, Arnaud Desplechin’s Oh Mercy, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, and Young Ahmed directed by Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne. Details and tickets online; watershed.co.uk n

Cass McCombs: Silvia Grav/Wapping Wharf: David Broadbent Photography

Cass McCombs is coming to St George’s Bristol

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LITERATURE | INTERVIEW

“I’ve always had a thirst for knowledge but, having not gone to university, I’ve probably always had a slight chip on my shoulder about how clever stuﬀ doesn’t have to be hidden behind obscure language,” Tony says, admitting he couldn’t spell archaeology for years

RENAISSANCE MAN Multitasking media maestro Sir Tony Robinson – on the bill for the inaugural Clifton Village LitFest – is about as far removed from ‘fusty historian’ as it gets. He talks to Melissa Blease about a subject, so often seen as prohibitively collegiate, that’s as personal to him as breathing

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iven Sir Tony Robinson’s currently frantic, globetrotting schedule, I’m lucky to catch him on a rare day off when a phone chat doesn’t involve tricky time zone calculations and lengthy negotiations with mobile phone service provider tariffs. “Right now, I’m making a series called Around The World By Train for Channel 5,” Tony explains, talking to me from his London home. “I did it last year and they liked it, so they asked me to go around again, the other way. It’s been very hectic, as you can imagine – but absolutely wonderful.” Wonderful indeed – and what a great gig – but no matter where the TV travel itinerary of today takes us, Tony is, to many of us, the Time Team guy. To many more, he’ll always be Blackadder’s faithful manservant Baldrick. For those of a certain, erm, vintage, he brightened up our preschool years as a Play Away presenter. But now the multitasking media maestro (actor, writer, TV presenter, author and political activist all vie for attention on his CV) is a rail travel buff too; is Tony Robinson the ultimate renaissance man?

...I was living in Frederick Place in Bristol in the 1980s when a script plonked onto my doormat with a note asking me if I’d like to play Rowan Atkinson’s servant... “Well I’ve done rather a lot in my time – it’s quite bizarre really, isn’t it?” he laughs. “It’s difficult to pick highlights, but clearly the thing that transformed my life was getting the role of Baldrick in Blackadder. I was living in Frederick Place in Bristol in the early 1980s when, out of the blue, a script plonked onto my doormat with a note asking me if I’d like to play Rowan Atkinson’s servant in his new series. The thing is, I’d always wanted to be associated with what I considered to be Oxbridge humour, from That Was The Week That Was through the Pythons and Not The Nine O’Clock News – it seemed to me to be a very specific type of British comedy that I really wanted to be a part of. But I thought I’d never be able to because I left school at 16 and never even went to university, let alone to Oxford or Cambridge. But Blackadder happened, and it was a marriage made in heaven, and my instincts were right; I really got on with the people involved and I felt like I had a contribution to make. The children’s series that I did shortly afterwards (Tales From Fat Tulip’s Garden) was huge for me too, because it was the first show I was ever in control of, from writing and performing to co-producing. And of course Time Team was very important, because that was the first time I went fully into presenting which is a very rarefied skill.” All told, there are intrinsic links between Blackadder and Time Team aside from the man at the epicentre of the action; it’s moved us, with Tony, from a bizarre concept of pseudo-history to a fully authentic peek at the past how it really was. “It may sound odd, but I’d never really thought of history as history really,” says Tony. “To me, it was just my dad talking to me about stuff he did in the Second World War. I got an insight very early on in my life that mine wasn’t the only time there’d ever been; there’d been a time when my dad was young and had adventures, and by extension there was a time when his parents and so on all had stories to tell about the lives they’d lived. And although I wouldn’t have put it like this back then, I was part of that continuum of human history. History has always been personal to me rather than academic, and as much a part of me as walking, breathing and sneezing.” And that natural ease about a subject that so many people see as prohibitively collegiate is what makes Tony’s Time Team a primetime TV hit, presented by a man who’s about as far removed from the traditional image of ‘fusty historian’ as it gets. “I’ve always had a thirst for knowledge but, having not gone to

university, I’ve probably always had a slight chip on my shoulder about how clever stuff doesn’t have to be hidden behind obscure language,” he says. “I felt that way about archaeology even though I couldn’t spell the word correctly for years!” Given Tony’s attitude to accessible education, it comes as no surprise that he’s a big supporter of the library. “What’s going on with library closures right now is quite hideous,” he says. “In 1963, the Beeching Report was responsible for closing down so many British railways. At the time, there as a notion of a kind of pseudo-modernity, when everything that was old needed to be expelled and replaced with new shiny things, which in those days had to be cars. And now we’re in a situation where we’ve got too many cars, and if only we had better railways. I think the same is true with libraries. Of course the way we use libraries in the age of the internet will continue to change, but the idea that we should shut invaluable resources down seems to be absolute madness – once you shut those resources down, you never get them back. There are a lot of very imaginative librarians bringing libraries into the 21st century, but unfortunately there are a lot of very unimaginative local councillors intent on looking for ways not to have a shortfall in their budget by the end of the year, and libraries – all that bricks and mortar, always in a strategic place in any given town or city – well, let’s sell them off. Hideous.” I tentatively wonder if now might be a good time to tempt Tony – an ardent political activist who formerly served on the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee but who announced his resignation from the party earlier this year – into talking politics. “What’s going on right now is quite extraordinary,” he says. “Every piece of certainty we were surrounded by when we were children, whether to do with the bank manager, or the vicar, or the newspaper proprietor, or the politician, has collapsed around us. It’s difficult to understand the processes that are taking place, but I think that, in 10 or 20 years time, we’ll be able to step back and say, ah, now we see why all that stuff happened. But that’s the whole thing about history in the making; when you read a history book you think, for example, didn’t they know there was about to be a war? Living in the current moment, we don’t have that hindsight benefit – politically, we don’t even know what’s going to happen by the end of this week! But politics, to me, has always been just another part of human activity, so yes of course I’ll always be interested in that. And by extension, I don’t want to go to my deathbed thinking that I’ve never tried to be involved.”

...The way we use libraries will continue to change, but the idea that we should shut down invaluable resources seems absolute madness – once you shut them down, you never get them back... Will Tony be talking politics on 17 November when he revisits Bristol for this month’s inaugural Clifton Village Literature Festival to talk about his life and work at Clifton Library? (Coincidentally, it’s the very library he took his kids to every Saturday morning when Clifton was, for a quarter of a century, the Robinson family residence.) “I’m fairly freewheeling really, so whatever anybody wants to talk about, I’m happy to talk about it too!” he says. I can confidently predict that whatever Tony ‘Ultimate Renaissance Man’ Robinson talks about will have those in his company gripped. ■ • Clifton Village LitFest takes places from 15 – 17 November: foccal.com/litfest2019

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David (pictured, right) has been an influential advocate for disabled people in developing countries for 30 years

Mr Motivation

The founder of a Bristol-based charity has just been named at the House of Lords as one of Britain’s most influential disabled people – and it’s decades of admirable work that have earned him the accolade

avid Constantine was recognised in The Shaw Trust’s annual Disability Power List 100 – featuring the most noteworthy disabled people in the UK – for dedicating his professional life to empowering disabled people in developing countries. For nearly 30 years, his charity and social enterprise, Motivation, has provided low-cost wheelchairs and development programmes to over 100 countries, changing the lives of thousands of people by enabling them to attend school and workplaces and get around in their communities. David is an influential advocate for disabled people, advising on global health, political initiatives and international provision of assistive technology. He was awarded an MBE in 2010, adding to his numerous honorary degrees and academic awards, and was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for the County and City of Bristol in 2014. In 2016, Motivation’s Rough Terrain wheelchair – an evolution of David’s first ever wheelchair design – was also honoured in the London Design Museum’s permanent exhibition as an iconic design.

shallow it resulted in a spinal cord injury, which meant I was paralysed from the shoulders down. So my life took a bit of a turn at 21. When I left hospital, back in the UK, I had to decide what I was going to do. I thought I could start looking into personal computers. They were new at the time, so I ended up doing a course in computing and accountancy at Oxford Polytechnic. That led on to a job at IBM, then an interest in product design – from there I applied to do a masters degree at the Royal College of Art in computer-related design. While studying, the design department had to enter a competition and the subject that year happened to be wheelchair design for developing countries. It had never crossed my mind before then that there would be different needs for a wheelchair in low-income environments. I teamed up with a fellow student – Simon Gue – and we combined my experience as a wheelchair user with his knowledge of travel and workshops. We won the first prize. That was the root of the design that started Motivation and how we began to try to address the needs of disabled people. How did it feel for it to be exhibited in London Design Museum?

TBM: How did the creation of the Rough Terrain chair come about? David: I was studying agriculture and farming and went out to Australia while I was doing my course. When I dived into a pool that was too 52 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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LOCAL PERSPECTIVES

work over the last nearly 30 years. So to end up with a product in the Design Museum was quite a watershed moment. Our aim has been to put together not just a ‘make-do’ product based on a ‘something is better than nothing’ approach – we are about making products that are lowcost, repairable in the countries they will be used in, suitable for the terrain, the environment and the user, and with an aesthetic that makes people feel they want to use the product, not just that they have to use it. What’s the most memorable story that has come through your work? Somebody who sticks out in my mind is Mohammedullah, who lives in Kabul. He’s a paraplegic with a spinal cord injury. He received a Motivation wheelchair from the International Committee of the Red Cross in Afghanistan. He also started using a Motivation tricycle attachment so he could hand cycle across the city among the traffic from his home to the orthopaedic centre. With better mobility he could earn an income with his own business, selling spare car parts. In many ways that is the ultimate aim of Motivation’s work – to help someone become mobile and ensure they are seated well and confident in getting around in the right piece of equipment for their lifestyle, without the risk of further health complications so they can create an income and be independent. More recently the ICRC have been running wheelchair basketball training sessions, using Motivation Multisport sports wheelchairs. They created a team which tours internationally and Mohammedullah got good enough to play. It was through wheelchair basketball that he came to finally feel he had something in his life that he was really motivated by. That journey from being paralysed, to becoming mobile, to being able to create an income – that wasn’t quite enough. By playing sport he felt like a member of a community. Life was worthwhile. I learnt something from that story. Our aim is to support people to become self-sufficient, but there are other things that ensure people can fulfil their potential. That’s why Motivation has designed the right kind of products to enable that. What do you love about Bristol? Having the docks going through the heart of the city creates a really different atmosphere because you can drive, walk or cycle through it and at some point you’re going to see water. It gives you a different sense of space, light and activity and references the city’s historical past. It’s somewhere you can spend leisure time – just sitting by the docks at the various cafes and restaurants, or actually on the water. That’s quite unusual for a city centre. Which venues deserve a shout-out for accessibility? People don’t realise that the Arnolfini was closed – quite a few years ago – because it was totally inaccessible. I remember it in the late ’80s when there were stairs all over the place. Then they got a grant and closed for some time. When it re-opened it was quite ahead of its time. It was made fully accessible thanks to an architect who was a wheelchair user – Andrew Walker. I knew Andrew from being rehabilitated with him in hospital so I’d followed his path. When I went in to see the results of his work, it was quite amazing. He made sure that it was completely flat throughout. Now, it’s so seamless that people don’t even notice – which is exactly as it should be. Tell us about the Flying Start chair and the Olympics It’s actually our 10th anniversary of producing sports wheelchairs – we started in 2009 as a result of a request from the International Paralympic Committee. They recognised that at the time there was a limit on how many countries could participate in the Paralympics, simply because to access sports you need to have the right equipment. If you don’t have access to decent equipment, because it is very expensive, you’re always going to be held back. They wanted to enable people to start playing at a grassroots level, in a low-cost product suitable for the game. To create opportunities for people to start, then get better so they can play at an international level. They asked us to design a range of wheelchairs that could be used for sports development. On the back of the success of our tennis and basketball wheelchairs they asked for a racing wheelchair for athletics to be launched at the London 2012 Olympics. It’s not a highlevel competition wheelchair for Paralympic use, but it allows people to get used to the feeling of racing. It has all the features of a racing

wheelchair that gives even more people access to the sport. They’re used across the world now as an entry-level and even sports clubs that train para-athletes like Hannah Cockcroft will use the Flying Start to introduce disabled people to wheelchair racing. What motivates you each day? The knowledge that our work is never quite finished. There are plenty of people out in the world who haven’t had the opportunities that I’ve had. I’ve been brought up and rehabilitated in the UK with access to great facilities – which aren’t perfect, that’s true. But over the past 30 years I’ve gained experience of seeing, first-hand, the kind of treatment, environment and conditions that disabled people face in a developing country. It’s very, very different from the experience here. That motivates me to do more with my work. You’ve achieved so much; what ambitions do you have now? I’m really excited about the Motivation InnovATe project – we’re looking at how we can change the system of wheelchair provision in low-income countries to make it more streamlined and flexible. We’re testing a new way of locally producing bespoke wheelchairs, with clinical and designled thinking. We are combining a new way of assessing wheelchair needs, then using 3D printing to make made-to-measure products that suit the body, lifestyle and needs of the user. We’re just finishing up the first trial of the project with a team of technicians and wheelchair users in Kenya. I’m excited about the potential of the project and how it could help countries to make their own wheelchairs so they become less reliant on cheap imports that have a ‘one size fits all’ approach. Which disabled figures really inspire you at the moment? Earlier this year I met a young boy quite randomly on the train back from London who is a wheelchair user: Jonathan Bryan. He has just written a book called Eye Can Speak. He is non-verbal and he uses a communication tool to communicate with his family and carer. I looked at him and I thought that the challenges he faces are quite unbelievable. And yet he’s a real voice – he’s on Twitter and he’s written this book, which has been acknowledged with an award. I was inspired by just meeting him for an hour on the train. It was quite incredible. Which of Bristol’s unsung heroes deserve a mention in your view? Karen Lloyd is running an organisation called Active Ageing that is trying to get people to be active – or remain active – in older age; to help them keep moving and get outside their homes, so they don’t become lonely or immobile because of a lack of exercise or fitness. People like Karen who run these groups quietly in the background are really important. What has your work meant to you in understanding your own disability? In some countries where Motivation works, the life expectancy of someone with a spinal cord injury is just 18 months. So I’ve started to realise how lucky I am. I’ve been able to survive what some might consider to be a devastating injury; to live an active and healthy life with something meaningful to do. I’ve had to fight for the odd thing or two in life, but in general I’m accepted in this society. And that’s thanks to a whole lot of people in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s who fought very hard to get disabled people recognised as useful members of society. Is there anything you turn to when you need a mental pick-me-up? About four or five years ago I started painting watercolours. I did it to slow myself down a bit, to make myself stop and really consider things. I had no idea what an amazing thing it was to just spend a few hours sitting and really observing, focusing in on something that is allconsuming in front of you on a piece of paper. I started paddleboarding this year and I’d like to do more of that. I sit on the board with a special seat; it’s my aim to get a bit more active so I’m not just sitting behind a desk all day. I haven’t done sport for years so this is a way to do that, get back on the water, and enjoy the Bristol docks. ■ • motivation.org.uk THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK

NOVEMBER 2019

THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE 53

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FOOD & DRINK GARDENING

HEROES OF HOOCH Two historians with a healthy interest in alcohol are heading for Bristol’s Hen & Chicken this month, having cleverly transferred their expertise from the page to the stage to produce some cracking ‘alco-demic’ comedy theatre

ynamic drinking duo Ben MacFarland and Tom Sandham met back in their twenties while working on a pub magazine and came up with the idea for their novel double act during a boozy American road trip. We grabbed a few minutes with Ben to find out more about the act and how it came about. In 2004, we were working on The Publican, a newspaper which folded almost as soon as we left. It was sent out to all the pubs and bars in the UK. I was the drinks writer; Tom was a roving reporter who called landlords and asked them tough questions such as ‘how often do you host a meat raffle’? It was hardhitting stuff. Soon after leaving, we joined forces and wrote a book called Good Beer Guide Wet Coast USA, a discerning drinker’s guide to the craft brewing scene in California, Oregon and Washington. The ‘research’ took us over three months, taking in every brewery and brewpub on the West Coast – it was brilliant fun and, having spent over 12 weeks in each other’s pockets, sleeping in hire cars and getting chased out of a bar in San Diego by some Marines, we thought we could certainly handle working together so we set up Thinking Drinkers. As our background was in journalism, it was initially an editorial idea but we soon realised that simply writing about drink was not enough – we needed to add a live element. Having become disillusioned with deadly dull drinks tastings and after spending a few days up at the Edinburgh Fringe seeing lots of different shows, we decided to transfer our expertise from the page to the stage in 2011 and turned our tastings into comedy theatre productions. It was a bold decision given that we hadn’t been in a play since primary school and, crucially, we had no idea what we were doing. But we wrote a decent script and were then thrust into a two-day acting boot camp with a very patient and talented director. Within weeks we were performing The Thinking Drinker’s Guide to Alcohol in a freight container at the Edinburgh Festival. Within 12 months it had transferred to the West End before returning to the Edinburgh Festival for nine successive years with different shows and, rather than just a muck-about,

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performing on stage up and down the country is now our main job. We know it sounds like a strange way to earn a living (everyone always says stuff like ‘nice work if you can get it’…) but we realised we were onto something when we started looking beyond the mere booze in the glass. While the way drink is made can be fascinating and while it can deliver some fabulous flavours (not to mention ‘uplifting’ effects), simply talking about drinks on its own can be rather onedimensional. As historians with a healthy interest in alcohol, we realised that the real interesting stuff emerges when you place it in a historical and cultural context, broadening it beyond booze into the past, the people and the places that have shaped it. Historically, drinking and alcohol is the cornerstone of civilisation – always has been – and there are so many fascinating stories and interesting anecdotes linked to drink. The reason that monkeys were coaxed down from the trees and evolved into man was because of sweet smelling fruit fermenting on the jungle floor. If it wasn’t for drink, we literally would not be here.

