The Bristol Magazine October 2021

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THE

THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK

£3.95 where sold

Issue 203

I octoBeR 2021

MAGAZINE

ALL AT SEA

Folk sensations The Longest Johns, plus Bristol’s first shanty festival

TAYLOR MADE

Pop force Self Esteem on going her own way

BACK TO BASICS

A proper interior refresh means floors and walls

COMING UP FOR AIR

Photographer Stephen Gill finally takes a breath at Arnolfini

OUTLAW

CHIC

The joy of dressing Stephen Merchant’s new characters for his hotly anticipated Bristol-set TV series PLUS... S O M U C H M O R E I N T H E C I T Y ’ S B I G G E S T 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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Official fuel consumption for the Audi Q4 e-tron range in mpg (l/100km): N/A. CO2 emissions: 0g/km.

The Audi Q4 e-tron is a battery electric vehicle requiring mains electricity for charging. Range figures were obtained after the battery had been fully charged, are for comparability purposes and may not reflect real life driving results. Zero emissions while driving. Please consult your Audi Centre for further information. Image for illustrative purposes. Model shown is not UK specification and features optional equipment.

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Image: Olivia Richardson

From ‘The Pillar’ 2015 – 2019 © Stephen Gill

Image: James Pardon/BBC/Big Talk/Four Eyes

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Self Esteem plays Bristol on 1 November and 4 March

32 Contents October 2021

Hollywood legend Christopher Walken gracing inner-city Bristol

REGULARS ZEITGEIST

COSTUME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

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Top activities for the month to come

CITYIST

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The inside track on The Outlaws from the show’s costume designer Charlotte Mitchell

MUSIC

Catch up on local news and meet creative producer Josephine Gyasi

FOLK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

BARTLEBY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Bristol sea shanty sensations The Longest Johns chat to Jeremy Blackmore about the new waters they are navigating

...Is just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round

WHAT’S ON

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POP

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Self Esteem, AKA Rebecca Lucy Taylor, on going her own way

A cross-section of upcoming happenings

BRISTOL UPDATES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Business and community news

EDUCATION NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Bristol’s in the swim this month, encouraging little fish

HISTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Andrew Swift thoroughly recommends ancient boomtown Cirencester for an autumn day trip

FOOD & DRINK NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Updates from local restaurants, producers and food aficionados

WHISKY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 A short history of the Japanese highball, from the new Clifton restaurant Kibou

HABITAT

THE ARTS PHOTOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

HOME & ANTIQUES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Chris Yeo explains just why the Victorians had wallpaper to die for...

Esteemed Bristol-born photographer Stephen Gill returns home for an Arnolfini retrospective

INTERIORS

ARTS & EXHIBITIONS

Emma Clegg suggests we go back to basics with walls and floors this month, for the ultimate new-season refresh

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What’s showing at our local galleries

LITERATURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 New reading recommendations from Bookhaus, which is also hosting some great in-store events for Black History Month

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GARDENING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 One man’s poison is another man’s homeopathic remedy, says Elly West – the difference is often in the dose

FILM & TELEVISION

ON THE COVER

ACTING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Eleanor Tomlinson as Gabby in Stephen Merchant’s imminent new TV series The Outlaws. Turn to p20 for more on her character and her costumes. Image courtesy of James Pardon/BBC/Big Talk/Four Eyes

A chat with Jacob Daniels from local contemporary drama Square, and Rhianne Barreto on co-starring with Stephen Merchant, Christopher Walken, Charles Babalola and the cracking cast of The Outlaws

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THIS MONTH WE’VE BEEN...

We love this image from Stephen Gill’s series ‘Hackney Wick’. See p32 for more of the Bristol-born photographer’s work

Admiring

...The work of Somerset wildlife fan Ben Pulletz, 19 (IG: @ben_pulletz_photography) who spends hours doing fieldcraft to better his chances of getting a great image.

Browsing ...New Emma Bridgewater beauties such as this cute plate for totting up your Halloween treats

from the

EDITOR

A

utumn TV has kicked off and it’s an embarrassment of riches, so if we bail on social plans over the coming weeks, the desire to stay indoors – square-eyed, horizontal – is probably the real reason why. We’ve rattled through suspenseful submarine drama Vigil on BBC iPlayer, made a start on the new Strictly, Bake Off and Sex Education – in fact we’re knee-deep in Netflix, immersed in everything from ’90s New York ball culture via Pose, to revisiting the remarkable life achievements of F1 champion Michael Schumacher. And we’re more than ready for Bristol’s star turn.

Stephen Merchant’s new show The Outlaws, set in his home city, airs very soon, starring the writer-director as well as elder statesman of Hollywood, Christopher Walken, Eleanor Tomlinson (as featured on our front cover), Charles Babalola and co – it’s a cracking cast.

They were a joy to dress, according to sartorial skipper Charlotte Mitchell, who met us at The Bottle Yard after shooting wrapped. See p20 for her thoughts on how costume keys into the social commentary and p18 for a chat with rising star Rhianne Barreto, who plays Rani.

Gig season is underway, and everyone from Fun Lovin’ Criminals to Mercury Prize winner Arlo Parks is descending on the city. On 1 November, a pop force and forensic examiner of millennial muliebrity – Self Esteem AKA Rebecca Lucy Taylor – plays The Fleece, billed as a half-time-at-the-Super-Bowl experience. We can’t wait to see how she navigates that gert pole in the middle of the stage. Apparently it’s all in hand, though; she practically designed her tour around it, so she tells us on p26. Bristol is hosting its first sea shanty festival this month too, which made us think: hey, what are those Wellerman lads up to now, since the viral TikTok success? Local folk sensations The Longest Johns, who have signed a deal with Decca and are working on an album, play Thekla later this year and tell Jeremy Blackmore all about the new waters they’re navigating on p24.

In art, experimental documentary photographer Stephen Gill returns home for the honour of an Arnolfini retrospective; on p32, from his gorgeous studio in Sweden, he reflects on an enriching journey of learning, creating, dismantling and ending up back where it all started.

His 16-year-old self, in the Asda Bedminster photo lab, would never have believed it.

Elsewhere, we’ve a brief history of Japanese highballs; new reading recommendations from Bookhaus; poisonous plants and their homeopathic properties; interiors, and a little home design history from Chris Yeo about one Victorian wallpaper to die for. Hope you enjoy the issue – my last, after the best five years bigging up what I think is the greatest hometown you can have. Thanks to all contributing writers, photographers, creatives, event producers, charity bods, PRs, performers et al; you’ve been a pleasure. See you around!

AMANDA NICHOLLS EDITOR

@thebristolmag

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Obsessed ...With Nick Walker’s cheeky bronze sculpture, the Moona Lisa – on display at M Shed’s Vanguard: Bristol Street Art exhibition until the end of October.

Psssst! Have you heard?

A new Planet Ice is launching in Patchway, with community engagement at the core of the rink’s ethos. Key groups will be invited to get involved in launch events over the coming months.

Event of the month The inaugural Working Class Writers Festival takes place in October, featuring a cracking line-up of literary events. Check it out via Twitter: @ClassFestival

Calling all aspiring camerapersons Could your photography inspire others? We The Curious is asking people aged 11 to 18 to photograph the Bristol they see in response to the statement ‘this can change’ and be part of an exhibition to inspire action for a more sustainable future. Closing date 31 October; shortlisted entries will be displayed from November to January; check out wethecurious.org/event/this-can-changephotography

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ZEITGEIST

top things to do in October

Stroll Shake off any Covid blues, get outdoors, enjoy nature, walk, explore and party at the brand new Let’s Walk Bristol Festival running from 1 to 3 October. There’s something for everyone, whatever your fitness level, as well as evening entertainment and an Ashton Court family adventure trail for only £5.

The festival weekend starts on Friday afternoon with a walk around Bristol’s lively and historic regenerated harbourside, finishing at a local pub for drinks. On Saturday, take your pick from popular city walks and beautiful countryside trails – all led by experienced, insured guides – to a ferry and Underfall Yard harbour experience, a Dudes and Dogs walk and a Banksy and street art tour. Round the day off at a choice of two venues with delicious food and fabulous music. On Sunday, there’s a hub in Ashton Court with street food and music as well as a free Nordic walking workshop and plenty more. Explore and enjoy!

Shop The award-winning Vintage Furniture Flea is coming to Paintworks Event Space on 3 October. As sustainability plays heavy on everyone’s minds, and shoppers seek interesting and unique homewares and furniture, The Vintage Furniture Flea – now in its 11th year – is here to provide an ecoconscious way of shopping homewares while keeping prices low. Look out for European glassware, mid-century sideboards, rattan chairs, handmade ceramics, bold prints and fabrics and restored lamps – all sold by an awesome group of hand-picked furniture and homewares traders. Tickets from £3. Prebook online or pay on the door.

• letswalkbristol.co.uk

Listen Pianist James Lisney continues his ‘Endgame’ project at St George’s Bristol on 6 October.

‘Endgame’ is a series of concerts focussing on the late piano music of Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert and Chopin – four composers who are particularly close to James’ heart. In this fifth instalment of the series, James performs two monumental late works – Schubert’s serene Sonata in G, D.894, written just two years before the composer’s death, and Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations, considered to be one of the greatest sets of variations for keyboard alongside Bach’s Goldberg Variations.

In Endgame, James Lisney explores the notion of ‘Late Style’ through some of the most endlessly satisfying piano music. These extraordinary works demonstrate that lateness is not just about temporal maturity, that it is also an attitude of mind; there is the sense of a life lived with intensity, that time is of the essence. Tickets from £17.50.

• buytickets.at/thevintagefurnitureflea

• stgeorgesbristol.co.uk

Party The Trowbridge Craft Beer and Cider Festival will be held at Innox Mills from 15 – 17 October. This month, the festival is set to feature a wide variety of regional beers and ciders, plus street food, live music and evening sessions to ensure a fun, buoyant atmosphere.

DeCanter Mobile bar will be serving a range of different alcoholic drinks including gins and wines, plus a selection of soft drinks to make sure no one is left thirsty.

Music will also be provided by The Pump, an organisation that aims to promote musical talent within the town and surrounding area. Tickets cost £12.50, which includes two beer tokens.

Escape Bristol Bach Choir presents an immersive performance, in English, of Haydn’s The Creation, in which the vivid score will be enhanced by atmospheric image projection and creative lighting design. Taking place on 10 October at St George’s Bristol, this unforgettable performance, which promises to enchant and beguile, aims to provide a feast for the senses and the soul. With text from the Book of Genesis and Milton’s Paradise Lost, The Creation is filled with soaring melodies, blockbuster choruses and vibrant orchestral writing and is widely considered Haydn’s crowning masterpiece, inspired by his trips to England, where he first heard Handel’s oratorios.