Alco-demics: Thinking Drinkers have all the anecdotes to prove that historically, drinking is the cornerstone of civilisation

In the last year, the UK spent nearly £22bn a year on alcohol – more than ever before – and the number of craft brewers and artisan distillers and winemakers has exploded in the last five years or so. Yet, the number of people cutting down their consumption increased too. This means people are following the Thinking Drinkers’ mantra of drink less, drink better and becoming increasingly interested in what’s in their glass. They are willing to pay more for it too. Our shows can slake this thirst for knowledge. But we deliver it in a silly way – by stripping down to our underpants, doing magic tricks, singing, dancing and doing loads of ‘funnies’.

Drink is supposed to be fun. Laughing and enjoying a beer is a much-needed break from the daily grind. Also, comedy is a great way of getting information across and it makes the experience so much more memorable. People have a lot of fun at our shows – they laugh a lot, they learn a lot and they get five free drinks. Did we mention the five free drinks?

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FOOD & DRINK

Last year’s show, Pub Crawl, saw us embark on selfless two-man mission to save the beleaguered British boozer with a bar-hop through history – stopping off at wild west saloons, South American beach bars, gin palaces and the oldest building ever built by man (which was essentially a pub). This year, with Heroes of Hooch, we slide you gently onto the bar stool of discovery as we explore the liquid lives of history’s most extraordinary elbowbenders. It’s a hilarious, informative imbibing adventure that celebrates those who have used alcohol to light a fire under the rocking chair of moribund ideas rather than those irresponsible imbibers who have given drink its devilish reputation. These include Alexander the Great, Harry Houdini, Louis Pasteur and Albert Einstein, a moose that drinks lager, an astronomer with a metal nose, a Chinese pirate, Indian warriors and, last but not least, God. It’s all accompanied by five fantastic drinks: Four Pillars Bloody Shiraz Gin – an intriguing, innovative, ruby-coloured Australian gin created by steeping whole Shiraz grapes from the Yarra Valley in Australia; Diplomatico Rum – a luxury Venezuelan sipping rum matured in tropical conditions to deliver a rich, chocolate taste; and The Singleton of Dufftown 12 Year-Old – a deliciously smooth award-winning, approachable single malt matured in oak and bourbon casks. Then there’s Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge – this legendary French liqueur from 1880 is a blend of fine cognacs and distilled essence of wild tropical oranges; and Tetley’s Original, a beautifully balanced Yorkshire ale first brewed back in 1822 using half a dozen English hops and a famous double-yeast strain. A cult classic. At a time when alcohol finds itself in the cross-hairs of the do-gooders gun, Heroes of Hooch proves that, contrary to common perception, a whole lot of life’s answers can be discovered at the bottom of a glass.

The hardest element to add into a show is dancing. It’s harder than it looks. We have been very lucky to work with Caroline Pope, a worldclass choreographer with brilliant ideas and a lot of patience. While we can do both the running man really rather well, our dance in this year’s show is especially difficult and hammers our hamstrings on a nightly basis. Really hard work but really good fun. It’s such a laugh driving around the country in our ex-Royal Mail van and it’s great, after the show, to explore the local pubs, bars and, maybe if we’ve been really good boys, takeaway establishments.

...Monkeys were coaxed down from the trees and evolved into man because of sweet-smelling fruit fermenting on the jungle floor. If it wasn’t for drink, we literally would not be here... If we had to stick to one drink for the rest of our lives... For me it would be a bottle of Bordeaux and some Minstrels (grab bag). Tom says it’s difficult to beat a Martini and a packet of twiglets. Modesty doesn’t prevent us from saying that making people laugh and people clapping is a great feeling. But the most amazing thing about performing live is that no matter how badly you need it beforehand, the urge to go to the loo instantly disappears as soon as the lights hit you. It’s extraordinary. We’ve decided to rigorously test this theory during the tour – so come and see that if nothing else... n • The Thinking Drinkers, 22 November, Hen & Chicken; thinkingdrinkers.com

THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK

NOVEMBER 2019

THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE 55

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FOOD & Drink

TASTY TIDBITS FROM THE CITY’S RESTAURANTS, CHEFS AND PRODUCERS

SEEING, HEARING, TASTING St George’s Bristol, whose gorgeous café opened following its ambitious extension programme, has launched a series of Saturday experiences that offer a peek into the mouthwatering world of its resident food and drink experts. On the first Saturday of each month (3 November, 7 December) there’s coffee cupping, during which visitors can sample coffees from around the world with house barista Aaron Carter and learn about the roasting process with guest speakers. On the second Saturday of the month (9 November, 14 December) a gardento-plate masterclass will take place with young chef Oakan Brousse and a light lunch inspired by foraged herbs and flowers from the gardens, while on the last Saturday of each month (30 November) the venue will be hosting a farmers’ market. • @stgeorgesbriscafebar stgeorgesbristol.co.uk

GOOD SHIP CNM The College of Naturopathic Medicine’s Natural Chef programme has received coveted Independent Cookery School Association accreditation. CNM Natural Chefs abide by a set of ecological and ethical principles, with sustainability a pivotal part of the philosophy. Students are encouraged to choose locally sourced, seasonal produce and educated on the benefits these can bring to overall health, and CNM is accredited in many different countries, so graduates can practice and share expertise across the globe. According to assessor Andrew Maxwell, “CNM meets all mandatory criteria for accreditation. On the non-mandatory criteria, it scores highly and has set itself clear goals for improving. There is a sense of leadership through inspiration and CNM has a general feel of being a ‘happy ship’.” • naturalchef.com

GET DOWNLOADING Food waste app Too Good To Go has partnered with the University of Bristol, with unsold food from its Balloon Bar now available to anyone to collect for a decent price and save from going to waste. “Bristol is one of our fastest growing regions,” said Hayley Conick, the app’s UK MD, “so our new partnership is a great step forward in the fight against food waste.” • toogoodtogo.co.uk

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EAT ME CAFÉ: CATERING WITH A CONSCIENCE After a successful first year of live music, art and comedy, Gloucester Road’s Alchemy 198 is now launching a foodie offering. Owner Sarah Thorp renovated the old watering hole, then Venus Bar, to create a vibrant space to serve parties, exhibition launches and community groups, and has been looking for a culinary offering to match its ethos. From Bristol Beer Factory beers to Cox & Baloney infused gins and Xisto's organic wines, brought from Portugal by sailing ship, Alchemy promotes all things local, sustainable and independent so Sarah was delighted to discover Bristol’s Plastic Free Catering was looking for a venue from which to offer its homemade food daily. Alchemy's kitchen will now house Eat Me café and its salads, sformato, maple-smoked tofu, vegan sausage rolls, smoked mackerel gluten-free Scotch eggs and brunches (think smashed avocado, kale pesto, poached eggs, local greens). It will compost food waste at its allotment and keep all other waste to a minimum as well as using local produce. • alchemy198.co.uk

Nothing tastes as good as a clean conscience; that’s the motto here

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BAKING | RECIPE

Homeslice! Brilliant Bristol baker Briony May shares what she’s been making this month

he nights are drawing in and there’s a chill in the air: comfort food is in order. Carrots are in season all year and my recipe this month – my signature carrot cake, with an autumnal twist – takes full advantage of that. To celebrate Bonfire Night I have added some crunchy cinder toffee with a caramel drip to finish it off. I am not going to lie, you will want to eat more than just the one slice!

Comforting Caramel Carrot Cake Cake ingredients: 320g carrots, grated 100g walnuts, chopped 100g raisins 300g plain flour 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda 4 tsp mixed spice 1 tsp salt 300ml vegetable oil 5 medium eggs 1 tsp orange zest Juice of half an orange 1 tsp vanilla extract 200g golden caster sugar 200g light brown sugar Icing: 250g unsalted butter, softened 500g icing sugar 1 tsp mixed spice Splash of milk to loosen

Method: • Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line three 6-inch tins. • In a bowl, add the oil, eggs, zest, juice, vanilla extract and sugars. Mix until combined. • In another bowl, add the flour, bicarbonate of soda, mixed spice and salt. Mix until combined. • Tip flour mixture into oil mixture. Mix. Add carrots, walnuts and raisins. Mix. Divide equally into tins. • Bake for 35 – 40 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Then leave to cool. • Make the caramel sauce. Place all ingredients into a pan and whisk constantly for about five minutes until thickened. • Make the icing. Beat butter in stand mixer until light and smooth. Sift icing sugar and mixed spice into bowl. Add icing sugar in 2 batches. Mix well each time. Add splash of milk to loosen icing. • Place icing into large piping bag (you can do this with a palette knife instead if you don’t have piping bags). Cut a 2cm hole in piping bag. Place one cake on a plate. Pipe on icing. Level with palette knife.

Put next cake on. Repeat. • Pipe icing around side of cake and on top. Smooth with palette knife or cake scraper. Place remaining icing in piping bag with a star nozzle. Set aside. • Make the cinder toffee. Place sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet. Place sugar, golden syrup and water in a pan. Heat without stirring until it comes to the boil then continue to heat until it reaches 150°C on a thermometer. Remove from the heat and immediately add bicarbonate of soda – it will bubble up a lot! Mix for 30 seconds. Pour onto parchment paper. Leave to set. • Pour caramel sauce on top of cake and tease it over the edges with a teaspoon to create drips down the side. Pipe stars around the top of the cake then break up cinder toffee into chunks and sprinkle over the icing. ■ Follow Briony on Twitter and Instagram: @brionymaybakes. Illustration by Cat Faulkner; @catherinedoart

Fancy having a go at Briony’s Bonfire Night cake? We’re loving the addition of the crunchy cinder toﬀee

Caramel sauce: 100g soft light brown sugar 30g unsalted butter 60ml single cream 1 tsp vanilla extract Pinch of salt Cinder toffee: 250g caster sugar 115g golden syrup 50ml water 7g bicarbonate of soda

THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK

NOVEMBER 2019

THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE 57

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RESTAURANT | REVIEW

Acorn Dinner delivered by these innovators of vegan cuisine proves a conversation-starting kaleidoscope of flavour – and the seed of creativity is set to grow as the team branches out into a Bristol residency. Words by Amanda Nicholls

ny disciple of the plant-based diet, any West Country vegetarian or vegan worth their salt, ought to have Acorn’s award-winning cuisine on their radar. From its dining room in one of Bath’s oldest Georgian buildings, a cashew’s throw from the city’s beautiful abbey and ancient Roman spa, it has been a herbivorous bastion for years now – taking up the baton as one of the region’s leading veggie voices. It’s a place of pilgrimage, so the fact that it came to us recently is really quite a compliment. The team is branching out into Bristol in November with a residency at Dela in Easton, and so had brought over their stylish, provenanceled pop-up to test the waters, with the place of best fit rightly deemed to be The Forge at Colston Yard. The compact but beautifully formed rustic space, completely sold out for the evening, was already full when we arrived, and we’d thought we were the keenest of the beans. Bare brickwork and long wooden benches, smartly dressed for autumn with dried flowers, thistles and seedhead centrepieces, were warmly candlelit and looked as if they’d had the Valencia treatment via Instagram; meaning the ambience was cosy to say the least. Climbing the steps of the central staircase to address assembled supper clubbers, head chef Richard Buckley delivered the not unwelcome caveat that the six-course tasting menu advertised before us would actually be more of a 12-courser. When you have a constant stream of culinary experimentation coming out of the kitchen it must be difficult to whittle down dishes to present to a new audience in a new city, we empathised, hungrily; as excited to sample as the team clearly were to share.

...Between courses there was organic damson cordial; savoury-sweet with subtle ferment flavour, it worked the way strawberries do with balsamic A neat grilled broccoli dish with smoked almond and lentils got the ball rolling, served with a lip-smacking 2018 Dorset Pet Nat – a type of low-intervention natural sparkling nectar with a bit of a hipster reputation, although it actually pre-dates champagne. Hot on its heels was a carrot and hazelnut paté with garden leaves and ferments, topped with sourdough crisps made from Acorn’s leftover restaurant bread and served with a bone-dry Gloucestershire Bacchus whose acidity cut through the indulgent fattiness of the paté. Between courses there was organic damson cordial; savoury-sweet with a subtle ferment flavour, it worked the way strawberries do with balsamic. As the main dishes grew more robust, so did the booze. With muscat de provence, stock, barley and sauerkraut we supped on fruity Aramon

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from Languedoc poised to offset the salty muscat broth. Presently Team Acorn, which grows its own produce as well as buying from neighbours Midford Organic, and is working on going fully organic, snuck in a diddy serving of smoky leek soup before platefuls of Jerusalem artichokes with girolles and almond dumplings – accompanied by a full-bodied, cherry-heavy Barbera that held its own. For those still of the mind that, even in this day and age, vegan food is uninspiring, a night with Acorn would undoubtedly be an eyeopener, with plenty of talking points. Conversation starters in this instance included a saucer piled with white pine sherbet and fresh green apple slices which added to the fun of the evening and signalled the inevitable direction change into the dessert domain. Tempting as it was to plunge face-first into the pearly dust à la Scarface, we daintily scooped it up with our fruity spades, treating it like a modern-day dip dab. Pear and cultured almond cream, mild in flavour and made with yoghurt and fresh thyme, would have felt conservative in comparison had it not been for the Somerset ice cider. Its intense taste – achieved by freezing fresh apple juice to concentrate sugars prior to fermentation – was a satisfying addition for the sweet-toothed. The last twist of the rollercoaster around the palate saw chocolate, plum and fig served with a sweet red Bertani Valpolicella 2017 of the dangerously drinkable kind, followed by a savoury sobacha (Japanese buckwheat tea) to ease digestion. A paragon of creativity, style and substance, this outstanding outfit has tasked itself with getting as many people as possible on board with the merits of being meat-free. The food is an incredible example of the variety achievable in plant-based cuisine and it’s clear as day to us that Bristol will be a brilliant audience for it. In fact, we reckon Richard and co should permanently plant an Acorn in the city... ■ • Acorn’s residency at Dela in Easton will see its ‘Do No Harm’ small plates menu served on Fridays and Saturdays from 15 November to 21 December; acornrestaurant.co.uk

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Beautifully dressed for an autumn supper

Chef-owner Richard and team grow their own produce as well as buying from neighbouring Midford Organic

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Y ER LE IV AB EL IL D VA SH A FI W H NO ES E FR VIC R SE

Hotel & Restaurant

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Molesworths of Henleaze 101 Henleaze Road, Bristol, BS9 4JP

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Christmas Package Eat, retreat and be merry at the Watersmeet Hotel. Give yourself a gift this year and retreat to the coast to stay under our 3 night Christmas package full of festive treats and delights! The Watersmeet is just magical at Christmas time with our log fires and cosy lounges. The surrounding beaches are quiet and invigorating and the South West path offers a wintery ramble. Everything is taken care of so you can focus on relaxing and feeling merry. Classic double sea views room available from £1140 for a 3 night package for two adults.

Luxury for Less Offer “really delicious food, I would recommend this company for your event” - 250 guests Mayflower Hall, Southampton University - Aug ‘19

Bernard’s

Mobile plant-based street food and catering service Bath Delicious vegan food made with love for all occasions 01225 446867 www.bernardskitchen.com

Escape to the coast for one night of luxury. Stay in one of the Watersmeet’s luxury suites and a bottle of Champagne to start your stay with a toast. Indulge in 3 courses in our Pavilion Restaurant and enjoy breakfast with a sea view. Available on selected dates throughout November, December and January, £280 per room per night – perfect for those romantic nights away from it all!

01271 870 333 watersmeethotel.co.uk The Watersmeet Hotel, EX34 7EB enquiries@watersmeethotel.co.uk THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK

NOVEMBER 2019

THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE 61

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TRAVEL | WINE

A grapevine threads across a building in Tbilisi

Beka’s wine matures in his eight qvevri for up to six months

Georgia’s capital Tbilisi, as seen from the statue of Kartlis Deda, who holds a bowl of wine for her friends

Grapevines grow in the shadow of hills mined for their clay

Marani Vellino, where Beka makes wine

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TRAVEL | WINE

THE GRAPE ESCAPE Viticulture vulture Jess Connett takes a road trip across Georgia, the birthplace of wine, to discover how this ancient drink is helping its motherland forge a national identity

y first taste of Georgian amber wine came, somewhat unexpectedly, with breakfast. In the lofty sixth-floor restaurant of Hotel Old Town in Batumi, where a marble staircase spiralled up to a roof terrace, the waiter beckoned me to a heaving buffet table. “Coffee, tea, wine,” he grinned. Beside a deep red and a cold white was a third that definitely wasn’t rosé. It was a rich orange colour and tasted wild, like wine dialled up to 10. After half a glass, clambering upstairs to see the rooftops became an adventure. To say that Georgians like their wine would be the understatement of many millennia. This little country on the fringes of Europe has 524 endemic grape varieties, and a traditional winemaking method protected by UNESCO. Viticulture has an 8,000-year history in Georgia, and the land’s unique wines are fast gaining British fans. Leaving behind Batumi’s palm-fringed boulevard (and wine vending machine on the beach), I began to spot brown road signs for the Wine Route. This is an ongoing project from the Georgian National Tourism Administration, signposting the best vineyards and cellars nationwide. The road climbed into green hills shrouded by cloud, and vines spilled over every fence. Near the city of Gori, massive tapered clay vessels (qvevri) – essential for Georgian winemaking – were being sold by the roadside. “We have two places in Georgia where we can get good clay for qvevri,” says vintner Beka Jimsheladze. The clays have antiseptic properties, and come from the eastern region of Kakheti — where Beka makes wine — and here, west of the capital Tbilisi. “We cannot get good qvevri only with good clay,” continues Beka. “The most important person is the maker, who gives shape and soul to the qvevri.” These vessels, the biggest of which can hold thousands of litres, are sculpted entirely by hand. Twenty miles south of Tbilisi, Georgia’s oldest qvevri have been found – and with them the oldest evidence of viticulture in the world. Vessels decorated with imagery of grapes were discovered embedded in the floors of homes in two Neolithic villages. A paper published in November 2017 dated their contents to 5,800 BC, rewriting the history of wine in a single sip.

...Twenty miles south of Tbilisi, Georgia’s oldest qvevri have been found – and with them the oldest evidence of viticulture in the world... The news verified what Georgians already knew about their special drink. On a hilltop overlooking Tbilisi stands the 20-metre high statue of Kartlis Deda, ‘mother of Georgia’, holding a sword for her enemies and a bowl of wine for her friends. Below her, the city is sliced by the river Kura and delicately cut by cable car. The streets are threaded with grapevines, stretching between rusty balconies. In the warm evening a jazz band strikes up at Cafe Kala and I happily sample a semi-dry white. Tbilisi has been twinned with Bristol since 1988, through the country’s tricky transition from part of the Soviet Union to independence in 1991. Some 20% of Georgian territory is currently occupied by Russia. But with independence, tourism and wine production have both grown: “Because of the Soviet Union’s closed borders and restricted access to

information, we were living in a shell,” Beka says. Wine is now helping Georgia to forge its national identity. An hour’s drive from Tbilisi is the region of Kakheti, which produces almost 70% of Georgian wine. The Wine Route signs become more frequent, and the sides of the road are peppered with stalls selling homebrew. Vineyards grow in neat green rows in the gentle valley. Beka’s cellar, Marani Vellino, is up a steep path, dappled by shade from fig trees. “Every autumn I would help to make wine for our family,” he says, showing me into the cellar he and his father, Besarion, built in 2015. Eight qvevri are buried in the flagstone floor. Crushed grapes go in, skin, seeds and all, and are left in there for six months. The egg-shaped vessels naturally filter out all the impurities. “When I was a child and I was tired of working during harvest time, my father would tell me that he used to do the same work when he was my age,” Beka says. We take a seat in the shade of a walnut tree and open a bottle of his amber-coloured wine. It pours like molten gold in the afternoon sun. Despite the colour it is made from white grapes: keeping the skins on during the maturation process creates deep flavours, body, tannins and colour. Each mouthful tastes rich and full; almost spicy. “When I make wine, I know that, 8,000 years ago, Georgians were making wine with the same methods. I feel they are still alive,” Beka says. “Georgia is the first country in the world – in the universe – to make wine. It’s an honour for us.” ■ • Taste Georgian wines at a traditional feast at Flow on 17 November with the Sunday Supra Club. Find details at instagram.com/sundaysupra

Winemaker Beka Jimsheladze learned the craft from his father

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TRAVEL | WINTERSPORTS

TIME TO

MAKE TRACKS

Whether you’re a newbie looking to practise, a conﬁdent intermediate wanting to branch out and try something diﬀerent, or consummate skiier in search of a special experience, there’s plenty to consider for the 2019/20 season

or those who’ve never seen the appeal of flinging themselves down a snow-covered hill, the beginning of the new ski season is of absolutely no consequence. For those who make a point of doing it as often as the bank balance will allow – safely tucking away the smartphone into a waterproof pocket, gulping down fresh mountain air and drinking in vast expanses of imposing rocky terrain and breathtaking, untouched ivory vistas, concentrating only on where their blades will take them next – it’s a form of high-octane mindfulness that much of the rest of the year is spent pining for. You can see if it’s for you and, if so, get the practice in at UK wintersports hubs like The Snow Centre in Hemel Hempstead first, or the dry slopes in reach of Bristol – Gloucester Ski and Churchill’s Mendip Snow Sport. The Snow Centre is due to open a new indoor slope in Swindon too, but despite big announcements and planning approval we’re yet to see any construction taking place. Experienced skier? Tempting as it is to stick with known and loved resorts, why not try a new country this year? Slovenia, Italy, Romania, Poland, Georgia and Bulgaria are all lesser visited ski destinations with many merits – perhaps most importantly they are less crowded which means more mountain for mastering moves. Further afield, hot ski hubs include characterful Aspen – originally a silver mining town, the village has four ski areas with slopes to suit all levels, and new direct flights with United Airlines from Heathrow to Denver commence in December. This winter, flights are also resuming with Delta from London to Salt Lake City, Utah – allowing for exploration of coveted ski areas in Park City and Deer Valley. In terms of changing habits, wearable gadgets improving safety and efficiency are increasingly popular and, unsurprisingly, sustainability is becoming much more of a concern – how ski equipment is made, the use of repair services, biodegradable ski wax and such. You could take the train to Paris and hire a car to drive up to the French resorts rather than fly this year. Chalet operator Mountain Heaven has also launched an eco-discount of 10% off all holidays to the Alps for those travelling by rail. Over the next few pages we take a look at what else is new and super-tempting in the wintersports world...

USEFUL SITES • mendipsnowsport.co.uk • gloucesterski.com • jasnaadventures.co.uk • skisolutions.com • action-outdoors.co.uk • balkanholidays.co.uk • clubmed.ca • scottdunn.com • mabeyski.com • mountainheaven.co.uk

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• valcartier.com • carnaval.qc.ca/en • thesnowcentre.com • snowbombing.com • snowboxx.com • etoilebellalui.ch • rockthepistes.com • alpincard.at • lerefuge-valdisere.com • paragliding-chamonix.com

NOVEMBER 2019

No 185

Not into skiing? Try snowshoeing in the Italian Dolomites’ Alta Badia (image: Freddy Planinschek/Scott Dunn)

FESTIVALS & EVENTS Imagine whizzing down a mountain and discovering a massive stage graced by the likes of Annie Mac and The Sugarhill Gang – guests at Snowboxx in Avoriaz this March – or Foals, Liam Gallagher and The Streets at Snowbombing in Mayrhofen. If you’ve never been to a mountain festival, it could be time to take the après to the next level via forest parties and fondue, igloo raves and butcher’s shop bashes. Swiss resort Crans-Montana has launched family festival Etoile Bella Lui (6 December – 5 January), named after a famous fairy of local legend and featuring a craft market, Ferris wheel and Father Christmas plus stories, light shows and street artists doing their thing beside the ice rink. Across the pond, Quebec City is home to the world’s largest winter carnival – if a transatlantic trip is on the cards you could plan it around this February spectacle complete with ice palace, night parades, snow sculpture and canoe race on the frozen St Lawrence River. Lech in Austria hosts a traditional market every December with brass bands, choirs, hot punch and whiskey sours; and local boutique hotel Kristiania has the largest collection of Schnapps in Arlberg for those who fancy popping in, plus a contemporary art collection to rival a world-class museum. Lech’s famous White Ring speed race in January sees amateur racers charge around downhill rings and ropeways, or you could celebrate the new decade with the Tanzcafe Arlberg festival in April – all the jazz and swing of the golden-age 1920s, which brought a new avant-garde clientele to the sleepy town. April also marks the fifth year of the Rufi 900 uphill challenge where runners, hikers and cross-country skiers attempt the steepest ski route – the Long Train ‘Lange Zug’ – with any non-motorised equipment.

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TRAVEL

OFF-PISTE & AFFORDABLE In terms of cheaper destinations, it’s worth checking out Jasna – the largest ski resort in Slovakia and the Tatras Mountains region. It offers the best of both worlds with the prices of Eastern Europe and the facilities of France; a modern, efficient infrastructure and the sort of ski lifts you find in the big Alpine places, although the ski area isn’t as extensive. The food is good and typically in a mountain restaurant you’ll pay around £10 for lunch and a drink. Jasna Adventures caters mostly for the UK market and runs accommodation including The Dragon’s Lair Ski Chalet, set in the valley just below the Jasna resort and catering for up to 19 with five en-suite bedrooms, in-house ski hire, sauna, outdoor hot tub, massage and yoga. A couple of hours’ drive away is Poland’s Zakopane; a beautiful location visited for snow-based fun between January and April. Alternatively, visit spa town and major ski jumping and mountain hiking centre Karpacz. As for Bulgaria, burgeoning Bansko is probably the best choice for beginners and intermediates, with a smaller, more manageable area to traverse and fresh lifts and lodgings. Wintersports is developing in Georgia, with new resorts and improved infrastructure. The country’s biggest, most popular spot is Gudauri, north of Tbilisi – food, hotels and lift passes are cheap and it’s an intriguing destination all round. The booze is also grand – see p62 for Jess Connett’s oenophilic explorations. Mountain Heaven has just launched an organised

Ski Solutions has just branched out into Sierra Nevada for the first time – are you tempted to do the same?

See t

ski holiday to the former Soviet Union country for March 2020 that explores both slopes and cultural history. Plans are also afoot to build a new destination in Romania’s Fagaras Mountains, which would make a considerable difference to its ski capacity and this season sees Ski Solutions make its first foray into Spain. It’s launching holidays in Sierra Nevada – a resort known for long hours of winter sunshine, reliable snow and close proximity to historic Granada. On clear days, skiers can admire both the Mediterranean beaches and Morocco’s Atlas Mountains and by night it’s widely regarded as one of the best stargazing spots in Europe. We like the sound of a day spent cruising down Sierra Nevada’s 110km pistes and accessible off-piste terrain, before heading out for tapas and paella. If you’re open to meeting new people and making friends, Action Outdoors, the UK arm of French not-for-profit UCPA, could be a good shout both financially and socially. It has accommodation ‘centres’ across the French Alps, endless options for different sporting levels and all-inclusive fullboard packages starting at a few hundred quid per person with passes, hire, lessons and entertainment covered. Accommodation is normally shared in rooms of four, and the centres are a bit like upmarket youth hostels. There are also more affordable family weeks during the notoriously pricier and sought-after school holiday times, in world-class resorts such as Val d’Isère, Tignes, Val Thorens and Chamonix.

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NEW DIGS & RESORT NEWS

The Hotel de Glace structure takes 50 workers, including 15 sculptors, six weeks to build using over 30,000 tons of snow

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In Courchevel, France, family-owned ski-in ski-out hotel Le Chabichou is reopening under new management this season, while in Meribel, Maisons Pariente’s five-star Le Coucou launches in December. All-inclusive operator Club Med is also opening its first resort in Canada’s Charlevoix region in 2020 – the 300-room Mountain Resort in Le Massif, an hour from Québec City International Airport, will offer outdoor sports and activities year-round. Just down the road (in Canadian terms at least), the only hotel in North America entirely made of ice and snow opens for its 2020 run on 2 January. With snow vaults, ice sculptures, an outdoor Nordic spa, ice bar, ice chapel, ice slide and suites redesigned every winter, the Hotel de Glace structure takes 50 workers, including 15 sculptors, six weeks to build using over 30,000 tons of snow. Meanwhile Mountain Heaven is launching a new catered chalet in La Plagne 1800, on a peaceful French track, five minutes’ walk from the slopes. Chalet Ammonite sleeps up to 15 in eight en-suite bedrooms and has an outdoor hot tub, log fire, heated boot warmers (never underestimate the beauty of the boot warmer) and balcony overlooking the Tarentaise Valley. Elsewhere, the Swiss area of Andermatt – renowned for its luxe ski holiday offering – has seen heavy investment over the last 10 years and, having recently joined up with Sedrun, this season Andermatt-Sedrun is to grow larger still with the addition of Disentis village. As well as adding to the runs and slope variety, Disentis has great terrain for guided off-piste – a bonus for those who already enjoy the challenging powder lines in Gemsstock. Soon Saalbach, Kaprun and Zell am See on Lake Zell, south of Salzburg, are joining together to make the most diverse ski regions in Austria accessible with just one lift ticket. The Ski Alpin Card will allow visitors to enjoy over 400km of wellgroomed ski pistes including the glacier skiing of Kaprun, and the final phase of the lift connection from Zell am See to Viehofen will be completed by December.

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TRAVEL | WINTERSPORTS

THE SKY-HIGH LIFE Le Refuge de Solaise is opening fully to become the highest hotel in the French Alps, at 2,551m. Set above Val D’Isère, it will be able to guarantee fresh pistes and five hours more sunlight than any other property in the resort, and has 16 hotel rooms, four apartments and a dormitory (the only part of the hotel open in 2018). Relaxation choices include unwinding in the outdoor jacuzzi or sauna or sampling delights from the French restaurant and admiring the views.

BUCKET-LIST EXPERIENCES For many (us included), completing a black run without collapsing in a heap is the pinnacle of bucket-list ambition. And that is fine. But there are some souls who observe wistfully when they spot some brave soul coming over the crest of a mountain using a combination of ski skills and paragliding (it’s called speed-riding or speed-flying). The exhilarating experience will have you descending the pistes and flying across canyons and you can sign up for lessons at schools such as Absolute Chamonix, Verbier Summits and Les Ailes du Mont Blanc. Alternatively you could try a bit of telemarking, floodlit night skiing or cat skiing – and if you’ve not experienced the simple joy of an alpine snowball fight, that obviously needs to go on the list. Avalanche classes are interesting as well as important for explorers – investigate Mammut Avalanche Training Centre’s courses in Switzerland. It’s also possible to ski volcanoes such as Mount Etna in Sicily, Mount Elbrus in Russia and at Niseko United in Japan if you’re a thrillseeker looking to up the ante.