• trowbridgebeerfest.co.uk • bristolbach.org.uk 10 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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THE CITY

My

BRISTOL Meet creative producer, curator, artist and maker Josephine Gyasi As a creative producer I work from home or in the Knowle West Media Centre (KWMC) building. Renting a desk at Unit 8 Studios was a blessing during lockdown, but I have now moved to a new CARGO space. I have options!

Songs of the sea Not since the 19th century have sea shanties been so popular. The incredible success of Wellerman on TikTok brought the genre to a new audience and became a life-changing track for Bristol’s best-known shanty crew The Longest Johns (see interview, p24) who signed a record deal after filming videos aboard the SS Great Britain during lockdown.

Now, in conjunction with the Docks Heritage Weekend, Bristol is to play host to 10 of the best shanty crews around as part of the city’s inaugural sea shanty festival. On 10 October, visitors can expect rousing performances on outdoor stages at The Underfall Yard and on Brunel Square, with plenty of audience participation around the harbourside.

“There are major festivals to celebrate these great songs of the sea across the UK – Falmouth, Harwich and Mevagissey to name but a few,” said Phil Gibson, coorganiser of the festival and singer with High & Dry. “Arguably though, there is no city in the UK with a stronger maritime heritage than Bristol and yet we don’t have our own festival. This year is the first step towards putting that right, with 10 or more crews performing across four great open-air venues, from lunchtime to early evening.

“Our crew meet up every week to practice our songs and enjoy a beer together. The fun, social side of shanty singing is the reason we do it but it has to be said that we live for the next performance – there is a bit of a showman in all of us!”

Co-organiser Thomasina Gibson hopes the event will become a regular addition to Bristol’s renowned festival calendar: “We have a wealth of shanty talent here in the South West with at least 60 crews between Bristol and Cornwall and down to the south coast. This event heralds the start of what we hope will become a regular celebration. Bristol deserves to host a major international music festival featuring the songs of the sea and attracting thousands of visitors to our amazing city.”

• facebook.com/bristolshanty

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My day begins with... lemon water! Then I exercise – African dance on YouTube, skipping in the garden, a yoga sequence or 10-minute meditation. I’m not too hard on myself if I don’t get this all in – some days I roll out of bed, stretch and that’s it – but I do my best to get at least one of these in before facing the world. After work I usually have an activity or freelance work to do, and always finish a day with a nice meal. I love cooking. One constant in my day is the voice note – it’s my favourite way of communicating and working.

Abena is my middle name – the Ghanaian name for a child born on a Tuesday – and the name of the skincare brand I’m working on. I developed it at university, inspired by DIY natural skincare. The aim is not all about selling products, but skill-sharing within a community, providing the kit to support easy, safe skincare at home. I have started to make bespoke batches of shea body butter, as an opportunity for customers to feed back on recipes and learn along the way.

Commissioned by Play Disrupt, I’m leading on engaging the local community on Colston Road to create a visual response to the name of the road through public art. I also recently started lecturing first-year product design students at UWE. It’s a dream to be able to support students, learning from my own experiences.

I co-run a record label and event Club DJembe, celebrating UK funky, funky house, Afrobeats, gqom, tribal, dub and everything in between.

We have a monthly show on SWU FM and have worked with some amazing artists to create top-tier music releases and guest mixes.

Come and party with us on 16 October – it’ll be our first stand-up party since the pandemic so it’s going to be special.

Image by Tasha Hylton

Bristol will host 10 of the best shanty crews this month

beautiful green spots which I can’t get enough of. My top city venue right now, though, is Cafe Cuba: unmatched vibes, authentic food.

KWMC arts programme manager Martha King deserves a shout-out – a passionate individual full of creative ideas and inspiring work ethic.

Roseanna Dias too; she’s a powerhouse of a woman: artist, writer, curator, creative producer and all-round superstar, moving so powerfully in great spaces including Rising Arts Agency, advocating for real change, with grace.

I’ve watched Rema Mukena – BBC journalist/assistant producer/radio host – grow so much in the short time I’ve known her. Her talents are unlimited. Check out her BBC podcasts. Will Taylor is the most charming creative producer, artist, filmmaker... the list goes on. I have been in awe of his tenacity. He has wowed me ever since we first met and has such a big heart, with the brain to match.

I’m listening to Fiyah Dred FKA BAMZ – a producer/DJ/artist with the most insane talent.

Just listen; let the music do the talking. I also discovered Yung Singh this year. I love how he brings his heritage and culture into his music.

If you’d like to support my work you can buy a print of my recently exhibited piece What Are Your Plans? – a poem in response to the killing of George Floyd. You can sponsor me to continue developing ABENA, or simply get in touch. I love meeting new people and finding out where we can support each other.

I’m a proud first-generation graduate, born in North London and, mainly, bred in Hertfordshire. Besides trying to better the world, my big dream is to be a potter. In the next year I also want to reach Ghana, continue to reconnect with my roots, grow an ABENA community and make more space for creativity.

My favourite part of the city is East Bristol – it’s ethnically diverse which is so important, and has a real safe community feel. There are

• Follow Josephine @josephine.gyasi (Instagram); @josie.gyasi (Twitter) @JosieGyasi; or visit linktr.ee/josephine.gyasi

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Second chance saloon Prisoners from HMP Bristol are supporting the work of an important charity while learning new upcycling skills in order to restore tatty and broken furniture, to be resold in the Gloucester Road Marie Curie shop.

Small pieces of furniture donated to the charity are taken to the HMP Bristol to be upcycled in the prison’s workshop as part of a new furniture restoration course.

Proceeds from sales fund vital end-of-life care and support for dying people and their families in Bristol and beyond. All the furniture is donated, and more is needed to keep the project going and display fully stocked.

“We’ve absolutely loved being involved in this project,” said Riona Houghton, Marie Curie community fundraiser for Bristol. “It feels like a win-win – it’s a great chance for prisoners to develop their creative and practical skills, it brings in much needed income to our shop, saves some beautiful pieces of furniture from going to waste and also gives customers the opportunity to buy one of a kind, unique pieces of furniture at a reasonable price. We are going to need lots more furniture donated as this project picks up speed, so anyone who has any small pieces of furniture that they could drop into our Gloucester Road shop – we’d be really grateful. Regrettably we can’t accept large pieces of furniture or anything with glass in at this time.”

The Second Chance Furniture project is the first of its kind for Marie Curie, but retail manager Neil Lias sees potential in similar projects launching elsewhere in the country. “Yet again, our Gloucester Road shop and community hub is leading the way with another innovative community-led project,” said Neil. “I hope we can replicate this type of project in other stores around the UK.” • For more information on the Second Chance Furniture project, pop into the Marie Curie shop and Community Hub on Gloucester Road or call Riona on 07876748717

From India to Bristol: shaping global grassroots rugby Bristol Bears has gone into partnership with Kolkata Jungle Crows – a club founded in 2004 by a small group of rugby fans living in Kolkata, India. The agreement will bring two clubs from different ends of the rugby spectrum together, offering them opportunities, through shared learning and connection, to broaden their horizons and enrich their communities.

Kolkata Jungle Crows has grown over the years and now has men’s and women’s teams competing at every level across India. Playing on Crow Field in the heart of Maidan, the club has won Kolkata’s top league competition, the Calcutta Cup, four times, plus the Centenary Cup. Its Under 17s team are are national champions and many of the men’s and women’s teams play international rugby for India. The team’s Khelo Rugby scheme was a World Rugby Spirit of Rugby project for four years and received several awards in India for its work in the community. Kolkata Jungle Crows and Bristol Bears will look to help the development of the game in India, and the Bears’ local community. “This will be a genuine partnership with opportunities for people involved in both clubs,” said Paul Walsh MBE, Jungle Crows founder. “I see this as two rugby clubs with one shared vision: to inspire their communities.”

“There is a historic link between Bristol Bears and India, as Bears’ Junior Academy manager Gary Townsend went to India with a charitable trust in 2006, 2007 and 2008,” said Bears chief executive Mark Tainton. “During that time, he worked with Kolkata Jungle Crows. In 2018 Gary went back out to India and again worked with Paul and the Crows.”

With a long-term aim of shaping global grassroots rugby, the partnership came as a result of the enthusiasm of Bristol actor and Bears’ season ticket holder Stewart Wright. He filmed in India in 2018 while playing Paul Walsh in the film Jungle Cry. Inspired by Paul’s story of coaching 12 underprivileged orphan children from Kalinga Institute in Odisha – Crows players at Ashton Gate! and their triumphant journey to the International Junior Rugby Tournament held in the UK in 2007 – Stewart arranged to bring Crows players to Bristol from another filming location in Wales, to watch a Bears game. This turned out to be an important stepping stone in forming the partnership. “I’m very honoured to have played a small part in the history of these two inspiring clubs,” he said.

• bristolbearsrugby.com; junglecrows.net

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LONG WALK TO EDUCATION A woman who walked barefoot, eight hours a day, through dangerous lands to go to school is now studying for a prestigious PhD in Bristol.

Bongai Munguni – whose father died young, and whose maize farming family was displaced by the Mozambique civil war – would set off at 5am each day to get to Mafumise Primary School across the border in Zimbabwe. Dangers that beset the route included rogue soldiers, wild animals and muti killers – murderers who kill people and sell their body parts for ritual medicine.

“When I was 12 years old a family friend was murdered in our village and my mother decided it was too dangerous for me to walk to school,” she says. “I wasn’t happy because I loved school, but I had to comply. It was also very expensive for the uniform and books. Instead I helped in the fields. One day I walked to my old school to sell bananas and my teacher, Mr Chipongo, spotted me. I explained that I had no choice but to stop studying and he offered to pay for my Grade 7 exams.”

This selfless act changed Bongai’s life.

Although she was too busy in the fields to go to school, she was able to study at home, devouring the teacher’s notes late into the night by the light of grass fires.

She aced the exams and, aged 15, moved to a Zimbabwean tea plantation where she could earn and learn.

With top grades under her belt, Bongai was able to get a place at the University of Zimbabwe. Her family spent days calling friends and neighbours to pull together the necessary funds. They were successful, but in the end Bongai was offered a Government of Zimbabwe Cadet Scholarship and she moved to the capital Harare to study economics.

Today, aged 31 and funded by a Cotutelle Scholarship, she is studying for a joint PhD at Cape Town University and the University of Bristol, via the inaugural UCT–Bristol University Researchers without Borders programme – which sees her split her time between the two cities.