Try summer skiing by heading to New Zealand any time from July to September and mixing it up with white water rafting, bungee jumping, jet boating and whale watching. Fancy yourself a pioneer? High-end heli-ski experience Ultramarine by Quark is launching in in Antarctica in 2021 for the most adventurous among us. For the first time, they can heli-ski remote peaks while staying on one boat, as the Ultramarine has two heli-pads offering access to pristine terrain barely been skied before. The Greg Mortimer, which sailed for the first time in October to Antarctica, is launching a multi-day ski expedition in 2020, where explorers can retrace the steps of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton’s journey across crevassed glaciers on the island South Georgia, besides floating icebergs, penguin rookeries and breaching whales. After a rise in demand for remote ski safaris, luxury operator Scott Dunn is also running tailored tours through the Italian Dolomites and the world’s largest interconnected ski area. Ski between authentic refugios (mountain cabins) exploring off-grid locations, with luggage transferred from base to base each day. There’s magnificent scenery, varied terrain and a blend of Italian, Austrian and Ladin cultures and cuisine that co-exist in the region.

NON-SKIERS & SOLO EXPLORERS

(Carnaval de Quebec © Jean-François Hamelin)

The Alps aren’t just the pretty preserve of those who like to get about on what is essentially a couple of glorified planks; there’s a range of fun fitness-focused and wellness options for non-skiers seeking gorgeous surrounds. At Giardino Mountain, St Moritz, you can get involved in exhilarating winter running through the mountains, ice hockey lessons or the popular Bergün toboggan run. At Adler Mountain Lodge in South Tyrol, there are UNESCO heritage mountain ranges to explore via snowshoe trails – tiring stuff, so it’s probably best to end the day with a soak in the outdoor hot tub under the stars, eh? There’s also loads to do in Crans-Montana for non-skiers – husky sledging, wine tasting, electric mountain biking on snow and winter walking as well as snowshoeing. If you are a skier but getting frustrated by trying to organise a big group trip; why not consider splitting off on your own for a mindful bit of me-time? Solo travel can be liberating and empowering even before you take into account the restorative mountain air. Action Outdoors is a pretty good shout for solo travellers in general but it’s also worth checking out for its specific solo-skier weeks. ■

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NOVEMBER 2019

THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE 67

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BRISTOL UPDATES

BITE-SIZED BUSINESS AND COMMUNITY NEWS FROM ACROSS THE CITY Could the release of Kala’s album in China be her big break?

NOT FORGOTTEN

BUSINESS GROWTH

Members of Wiltshire disaster relief agency Team Rubicon UK joined the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s new volunteer scheme recently. The Eyes On, Hands On project seeks to build a nationwide army of people to help CWGC ensure the war dead buried in the UK aren’t forgotten. At Arnos Vale Cemetery, Team Rubicon used their down time to learn how to identify Commonwealth war graves and check their condition. Across the UK the Commission is responsible for war graves in more than 12,000 locations, creating a constant challenge in maintaining each and every headstone. “We’ve been overwhelmed by the positive response from the public so far for this project,” said Andy Tysoe, CWGC volunteer co-ordinator. “It’s a delight and great fun to meet people who are willing to give a little of their time to make sure men and women who did so much for all of us are not forgotten.” Following its launch in June, Eyes On, Hands On has seen more than 1,000 volunteers sign up to help. Once they have completed their training, groups of volunteers will be assigned to churchyards and burial grounds in their local area to inspect and, if required, conduct cleaning works. Applicants in the South West pilot region will be contacted once a training session becomes available in their area. The project will roll out to the rest of the UK in spring 2020.

Bristol-based business coaching firm ActionCoach, headed up by Gary Keating, is expanding into North Somerset following an independent survey from research company WorkBuzz on client satisfaction. Gary currently works with over 60 business owners in the Bristol region, coaching them on their profitability, efficiency and growth of their business. The survey revealed that 100% of his clients said his coaching had made a positive impact on their business. “I’m extremely proud to be the only ActionCoach senior partner in the South West that’s bringing these proven business growth strategies to business owners,” says Gary. “In three years with ActionCoach Bristol, we’ve created over 350 jobs in the local community and the potential to do exactly the same in North Somerset is very exciting. We know there’s an abundance of opportunity in the area and our aim is to help it reach its full potential.” Whether clients are coached on a one-toone basis or in a group environment, the focus is often on growing their team, improving the efficiency of their existing workforce or simply profits. To introduce the team, ActionCoach North Somerset will be holding a free business growth event on 14 November where local business owners can get practical advice to take back to their businesses for immediate impact. “We have a real passion for our local business community and believe our coaching makes a difference that’s felt by not just business owners but their employees and families too,” adds Gary.

• cwgc.org

• bristol.actioncoach.co.uk

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NOVEMBER 2019

No 185

SOUTH BRISTOL SUCCESS Knowle West singer-songwriter Kala Chng has released her album in China after signing to a new record label in Bristol’s sister city of Guangzhou. The South Bristol electropop success linked up with Starsing in Guangzhou to distribute her album Empress. “It took a couple of months to put the deal together and we had to await the Chinese government to sign off my lyrics,” says Kala, who is also an ambassador with the Bristol and West of England China Bureau. “It’s a happy coincidence that Starsing are based in Bristol’s sister city of Guangzhou. I love that Starsing are investing in CDs and a lyric book with Chinese and English translation. The city is many times bigger than Bristol and young people over there are massive music fans.” Kala said the opportunity had come right out of the blue during recording sessions for her new set last year. “Tony Salter from T-Bone Tunes helped secure the deal. Having heard my album he offered to put it in front of industry professionals at the #Midem18 conference. I have always been told I would be popular in China as my music is a Western twist on my Chinese heritage.” Bristol West of England China Bureau chief executive Dianne Francombe added: “By signing this deal Kala is joining some very talented women changing the direction of the music scene in China and especially in Guangzhou which has a growing number of venues to satisfy demand. Kala has worked incredibly hard over the past decade to establish herself on the Bristol music scene. This is all down to her personality and attitude – clearly the Chinese trait of hard work and perseverance has paid off. As a cultural ambassador her success is an inspiration to others.”

• kalachng.com

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BRISTOL UPDATES

THE GO-AHEAD

CONGRATULATIONS!

Over 1,400 homes are set to be built in south Bristol after a major new development was granted outline planning permission last month. Bristol City Council’s Development Control Committee approved plans for a mixed-use development at Hengrove Park, including a public park and community, business and education facility investment. At least a third of the homes will be affordable, and will include a mixture of homes for social housing and shared ownership. “This is a really exciting step towards building one of Bristol’s largest housing developments in decades,” said Mayor Marvin Rees. “It’s also enormously positive for existing residents and businesses in south Bristol, because it will include investment into the community.” Local play facilities are planned for the new park, making it comparable to other ‘destination parks’ such as Ashton Court and Blaise Castle Estate. A new office space, similar to Engine Shed 2 near Temple Meads, will be created on the development, and City of Bristol Skills Academy and Perry Court Primary School will be expanded. New sports pitches and a pavilion are also planned. The council will now work with Sport England to agree the detailed design and specification of the sports facilities. Since the original planning application was turned down in February, the council has run consultation events to give residents and businesses an opportunity to have their say. Views gathered helped to inform the revised masterplan, which has now been approved subject to conditions.

Rupert Oliver Property Agents has been shortlisted for New Agency of the Year in the residential estate and lettings agency industry’s Negotiator Awards 2019, which attracted a record number of entries. “It was a huge leap of faith to establish not just a new business, but one with a ‘fixed fee’ model aimed specifically at the mid to high-end residential property market, so we are honoured and humbled that the judges have recognised the merits of our proposition,” said managing director Rupert Oliver. Since establishing the business in 2017, Rupert Oliver has listed in excess of £60m of residential property for sale. Clients benefit from advice based on long-standing industry experience, expert property marketing and high service levels, complemented by a fixed fee paid only on successful completion. “The first two years have been exceptionally hard work,” added Rupert, “as any new business owner knows, but equally incredibly rewarding.” The Negotiator Awards ceremony will take place on 29 November at Grosvenor House Hotel, London.

• bristol.gov.uk

• rupertoliver.co.uk

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More to administering an estate than obtaining the Grant of Probate B

renda Smyth of AMD Solicitors considers the tax implications when dealing with the administration of an estate When applying for a Grant of Probate, the Personal Representatives of an estate must complete and submit an Inheritance Tax form giving details of all assets and liabilities of an estate. This may need to include details of lifetime gifts made by the deceased or any interests in trusts which the deceased may have had. Personal Representatives have a duty to make full enquiries to obtain the necessary information to complete the form correctly and failure to do so may result in interest having to be paid on tax paid late or even in tax penalties. Delays with both the tax office and the Probate Registry mean it is even more important to get things right the first time to avoid unnecessary interest or penalties relating to lack of disclosure. Even when the Personal Representatives correctly ascertain and disclose assets and liabilities in the estate, mistakes can still be made, such as not claiming all allowances and reliefs available to reduce the value of the estate for Inheritance Tax purposes. Consideration of the Inheritance Tax liability does not end once the Grant of Probate has been issued. If further assets or liabilities come to light or there is any other change in the value of the estate for Inheritance Tax purposes, these may need to be disclosed to HM Revenue and Customs. There may also be additional reliefs to consider. Inheritance Tax is not the only tax to consider when administering an estate. If an asset is sold during the course of the administration of an estate, there may be a Capital Gains Tax liability on the Personal Representatives. It may be that, with careful planning and depending on the circumstances, it is possible to mitigate or even eliminate this liability. Any income received by the Personal Representatives in the course of the administration is subject to Income Tax and must be disclosed to HM Revenue and Customs by the Personal Representatives. Sometimes beneficiaries may decide to vary the terms of the distribution of the estate and the tax implications of this need to be considered. In some circumstances, this may result in a tax saving or may avoid adverse tax consequences for the person giving up his or her right to benefit from the estate. For further advice on the administration of estates, Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney and other private client matters, contact Brenda Smyth or one of her colleagues at AMD Solicitors 100 Henleaze Road, Bristol BS9 4JZ Phone 0117 962 1205, email info@amdsolicitors.com or visit our website www.amdsolicitors.com

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“We used Mardan following a recommendation from a friend. They moved us in and out of storage and then into our renovated house. I would highly recommend them. The service was super efficient and the guys were quick, polite and courteous. Nothing was too much trouble and all of our possessions arrived safe and sound” Emma Webster, Moon Client

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EVENTS | FOR KIDS

Family diary

Ideas for things to do with the little ones in Bristol this month

Pictures at an Exhibition with James Mayhew 3 November, 11am, St George’s Bristol James Mayhew – creator of the Katie and Ella Bella Ballerina stories – brings a musical gallery to life before your eyes. Projected from James’ easel onto a large screen and accompanied by prize-winning rising star Luke Jones, watch as fantastical creatures and magical landscapes go from paintbrush to canvas before your eyes. Suitable for ages eight and above. £6 children, £12 adults.

DON’T MISS... Charmane 30 October – 3 November, 11am and 2pm, Tobacco Factory Theatres Piggin thinks that Charmane is a kitten because that’s what he sees on the outside, but Charmane doesn’t feel like a kitten on the inside. Join two best friends as they learn about themselves and how to truly see each other. The story is about acceptance, courage and learning how to find your inner roar. Suitable for ages five and above, £8; tobaccofactorytheatres.com Time Travelling Carpenter 1 November, 11am – 4pm, Somerset Rural Life Museum Meet the village carpenter complete with period dress, and discover more about carpentry tools and techniques. See a demonstration of wooden toy making and take part in a special trail, also make a peg doll to take home. Suitable for all ages, £3.50 children, £7.50 adult; swheritage.org.uk Magic Piano and the Chopin Shorts 2 November, 11am, St George’s Bristol Follow the story of Anna and Chip-Chips’s adventure of discovery aboard a magic, flying piano. This animated film concert with live solo piano created by Oscar award-winning creators introduces the music of Chopin with a set of unique animations. Suitable for ages five to 11, £6 children, £12 adults; stgeorgesbristol.co.uk Play Hard storytelling 4 – 22 November, 11am – 3.05pm, Tyntesfield Step behind closed doors and find out more about the Gibbs family. Follow in the footsteps of Janet and Nancy Gibbs and see 72 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

NOVEMBER 2019

how they made their home, including the nurseries on the second floor. Suitable for all ages, £8.25 children, £16.50 plus normal admission to property applies. Booking essential; national trust.org.uk/tyntesfield

breathtaking choreographed light projection on Longleat House – the iconic frontage of the stately home will spring to life as never before. Suitable for all ages, £26.20 – £34.95; longleat.co.uk/festival-of-light

Sir David and His Animals 6 – 8 November, 7.30pm, The Wardrobe Theatre Witness the magic of David Attenborough live on stage. A blue whale swims through the ocean depths. Racer snakes pursue a young iguana across the desert. Watch as two hapless but enthusiastic clowns recreate extraordinary scenes of the natural world. Suitable for ages eight and above, £10; thewardrobetheatre.com

Roman Life in Bristol 13 November, 2 – 3.15pm, M Shed Role-play a Bristol child from 268 AD who is experiencing a Roman lifestyle. Take part in activities around your Roman home to find out more about life in the Bristol area during the Roman occupation of Britain. Learn Latin names and words associated with the Romans, explore real archaeological material, investigate and handle toys and discover the lifestyle of the Romans. Suitable for home educated children aged seven to 11, £7. Booking essential; bristolmuseums.org.uk

Earthquakes in London 7 – 16 November, 3pm and 8pm, Bristol Old Vic Meet three very different sisters – Jasmine, a rebellious teenager; Freya, a troubled expectant mother; and Sarah, a passionate cabinet minister. While the sisters navigate personal and political issues, their father predicts apocalyptic climate change. An intimate, yet surreal story, decades, locations and dreams crash into one another as this dysfunctional family try to make sense and give purpose to their lives. Suitable for ages 14 and above, £15; bristololdvic.org.uk

Aftermirth: Daytime Comedy Club for Parents 15 November, 12.30 – 2pm, The Wardrobe Theatre An adult comedy club that you can bring your baby to. Each show features three top circuit comedians delivering their usual club routines, so the material is mature and sweaty with the odd birth story flashback… The only difference is it’s during the day. Adults and babies under 18 months only. £8; thewardrobetheatre.com

The Festival of Light 9 November – 5 January, 10am – 7pm, Longleat Head to Longleat for a thrilling odyssey on selected dates from 9 November as The Festival of Light showcases Myths and Legends. Don’t miss the ever popular Enchanted Christmas Tree Show and Flight Before Christmas flying owl display and much more. New for 2019, gaze in awe at the

Christmas at Cheddar 16 November – 24 December, times vary, Cheddar Gorge and Caves Visit Cheddar Gorge and Caves with the whole family, including your dog! On selected dates from 16 November you can see the elves preparing for the big day from within Gough’s Cave. Meet Father Christmas, receive a present, sing some songs and marvel at the magic of Christmas at Cheddar. Book

No 185

James Mayhew: Evan Dawson

• stgeorgesbristol.co.uk

Top pick...

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EVENTS | FOR KIDS

online and save 15%, plus dogs receive a treat too. Valid with a day ticket; cheddargorge.co.uk

Cheddar Gorge and Caves

Adventure Bureau 17 November, 11am, The Wardrobe Theatre Katie and Simon have come on a special trip from the Adventure Bureau, an ancient organisation whose job it is to create all the adventures ever. With the help of the biggest (and smallest) ideas, they will weave an improvised story complete with an improvised soundtrack and songs. Suitable for ages three to eight, £7; thewardrobetheatre.com

The Snow Queen 29 November – 12 December, times vary, The Redgrave Theatre In a thrilling adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson’s classic tale, young Gerda guides you on her quest to save her best friend Kai from the clutches of the wicked Snow Queen. A story of friendship, hope and hot chocolate, join Gerda on her adventure as she battles brigands, fends off enchanted flowers and confronts a Snowflake Chorus. A Christmas classic packed with music, dance and tobogganing. Suitable for all ages, £17.50; redgravetheatre.com

Elf Jr: The Musical 19 – 23 November, 2.30pm and 7.30pm, The Redgrave Theatre Elf the Musical is the hilarious tale of Buddy, a young orphan child who mistakenly crawls into Santa’s sack and is taken to the North Pole. There he grows up believing he’s an elf, until one day he discovers he’s human and his real dad is in New York. Follow him as he heads to the Big Apple to find his true identity and bring the true meaning of Christmas to cynical New Yorkers. Suitable for all ages, £15; redgravetheatre.com

Pack a picnic for grandma, dress up as Little Red Riding Hood and see if you’re brave enough to face the big, bad wolf. Suitable for ages two to five. £8, booking essential; national trust.org.uk/tyntesfield

TYNTEtots: Little Red Riding Hood 20 November, 10 – 11.45am, Tyntesfield Enjoy storytelling, crafts and games inspired by the classic story of Little Red Riding Hood.

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is led by puppets Dragon and Bird. Enjoy performances like The Owl and the Pussycat and The Ladybird Detective Agency. Suitable for preschool ages, £4; tobaccofactorytheatres.com

Dragonbird Theatre 26 November, 10.30am and 1pm, Tobacco Factory Theatres Experience the magical world of theatre with lots of fun and laughter on the way. Expect giant nets, silky rivers, singing with gusto and

No 185

Boing! 29 November – 5 January, times vary, Bristol Old Vic This exhilarating piece of dance-theatre captures the delirious excitement of two boys waiting for Father Christmas to arrive on the most magical night of the year. There are beds to be jumped on, pillows to be fought with, and seas to be sailed. Let your imagination soar right up to the stars. Suitable for ages two to seven, £10; bristololdvic.org.uk n

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THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE 75

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GARDENING ONE TO ONE

Force of nature

Simon Horsford discusses extra-curricular activism, conquering fears and what’s brilliant about Bristol with CBBC presenter Naomi Wilkinson

elevision presenter, eco-warrior, surfer, wannabe Strictly contestant – there are many sides to Bristol-born Naomi Wilkinson. According to her Twitter page, she’s also a dab hand at cracking Rubix cubes. Oh, and she does panto too. Of these, and in keeping with current mood, it’s as an ardent believer in raising awareness about the environment that inspires Wilkinson most. Best known for fronting two TV series on CBBC: Naomi’s Nightmares of Nature and Marrying Mum and Dad, it also, perhaps, reveals her true Bristolian credentials. “The main passion for me is the eco-warrior thing because it kind of ties in with everything I do and the surfing is heavily connected with what’s going on in the ocean,” says the infectiously enthusiastic Wilkinson when we meet for a coffee. “[It’s also about] our whole awareness of what is happening to the planet, how we are living and how it’s having a massive impact.” Wilkinson isn’t suddenly jumping on the eco bandwagon. For 20 years, she has been an ambassador for the Young People’s Trust for the Environment, which encourages an understanding of issues such as climate change, pollution, deforestation and endangered flora and fauna. “When I first went to an awards ceremony,” she recalls, “it was all about these children who had done projects about eliminating plastic bags. Straight away I was thinking this is amazing, why are we not all talking about it? Since then I have been 76 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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banging on about it to whoever will listen. So I am so relieved that at last people have become more aware [we were speaking a couple of days before the global climate ‘strike’ day] but I am still frustrated because it doesn’t feel as though enough is happening. It feels like people know the problem, but are not making changes in their lives; it’s just the simple things like remembering your coffee cup, or a bag for your shopping.” It helps that Wilkinson is such a popular face on children’s TV. She has visited numerous schools and points out that they are “getting fantastic tutoring” about the environment and climate change. “They are on the ball and are leading the way,” she adds. Adults, she believes, are slower in changing their habits, although Wilkinson admits, “it is hard and inconvenient and we are used to things being easy for us”. I wonder whether it’s a matter of people believing that small changes in their own routines to do with recycling and such like won’t have any effect? “Myths go round and they are told the tiny little changes they make don’t matter, but when you look at the massive scale of businesses and plastic production, and I agree it has got to be addressed in those areas first and foremost, I also think that each person doing something, times millions of people, will have an effect.” Even in a large secondary school, she suggests, “if you look at how many plastic bottles they might consume in a week, if each child were to stop bringing in, or buying, plastic bottles every

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ONE TO ONE

day then that would account for thousands of bottles a week. So it feels like small changes but they can be massive”. Our concern shouldn’t stop with recycling though; “we also have to consider what is happening to all the recycling when it is shipped abroad and burnt and what effect that is having,” she says. When she’s not away filming, Wilkinson has been working within her local community (she now lives in north-west London) to come up with ideas for schools and businesses to do their bit. Her group has also been teamed up with Jo Ruxton, who produced awardwinning documentary A Plastic Ocean to explore the fragile state of our oceans and the consequences of our disposable lifestyle. I wonder if she would consider doing a programme about the environment along the lines of Stacey Dooley’s investigative films and Wilkinson admits she would jump at the opportunity. “It is on CBBC’s agenda to do programmes that talk about the environment and climate change, so fingers crossed something will come up.” David Attenborough, unsurprisingly, is something of a hero to Naomi, and she shares the philosophy of Senegalese conservationist Baba Diou, who, more than 50 years ago, said: “In the end we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand and we will understand only what we are taught.” It all seems a long way from Wilkinson’s early years when, after graduating from the London School of Dance in Bedford where she trained to be a dance teacher, she spent time as a Butlin’s Redcoat (it was “brilliant”). During her spell in Minehead, she sent out numerous showreels – she had long harboured a desire to work in children’s TV – which eventually landed her a job on Wakey! Wakey! with the now defunct Carlton Kids. She then presented Milkshake! on Five for 10 years during which she composed songs and choreographed dance numbers, hence her desire to appear on Strictly. Since 2010, she has featured in numerous programmes on CBBC, among them Live ’n’ Deadly with Steve Backshall, which took viewers on an interactive journey and was crammed with dares, animals and adventures. Her stint there led to Naomi’s Nightmares of Nature – there have been four series so far – in which she has to conquer various fears and challenges. I wonder if the idea was to offer a female counterpoint to Backshall? “Yes, I suppose so, but because I am not an animal expert and didn’t come from that background, the idea was to have someone that the viewers could connect with. We all go on a journey together and I meet experts and get told what I should be afraid of. They probably chose me because I had a genuine fear of quite a lot of animals and I wear my heart on my sleeve. My emotions are always a little bit on the surface, unfortunately.” The result, though, is hugely entertaining, with Wilkinson an engagingly honest presenter who has tackled everything from abseiling into a bat-filled cave in Borneo and swimming with sharks (no cage) to encountering river crocodiles in Australia (her number-one scary creature), hang-gliding in Brazil and wing-walking (“like standing in front of the most powerful fan you can imagine while being on a rollercoaster”). Her favourite? “Parahawking in South Wales is pretty hard to top. It involved paragliding alongside a red kite.”

Fun and exciting as the programmes are, they do also have much to say about conquering fear. “Until you’ve experienced something, you don’t know whether you are going to like it or not,” says Wilkinson. “I found this a lot of times on Nightmares: a challenge I was dreading the night before, then actually, the next day, it turned out to be one of the best things I’ve ever done. “I say to children, we always visualise something we are worried about and nine times out of 10, it’s not how we imagined it. I do think whenever you can conquer a fear, or do something you were putting off, it comes with a sense of elation and pride. That’s why I love things like Go Ape [the outdoor adventure company] because every time you challenge yourself and it is difficult you do feel brilliant.” Wilkinson does add with a smile that she’s learned it’s probably best never to tell the producers what you are really afraid of “as the next day you’ll end up in the tank with it”. But “it’s funny,” she adds, “because it has cured a lot of my phobias, such as being underwater, and I’m fine with spiders now.” The most terrifying time, she recalls, was when they went to film lions and were in open Jeeps, watching their behaviour change from day to night. “The lions hadn’t fed for a while and we couldn’t see them as it was dark. I thought that was the way my life was going to

...Parahawking in South Wales is pretty hard to top. It involved paragliding alongside a red kite... end.” And despite all her adventures with a variety of creepy creatures, she has no desire to appear on I’m A Celebrity… Growing up in Bristol, Wilkinson gained a love of nature from her parents, who were volunteers for the Avon Wildlife Trust. Until around 20 years ago, home was in Henleaze, and she still returns to the city to see family, while Nightmares is produced at the BBC’s Natural History Unit on Whiteladies Road. “It’s such a cosmopolitan, buzzing city and there always seems to be so much going on. I loved the art and the culture, the docks area and Park Street, the centre of the city, the green spaces, Blaise Castle and playing rounders on Horfield Common. It’s got a reputation for being eco-friendly too and I’m proud of that. I’ve just got great memories of Bristol.” Return visits might involve a curry at Tikka Flame on the harbourside before hitting a couple of the bars in the area. Elsewhere on TV, Wilkinson presents Marrying Mum and Dad, with Ed Petrie, where children are given free rein – to an extent – to arrange their parents’ wedding day, choosing everything from the theme to the venue, entertainment and outfits. One of the maddest things they were asked to do was a haunted house. “For transport they [the children] wanted a hearse but we talked them out of that, but the bride and groom did step out of a coffin to say their vows.” Others have seen the father of the bride dressed as Batman and the groom as a gorilla. Wilkinson has had guest slots on Blue Peter and also done films on Countryfile, covering the World Conker Championships and paddle boarding with a spaniel. Come Christmas, Wilkinson is also a regular on the panto circuit; she’s played at the Theatre Royal in Bath and hopes one day to appear at the Bristol Hippodrome. This year she plays the lead in Cinderella at the Pavilion Theatre in Worthing. A personality and presenter for all seasons, then. What’s more, she’s not only spreading the word about environmental issues, but has also made a mockery of comedian W.C. Fields’ dictum of never working with children and animals. n • naomiwilkinson.tv THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK

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THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE 77

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EDUCATION NEWS UPDATES FROM THE CITY’S SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES

SAFETY FIRST

LITTLE CHAMPIONS

LITERACY LOVE

Local school Redfield Educate Together Primary Academy was recently announced the winner at the UK Water Explorer awards – an environmental education project highlighting the importance of water conservation on a global level. Redfield kicked off its Water Explorer journey by running a Water Festival on World Oceans Day, with various activities to show the shocking facts of water usage at home and the embedded water in our food and clothes. The pupils competed against 565 other teams to gain their place in the UK finals, where they presented their project. Water Explorer is a free online programme for schools that sets a range of water-based challenges and offers energising learning opportunities on how to reduce water footprint.

As part of its mission to promote literacy in schools and inspire a love of reading, arts charity The Children’s Bookshow is bringing award-winning author-illustrator Viviane Schwarz into Bristol schools this November. On 13 November the There Are No Cats In This Book creator will also perform at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre to an audience of 500 local schoolchildren, introducing her latest book How To Be On The Moon. The sequel to the bestselling How To Find Gold was released to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the moon landings and sees best friends Anna and Crocodile back together again for an intrepid adventure. Attending schools will be provided with a classroom workshop with the Greenaway Medal-nominated author and free books.

• waterexplorer.org

• thechildrensbookshow.com

banner

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MP Darren Jones visited Stoke Park Primary School recently to discuss online safety with young people. The event was hosted by Google to highlight the Be Internet Legends programme. Google research shows that 96% of teachers believe that children should learn about online safety at home and in school. To help teachers educate their pupils about staying safe online, it launched the educational programme aimed at seven to 11-year-olds to help them be safe, confident explorers of the online world – through online platforms, teaching resources, faceto-face workshops and assemblies, and free training resources for over 19,000 teachers. Be Internet Legends is a partnership with family internet safety experts Parent Zone, and is accredited by the PSHE Association. The programme has reached over a million children across the UK and consists of five key pillars, which children in Bristol were taught to help them learn the essentials of how to stay safe online. The pillars concern being ‘internet sharp’ – thinking before you share; ‘internet alert’ – checking it’s for real; ‘internet secure’ – protecting your stuff; ‘internet kind’ – respecting each other; and ‘internet brave’ – discussing when in doubt. Stoke Park Primary pupils were also shown Interland – a free online adventure game making learning about online safety fun and informative. Children learn about avoiding hackers, phishers and bullies practising the skills learnt with the programme. “We are delighted to help teach children about how to Be Internet Legends,” said Rosie Luff, public policy manager at Google UK. “By getting acquainted with what we believe are the five core areas of online safety, we want to prepare children to have a safe and positive experience online.” • beinternetawesome.withgoogle.com

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EDUCATION NEWS UPDATES FROM THE CITY’S SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES

DAVID OLUSOGA AT REDMAIDS

FILM FOR LEARNING

TECH PARTNERSHIPS OF THE FUTURE

Last month, teachers from 10 Bristol primary schools began a learning journey to become trained in using film as a teaching tool, thanks to the new Film for Learning programme being delivered by Into Film and boomsatsuma in partnership with Bristol, UNESCO City of Film. The four-year school development project, funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation, aims to improve young people’s attainment in literacy. Bristol is one of three cities selected (with Belfast and Bradford) to take part. Schools include Easton Academy, Fishponds Church of England Academy, Knowle Park, Sea Mills Primary School, Shirehampton Primary School and Whitehall Primary. “Weaving film into the education experience has been proven to be fantastically beneficial for young people, so I’m very excited that Bristol schoolchildren will be receiving this experience,” said Bristol UNESCO City of Film coordinator Natalie Moore. “This programme is creating a strong film education network which will enable Bristol schools to share knowledge and best practice with the schools and training practitioners in our fellow City of Film Bradford, and I’m sure that collaborating together over the coming years will prove to be incredibly fruitful.”

Osborne Clarke and the University of Bristol have teamed up to offer an innovative yearly legal and emerging tech vacation scheme in a bid to help form the technology partnerships of the future. Osborne Clarke hopes to tap into the university’s strong reputation in the fields of science, technology, engineering and maths and law to offer students the chance to get real-world experience at a highprofile technology law firm. Students started by undertaking a twoweek placement with a difference at the firm’s Temple Quay office; challenged to work together using their different skill sets on a project to resolve a real business problem using technology. Partners Nick Simpson, Mark Taylor and Rob Horne oversaw the work, with students receiving additional mentoring from the IT and legal teams. They also had the opportunity to attend workshops and meet with different Osborne Clarke specialists to see how new technologies are impacting on the law and how the firm is utilising them in its services. Alongside the scheme, programme experts from Osborne Clarke will also be giving guest lectures at the university. • osborneclarke.com; bristol.ac.uk

• intofilm.org/film-for-learning

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Students at Redmaids’ High School received a special visit from historian, author and broadcaster David Olusoga recently. David, whose recent TV work includes House Through Time and the BAFTA awardwinning Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners, was invited as part of the girls’ history studies and Black History Month. “Black History Month is about finding a history that all of us can relate to,” he said. “The British population continues to increase in diversity so that by the middle of this century, one third of its people will be black or of minority ethnic origin. Our history must therefore work for the country we are going to become. “You are part of a longer story” he told the students, “living as you do in an old city and attending such a historic school. To understand why we are the way we are, we have to understand history is not just what happens here, but what happens around the world and how everything is connected.” Following his talk, and as part of a Q&A session, David told sixth form historians: “I sense your generation is much less willing to tolerate a sanitised version of the past. You use the internet to actively search for truth and I sense a real willingness to question orthodoxies, which is very positive.” Finally, during a recorded broadcast for the school’s radio station, Redmaidio, David discussed a range of issues including education, the environment, Brexit and cultural identity with Freya Rolt and Layla Qazi, both of whom have applied to the University of Oxford to study history. “I don’t feel guilt or shame about my ancestors,” he told them, “but I do feel a responsibility to discuss what happened.” Speaking of his visit, Claire Warrington, Redmaids’ High head of history, added: “David reminded us that some of our history is very difficult and painful. But that’s all part of it and we can’t pretend it’s not.” David is Professor of Public History at the University of Manchester and was awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours 2019 for his services to history and community integration.