She will return to the city in 2022. “I’ll always treasure my time at Bristol,” she says. “I loved the lectures and the people and I can’t wait to come again.” ■

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Watching the wheels

W

hen our kids were little we used to spend a lot of time playing trains. At first we had the most basic wooden set, with a couple of engines that went round in endless circles, through a cityscape of wooden blocks. Being the driver of this train to Nowhere could get a little wearing so there was great celebration among the adults in the house when we snagged a sack of unwanted Brio track at a school fete. From this point it was as though Brunel had moved into the sitting room. Tracks snaked here, there and everywhere, through bridges and tunnels. A station sprang up; signals, crossings…

While his sister had other interests, the young lad was focused pretty strongly on trains. If he wasn’t playing trains he was watching them on TV (if you ever want me to divulge a secret, threaten me with Thomas the Tank Engine). For a treat, or when he was incurably grisly, I would pop him in his pushchair and we would bumble down the hill to the station. As soon as we got onto the platform he would cheer up and begin looking around with interest. Trainspotting.

This was not, I have to say, something I’d ever imagined doing. I did spend a lot of time as a teenager sitting at stations, but always with travel in mind. We used to have these wheezy old one-carriage trundlers that crawled from village to village bearing passengers too young, too old or too peculiar to drive. Now and again I would make my way to a mainline station to take an Intercity 125 to London, and when I was old enough I travelled a few times by train around Europe.

Generally broke, and always poorly organised, I would head in vague fashion to places that seemed interesting and cheap. Odd things would happen. At a station cafe in a small town in Hungary I selected at random from a menu I couldn’t read the language and was presented by a solemn waiter with a plate of minced beef and tinned pears. There were uncomfortable journeys, even frightening ones, but I never gave the actual business of travelling by train a moment’s thought. Rail travel may be expensive and sometimes annoying but I always preferred it to driving, and until Covid arrived I was probably at Temple Meads three mornings a week, heading somewhere for work.

Since March 2020 I’ve driven almost everywhere. Who wouldn’t?

You just walk out of the house, climb in to your car and climb out at the other end of the journey. Easy. The other day, though, I had something to do in Bath and decided to take the train. And as soon as I left the house and set off down the hill to our local station I began to feel that sense of expectation that comes with even the most humdrum train journey.

I quickened my pace and was at the platform in good time. And as I waited I remembered an incident that happened once, when my son and I were in the exact same spot, and he was intently studying the track from the vantage point of his pushchair. Passing trains were few and far between, but eventually a local bus-on-rails creaked to a halt at our platform, paused while nobody alighted or boarded, and went on its way. A minute later a woman came running up the ramp but slowed when she saw us.

‘Oh good,’ she said, ‘I thought I’d missed it, then I saw you…’

‘I’m afraid you have missed it,’ I told her, embarrassed. ‘We’re not actually waiting for a train.’ I paused, unsure what to say next, at which my son stuck his head round the side of his pushchair and fixed the would-be passenger with a stern eye. ‘We watching trains,’ he said, then turned away to peer down the track, waiting for the next one. ■

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TV & FILM

Rising star

Meet Jacob Daniels, who features in a new Bristol-set drama

L

ast year writing partners Owen Lewis and George Harold Millman wrote a TV drama pilot and, after much crowdfunding to make filming possible, the project finally came to fruition. Set and filmed in Bristol, it is now ready for its first screening. Here, actor Jacob Daniels tells us a little more about the drama, his role and his life philosophy.

In new contemporary drama Jacob plays student Justin Adams in the new drama Square, I play Justin Adams, a young student who is exploring what it is to be independent and have your own power and choices – although he sometimes forgets that actions have consequences! I think we all have a bit of Justin in us, or have been through similar experiences – pushing boundaries, looking for new, exciting things, then having to handle the adult and very real, unexpected consequences of our actions.

The drama follows the lives of a group of uni students as they navigate their lives, exploring their friendships, relationships, political ideals and morals as they each develop through their ‘coming of age’ years. It’s about that moment where teenagers leave the ‘restraints’ of living at home with parents, and begin to explore their newfound ‘freedom’.

Whether for better or worse, we follow them as they develop into young adults, with all the passion and heartbreak that accompanies certain moments in life. We explore LGBTQ+ relationships, and see how different political beliefs can cause rifts in previously strong relationships. The characters attend our (fictitious) Bristol University and the themes of the show are often representative of many of the characteristics of Bristol as a city.

We have a premiere at the Watershed on 6 November at 10am. Tickets are available via EventBrite for anyone who would like to come along to support. The pilot episode introduces us to a large and diverse cast, and we learn about the world these characters inhabit and the stories that link them all together. Throughout 2020 we ran R&D sessions on the script, and then once lockdowns and regulations allowed, the cast was brought together and the pilot episode filmed over a three-week period in spring 2021 – following strict Covid protocols!

There is so much fantastic theatre and film being produced in Bristol. I love the fact that Bristol is a city of passionate and challenging creatives, and I really love Bristol Harbourside. You can go there and find all sorts of food and drink, and there is always entertainment of some kind; buskers, skateboarders, live performances, plus the general hustle and bustle of the harbour area.

I’ve always liked the idea of putting all my effort in to everything I do.

There’s the famous phrase ‘If a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing well’. But I find it’s broader than that – if you open it up to life itself, it becomes a matter of ‘If you’re going to do anything, give it all your attention and effort’. For me this includes work, socialising, hobbies, living day to day and so on. ■ • Follow Jacob on Twitter: @JacobDaniels_ or via @SQUARE_tvdrama

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TV & FILM

As seen on screen

Actor Rhianne Barreto talks learning curves, Christopher Walken, Merchant magic, and Stokes Croft’s Cafe Cuba

A

t just 23 years old, Rhianne Barreto has already made a big impression in the acting world, her previous roles including Sophie in American action drama Hanna in 2019 and Bekhal Mahmod for the ITV mini series Honour in 2020 which depicted the police investigation and revelations about police failings in the run-up to real-life disappearance and ‘honour killing’ of Banaz Mahmod. This autumn she’s back on our screens, playing Rani in The Outlaws. We took five with her to find out more about her time filming the show.

Rhianne as Rani in The Outlaws. She found it fascinating to watch co-star Stephen Merchant go from being a powerhouse – directing and producing – to the complete opposite when he was in character

TBM: How was the experience of filming The Outlaws? What did you learn from it?

RB: It was phenomenal. We started pre-Covid and filmed two seasons back to back and we are still going. It spans such a vast amount of time that it’s tricky to consolidate all the memories into one paragraph. I had a blast and learnt a lot in regards to the technicalities of filming. We are on our 180th day so I feel like I’ve been through such a training ground for marks, eyelines and lenses etc.!

Inspiring really; two legends! Stephen’s character is pretty silly so it was fascinating seeing him go from being a powerhouse running the show – directing, acting and producing – to playing the complete opposite. Christopher Walken was just electric; super playful, and he just has this sparkle in his eye. I mean, he’s Christopher Walken! It’ll be fascinating for the audience to see a Hollywood legend being plonked in the middle of our story in Bristol.

What was the funniest or most memorable moment on set?

Once Christopher Walken (in the middle of a scene) walked through the door singing a rendition of Don’t Cha by The Pussycat Dolls – pretty iconic.

Can you tell us a bit more about your character, Rani?

The story begins with Rani as she’s been accepted into Oxford University but we soon learn she has a penchant for stealing. Rani’s a dichotomy in a lot of ways and she grows a lot throughout the series.

She’s thrown into community service after being caught, and the show follows her in an Alice in Wonderland-esque way where she meets these characters in this new place, subsequently growing and learning.

Once Christopher Walken walked through the door singing a rendition of Don’t Cha by The Pussycat Dolls

Had you had much experience of Bristol before coming here to film?

Unfortunately I hadn’t been before, although I had heard great things, so I’ve only really been in the time of Covid which is sad because it’s 18 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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Image : Big Talk/BBC/Four Eyes/James Pardon

How was it to work with Stephen Merchant and Christopher Walken?

such a social and buzzing city. I would’ve loved to have experienced it to its full!

Where did you hang out after filming?

Clare [Perkins], Darren [Boyd], Gamba [Cole] and I frequented this place called Cafe Cuba after work. They do the most amazing mojitos and all the food is just divine. Such a great hang.

Which cast member did you hit it off with most?

Everyone, from the cast to the crew, was just incredibly friendly and funny. Any day you came into work, you knew you’d laugh a lot.

Strangely, Gamba and I knew each other before. I distinctly remember helping him with a self-tape and manifesting us working with each other again in his car – little did we know! It’s been such a gorgeous experience working with such renowned actors – all of the cast of The Outlaws were people I admire from theatre, film and TV so I felt super lucky to meet and work with them.

• Follow Rhianne on Twitter: @rhiannebarreto

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TELEVISION

Charlotte Mitchell says Gabby – a gay socialite doing community service because of her drink and drug issues – was a jewel of a character to dress

Outlaw chic

When shooting wrapped on Stephen Merchant’s new series, over in the principal costume truck its head of wardrobe shared the sartorial processes behind the dressing of the diverse, star-studded cast.

Words by Amanda Nicholls

M

erchant’s long-standing passion project for the BBC follows seven strangers, from different walks of life, forced together to complete a community payback sentence in Bristol. As unlikely new friendships intersect with complicated private lives, the outlaws must unite to protect one of their own from the city’s dangerous criminal gang, the Brook Hill Crew, reminding us that no one is all good or all bad. As well as the different shades of our humanity, the six-part series –the first Merchant has made in his hometown – showcases both beautiful and not so beautiful corners of the city and utilises local talent, including Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja who has composed the music.

Part crime thriller, part character study – with humour and heart – there are draws for fans of comedy, drama and, of course, Merchant as well as those enamoured by Bristol sights and sounds. The sartorial spectrum of its characters, and how it adds to the storytelling, is reason enough to watch, too.

Fashion queen Lady Gabriella Penrose Howe (played by Eleanor Tomlinson; Poldark, The War of the Worlds) might have us reaching for our phones to try and shop the look,`but there’s more to the costume creation than any visual inspiration. Getting it right is key

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to the social commentary and the team needed to keep it real while also tasked with elevating the show in line with televisual values.

A character can say a lot with what they’re wearing, so the wardrobe department can help save on precious words in the script – in which case, we wondered, are stereotypes a good starting point in terms of time-saving, or something to guide viewers away from in case they perpetuate certain ideas? Are they a help or a hindrance?