• redmaidshigh.co.uk

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EXCITING ECO-FRIENDLY ALLIANCE Pupils at Haberdashers’ Monmouth Schools have formed an alliance with staff to cut the amount of plastic they use. The introduction of refillable water bottles and new packed lunches for sporting fixtures have, together with eco-assemblies and competitions, raised awareness among the schools’ community. Sixth Form student, Myfanwy Fleming-Jones, worked with Catering Manager, Mrs Karen Wood, to change packed lunches for sporting fixtures, to further reduce plastic. Water bottles, crisps and chocolate bars have been removed, and replaced with plant-based pasta pots, wooden forks and a school-made flapjack. “Pupils in the eco-committee at Monmouth School for Girls are very keen and determined to reduce the carbon footprint, improve their health and help the planet,” said Mrs Wood. “We are delighted to be supporting them. We have already dramatically reduced our consumption of single-use plastic and we recycle all food, cardboard, paper and glass.” Earlier this year, the schools supported the town of Monmouth in achieving Surfers Against Sewage Plastic Free Town status. Mr Nick Meek, Head of Geography and Eco Committee Co-ordinator at Monmouth School for Girls, received a certificate to mark Haberdashers’ Monmouth Schools’ commitment to the scheme. “Pupils in Monmouth are enthusiastic about reducing their use of plastic and trying to help the environment,” said Mr Meek. “We are working hard to reduce single-use plastic in the schools and to promote refillable water bottles. “Our prep school led the way by removing plastic bottles in their packed lunches and encouraging pupils to bring their own refillable water bottles. “This initiative has now been extended to the senior schools.” Sixth Form student and eco-committee member, Lili Stiff, said: “We are planning to set up more recycling points around the school for students to use and the eco-committee is hoping to secure plastic-free status for the school.” n

For information about our Sixth Form Taster Day on Wednesday 6th November, please visit: www.habsmonmouth.org/sixthformtaster or call 01600 711104 for Monmouth School for Girls, or 01600 710433 for Monmouth School for Boys.. *The schools have an established bus route covering the Thornbury area.

OR CONTACT US ON 0117 974 2800 EMAIL: SALES@THEBRISTOLMAGAZINE.CO.UK

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NOVEMBER 2019

THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE 81

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SPORT

10 THINGS WE DIDN’T KNOW... ...About Danny Grewcock MBE, the new high-performance rugby manager at Clifton College who has also joined the coaching team at Bristol Bears Rugby Academy

Danny is an endurance fanatic

From long-distance running to long-distance cycling, since Danny finished playing professional rugby in 2011 he has taken on a different physically and mentally demanding challenge annually. This has included kayaking along the canals from Devizes to London for 38 hours and cycling from Land’s End to John O’Groats. “When I finished playing professionally I thought I would carry on training,” he says, “but I found my motivation started to slip so I started taking on a new challenge every year to give me something to train for.”

He has been to the North Pole

In 2015, for another of the extreme challenges he set himself after retiring, he was part of a group of nine men who walked to the North Pole in aid of the Royal Marines Charitable Trust Fund and brain tumour support charity The Lewis Moody Foundation. “It was an incredible experience and those of us on the trip all formed a really strong bond together. It was tough but I am a big believer in taking yourself out of your comfort zone and testing yourself. It’s the best way to find out more about yourself.”

He is a black belt in karate

As a schoolboy, Danny’s sport was karate rather than rugby; he learned it for seven years before switching to rugby. “I enjoyed all sports but karate was what I trained in first of all,” he remembers. “I ended up getting into rugby a bit by chance through friends. There weren’t many 1st XV games at my school so some friends suggested I come along to a club to play and it went from there.”

He didn’t play club rugby until he was 18

Danny started playing competitive rugby at quite a late stage, playing for Barkers Butts RFC in Coventry from 1989 to 1994. “I didn’t play elite level sport when I was younger and, in fact, didn’t play in the county team until I was 21, which was relatively late. I was 24 when I joined a Premiership team. In today’s terms that was old, but, on the other hand, I was young to rugby.”

England capped before playing for the Premiership

Danny is one of only a handful of players who have been capped for England before they have played for the Premiership. “It was down to a lot of luck that I earned my first cap. In 1997 the Lions toured South Africa and took most of the England players on the tour. At the same time, England toured Argentina. However, the next set of second rows were all injured so they took some from other Premiership clubs and also looked into the second division for players to go on the tour. I was playing for Coventry at the time and was among those picked. Then, because of injury, Olly Redwood was called up from the England squad to join the Lions tour. I was chosen to replace him in the England team and that was how I got capped. Things changed quite a lot when I got back to the UK after that as I got the offer from Saracens and fortunately Coventry released me to go.”

He’s a risk-taker

Danny is a big believer in taking a chance. “When I left university I had no plans really, apart from playing club rugby. Coventry had a link with a club in Australia who would pay for your flight to go out so I finished university on the Monday and flew out on the Tuesday.” He took a similar unplanned approach on his return. “When I came 82 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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back to the UK I had no job lined up but I had promised the Coventry coach that I would come back. I believe that taking a chance can often provide exciting opportunities even if at the time you’re not sure what they might be. I had no idea then that I would play professional rugby and that I would end up getting called up for England.”

He thrives on a bit of stress

“I realised that I actually missed the pre-match feeling of tension. I loved training and the focus needed for games but I would always have plenty of nerves before a match to the point where I would feel like I didn’t want to do it. At the end of the game I would think ‘that actually went really well’, but I always found the pre-match stage difficult. However, when I left rugby, I discovered that I missed that nervous feeling of uncertainty and started to replace it with other challenges, like marathons and long-distance cycling.”

...And he’s not afraid of a blunder

“As a coach I discovered that it can be good to make mistakes,” he says. “I used to believe that a really good training session was a perfect session but then you’re not necessarily learning anything. If you’re learning a new skill it’s okay if you can’t do it at first. As long as you can understand why you can’t do it you can keep working on it until you’ve mastered it. I think you benefit from that experience.”

...But he’s not as confident as you might think

“I’m not an outgoing character and am naturally quite cautious. If someone had said at certain stages of my life, ‘we can open a door and you can step through and go back to where you were; do you want to do that?’ I would have been sorely tempted. I found I had to push myself to go forwards but if I did I got the best out of myself. In the past I have perhaps been too cautious but I have realised that when you take that leap you find you are capable of more than you ever thought possible.”

Danny’s a record-breaker

He was part of the largest silent yoga session, no less, which set a new Guinness World Record in 2018. “My family and I were at Camp Bestival in Dorset and they wanted people to join in so we did. So now I can say I was part of helping to set a world record; it’s just that it’s not for rugby!” n

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Danny started playing competitive rugby for Barkers Butts RFC in Coventry from 1989 to 1994 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and now heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s working with Bristol Bears Academy and Clifton College

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HEALTH & BEAUTY GARDENING

CUTTING IT It’s no case of beginner’s luck for hardworking Noco Hair – the new Clifton salon wholly deserving of all their recent industry applause. Words by Amanda Nicholls

oel and Corey at Noco Hair, a year into their exciting new chapter running their own salon on Whiteladies Road, are on a bit of a roll, especially having recently bagged Independent Salon/Business Newcomer of the Year at HJ’s British Hairdressing Business Awards. It was particularly praised for its individuality, so we went to see what the buzz was about and sample the signature cut. The Clifton Cut is a method taught to all Noco stylists, which can be applied and adapted to any head of hair with a length that’s on or below the jawline. “It’s designed to make your hair fuller, healthier and easier to manage,” says Corey, who co-founded Noco in November 2018 with Noel after they had worked together for a good six years. “We have been finding that a lot of our clients long for more movement and volume in their hair but don’t want to compromise the length or have really short layers. “They were bringing in pictures of full-looking hair that had height through the crown and were desperately trying to stay away from the ‘Rachel from Friends’ haircut with lots of choppy layers at the front.” Using a ‘forward radial line’, the Clifton Cut over-directs the hair to enhance volume and protect the weight at the baseline. “With a different approach to a traditional layering technique, we have changed the way we section the hair and angle the scissors and trained our team with hours of combing techniques,” explains Corey. “It’s great to be able to name a haircut as you know exactly what you’ve had done.” The idea is to get more oomph The smart, spacious interior

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in the crown by concentrating on the layers around it while maintaining weight though the external shape of the hair. With crown volume being my holy grail, I’m keen to get started. Corey consults with me to get an idea of any current issues and care routine, and decides that while she’ll make use of certain parts of the CC technique, she won’t chop too much into the top of my hair, to give the ends the illusion of thickness (they have a tendency to grow thin, dull and ratty very quickly). Having sent me off for a shampoo in one of the reclining massage chairs, and a dreamy shiatsu head massage, she slices into my bangs a little on my return to the stylist’s chair. She evens out the bottom of my locks, which seem to have grown much longer on one side than the other – common, says Corey, and simply down to factors such as which side you normally sleep on. Davines all-in-one milk is sprayed on for shine, softness and health followed by a fragrant texturising mousse; nothing like the old sticky stuff Nan might have let you play around with back in the day. It’s a versatile, low-maintenance cut that works well with my balyage colour and, with the split ends gone, my hair has more surface shine and that colour looks rejuvenated. After a wavy blow-dry, just how I like it, and an invitation to come back for a complimentary wash and blowdry within two weeks – as all Clifton Cut customers are welcome to do – I bounce out feeling like Farrah Fawcett. And that is to say, for any flummoxed youths poised to summon Google for the pop reference, absolutely fabulous. n

• nocohair.com

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The UK’s Leading Natural IVF & Mild IVF specialists – now open in Bristol A new fertility clinic in Bristol is offering female-friendly IVF treatments that can deliver better health outcomes for mothers and babies. CREATE Fertility’s pioneering approach to IVF focuses on the quality of eggs, rather than quantity, and the clinic’s gentler fertility treatments reduce the emotional and physical burden associated with IVF, while offering women the best chance of success. A patient story: choosing the gentler, more natural option Alice Smithfield, 42, shared her IVF journey as a single woman with CREATE Fertility: “I was 39 years old and not in a relationship. My time was running out, so I decided to go it alone. I was 40 when I had my baby.” “I wanted to find a clinic that clearly stated it treated single women as well as couples and discovered CREATE. It wasn’t awkward when I said I wanted to be a single mother by choice: the staff made me feel at ease and didn’t treat me any differently.” “Natural and Mild IVF Treatments at CREATE appealed to me because they are gentler and use lower amounts of drugs.” “The treatment works with your natural menstrual cycle rather than stopping and starting it artificially. The staff at CREATE were so lovely and friendly helping me at every stage and explaining everything as we went through the process. I could ask questions when needed and they explained in a way I could easily understand. They eased my nerves and didn’t make me feel uncomfortable at all.” I was 40 when George was born – a healthy 8lb 13oz beautiful little bundle of joy! My whole life now has meaning, and I love complete strangers telling me how gorgeous my son is. “I would recommend CREATE Fertility to all of my family and friends. The clinic was very slick and well equipped, the staff were all brilliant AND I had a baby!” An initial consultation with one of the clinic’s specialists is the best way to obtain an accurate picture of fertility health and a personalised treatment programme.

To make an appointment please contact: 0117 428 9000 and quote “BRISTOL IC”. For more information on CREATE Fertility, you can also refer to the website at www.createfertility.co.uk

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CNM has launched my career change I have clients in 6 continents Rebecca Bonneteau, CNM Nutritional Therapy and Naturopathy graduate

honestly went back to school to learn about the body so I could fix me! Now my life is all about preventing my fate to the millions of children prescribed steroids for eczema at a very early age. My experience at CNM was jaw dropping, enlightening & life changing. I always wanted to work for myself, I just didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know how. CNM changed my life: I now run my own business! I am also well on my way to eliminating my health issues that built up in my teens and 20s. My life has completely changed since graduating and I am now doing what I feel is my career for life. After my health deteriorated over my teens and 20s I decided I needed to take my health into my own hands. At CNM I was able to piece my health history together in class and knew that if my parents had known this when I was a child I would never have had the health issues I had growing up. I was born with chronic eczema. Now in my 30s I am taking back control of my body. As a result of long-term use of steroids and

antibiotics I have had to use growing up with this problem, I am now dealing with a number of serious complications. Suppressing chronic inflammation over the years has led to bone density issues; I always felt I would break if I did anything strenuous. I had also been diagnosed with atypical cells and large lumps in my breasts. Now, through consistent detoxification, I no longer have any atypical cells and the lumps in my breasts have shrunk dramatically. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m still continuing to detox as I know how important it is to look after my body, but people now have no idea I ever had eczema! What attracted me to CNM was the fact that I got to do supervised clinic days for practical experience. What I especially loved about the course was the grounding it gave me in biomedicine. Understanding the body and how it works is critical to becoming a good practitioner and the Year 1 lectures were fascinating. I support families who have children with eczema to figure out the root of the problem and teach them how to dig it out. I run an online practice and employ 3 others to support my work. I have clients in 6 out of the 7 continents around the world. I never dreamed that I would be working in this way but since starting my practice I have just gone with what felt right. Every day is a new adventure; running my own business brings challenges but the life changing testimonials I receive are all worth it! What I love most about practising is the thank you notes I get sent from the children and parents I have helped. Knowing that I have helped a child avoid the path I took growing up is the best gift I could ever receive. CNM has been the launchpad for my career change. Without the support and education I would not be able to do the work I do today.

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Rebecca Bonneteau

Do something life-changing Improve Your Health - Change Career Help Others

Attend a FREE Open Event to find out about training with CNM Bristol for a career as a Naturopathic Nutritionist Geoff Don or Naturopathic Acupuncturist

9th November, 2019 Visit naturopathy-uk.com

or call 01342

410 505

CNM has a 22-year track record training successful practitioners in natural therapies, in class and online. Colleges across the UK and Ireland.

NOVEMBER 2019

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SUFFERING WITH BACK PAIN? Meet the team at Nuﬃeld Health Bristol Hospital who can help.

f you have been suffering with back pain, the spinal team at Nuffield Health Bristol Hospital takes a multi-disciplinary approach to ensure they find the right treatment pathway for each individual patient. Incorporating pain management, psychological support and physiotherapy, surgical intervention is considered a last resort, and if surgery is required, the surgical team includes both orthopaedic spinal surgeons and spinal neurosurgeons. We meet two members of Nuffield Health’s expert spinal team in Bristol, Consultant Spinal Neurosurgeon Mr Nitin Patel and Pain Management Consultant Dr Gareth Greenslade. Mr Nitin Patel, Consultant Spinal Neurosurgeon What made you decide to specialise in spinal surgery? I really enjoy the technical and practical challenges of spinal practice, both in terms of seeking a diagnosis and in delivering the right treatment, whether it’s non-surgical or surgical. Above all, it is immensely gratifying to see patients return to a normal lifestyle having previously been hindered by weakness or pain, which in some cases can be extremely debilitating. What’s the most important quality for a spinal surgeon? Listening to the patient, not just in terms of the symptoms they are experiencing but also understanding their anxieties, expectations, and how they perceive their condition. In many ways this provides a much better understanding of how to tailor specific treatments that are suitable for that particular individual. What do you enjoy most about being a spinal surgeon? Working with a great team that understands

how everyone, from the receptionist to the nurse, has a part to play in ensuring that the patient has a positive healthcare experience. For this, I am grateful to be working with a fantastic team at Nuffield Health Bristol Hospital. What advice would you give to someone who is considering coming to see you? If you are concerned about spinal symptoms that are limiting your activities, a specialist consultation with advanced investigations such as MRI scanning can provide insight into the underlying cause and guide treatment options. Fortunately, the majority of patients with spinal conditions will improve with relatively simple treatments, whilst a few may benefit from surgery. If you weren’t a surgeon, what would you like to do instead? I enjoy technical and creative activities and one of my passions is photography, so I would love to hone my photography skills further and see more of the great outdoors for a living – although I’m not sure my skills as a photographer would be good enough to pay the mortgage! Dr Gareth Greenslade, Pain Management Consultant What made you decide to specialise in pain management? I was medical officer in the Royal Navy in the 1980s and became interested in patients who were unable to return to duty because they had persistent pain, following injuries. The navy responded in their usual way, by sending me on a course at the Walton Pain Institute in Liverpool. From that time, I have never looked back!

iceberg in many cases. So the most important quality is probably the ability to listen carefully and respectfully to what the patient has to say and give them time to express themselves. What do you enjoy most about being a pain management consultant? Meeting a lot of interesting people from all walks of life. Also, the unique blend of hi-tech procedures, getting the medication right and seeing the results. The other thing is the need to be a skilled diagnostician to be sure that this is “just” pain and not something needing a different approach. This is easier with experience (the first 30 years were the worst!). What advice would you give to someone who is considering coming to see you? Come with an open mind. Complete the diagrams and questions we will send to you, including a note of any questions you want to ask me. Be prepared to take an active role in your treatment and recovery. Most importantly, do not be unrealistic in your expectations. If you weren’t a doctor, what would you like to do instead? If I had a sudden rush of talent, I would like to be a concert pianist. To find out more about the full range of spinal services available at Nuffield Health Bristol Hospital, visit our website: www.nuffieldhealth.com/hospitals/bristol, or call 0117 911 5339 to book an appointment.