“It’s very dependent on the job and The Outlaws has really shown that to me,” says the series’ Bristol-based costume designer Charlotte Mitchell (Killing Eve, Harlots). “My job, I believe, does start by stereotyping; initially looking at the character on the page and building an image of them. Just because of our own biases, stereotypes are always involved. With The Outlaws it’s about making sure I don’t make clichés. In any job it’s about that but sometimes you do want to because it’s right for the character and part of the humour. This show is part comedy, part drama though, so I’m conscious not to; instead letting the comedy come through in the dialogue.”

It’s been important to give integrity to the class systems and ethnic backgrounds of characters. “Stephen’s been really keen to write that in and make this group become a gang in their own right and unite

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Images : Big Talk/BBC/Four Eyes/James Pardon

even though they’re from different backgrounds. As a designer I want to give the characters substance and visual individuality yet cohesion as a group, to tell their stories through my costume choices, help people understand them, and let Stephen lead the comedy.”

Because of her own social demographic and self-confessed lack of knowledge about certain storylines, across her career Mitchell has always started with a look at the actor that’s cast and whether they have come from the same background as their character, or have knowledge of it. “I will always tap into that,” she says. “On this show I have spoken to some of the lead males and said; I’m not a man, for a start, let’s collaborate on this and make it right. I have my opinion on how I want it to look – costume design is painting a picture and making everything look beautiful together – and my overall vision is always there so I will push certain costume journeys.

I wanted the leader of the gang to be aspirational and high-end – which in Bristol they probably would be, just maybe not so obviously, but it’s a TV show and we’ve got to heighten things. It’s just a question of how far.”

Said gang leader, Malaki, is played by Charles Babalola. “He’s a young, very attractive, very aspirational Black man and Charles pulls it off brilliantly,” says Mitchell. The script – part penned by American writer, filmmaker and musician Elgin James – initially stated that Malaki would wear a lot of chains around his neck but Mitchell wasn’t sold. “I didn’t think it was British. It felt slightly old fashioned, very stereotypical, more of a musical genre and not who this person is.

“I talked to Charles a lot about keeping an integrity there. Even though he wanted to wear the amazing Gucci two-piece we had – shorts, socks pulled up, sliders – he was worried it was becoming too aspirational. He thought this bloke from the streets would

You try and get into the psychology of someone when you’re building a character so [for Walken] there was American Gigolo and 1980s influence

probably wear an average tracksuit – and he would, but for TV purposes we made it a Dover Street Market tracksuit.

“Malaki wears these high-end brands but it’s styled in a way that says; I don’t give a sh*t. It’s quite powerful. There was another big discussion over an Undercover/Off White collaboration – I wanted a long coat so that when he walked he had swagger. From a design point of view, it’s about silhouettes but Charles questioned whether Malaki would wear it. I felt the character would see himself as so above the law that he wouldn’t care; I mean, he drives around in a blingy Range Rover. Just try it, I said; act in it, walk in it, see how you feel. As soon as he did, he completely got it. It has such an overthe-top quality. Compared to all his lieutenants and his runners – all in this urban colour palette – it gives him a different presence and that’s the point: how, from a distance, do characters stand out?”

Working with Walken

Without further ado, we talk Walken, his first lead British television role, and how it felt to call him at home from across the pond to discuss his character – ‘inveterate scoundrel’ Frank. What if she’d interrupted his breakfast? Or some impromptu tapdancing around the kitchen à la Weapon of Choice?

➲

John (Darren Boyd), Frank (Christopher Walken), Myrna (Clare Perkins), Rani (Rhianne Barreto), Christian (Gamba Cole), Gabby (Eleanor Tomlinson), Greg (Stephen Merchant)

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“Malaki wears these highend brands but it’s styled in a way that says; I don’t give a sh*t. It’s quite powerful.”

“It was terrifying and brilliant,” she beams. “I’ve worked with some amazing actors but he is an icon. It was January and he was still in America – he’s obviously of a certain age and couldn’t come over – and we were in lockdown, working but under strict protocols.”

The two of them discussed their thoughts for Frank, and Walken asked if she could do some drawings. “He was really lovely,” Mitchell recalls. “I told him I don’t do them because they lock me in too much and I prefer the process fluid, so I did moodboards for different tones and styles so he could clearly see which ways we could go.”

There was ‘suave Frank’, using Walken and the stuff he enjoys wearing as a reference. “You try and get into the psychology of someone when you’re building a character so there was American Gigolo, Polo Ralph Lauren and 1980s influence; shoulder pads, oversized macs and coats. He feels comfortable in a bigger ’80s shoulder and it gives him that Christopher Walken swagger. If you look at him on the red carpet even in the early 2000s it’s all wide shoulders and revere collars.”

Then there was ‘Frank 1950s retro’, incorporating bowling shirts, the way Walken wears his own clothes and what suits his frame. “I looked at shows such as The Wire to see how their characters came through then I pushed it with a bit of grunge to see if we could go down that route – as he’s playing an American everything had to have an American feel.”

Naturally standing out among a cast of British characters ranging from gritty gangland to geek and grand celebutante, Walken even considered Mitchell’s ‘country Frank’. “He didn’t want to make it a cliché of America – an English person’s view of what an American person wears – so I was happy to fall back on his vision,” she says.

The producers, for their part, stayed out of it – which took the pressure off – and stepped in only to instruct Mitchell not to let a certain piece of headwear happen. “In the fitting Christopher then said he’d really like to wear a bowler hat and I had to remind him it works both ways and a bowler hat is a cliché of what an American person thinks an English person wears. They were worn maybe in the ’50s or ’60s, at the latest, if you were a businessman, but he thought they were the archetype of Britishness!”

Someone may have been watching too much Mary Poppins during lockdown. “Christopher totally understood, though, and it was a real compliment to me that he was enjoying it; if an actor’s bringing

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Rani is a gifted student and a shoplifter whose style journey progresses while she’s doing community service

ideas to the table they’re enjoying the process. If they’re standing there looking gloomy, I haven’t sold the character. I need to work harder.”

While, usually, Mitchell would have up to a month to make garments after a fitting, Walken flew over and was on camera three days later. It was a challenge, and a joy. “I got to see Christopher Walken becoming Christopher Walken in front of my eyes,” she smiles. “He turns up and he’s just a normal person but then he puts the costume on and even though I had to make him Frank, it also made him Christopher Walken, which is what the creators want; he’s cast for that reason.”

Knocking the stuffing out of a star

Given the time frame and the fact Walken had to have a double, Mitchell had a suit made in advance, but it took some breaking down and battering. “Frank’s just come out of prison, he’s an ex con; Christopher wanted faded glory. I had the inside made thinner so it didn’t look like a fresh padding and was a bit droopy on the shoulders. I put it in the washing machine to try and take it apart from itself then I realised I’d gone a bit too far... He was holding himself a certain way to make himself look droopy so then I had to make it look smarter again!”

While Walken’s character was tricky logistically, it was scariest dressing the boss – Stephen Merchant – in his character’s rather cold colour palette of greys, lilacs and the like. Merchant, who plays Greg – a lonely lawyer who’s coping with divorce, workplace bullying and scary men with knives – had found Mitchell via word of mouth. “Stephen’s great,” she says, “but it was an interesting journey for me as a costume designer as there was nowhere to hide.

It was like I needed to prove he’d employed the right person and I had to get it straight away. When I’m doing a fitting with another character I’ve got time to build their confidence but he’s got a lot on his plate and I just wanted to translate his vision and take some pressure off as I would with any director.”

Clare Perkins’ radical activist Myrna was good fun to kit out – “she’s very much stereotypical Bristol and wears a lot of charity shop clothes” – while Darren Boyd’s businessman John, a pillar of the community who is furious at being labelled a criminal, is all “burgundies and warm, old-fashioned jewel tones”. Siblings Esme (Aiyana Goodfellow) and Christian (Gamba Cole) are on the edges of the gang; “They’ve grown up in the same world and Esme’s a

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Unlike Villanelle [Killing Eve] who was provocative with her fashion choices, Gabby uses her strong sense of style to turn heads in a way that makes her feel loved

schoolgirl of about 15 who’s trying to get into the gang while Christian, who’s doing community service, is trying to keep his kid sister out of it,” says Mitchell. “There’s a fine line with Esme; one moment she can look quite vulnerable, then quite quickly quite sassy.

I wanted the same urban palette with a bit of bold colour to distinguish that they’re not part of the gang.”

Images : Big Talk/BBC/Four Eyes/James Pardon

Costume clickbait

The most freedom for Mitchell, in terms of televisual elevation, came via Eleanor Tomlinson. “I had a jewel of a character in Gabby. She is my clothes horse. Unlike Villanelle, who I designed for Killing Eve, and who was provocative with her fashion choices, Gabby uses her strong sense of style to turn heads in a way that makes her feel loved.

She is a socialite doing community service because she drink-drives and has a drug addiction. She’s a complex character. From an affluent family, she doesn’t have to do anything; her job is being an Instagram influencer. She wears high-end brands to get clicks and gain admiration she’s lacking in real life.”

Having assembled an idea of the character from the script, when Mitchell looks at who’s cast it often requires a rethink. “Gabby’s trying to put on a music festival but she’s not boho chic. She’s not edgy, which is how she was written at first. It’s Eleanor Tomlinson.

She’s more Chelsea Sloane Square than Hoxton hipster. Her character is gay and I’ve made her extremely glamorous. Eleanor is statuesque, she’s beautiful, she suits a strong outline, she’s going to be glamorous, so I pushed down that route. We’ve got Moschino; a Stella McCartney jumpsuit; original ’70s Vampires Wife; Alice and Olivia; Isabelle Marant; Yves Saint Laurent; LF Markey denim for a bit of the everyday, which I had dyed pink to give it a little bit more pizazz; Shrimps – I always use a bit of vintage. I went to Bristol vintage shops and used a sourcer to help me find jewellery as well as the most incredible ’40s jacket. I used Grace and Mabel; one of my favourites; Kimono Kimono down Park Row. I try to be as sustainable as possible so where I can I also hire from Bristol Costume Services.”

Meanwhile, Rhianne Barreto (Honour, Hanna) plays Rani, a gifted but rebellious maths student who has been hot-housed by her loving but controlling parents. “She’s a studious girl but a prolific shoplifter,” says Mitchell. “It’s a way for her to get attention because her parents are pushing her in a certain direction. She’s got a scholarship to Oxford University, and it’s a cry for help. She falls for this chap at community service – we don’t know if he’s good or bad in series one – and her style progresses because of that influence.”

Mitchell pictured where the characters would shop so she could break it down for the show’s costume budget. “Rani’s got low income so might shop at New Look or River Island where you know a whole outfit is going to cost you £100 to £150; I built her character with what was in the shops, screengrabs of people on the street and Pinterest, to create silhouettes and colour palettes. Gabby, on the other hand, might need £3,000, £4,000 and above per outfit. But most of these characters wouldn’t have clothes that are brand new so 40% of the wardrobe is second hand – to make it real, and more sustainable. On a period drama job we’d have a workroom but on a show like this, it’s all about how people wear clothes.” ■

Gabby uses style to turn heads in a way that makes her feel loved

Mitchell and Walken amalgamated suave, retro and country styles for Frank

Gamba Cole’s character Christian is doing community service and trying to keep his kid sister out of the gang

• The Outlaws airs this autumn on BBC One and BBC iPlayer

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Navigating new waters

With Bristol hosting its first sea shanty festival this month, we thought it was a pretty good time to catch up with the city’s lockdown folk sensations The Longest Johns – now working on an album with Decca. Going viral on TikTok may have provided a bit of validation, but they’ve always been playing the long game. Words by Jeremy Blackmore Universal Music Group Jenni Champion??????

The foursome feel fortunate to have had the platform of their viral success to leap from.

Photograph: James Hole/Universal Music

S

ea shanties are a centuries-old part of Bristol’s seafaring tradition, but in a capella band The Longest Johns this traditional form of folk music has found a new voice for the TikTok generation. The city’s new folk sensations have reinvigorated the sea shanty, navigating new waters of collaborative online platforms to digitally perform and engage with fans around the globe in times when people have been unable to get together in person.

During lockdown they rode a fresh wave of popularity on the social media platform TikTok, scoring a top 40 single and signing global deals with Decca Records and live touring agency United Talent. The group’s version of Wellerman – a New Zealand whaler’s song written in the early 19th century – has been streamed more than 60 million times and sat comfortably at the top of the UK and Global Viral Charts earlier this year. Its chart success saw it become the first entirely a capella sea shanty to make the UK Official Chart Top 40. The song’s protagonist shares the group’s hopes for better times ahead; something everyone has, no doubt, been able to relate to during the pandemic.

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Jonathan ‘JD’ Darley, Andy Yates and Dave Robinson had been friends for some time when they first came together out of a mutual love of traditional folk songs and shanties at a barbecue in 2012.

“That just happened to be the day when we’d all been listening to sea shanties just kind of by accident, really, and we started talking about it,” remembers Dave.

“We thought we could give it a go and then just sat in the corner of someone’s garden, tried to work out parts and then started off at local pubs, talent nights and open mics. It just spiralled from there.”

Sea shanties were once commonly sung as work songs, typically in call-and-response fashion, to accompany and coordinate rhythmical labour involving group efforts aboard large merchant sailing vessels.

Some of these songs told tales of voyage and exploration.

JD explains that it was listening to the song Northwest Passage by the late Canadian folk musician and songwriter Stan Rogers that really connected with him and helped him understand the power of this folk tradition. “There’s something about the way that it was written, and the fact that it’s taking on this wonderful story that’s more than just some thoughts and feelings, put down on paper. It’s

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this actual story that takes you through this exploration that he was going through. It was that moment of understanding and clarity: right, so this is more than just some random songs, it means more.

“Even though it’s written about something that happened hundreds of years ago, there’s a reason why so many of these songs have lasted that amount of time. Even though they’ve been written about things from the past, they’re still relevant in a lot of ways today. It just suddenly meant a lot more to me from that point on.”

Even though it’s written about something that happened hundreds of years ago, there’s a reason why so many of these songs have lasted that amount of time

Through their recordings and performances, folk groups like The Longest Johns and The Unthanks, in the North East, play an important job in preserving oral and musical history for future generations. But, says JD, it is important that folk music should continue to evolve as The Longest Johns themselves have, after starting out by playing folk songs in a more traditional style.

“More recently we’ve accepted that folk music isn’t just like a static thing in the past, almost like a museum where it’s just sat there, and you keep it as neatly preserved as it was. It is a kind of living tradition, where those songs live on and carry on growing and developing as new people hear them and put their own interpretations on them.

“We wrote a song about that, called Ashes, about taking those things and not just keeping them perfectly preserved but changing and adapting them and letting them grow and breathe and find new life as times change – which is what we try and do, really. So as much as it’s keeping stuff from the tradition, we want it to be new and fresh and have our own take and keep it relevant to modern audiences as well.”

The band recorded their first homemade EP, Bones In The Ocean, in 2013, juggling live dates around day jobs and playing at whichever festivals would give them a spot. The group was very much a cottage industry in those early days. They remember stuffing envelopes and mailing out copies of the EP by hand.

With Robbie Sattin joining as second baritone in 2015, just ahead of Bristol’s Severn Seas Festival, they released their first full-length album, Written in Salt in 2016. Between Wind and Water followed in 2018, containing their recording of Wellerman, with Cures What Ails Ya appearing two years later.

Then came the lockdown #ShantyTok craze after Scottish postman Nathan Evans posted sea shanties on TikTok, attracting millions of views and celebrities, musicians and members of the public alike duly recording their own versions. The Longest Johns were well placed to benefit from this internet sensation. Their 2018 recording was one of only a few versions available on online streaming platforms and they found international fame almost overnight.

They had been making imaginative use of online platforms already, though. Thousands of people from across the world regularly tune into the band’s live Twitch sessions, where they rock maritime songs alongside the more unusual and less traditional folk tunes, while in August 2019 they released a video of themselves playing the online pirate simulator game Sea of Thieves, where they surprised other players with a rendition of Wellerman. That video was also a viral hit, driving up streams of their music.

Early this year, that level of interest rose to another level as the #ShantyTok phenomenon took off. The phone started ringing with offers and the group realised something had changed. Says JD: “It was incredible to see; it just took on its own life and identity and more people started connecting with it. It was really cool because we love this music and we care about it. We want more people to enjoy

it, so trying to find new ways to get heard by more people has been a goal for the band for a long time. Seeing that actually happen was a proper, ‘yes!’ validation moment – ‘our journey has not been in vain!’ It was a strange one, for sure.”

With offers pouring in, perhaps the project that gave the band the greatest satisfaction was a global singalong of Wellerman. The Longest Johns invited fans to help create a virtual choir performance and 6,500 people took part. The ‘Wellerman Community Project’ is a keepsake of what was so special about that time.

“As much as there was loads of other excitement around the song and different companies trying to use it for all sorts of different advertising, for us, the real beauty was this song being something that so many people around the world have connected with and that’s special and we wanted to capture that moment in that way,” says JD. “So, that’s what that video really was for us, because we turned down a bunch of different things. It was like: hey, can you rewrite the song for our advert? That’s not what it’s about for us really.”

They are thrilled to be part of a prestigious label with the 90-year legacy of Decca, who won out in a transatlantic bidding war.

Following Decca’s release of the Wellerman EP this spring, the group have been working on a new album (due out 21 January) and enjoying returning to normality by playing to live audiences again after a year of seeing success happen in a virtual online space.

“It’s nice to kind of have those experiences again and start to understand it other than just being at home. You can look at numbers growing and stuff like that, but you can’t really experience that otherwise,” explains JD. They hope to play gigs in as many countries as possible, with dates in the UK and Europe and playing to millions of new fans in the US and Australia who have discovered them through Wellerman. Fans new and old can rest assured that they will continue to focus on the music they love so much.

“There is all the attention that comes with having viral success.

But we’re also keen to try and make sure that people know that was the result of what we’d already been doing.

“So, we haven’t really intended to change what we’ve been doing at all,” says Robbie. “It’s just been very fortunate that now we have that platform to be able to leap from, take us on to the next level.”

They recall [folk] sessions organised by Jimmy Aldridge and Sid Goldsmith at the Star in Fishponds

They return to their Bristol roots in December with three nights at Thekla and believe the city’s folk scene is particularly healthy. They recall sessions organised by Jimmy Aldridge and Sid Goldsmith at the Star in Fishponds which has gradually taken over the whole pub due to its popularity.

“Bristol’s got a really great folk scene and I think it always has,” says Andy. “The thing with traditional folk music is often you don’t find it unless you look for it, especially with sea shanty singing, because in loads of cities across the UK, there’s lots of sea shanty people, there’s lots of singing groups. If you look for it, you will find it somewhere. So, what we’ve discovered is the folk scene in Bristol has actually been quite welcoming and healthy.”

“There are so many talented singers and performers and writers,” adds JD. “It's great to see that growing.” ■

• The Longest Johns play three nights in Bristol in December ahead of their new album, released via Decca on 21 January; thelongestjohns.com THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK

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MUSIC

Taylor made

Ahead of her Bristol show, singer, musician, writer and forensic examiner of millennial muliebrity Self Esteem talks mutual bluffing, music industry misogyny and putting the punk into pop. Brace (and embrace) yourself.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Rebecca Lucy Taylor, AKA Self Esteem, has found that being honest about her vulnerability has changed her life

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Image by Olivia Richardson

Words by Amanda Nicholls

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I

f there’s one person who’s glad barbecue season is over, it might well be Rebecca Lucy Taylor. On paper, she’s a fan; it’s really the social mores she has trouble with. “Buffets as well: I like the essence of what they are – loads of food on a table – just not the aspect of everyone seeing what you’re doing.”

If I went to your barbecue, I’d feel uncomfortable and not be sure what to say anyway, goes one droll lyric, delivered deadpan in surprisingly hypnotic South Yorkshire sprechstimme, on the spring single I Do This All The Time. Taylor’s candid, introspective, wry and unapologetic words about 21st-century ennui and social anxiety – When I’m buried in the ground I won’t be able to make your birthday drinks but I will still feel guilty – aim to address how difficult it is to be human, specifically a single woman in their thirties. Along with their stripped-back soundscape, emotive strings and a guitar cameo from the mysterious Mairead – a former bandmate whom Taylor supposes, in the song, that men want her to be more like – they make up the USP of Taylor’s ode to her twenties and have made fans of Jo Whiley, Dolly Alderton and droves more.

Affable and articulate, thoughtful and perceptive, witty and down to earth, Taylor exudes in conversation the same warmth and kindness as her musical note to self – Be very careful out there/ Stop trying to have so many friends/ Don’t be intimidated by all the babies they have/ Don’t be embarrassed that all you’ve had is fun. It has attracted so many positive comparisons to 1997’s spoken word self-care advisory Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen) that Taylor, in trademark tongue-in-cheek fashion, imagines passing mourners will still bend down to whisper ‘it’s like a Baz Luhrmann for women’ in her ear when she’s out cold in a casket.

I’m 34 and single and I’m sick of feeling like that’s a failure. I’m not happily married, but I’d be bored sh*tless; it’s that simple Despite Taylor’s aim to create a discography she was proud of rather than a breakthrough moment as such, the song turned heads and a spotlight was suddenly fixed on its all-singing, all-dancing birth mother – like a lone truth-slinger striding into the small-town saloon of sparkly pop star social media.