What’s the most important quality for a pain management consultant? You have to look at the whole patient and realise that persistent pain is just the tip of the THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK

Nuffield Health Bristol Hospital 3 Clifton Hill, Clifton, Bristol BS8 1BN nuffieldhealth.com/hospitals/bristol

NOVEMBER 2019

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Rustic cottage designed by Repton at Blaise Castle

Cunningly choreographed adventures The name Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown will be familiar to many Bristolians. However Humphry Repton – Brown’s great successor in the field of landscape design – is far less well known. Happily, Andrew Swift knows all about him

hile Capability Brown only worked on one estate around Bristol – at King’s Weston – Repton worked on seven. One of those estates – Cote Bank in Westbury-on-Trym – has disappeared under housing, but the rest have survived. Designed for wealthy landowners eager to impress their prestigious guests, today they are free for all to enjoy, as some of the city’s finest parks and open spaces. At this time of year, they are an especially good choice for a country walk. Their paths, laid out with such care over 200 years ago, have stood the test of time, and are far less likely than your average footpath to deteriorate into quagmires. Unlike Brown, Repton usually worked as a consultant rather than a project manager. He devised a novel way of presenting his ideas, producing a series of plans and sketches which, by the ingenious use of flaps or fliers, showed what various landscape features would look like before and after his proposed improvements. He presented these to his clients between red binders, and his ‘red books’ soon became famous. Repton’s designs marked a transition from the picturesque naturalism of Capability Brown to the eclecticism of the 19th century, with flower beds and gravel walks near the main house and woodlandstyle landscaping beyond. In most cases, the high-maintenance features of the gardens Repton worked on have disappeared, while the woodlands – possessed of a more thoroughgoing wildness than he could have foreseen – have survived. Repton’s best known work near Bristol is at Blaise Castle, for which he produced a red book in 1796. The house at Blaise Castle was less than 100 yards from the centre of Henbury village, yet Repton decided that the main carriage drive should approach it from the opposite direction. Not only was his new drive almost a mile long, it also involved a switchback descent into the gorge-like valley of the Hazel Brook and a gruelling ascent on the other side. 92 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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He proudly described it as “one of the finest approaches in the kingdom,” although, he added ruefully, “the sides of the hills were so steep, that I had to be let down by ropes to mark the line of the road.” His overriding criterion was dramatic effect, with new prospects opening up around every corner. At a couple of points where he felt that the scenery might start to pall, he even placed rustic cottages. The best-known feature at Blaise Castle – the triangular tower commanding views over the Bristol Channel – was not Repton’s handiwork. Dating from 1766, it had long been a famous landmark, even being mentioned by Jane Austen in Northanger Abbey. Repton, however, designed a network of paths criss-crossing the hill leading up to it, to provide the same sense of dramatic expectation as his carriage drive. Terraced walks and revetments, meticulously oriented viewpoints, newly quarried caves and, on reaching the summit, a surprise view of the tower, were all aspects of his plan, transforming a country walk into a cunningly choreographed adventure. Three years later, Repton was called in to advise on landscaping the grounds of Oldbury Court at Fishponds. It was another commission he took to with gusto, writing that it had “such a variety of sublime and beautiful scenery as seldom occurs in places of much greater extent”. As well as constructing a series of pools, he created a path on a narrow ledge high above the River Frome. Sheer drops and overhanging crags created a frisson of excitement (or possibly vertigo), while seats cut into the rock face allowed for calmer contemplation of the view. Such grand gestures were not always possible, but there was one thing that characterised all Repton’s commissions – the planting of large stands of trees to frame views, hide unpicturesque elements and provide privacy and seclusion. In 1804, at his suggestion, 10,000 trees were planted at Ashton Court, emphasising the rolling parkland and leading the eye onward to the green hills of Somerset. Visitors to Ashton Court can still admire the genius of Repton’s

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initiative over two centuries later. In some cases, though, the sapling plantations he encouraged his patrons to establish have become untamed thickets, blocking the views they were meant to frame. In Paradise Bottom, part of the Leigh Court estate, for which Repton drew up plans in 1814, the triumph of nature is near complete. Steep paths drop down past sedge-fringed pools and weed-choked cascades, giant redwoods and Wellingtonias tower overhead. Later encroachments – a single-track railway disappearing into a tunnel, a long-abandoned dry dock down by the water’s edge – lend their own enchantment to this tangled spot. Most evocative though is a clifftop grotto which once commanded views across the Avon Gorge, but now looks out over high banks of trees. Not all of Repton’s commissions were on such a lavish scale. At Royal Fort, off St Michael’s Hill, he was called in after the site had been devastated by an abortive attempt to develop it for housing. His solution was masterly, smoothing out the contours and planting trees to create enticing prospects, while laying out paths curving down to sequestered areas screened from the outside world by high walls. Repton worked on one other project in the Bristol area, which is surprisingly little known. It is far from being the grandest, featuring no pools, cascades or gorges, and with only a short carriage drive. Yet Brentry Hill is perhaps the most evocative of all, not least because the Greek Revival villa at the heart of the estate was designed by Repton himself, with the help of his son, in 1802. It lay on a steeply sloping site a mile east of Blaise Castle. Repton described the view as “pleasing and extensive”, with the wooded hills of Blaise and King’s Weston near at hand, and the Bristol Channel and Welsh mountains in the distance. Astonishingly, given how much this part of Bristol has changed in the last 200 years, the view, framed by the woods Repton planted, still has a rural aspect and an expansive magnificence today. “Few houses,” Repton wrote, “have been built with more attention to the situation and circumstances of the place than the villa at Brentry.” The current occupants of the building, which has been converted to flats, would doubtless agree. ■

The villa at Brentry Hill

VISITING REPTON’S LANDSCAPES • Blaise Castle, Oldbury Court & Ashton Court are owned by Bristol City Council (bristol.gov.uk/museums-parks-sportsculture/parks-and-estates) • Paradise Bottom is owned by the Forestry Commission. Free car park off Pill Road (BS8 3RA). Take the turning for Brackenwood Garden Centre, drive past the garden centre, take a right fork and carry on for another 200m. • Royal Fort is owned by University of Bristol. Access to the public (but not to dogs) is usually allowed. • Brentry Hill (BS10 6TD) lies east of the junction of Passage Road and Charlton Road. The area around the house is private, and, although there is no official access to the wider estate, it is crossed by a couple of footpaths popular with local dog walkers. • All Repton’s Bristol landscapes (except Brentry Hill) feature in Andrew Swift’s Walks from Bristol’s Severn Beach Line, available from bookshops or direct from akemanpress.com

Clinton took on board our wants/requests, suggested some design features and came up with a fantastic design for our new kitchen. We were kept fully informed by the team throughout the process and Neal, our fitter, did a brilliant job. - Sarah & Robin C

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WILD BRISTOL

Hedgerow berries provide much-needed food for creatures like this female blackbird, and other wildlife in late autumn and winter

Life on the hedge

An ancient hedge has been helping the wildlife of Bristol (and beyond) for hundreds of years. Pete Dommett takes a look

he humble hedgerow is often overlooked and underrated in its importance as a habitat for wildlife. But it provides food and shelter for a wealth of species – from ladybirds and shieldbugs to blackbirds and bats – effectively acting as a linear nature reserve. Surprisingly, I recently discovered that one of the oldest hedges in the country survives among the streets of Henleaze. Phoenix Hedge follows a public footpath that connects Henleaze Park Road with Phoenix Grove and was presumably planted as a parish or field boundary, long before the area was subsumed by the city. To work out how old a hedge is, you need to apply Hooper’s Law. This method, devised in the 1950s, is based upon the number of ‘woody’ plants (i.e. trees) found growing along a 100ft length of hedgerow, with each one representing a century of life. It sounds a bit crude, but is proven to be scientifically reliable. The Henleaze hedge boasts eight different examples – ash, elm, field maple, hawthorn, blackthorn, holly, dog-rose and spindle – which means that, according to the theory, it’s around 800 years old. The presence of spindle, in particular, indicates an ancient hedgerow as this poorly colonising shrub only occurs naturally in the oldest specimens. When it comes to wildlife, the more diverse a hedge’s make-up, the more species it supports. An array of different flora results in a range of flowering and fruiting times, which means an almost year-round source of food for a wide variety of insects, birds and small mammals. Along Phoenix Hedge, creeping plants like bramble, bryony, honeysuckle and ivy also add to the wild buffet. In autumn, berries are on the menu. When I walked along the 94 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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footpath a fortnight ago, dusty-blue sloes, scarlet rosehips, dark red haws and the pink, cushion-shaped berries of spindle (a favourite snack of foxes) were the dishes of the day. These supply bank voles, shrews and wood mice with enough energy to survive the winter and provide seasonal sustenance for blackbirds and other thrushes. At this time of year, fieldfares and redwings from Scandinavia are migrating above the city (on clear nights, you can hear the soft, ‘seeping’ calls of the latter as they pass overhead), but sometimes stop to gorge on this berry bonanza. But it’s not just food that the hedge provides wildlife with. The thorny interior offers a safe place for birds to nest in spring and shelter throughout the year. In the colder months, it’s home to overwintering butterflies and other invertebrates, hidden among the ivy, and perhaps two of our hibernating mammals: bats (which also hunt along the hedgerow in summer) and the eponymous hedgehog. Britain has lost half its hedgerows since the Second World War (due to the increased industrialisation of farming) and those that remain are often poorly managed for nature. No-one really knows who owns the hedge in Henleaze as such, so a team of dedicated volunteers have taken it upon themselves to look after it. At 4pm on the first Friday of every month, when most of us are thinking of heading home for the weekend and putting our feet up, the Phoenix Hedge Preservation Group meets to prune, plant and pick up litter. In doing so, they are safeguarding this valuable habitat for centuries to come. And Bristol’s wildlife is all the better for it. ■ • Find out more about Phoenix Hedge at sites.google.com/site/phoenixhedge

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INTERIORS

Tranquil shades Dulux has chosen ‘tranquil dawn’, a colour inspired by the morning sky, as its colour of the year for 2020 (see above). Other colours suggested for the year include warm neutrals such as oatmeal and natural buﬀ and soft accent colours. Here is our response – a selection of pieces for the interior in knocked-back shades that are chic, chalky and chilled

Bampton Triple Wardrobe, £1,439.10. See the full Bampton range at Park Furnishers; parkfurnishers.co.uk

Sitting on the Rock by artist Masako Tobita, £720. See more of her work at Clifton Contemporary Art; cliftoncontemporaryart.co.uk

Design Project by John Lewis No.045 LED task lamp in evergreen, £75. John Lewis; johnlewis.com

Everhot 120plus electric range cooker, POA, from Boniti; boniti.com

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INTERIORS

Egret made with steel wire, £750, Celia Smith; celia-smith.co.uk

Lotus wallpaper by Farrow & Ball, £110, 10m roll; farrow-ball.com

Little Cheese footstool, £195, Loaf; loaf.com

Delicato Ocean decorative porcelain, from £119/m2, Mandarin Stone; mandarinstone.com Demelza Tin Talc décor ceramic, from £43.20 /m2, Mandarin Stone; mandarinstone.com

Bloomsbury Encaustic tile, £3.87 per tile, Boniti; boniti.com

Ercol Gela fabric chair, POA, Park Furnishers; parkfurnishers.co.uk

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GARDENING

Bird song can transport us away from the stresses of modern living if we allow ourselves to stop and listen

Feed the birds

They’re called feathered friends for a reason, says Elly West. This month our gardening columnist is urging us to do our bit to help birds’ survival this winter by making sure our gardens can act as wildlife corridors

eing outside in a garden is a joy for many reasons, and being at one with nature is top of my list. It’s a privilege to do our bit to host the abundant wildlife that relies on our gardens for food and shelter. While some forms of wildlife are more welcome than others – slimy molluscs are, and always will be, the enemy – most of us enjoy the sight or sound of birds in the garden. They’re called feathered friends for a reason. They often eat said slimy molluscs, for starters, but they also add another dimension to our enjoyment of the great outdoors. It’s satisfying and exciting when new or unusual species visit the bird feeder, and there’s something very gratifying and heart-warming about the sight of a trusting robin that hops as close as it dares to our feet, cocking its head in its search for live titbits unearthed as we turn the soil over with a spade. Bird song on a summer’s day can quickly transport us away from the stresses of modern living if we practise mindfulness and allow ourselves to stop and listen. Gardens are increasingly important for wildlife, especially in urban areas where they can act as corridors for nature to travel along. And as winter sets in, it’s even more important to do our bit in helping birds’ survival by supplementing their forageable food with seeds, nuts and other specially prepared bird feeds. There’s a multi-billion dollar global industry dedicated to feeding garden birds, and the British Trust for Ornithology says that the composition of bird communities can potentially be transformed by long-term garden bird feeding. A paper released earlier this year states; “The popular pastime of feeding the birds is significantly shaping garden 98 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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bird communities in Britain. The populations of several species of garden birds have grown in number, and the diversity of species visiting feeders has also increased.” Their results show that while in the 1970s bird feeders were dominated by house sparrows and starlings, their numbers have been in rapid decline over the last 30 years. Today other species are more commonly visiting feeders, such as goldfinches and woodpigeons. So it seems that our actions can make a difference. Blue tits need to eat up to 40 per cent of their body weight each day and in the winter months, when natural food is scarce, it’s even more important to put out food that can help their survival. The most obvious way to encourage birds into the garden is with bird feeders, and there are plenty on the market to choose from. Whether you go for a hopper, ground feeder,

The Big Garden Birdwatch If you want to help the RSPB with its Big Garden Birdwatch, now in its 40th year, it takes place at the end of January, so keep an eye on the website, rspb.org.uk, for exact dates and more information. More than half a million people took part in the last event, providing vital information to help monitor bird populations and creating a snapshot of different species’ numbers across the UK. All you have to do is sit at your window and record the birds you see in the space of one hour.

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GARDENING

seed feeder, a squirrel-proof wire contraption, or old-fashioned bird table, make sure it’s positioned away from the house in a spot where birds can spot danger easily, to reduce opportunities for predators such as cats and sparrowhawks.

...Balls made from suet or fat are great in winter as they are high in calories, and are likely to attract blue tits, long-tailed tits and great spotted woodpeckers...

packed with protein for sparrows, robins, tits and blackbirds. Water is very important as well, all year round, especially for seed-eating birds that have dry meals, so make sure the bird bath is regularly filled with fresh, clean water and hasn’t frozen over in the colder months. Even better, include a wildlife pond in your garden with gently sloping edges where birds can bathe and drink. As well as putting food out for birds, we can help them by growing shrubs and trees for cover, and even for nesting in, as well as those that provide food. The ones with plump, juicy fruits and berries, or seeds rich in oil and fat are best for your bird populations. Rowan, ivy, pyracantha, holly, hawthorn, honeysuckle and cotoneaster all provide rich sources of food that birds will love. Grow sunflowers and teasels for the seed heads; also coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea). If your garden becomes a reliable source of food and shelter, then birds will become regular visitors, and you can enjoy the knowledge that you’re helping wildlife, encouraging a natural pest and predator balance, and maybe enjoying some beautiful music into the bargain. ■ • ellyswellies.co.uk

Be patient; it can take days if not weeks for word (tweet) to get around and for birds to start visiting your feeder, but once they know it’s there they are sure to return if you make sure it’s always well stocked. Buy quality bird food from reputable sources, and avoid giving bread as it isn’t nutritious. Also avoid sugary foods. Greenfinches and sparrows love high-energy sunflower seeds, while goldfinches, robins and siskins are attracted to smaller niger seeds. If you give peanuts, make sure they’re in a feeder with a small wire mesh, as birds can choke if they are able to access larger chunks. Chaffinches, woodpeckers and nuthatches are especially keen on peanuts. Clean feeders regularly to help prevent spread of disease, and remove anything that has gone mouldy. Balls made from suet or fat are great in winter as they are high in calories, and are likely to attract blue tits, long-tailed tits and great spotted woodpeckers among others. Dried mealworms may not look very appetising but birds love them, and they make a nutritious and tasty treat

Plant of the month: Honeysuckle This twining evergreen climber is a classic for cottage garden schemes and can quickly cloak a fence or wall, providing scent and colour through summer. The flowers attract lots of insects, which in turn attract birds then, in autumn, the berries provide a feast for species including thrushes, warblers and bullfinches. It’s a good choice where space is tight, as it grows vertically, and can also be left to scramble through a hedge. Once well-established, honeysuckle also makes a good nesting sight. Plants like welldrained, moist soils in full or partial sun and can be cut back in late spring or early winter to keep the size in check.