Indeed, Self Esteem evolved from an Instagram account that Taylor used as an outlet for rerouting her real character (a more powerful persona with a penchant for eating pizza in her pants) while she was mostly faking – “because I wanted boys to like me” – the role of sweet indie girl in Sheffield duo Slow Club. It’s a recurring theme in the title track of new album Prioritise Pleasure, out this month – So many of them clearly liked the idea of me in theory/ I shrunk, moved and changed and, still, you felt the same.

Her stage name reflects the confidence she began to reclaim and cultivate while breaking free of this mild, man-made mould, embracing her pop/electro/R&B leanings and rejecting the notion of a strong, vocal woman being ‘too much’.

“The thing about the barbecue is I like to eat loads and it’s this big event where everyone sees what you’re eating which is why I don’t like it. If I could go to a private barbecue where you just leave me alone with a plate of food and then I come back into the room and hang out, I could do that.”

Oh yeah, we’re still chewing over the barbecue back here. It’s a chicken bone of contention. Incidentally, if Rebecca Lucy Taylor does decide to descend on your cook-out next summer, be sure to keep it saucy – she’s “a big condiment head” so it’s all about the mustard, ketchup and gherkins. Since her cautionary confessional came out, though, she reckons people just don’t invite her to these things anymore. “It’s fine by me,” she smiles. “It means I don’t have to be so horrified by saying; sorry, no.”

She ought to cut herself some slack; the diary’s been pretty busy between recording and mixing the album around lockdowns, live sessions for Steve Lamacq, a Jools Holland appearance and rehearsing for her tour, kicking off in Bristol on 1 November.

“That’s the biggie,” she says. “I can’t wait. Bristol is one of my favourite places to play, genuinely I love it. One of my best friends in the world lives there – James Hankins – so it means I get to see James but also I just love the city. If I needed to move somewhere I’d move to Bristol. It’s like Sheffield; there’s enough going on, it’s not too massive and it’s pretty art and music focused. I wish a job took me to Bristol, I’d happily live there.”

She’s basically used Bristol as a blueprint for the tour – billed as a half-time-at-the-Super-Bowl sort of experience and designed as much for The Fleece as it is for a festival. “It’s funny because, rehearsing for the show, we said; okay, this works on festival stages, but remember The Fleece has got that big f**king pole in the middle of the stage. We need to do a show that can be on huge stages and stages like The Fleece, so it became a sort of emblem. I wanted to play those venues that I’ve played my whole career but make it a show, because I don’t see why you couldn’t.”

Regardless of her burgeoning success she’s happy to stick with the old faithfuls. “People think ‘oh you’re rich and famous now’ – I am neither of those things. It’s gone up a bit, sure; I’m selling venues out – lovely. I’m happy for it to remain at this level. I want to make the work, but the work with more budget. That’s all I want to achieve.”

It must be a little scarier to hold a mirror up to self and society – to put out and perform such personal stuff – now there are more people watching her do it? “I try not to think about it… I tell anyone I ever date: don’t read into anything I post or say. This will always come first. So [with Prioritise Pleasure] I wasn’t worried, I was kind of exhilarated by it, being that honest.”

She was able to make this album, she says, precisely because she wasn’t successful. “I was undercover and because everyone kept telling me everyday that I’m underrated, and the label was telling me the numbers aren’t good, there was something in that which subconsciously had me be very ‘f*ck it’ in the way I work.

“When I get a negative thing happen, personally, about my songs, I’m always really shocked because I think; ‘I don’t go to your work and look into what you’re doing’. I guess I do need to learn to reflect a bit more before I say things but for me, this is my job. I’m not craving fame at all but I do have to be honest in terms of the fact that the more people that see [my work], which is what I’ve always wanted, the more sh*t I might get. But I’m working on the basis that no-one’s evil – everyone’s a product of what’s happened to them and they need to do what they do to make themselves feel better.

“We’ll see what happens – maybe I will edit now, maybe I’ll be frightened… So far I’m not,” she laughs. “I’m in the middle of figuring it out. Online I’ve certainly noticed a shift – a lot more people than before are now looking at what I’m doing and just that maths increases the chances of negativity. But I’m lucky; the people who DM me saying; ‘this song has helped me feel this and do this’ are better than a five-star review in The Guardian for me. It helps me realise why I’m doing this because half the time I wonder why.”

Taylor never realised the lead single would hit home for so many.

“This has all been a mega shock. I knew when I wrote I Do This All The Time that I was personally really happy with it and it was saying exactly what I needed it to say. I’m 34 and single and I’m so sick of feeling like that’s a failure. I’m angry about that. I’m not happily married, but I’d be bored sh*tless; it’s that simple.”

She’s been astonished by what has happened since. “Yes it’s fun that I’ve had a song go well but I’ve always felt very ‘outside’ and weird or like there’s something wrong with me, and the amount of people that feel like I do in the song has made me appreciate... Oh God, I’m going to cry... I just don’t feel like a crazy weirdo anymore and it’s beautiful. It made me think: f*cking hell, we’re all bluffing each other. We’re causing more pain by doing that.

“I’ve found just being vulnerable has changed my life – my

➲

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MUSIC

Pop production has become more experimental and exciting than the work of ‘real musicians’ says Taylor, pictured playing drums on How Can I Help You

It made me think: we’re all bluffing each other.

We’re causing more pain by doing that

greatest joy is to say: I feel like this, do you? And they do. And I’m like; okay cool, I’m not alone then. There’s no better feeling than not feeling alone and I’ve felt like that for 34 years.”

A complete flirt, “absolutely obsessed with getting off with people”, Taylor readily describes herself as a typical conflict-fearing Libra with a preference for putting others’ happiness first due to “such a pathological fear that you might not be happy with me that I’ll sacrifice everything to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

To an extent, conflict seems to seek her out. “My mum, my dad, my brother, my old bandmate, my ex-girlfriend, my ex-boyfriend, my producer: all Pisces,” she says. “Every single person who comes into my life and has a big impact is Pisces.” On the second album, she finally asked her producer what star sign they were and the answer came to her in farcically distorted slow-mo. “Obviously all those people are people I love and they’ve been amazing parts of my life but they’ve been very difficult parts of my life as well.”

Discord comes to light in song, funnelled once again into the likes of the upfront and direct How Can I Help You which sees Taylor pounding away at Kanye-inspired drums, pouring with sweat while fiercely calling out misogyny and remedying the fear she once harboured of being seen through an objectifying male lens while playing the instrument.

To Taylor’s mind, there’s one thing that would solve all her issues with the music industry: money. “It sounds really un-artistic to say I wish I had more cash but the improvement going out from that would change everything. We don’t make a single penny, really, from record sales anymore. That means when you tour you have to have a tour manager that drives, who does the merch, so you’ve got burnout across the board. It’s unregulated, so that’s where all your sexual abuse happens because you think: I’ve got to keep my mouth shut because this guy’s got to get me there. Mental health protection – all of it – would be improved if, at the source, music was a commodity that people bought, or streams paid better. But it’s certainly my lot; it’s what I’ve chosen to do with my life, it’s all I am and I’ve worked hard to try and make it better for everyone on the road.

“I do all these podcasts and they say: ‘sexual abuse in the music industry: how can we solve it?!’ Somebody needs to find a way for there to be more money available when you tour so you can pay three people to do the three jobs, and you can screen, and if someone’s inappropriate you can sack them. There’s this rock and roll yeah-man-let’s-do-whatever kind of nature to the industry and that is where all that sh*t happens.”

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coming out afterwards – all her iPhone notes in chronological order – she’s written a play and a musical. “The musical is an immersive thing; you’re in the studio with me overnight! I think the play will be on first – I’m obsessed with crime dramas and murder podcasts and it’s ultimately about my exhaustion by being a woman who’s frightened that someone’s going to come and kill me, the ways I distract myself from that fear, the behaviours I’ve had, and the way I was sexualised really early.”

Having put in well over a decade as a touring musician, mostly with Slow Club – whoever it was that said it takes 10 years to become an overnight success was almost on the money here – Taylor has been on a pilgrimage to pop. “My parents played me a lot of Carpenters, Beach Boys, pretty sonically amazing stuff,” she recalls.

“My dad was in a band when he met my mum and he loves prog…

But now and again there’d be something I loved like Peter Gabriel.

Also I was obsessed with Freddie Mercury as a kid and the Self Esteem logo is based on his signature.”

The first records she played all the time? Fugees’ The Score and Alanis Morrisette’s Jagged Little Pill – every day, all day. “I’d listen to those on repeat from around the age of 10 which is too early for some of the content... Then I had my Spice Girls era, and Alisha’s Attic I was a huge fan of. After my indie years I got back to my true self; all I do is listen to Kanye West (because I’m separating art from artist) and Perfume Genius; that’s it.”

In the shower, though, she’ll likely be singing Kate Bush and Björk. A career like theirs is what she wants for her own trajectory – “tons of records, tons of eras, going down the road for myself and not trying to write a hit, you know” – but if we’re talking dream gigs, Taylor’s would, hands down, be supporting Sydney’s Alex Cameron, known for adopting the persona of a failed entertainer.

There’s a lot of love for Little Mix and Christine and the Queens too – acts who put on a real show.

There’s no doubt in her mind that, with more room for the vibrantly avant-garde, the pop scene has become more alt than alt; more diverse and less formulaic than the indie world. “I think people thought it was a bit of a shocking statement when I said that Little Mix are more punk than punk bands – I didn’t realise that was news. Pop production over the last eight years has been way more experimental and exciting than what ‘real musicians’ are doing – since Countdown by Beyonce. I remember thinking; this is absolutely nuts and so exciting, and I can’t wait to put it on repeat.”

When I said that Little Mix are more punk than punk bands – I didn’t realise that was news

She’s dying to collaborate with one “absolutely groundbreaking” British singer-songwriter and producer. “MNEK has found a way to create sound that means you could have every bit of vintage synth and guitar gear that money could buy and it wouldn’t be as interesting,” Taylor enthuses. “But also it’s a taste thing; personally I’m excited by heavy, thick, deep sounds, then high, beautiful strings and brass. The middle bit has never been something I’m that into. So my statements come with the caveat that it’s my taste.”

And what flavour that serves. Always writing, Taylor already knows what she wants to say next, but somewhere in among creating the next record she’s got to squeeze in little old America; although the English seaside will do for now. “I just want to create all the time,” she says. “And go on a holiday. I just need to decide: this week is a holiday. Even if I go to Cleethorpes. Don’t text me.” ■ • Prioritise Pleasure is out on 22 October. Self Esteem plays The Fleece on 1 November and Trinity Centre on 4 March. Visit selfesteem.love or follow Rebecca Lucy Taylor on Instagram @selfesteemselfesteem and Twitter @selfesteem__

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LOCAL EVENTS

What’s on in October Circus City: LP (Long Play) Photograph by Clara-Pedrol

Bristol Bridge Club: Supervised Sessions n Every Saturday, 10am – 12pm, via Zoom Bristol Bridge Club has been running free online supervised sessions with some teaching throughout the pandemic on Zoom and will continue to do so, every Saturday morning from 10am to 12 noon. To take part, go to Bristol Bridge Club’s website, click ‘Learn and Play’ and follow the links. bristolbridgeclub.co.uk Autumn Stargazing 3D n Throughout October, We The Curious This autumn, fly to worlds on the edge of our understanding and gaze up at alien skies in this spectacular journey through the astronomical discoveries we’ve made and the stories they inspire. This awe-inspiring show combines knowledgeable presenters with the first 3D planetarium system in the UK. It is suitable for beginners and experienced hobby stargazers. Recommended age 10 and up; wethecurious.org Antique, Vintage & Collectables Fair n 3 October, 10am – 3.30pm, Ashton Court Mansion House An Aladdin’s cave of fine jewellery, china, furniture, paintings, memorabilia, vintage clothing, retro items and so much more – available to browse at Ashton Court Mansion House on 3 October. With 40 indoor stalls plus a café serving light bites and cream teas, there’s truly something for everyone. Entry: £2, under 16s free. Main car park: Kennel Lodge Entrance via Portishead Road.

Contact: anniehawksley@blueyonder.co.uk for more information.

Bristol Photo Festival: We Are Still Here n 5 – 30 October, The Vestibules We Are Still Here focuses on individuals affected by HIV/AIDS and their living spaces.

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House Gospel Choir at Trinity Centre

The project aims to counter a decline in visibility of the HIV/AIDS community by inviting the audience in to these personal spaces, which have been curated to better the mental health of their inhabitants. Portraits by photographer Mareike Günsche will be displayed alongside images selected by the participants of objects from, and areas in, their living spaces which bring them joy. artspace.uk Black Lives Matter: Readings & Conversation n 7 October, 7.30 – 9pm, via Zoom As part of Black History Month, John Wesley’s New Room is hosting a free evening of poetry and conversation, coinciding with National Poetry Day on 7 October. This webinar will feature work shared by poets who have all recently been featured in the anthology Black Lives Matter – Poems for a New World. The keynote speaker – poet, writer and historian Dr Edson Burton – will be sharing some of his own poetry and taking part in a Q&A with anthology editor Ambrose Musiyiwa and Rev Dr Catherine Okoronkwo, the Bishop of Bristol’s advisor on racial justice. newroombristol.org.uk Record Launch: John E Vistic n 8 October, Klub Loco Bristol Deafendling Records Bristol presents the launch of John E Vistic’s new album, entitled Under the Volcano. The album contains 12 giant Vistic songs produced by Tom Hackwell, with artwork by the legendary Johnny Stingray. See John E Vistic at Klub Loco Bristol on 8 October. Book tickets at: headfirstbristol.co.uk House Gospel Choir n 17 October, 7pm – 11pm, Trinity Centre An electrifying house meets gospel experience.

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House Gospel Choir is the place where spirituality and the euphoria of the dancefloor come together. Founded by creative producer and vocalist Natalie Maddix, HGC is a voice for those that can sing… but don’t always know the words! It’s a home for anyone who has ever found themselves lost in music at a festival, or in a night club… or on the bus on the way to work. trinitybristol.org.uk Bristol Bridge Club: Beginner Lessons n Starting on 19 October, Oldfield Road Bristol Bridge is back welcoming members and guests in their premises on Oldfield Road.

Starting on 19 October, Bristol Bridge Club will be running 10 weeks of beginner lessons on Tuesday mornings and Wednesday evenings. Join Bristol Bridge Club for a taster session before signing up to 10 lessons, which costs £100 including the documents to cover the lessons. Contact teaching@bristolbridgeclub.co.uk for further details.

The Working-Class Writers Festival n 21 – 24 October, at various locations The Working-Class Writers Festival is a dynamic new festival aiming to enhance, encourage and increase representation from the working class across the country, while connecting authors, readers, agents and editors. The festival will use physical and digital spaces, and will include panel discussions, speaker events and workshops.

All events are free. bristolideas.co.uk Family Space Day with Helen Sharman n 25 October, Aerospace Bristol Bristol Aerospace is welcoming Helen Sharman, the first ever British astronaut in space, to speak about her experiences in space on 25 October. The talk – aimed at children aged 10 and up – will reveal how Helen

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became an astronaut, the training she had to do before going to space, and what she did on her mission to the Mir space station. There will then be up to 30 minutes for visitors of all ages to put their questions to a real astronaut. As part of the museum’s ‘year of space’ 2021 celebrations, visitors will also have the chance to get hands-on with robotic rovers, launch a rocket, taste astronaut ice cream and step aboard the last Concorde ever to fly. aerospacebristol.org

Circus City Returns n Until 16 October, at various locations Circus City returns this autumn with a programme of indoor and outdoor shows, interactive events, talks and much more.

Presenting 35 shows from all over the globe, from suggestive satire to social comment; activism to audacious aerial acrobatics; and organic acoustics to risky ropework, this is not one to miss.

Circus City: Seasons By Upswing n 9 & 10 October, St Werburghs Community Centre Hall Watch two acrobats become immersed in the wild as they dig, climb and lose balance in a joyful exploration of the nature in and around us. Seasons will ignite your senses and create a space to playfully reconnect with our natural world. Bring a cushion and a blanket to create your own comfy, safe space for this extraordinary, sweet, family show – and stay and play with acrobats Sian and Helena after the performance to try out making some juggling magic for yourself. bristolcircuscity.com Circus City: LP (Long Play) by Olga Cirqanalogique n 14 & 15 October, Unit 15, Premier Business Park On the eve of the apocalypse, Long Play is a cry of resistance that pays tribute to the generation of the new millennium. Bodies flicker in feats of aerial acrobatics and object manipulation, straining under tricks of light and sound that conjure a visual and acoustic underworld. This millennial temple, echoing with political speeches, cellphones, pop icons, wires, software and a bearded figure in high-heeled shoes, conjures a space for the celebration of error and human fragility. An escape hatch through which our dreams and fears can pass. bristolcircuscity.com Circus City: Kerfuffle by Scottee & Friends LTD n 15 & 16 October, The Mount Without A jukebox circus cabaret of camp classics for the queer community and their friends. When your family is chosen and you each own a similar shaped experience, sometimes you’ve just got to come together and share a deep breath out. Kerfuffle is a new variety confessional that invites you to sit more comfortably, take up space and let your hair down surrounded by pals.

Kerfuffle will be one of the first shows at The Mount Without – Impermanence’s brand new venue, and a home for dance in the city. bristolcircuscity.com

Circus City: Kerfuffle

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PHOTOGRAPHY

Universal locality

Experimental Bristol-born documentary photographer Stephen Gill reflects on an enriching journey of learning, creating, dismantling and ending up back where it all started, ahead of his home-city retrospective – and how photography saved him

Not your typical nature pictures: the universe found inside a fish, from ‘Please Notify The Sun’ 2020 © Stephen Gill

From ‘Hackney Wick’ 2001 – 2005 © Stephen Gill

From ‘The Pillar’ 2015 – 2019 © Stephen Gill

From ‘Talking to Ants’ 2009 – 2013 © Stephen Gill

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PHOTOGRAPHY

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tephen Gill has built his photographic career upon an ethos of conceptual experimentation. Eschewing a signature style, his creative processes have included photographic burials, floral collage, in-camera photograms and the submerging of work within a watery world, and this month over 30 years of extraordinary, intense practice will be celebrated at the Arnolfini, drawing together new and previously unexhibited work. ‘Coming Up For Air’ includes works from Gill’s latest series ‘Please Notify the Sun’, alongside images taken from others such as ‘Hackney Flowers’, ‘Buried’, ‘Talking to Ants’, ‘Night Procession’, ‘Pigeons’, ‘Coexistence’ and ‘The Pillar’.

A solid two years in the making, the show will be accompanied by a 600-page catalogue that Gill has edited, produced and just printed in Denmark, using colourful recycled book cloth and featuring plenty of work that won’t feature in the exhibition.

From his bright, airy studio in the Swedish countryside – all whitewashed walls and rustic wooden beams – Stephen Gill smiles over Skype as we talk of his retrospective and his return home. It’s a dream come true for the Bristol-born photographer who worked the one-hour photo lab in Asda Bedminster in the late 1980s. His 16year-old self would never believe it.

TBM: What would you like people to take from the retrospective?

SG: Encouragement, especially for young people, to walk their own path; to trust their instincts if they feel compelled to do something; to not make work that they feel is expected of them. Sometimes it is a long, lonely path or you’re swimming against the current trends.

Do what you deeply want to do rather than thinking of an audience and what they want to see. I think this show may conjure up all sorts of emotions; the Swedish work, for me, is still quite overwhelming when I see it. It’s intense but funny. There’s quite a lot embedded in the pictures. Even though they’re of nature and animals they’re quite human as well; there’s a fragility.

There are three Swedish nature studies; the first is a nocturnal study around the idea that while we’re all sleeping there’s this parallel world that comes alive

How has living in Sweden for the past eight years shaped your photography work?

Massively. I never knew quite how it would but I knew nature would play a big part. I tried to have an open mind as to how it would steer everything. I knew beforehand that my imagination would have to work much harder; in London you’re so visually bombarded. After a while, living here, I understood that in London I was doing a lot of filtering out. You select and immerse yourself in a particular subject, whereas here it’s the opposite; you have to really extract something because you can’t necessarily see it – but it’s all here. It’s infinitely inspiring, there’s so much to do. I thought: I’ll move to Sweden, slow down, have a quieter life after 20 intense years in London, but it was a complete mirage – I fooled myself in a way and realised I wasn’t running away from the intensity, I was running away from myself in a way. It’s still mad. I’m still waking up at four in the morning; nothing changes.

It’s you. And the work I’ve made over the years tends to generate more work, more emails etc.