Create space with a garden room GARDEN OFFICES • LOG CABINS • STUDIOS • SUMMERHOUSES POSH SHEDS • TIMBER GARAGES • OUTDOOR LIVING SPACES

01225 774566 • www.gardenaffairs.co.uk Visit our Display Centre at Trowbridge Garden Centre 288 Frome Road, BA14 0DT THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK

NOVEMBER 2019

THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE 99

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MAXIMISE THE VALUE OF YOUR LAND AND PROPERTY

Elly’s Wellies

Garden Designs

IF YOU’RE THINKING OF RETIREMENT, OR YOUR BUSINESS ISNT QUITE GOING TO PLAN

IF YOU OWN A DETACHED CARE HOME, HOTEL OR PUBLIC HOUSE, or a parcel of land with potential We have clients actively seeking new opportunities, with or without planning permission

Turning your ideas into beautiful spaces Elly’s Wellies Garden Designs will help you maximise the potential of your outdoor space and tailor it to your individual needs. Whether you are looking for a complete garden redesign, or just need advice on what to plant in a border, Elly’s Wellies will be happy to help.

We offer a completely confidential service, with over 20 years experience of delivering residential projects, tailor made to suit your individual circumstances Please email or call directly:

For a free initial consultation, contact Elly West

www.ellyswellies.co.uk ellyswellies@gmail.com 07788 640934 100 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

NOVMBER 2019

NO¯ 185

Cameron Gray 07876 197522 cameron@landdevelopmentbrokers.co.uk www.landdevelopmentbrokers.co.uk

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BRISTOL PROPERTY | IN FOCUS

ldbury on Severn lies two miles from Thornbury and around 18 miles to central Bristol with convenient links via the M5. Idyllically named Yew Tree Farm, is believed to date from the 1600s and is the second oldest house in the village. The house faces south with an attractive outlook towards the village. The interior is traditional with beamed ceilings, wooden floors and open fireplaces which create a warm and welcoming atmosphere. Accommodation in the main house is over two floors and consists of: Sitting room and breakfast room/snug, kitchen/breakfast room, dining room, utility rooms and cloakroom. A spiral staircase leads to a first floor bedroom with en suite shower room. Also on the first floor are a further four bedrooms and a family bathroom. In addition to the main house is a detached, two bedroom, single storey self-contained barn with exposed roof trusses an open-plan breakfast kitchen/sitting room, utility room and office. Both bedrooms have en suite bath/shower rooms. An open stone and tile four bay barn provides ample parking and there is also a tandem garage/workshop. The beautiful gardens include fruit trees, leans, topiary and a terrace and the fabulous heated pool with changing room brings a touch of the Mediterranean. In all the property extends to around 1.37 acres. Yew Tree Farm offers cosy country living on an extensive plot with a great deal of flexibility and will appeal to many prospective purchasers. Contact agents Knight Frank for full details and viewing.

YEW TREE FARM OLDBURY ON SEVERN BRISTOL BS35 • Substantial 5 bedroom main house • 2 bedroom /2 bathroom annexe • Outbuildings • Heated outdoor pool with changing room • Extensive and beautiful gardens

Guide price £1,125,000

Knight Frank, Regent House, 27A Regent Street, Clifton, Bristol. Tel: 0117 295 0425

THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK

NOVEMBER 2019 | THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE 101

6 TOP INDUSTRY AWARDS

(0117) 934 9977

WE ARE DELIGHTED TO HAVE WON ANOTHER TOP INDUSTRY AWARD…

INSIDER PROPERTY AWARDS: SOUTH WEST COMMERCIAL AGENCY TEAM 2019 TAKING OUR TOTAL TO 6 AWARDS THIS YEAR….

Julian Cook FRICS

Jayne Rixon MRICS

Burston Cook November.indd 2

Charlie Kershaw MRICS

Finola Ingham MRICS

Tom Coyte MRICS

Holly Boulton BSc(Hons)

• • • • •

Sales / Lettings Acquisitions Valuations Landlord & tenant Auction Sales

• • • • •

Rent reviews Property Management Investment Sales / Purchase Development & Planning Dilapidations Advice 23/10/2019 14:08

Bristol & Clifton’s premier Commercial Property Agents Keep up-to-date with our latest news, deals, testimonials and market comment at our website: www.burstoncook.co.uk

(0117) 934 9977 CLIFTON RESTAURANT

PENTHOUSE OFFICE QUEEN SQUARE

• Landmark corner unit

• 1,958 sq ft

• Clifton Village

• New refurbishment

• Fitted and ready to trade

• Available Q1 2020

• 1,400 sq ft

• New lease – rent on application

• Only £26,000 pax

PODVILLE OFFICES

HARBOURSIDE – BS1

• A hub of 12 high spec shipping containers

• Co working space in Grade A prime office • 20 / 25 desks

• Each 4 – 6 desks

• Min 6 months

• All inclusive • Ready to occupy

• ‘Everything a business needs on tap’

‘CLIFTON / REDLAND’ OFFICES’

40 HIGH STREET SHIREHAMPTON

• New contemporary studio style office suite • 1,635 sq ft + 5 car spaces • Light, bright space New lease – rent on application

• Shop to let

BUSY SHOPPING CENTRE RETAIL UNIT

HOTWELL RD, BS8

• 554 sq ft • Established retail pitch • Only £12,000 pa – No rates

• To rent / may sell

• Brimsham Park – serving highly populated residential area • C 500 sq ft • Only £16,000 pax • New flexi lease

• Busy prominent location • 1,235 sq ft • Rent / price o/a

REDLAND – CHANDOS ROAD SHOP UNIT • Established neighborhood shopping parade • 489 sq ft • New lease

RESTAURANTS & SHOPS IN BS1 & BS8 Restaurants, cafes and shops of various sizes and rents throughout Clifton and Bristol city centre. Tel: Holly Boulton or Tom Coyte 0117 934 9977

• Only £11,000 pax

Julian Cook FRICS

Jayne Rixon MRICS

Burston Cook November.indd 1

Charlie Kershaw MRICS

Finola Ingham MRICS

Tom Coyte MRICS

Holly Boulton BSc(Hons)

• Sales / Lettings • Acquisitions • Valuations • Landlord & tenant • Auction Sales

• Rent reviews • Property Management • Investment Sales / Purchase • Development & Planning • Dilapidations Advice 23/10/2019 14:08

PRIME CLIFTON RESTAURANT TO LET

A rare opportunity to acquire a very attractive restaurant premises in a very prominent corner position at the heart of Clifton Village (opposite Pizza Express and the new Bar 44 Bristol)

• New lease

• Sensible rent

• Ready for quick occupation ALL ENQUIRIES

Burston Cook July.indd 3

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cjhole.co.uk

OAKWOOD ROAD, HENLEAZE

CRANBROOK ROAD, REDLAND

A flexible character home situated in the heart of Henleaze. This delightful 1930’s style semi-detached home offers an extended living space together with four bedrooms, making it the ideal choice for downsizers looking to enjoy their retirement within this popular residential suburb. EPC D

Currently arranged over two storeys with a 21m south-westerly facing garden, substantial garage and vehicle access at the rear with open outlook. Offering vast potential, marketed with no onward chain and positioned within the Redland Green School catchment area. EPC D

£750,000

£575,000

CHERITON PLACE, WESTBURY-ON-TRYM

COOMBE LANE, STOKE BISHOP

Situated within the ever popular and charming Cheriton Place is this extended three bedroom period family home that has been has been architecturally designed at the rear and extended to create a fantastic open plan family living kitchen diner space. EPC C

This 1930’s semi-detached family home offers three bedrooms, two reception rooms; front with bay and rear with bay window and French doors onto a 21m south-west-west facing garden. Within close proximity of Stoke Lane shops and amenities and marketed with no onward chain. EPC E

£455,000

£558,000

NEW Clifton Office

Henleaze Office

Westbury-on-Trym Office

161 Whiteladies Road Clifton, BS8 2RF

108 Henleaze Road Henleaze, BS9 4JZ

25 Canford Lane Westbury-on-Trym, BS9 3DQ

Tel: 0117 962 9221

Tel: 0117 950 0118

Tel: 0117 435 1867 Clifton@cjhole.co.uk

CJ Hole November.indd 1

henleaze@cjhole.co.uk

westbury@cjhole.co.uk

18/10/2019 14:15

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Same trusted team... opening new doors for you across Bristol and Somerset With more than 30 years of industry experience, the Howard agency is the personal vision of Howard Davis. This professional and truly local property business is born of family values - honesty, trust and loyalty. The Howard team really cares about the people it does business with and this beautiful area that we all live and work in. The well-liked and respected experts at Howard have decades of combined sales and

Howard Davis Managing Director

lettings understanding and exceptional knowledge of Bristol, Somerset and the surrounding suburbs. For those just starting out to those with large portfolios, the Howard ethos is based on respect, transparency, and the determination to deliver an exceptional and personal service for all.

HOWARDâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S NOVEMBER FEATURE HOME

KINGSDOWN, BS9

ÂŁ875,000

An architect designed 3 bedroom family home located in the Kingsdown/Cotham area with breath taking views over the city below. Set over three floors offering south facing walled garden to the rear. Offered with no onward chain. EPC C

0117 923 8238 Howard November.indd 1

www.howard-homes.co.uk

hello@howard-homes.co.uk 18/10/2019 14:16

HARBOURSIDE BS1 GUIDE PRICE £775,000

WELLS ROAD BS4

A charming four double bedroom Georgian home, well presented throughout and offers a light and versatile interior with views towards the harbour and surrounding area. Externally there is an attractive courtyard garden to the rear with a garage situated in a nearby block. EPC D

A grand Victorian property currently arranged as two separate flats. The property allows for the opportunity to extend into the loft space and convert back to a single dwelling (subject to planning permission and building regulations). EPC F

A superior two double bedroom garden flat offers an extensive and well-presented interior. An enclosed courtyard garden with raised wood decking and well placed for all the amenities of Clifton Village. EPC D

REDLAND BS6

WESTBURY PARK BS6

GUIDE PRICE

£625,000

GUIDE PRICE

£425,000

£375,000

CLIFTON BS8

GUIDE PRICE

£495,000

GUIDE PRICE £695,000

An extensive five bedroom, double bayed semi-detached family home, two reception rooms, good sized rear garden, garage and located in the Redland Green School catchment area. EPC F

A two bedroom garden apartment. The property is very well presented and consists of: spacious lounge, kitchen diner, master bedroom plus a second bedroom at the rear allowing access on to your very own garden. EPC D

4 Bedroom impressive semi-detached family home was recently extended and updated to a very high specification. Modern well equipped kitchen with bi-fold doors leading onto the southerly facing rear garden. The house is set within a generous corner plot offering good sized gardens, hardstanding and detached garage. EPC D

REDLAND BS6

CLIFTON BS8

£340,000

BISHOPSTON BS8 GUIDE PRICE £565,000

An exceptional two bedroom apartment in a fine Grade 2 listed building. Consists of: open plan kitchen lounge, quality kitchen, master bedroom, second bedroom and a high quality shower room. The apartment comes with an off street parking space and falls within a Residents Parking Zone. EPC D

A charming Victorian family home. The three storey accommodation offers an attractive open plan living, kitchen / breakfast room, southerly facing rear garden. Utility room, three double bedrooms and well-presented family bathroom. EPC E

GUIDE PRICE

£599,000

A four storey four bedroom townhouse offering a versatile interior, integral garage and roof terrace with views. An excellent location to live within the heart of the city. EPC C

GUIDE PRICE

203 Whiteladies Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 2XT

Howard November.indd 2

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Rupert Oliver FP November.qxp_Layout 1 23/10/2019 15:55 Page 1

Barrow Gurney, Bristol | Guide Price ÂŁ1,295,000 An exceptional detached house on an exclusive development surrounded by tranquil woodland; beautifully finished with a stunning orangery, south facing garden, double garage and parking. Generous corner position with a double garage and off-street parking | South facing landscaped garden with wonderful rural views | Superb sitting room, separate study and open plan family kitchen | Exquisite David Salisbury Orangery | Master bedroom with dressing room and en-suite bathroom | Four further double bedrooms | Bedroom six / playroom | Three further bath / shower rooms | Utility room and generous storage | Set in nearly 8 acres of tranquil communal woodland and wildlife gardens | Excellent access to Bristol and the South West |

In all circa 3650 sq. ft. (338 sq. m)

Rupert Oliver FP November.qxp_Layout 1 23/10/2019 15:56 Page 2

Clear and effective property sales

We are personable and experienced Property Agents who offer a fixed fee paid only on completion Professional advice based on 20 years of property sales experience

At Rupert Oliver Property Agents we provide trusted professional advice based on more than 20 years of property sales experience. We have also dispensed with a percentage based fee, replacing it with our fixed

Fixed commission of ÂŁ5000 plus VAT only payable upon a successful completion

commission of ÂŁ5,000 plus VAT that you only pay on successful completion. We have experience, an innate understanding of how best to market your property, and a new level of clarity and engagement through the use of appropriate

Professional photography and marketing included with transparent and trackable progress throughout

digital technology. To arrange a Market Appraisal of your home or for any property related advice, please call or email Rupert.

Westbury-on-Trym Office Call: 0117 962 1973 Mail: westburysales@oceanhome.co.uk Search: oceanhome.co.uk

Check out our latest reviews and 5 star rating on Trustpilot

Westbury-on-Trym, BS9 £525,000 3 bedroom house A well-presented and characterful three bedroom semi-detached family home with parking and a garage. Positioned close to Henleaze and Westbury-on-Trym shops and amenities. The ground floor offers an entrance porch, welcoming hallway, living room to the front with double glazed bay window and a feature open fireplace, dining room to the rear with sliding doors over-looking the rear garden. EPC E

Westbury-on-Trym BS9 £455,000 3 bedroom house

Henbury, BS10 £575,000 4 bedroom house

A well-presented and characterful three bedroom family home close to Westbury-on-Trym and Henleaze shops and amenities as well as Westbury-on-Trym and St Ursula’s Primary School. The ground floor offers hallway, living room to the front with a bay window and feature fireplace. At the rear is an open plan living kitchen/diner overlooking and providing access through bifolding doors to a lawned and gravel garden.

A beautifully presented four bedroom extended detached family house tucked away on Passage Road. Offering potential to convert into five bedrooms or to add a master bedroom ensuite, a 90ft x 48ft level lawned rear garden with decked dining area, 20ft garage with power and water and off street parking for two cars, this wonderful property ticks many boxes. EPC TBC

EPC C

100’s more properties across our 11 local offices – oceanhome.co.uk

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Clifton Office Call: 0117 946 6007 Mail: cliftonsales@oceanhome.co.uk Search: oceanhome.co.uk

Check out our latest reviews and 5 star rating on Trustpilot

Stoke Bishop BS9 £715,000 4 bedroom semi-detached house A beautiful and deceptively spacious family home within the school catchment of Elmlea and Stoke Bishop. Tastefully decorated with two large reception rooms, a stunning kitchen/breakfast room, utility room and separate cloakroom on the ground floor. Upstairs you will find four superb double bedrooms and stylish four piece bathroom. EPC D

Redcliff BS2 £425,000 2 bedroom apartment

Clifton BS8 £425,000 2 bedroom apartment

A substantial (124m sq/1334sq ft) second floor apartment, set within the desirable Thomas Lane Apartments development. Currently offering two double bedrooms but with potential to add a 3rd double bedroom, this attractive property is ideally positioned for Bristol’s historic harbour area and vibrant city centre.

Located in the heart of Clifton Village with secure underground parking is this extremely spacious third floor balcony apartment. Well-presented and with no onward chain, the flat flows really well with a very generous open plan living room with large glass doors leading out to the private balcony.

EPC C

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