Swedish nature studies; the first of which is a nocturnal study around the idea that while we’re all sleeping there’s this parallel world that comes alive. It’s not that dissimilar to the city life that I knew; it’s equally 0intense in terms of abundance. In the same room at the Arnolfini is this series called The Pillar which is a study of birds; trying to funnel the birds from the sky onto the surface of a 6cm-diameter pillar. When you look out of the window it doesn’t look like there’s much happening at all but you know there’s so much life – so as an experiment I asked a local farmer if I could put a pillar in his field. Opposite, I put another pillar with a camera and over a four-year period I recorded all the birds; anything that landed on this ‘stage’. In a way it’s all a bit wrong; they’re falling off or somehow offbeat, but there’s something nice about the fact they’re not typical nature pictures. The birds almost made the work. I built a place where things could unfold but I was not there. I would visit three days a week, clean the camera, take out the SD card, change the batteries, and just maintain the thing.

How did you create the unique nature series Please Notify The Sun? Please Notify the Sun is a journey I made last year. It was a 10-week expedition I’d been planning for years – to travel inside a fish – but hadn’t had the energy, time, courage or confidence to do. I bought these special optics and cameras and microscopes from eBay, then Covid came and my overseas trips were cancelled, so it was the perfect time to take the journey. I saw it like an expedition to space or something, but inside a sea trout. I went fishing with my kids and after 20 attempts we finally caught a fish. I was stunned to see what’s in a fish – a whole world of seas, stormy skies, stalactites and so many colours. Of course, you’re seeing what you want to see... I built a stage with 12 different lights and in a way it was revisiting what I did as a teenager in Bristol; I was into pond life and the microscopic world. I must have been such a weird kid, walking around Bristol in legwarmers and breakdancing to hip hop at the same time... It felt like things had come full circle. There’s no question that with the fish and the birds there’s a clear line tracing back to my early teens in Bristol when I was photographing birds from my parents’ bathroom window or birdtable; it’s almost the same language. It’s funny I’ve ended up where it all started some 38 years ago.

You’re celebrated for your ability to conjure and reflect a sense of place. How did the idea come about to collaborate with place itself and extract from subject matter?

By 2004 or 2005 I’d already been making pictures for 20 years and started to feel I was reaching the technical parameters, the limitations, of photography. As much as I love photography’s great descriptive strengths, there were occasions where it just wasn’t enough; it couldn’t convey all the feelings or ideas. It was like hitting a glass wall and trying to get to the other side. I started to try to step back as the author and encourage the subject or place itself to help make the work.

Why, in a nutshell, are you are so interested in place?

When I was younger I thought that in order to make work you had to travel to a far-away place to look for the exotic. As I grew older I realised it was all here. It was a heightened obsession with the place where we are, an enclosed proximity, drawing from locality but understanding your local surroundings and place can be related to by many. With the flea market work in London in the early 2000s I was getting emails all the way from Italy; there was a human empathy with the times we live in as well as geography. The world is small. My work the last 19 years has been very local; a fascination with place within the parameters of where I was living and working.

Tell us more about the new Swedish work that will be showing

How did it feel when you dug up the pictures you’d buried for your 2006 project Buried, not knowing what would be left?

All of it is being shown for the first time in the UK. There are three

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PHOTOGRAPHY

might happen to some extent – you’re steering pictures, but you’ll have no idea where they’ll land. I remember being excited by the idea of both destroying and creating simultaneously; by introducing something else you’re obscuring and revealing at the same time.

Later I tried it with Talking to Ants where I added things into the film chamber of the camera. In a time where everything leads to control of vision, it’s so nice to let go and think about where your intentions meet with chance.

Have we forgotten how to have fun, be individual and leave it to chance with photography?

In the late ’90s when image-making conversations were all around megapixels, DPI and clarity, it felt like by gaining, we were losing soul. The heightened technical clarity, in some ways, oppressed.

When I was making photographs in a flea market in east London in 2001 I was using a plastic camera and even though it had its own limitations in terms of clarity it always had the suggestion of something; you could just about make out that it was a person wearing a bag, or it was some plants in an allotment, but it wasn’t hyper clear. It didn’t enforce too many preconceptions. Sometimes we bring almost too much. I discovered that even when information was denied, strong feelings still came through. It was pushing content to the forefront again, with technique second. That was really exciting in the early days of digital. It was almost like information gave way for feelings.

Which has been your most successful experiment?

Talking to Ants, made in London between 2009 and 2013; an amazing period for me. I was carried by the subject completely; getting bits of London and sprinkling them in the camera. It was like a going inside your head; similar to when you go into your own world when you’re a child. I enjoyed that process very much; and the pictures are quite disorientating. There’s a real confusion of scale – the prints are quite big so if there was an ant in the camera, the ant is the size of a cat in the image. For me, it fitted quite well with the bombardment of modern inner-city life; feeling overwhelmed just walking around. Even though the pictures are not so descriptive of a scene, perhaps they encapsulate and document a bit of what London felt like to me at that time.

What have you learnt about yourself through your work?

When I was younger I was striving to make what are considered ‘good pictures’ and after some time – it’s like playing a musical instrument – you master your craft (although I’m not saying I have). It’s something you’ve done all your life and you could almost do it with your eyes closed. After reaching a certain point, I found, the fun starts when you start dismantling everything you have learned and having the confidence and courage to let go, strip back and have fewer elements and less control. You’re stepping back and the subject takes up that space. Finally I’ve stepped out altogether with the birds; orchestrating the work and helping it to be made, but it’s not made by me. There’s no human presence.

That wonderful learning experience comes with time and understanding your craft.

How did Bristol shape your photography practice?

I’m so grateful to photography because I wasn’t academic. I had insane amounts of energy; me and my friends were lucky to find paths which didn’t align with subjects at school, to channel this excess energy and articulate ourselves. It saved me, in a way. As much I sometimes feel I’ve exhausted photography, or it’s exhausted me, I am still really grateful to it. Certainly as a teen in Bristol, it was the perfect way to respond to the world around you if you were curious or you liked or didn’t like something. I learned the technical side quite young; my dad enrolled me in a summer course at the Watershed when I was 12. There was a group of us at the city farm in Bedminster and it changed my life. I was really sure that was what I wanted to do then. It was amazing to have that 34 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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foundation, being taught to process and print my own photographs from an early age. I loved nature, insects, birds; that was an obsession. I photographed at school, parties, and for friends who’d followed their own paths in fashion and music. I did a project at Bristol Dogs’ Home and made a study in launderettes in Bristol when I was 17, but they were traditional, quite photographic images, which said more about me wanting to be a photographer than they did the subject. I was still learning how to articulate myself. There’s a point at which the subject completely takes over and that’s when things get exciting – for me that was London in the early 2000s.

And you processed a few Bristolian holiday snaps back in the day?

Yes! When Asda was first built in Bedminster, they opened a onehour film processing lab there. I left school at 16 and was the assistant manager there. I loved it. I couldn’t believe I had a job and I could wear a tie and go to work, I felt really happy about that. I didn’t do well at school so it was a big deal for me. But I realised I wanted to make pictures rather than process other people’s.

Are there any Bristol photographers or groups you really admire?

The Watershed; I’m so grateful to that course all those years ago. I know Martin Parr and I’m happy he will visit the show. I have such good memories of Bristol and it’s such an honour to show with the Arnolfini, I can’t believe it. I hope people enjoy it. It’s been the most intense 35 years; I just haven’t stopped. It’s going to be funny for me; in life you tend to keep going and look forward and never have I stopped and had a breath and looked back the other way. It’s going to be nice to see these series and how they ricochet and talk to each other; even though aesthetically some are quite different there is a narrative somehow. I’m sure it will be quite overwhelming for me. ■ • Coming up for Air: Stephen Gill – A Retrospective, 16 October – 16 January; arnolfini.org.uk

From ‘Hackney Flowers’ 2004 – 2007 © Stephen Gill

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EXHIBITIONS

STATE OF THE ART Birthright: Journeys of Reconnection, Rainmaker Gallery, until 29 October This exhibition brings together two artists from different backgrounds who share a common experience. It documents the ongoing journeys of cultural reconnection by Wiradjuri and British painter Jasmine Coe and Muscogee (Creek) and Austrian-American textile artist Melinda Schwakhofer. Both artists grew up geographically and culturally separated from their respective Indigenous families. Reaching out to their estranged communities has profoundly affected their creative expression. Through textile, painting and printmaking, art has provided a vehicle for cultural exploration, self-determination, self-realisation and a sense of belonging.

In a post-colonial world, millions of people find themselves growing up at distance from their ancestral homelands. The show is dedicated to all people experiencing journeys of cultural disconnection or reconnection.

• rainmakerart.co.uk Image: Flowing River Ripples, by Jasmine Coe

West Bristol Arts Trail, various locations around Bristol, 16 & 17 October West Bristol Arts Trail is running from 11am – 5pm on 16 and 17 October. The trail will be be formally opened by the current president of the RWA, Fiona Robinson MA PRWA, at a public preview on 15 October at Clifton High School, 6.30pm – 8pm.

This free event is set to showcase approximately 100 local artists in 50 venues. Visitors will have the opportunity to browse each artist’s work and buy directly from the creator. West Bristol Arts recommends using public transport or a bicycle to tour the venues, as car-parking facilities are notoriously scarce. Visit West Bristol Arts for more information about the trail, the local artists appearing over the weekend and the venues included in the event.

• westbristolarts.com Image: artwork by Joanna Walter

Mellow, Lime Tree Gallery, 16 October – 16 November An exciting exhibition of beautifully subtle and tonal paintings by Scottish artist Michael Clark is appearing at Lime Tree Gallery this month. Speaking about the exhibition, Clark says: “The paintings are autobiographical, a response to my surroundings and if in my daydreams I find our garden in spring, I also find France in summer and autumn. Out of the chaos of recent times this collection of calm new work has emerged.”

• limetreegallery.com Image: The Salon, Rue Royale, by Michael G Clark PAI RSW

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Flowers from Whichford by Michael G Clark PAI RSW

Lime Tree Gallery, 84 Hotwell Road, Bristol BS8 4UB

Tel 0117 929 2527 • www.limetreegallery.com

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The RWA Collection - Our Heritage, Our Future, 9 October – 27 November Joining two recent acquisitions by Albert Irvin, the exhibition includes historic works by many of the RWA’s well-known members, such as Mary Fedden, Julian Trevelyan, Anne Redpath, David Inshaw and Dame Elisabeth Frink, as well as contemporary works by recent members such as Adelaide Damoah, Paul Thirkell and Leslie Glenn Damhus. Many of the historic works, still as fresh and interesting as when they were first produced, will receive their first showing in many years, in the largest exhibition of the collection in recent times. The exhibition aims to celebrate the diversity of styles, genres and media which has created a collection of significance in the South West; a legacy of beauty and creativity for everyone to enjoy for years to come.

• rwa.org.uk Image: Agnes Augusta Talboys ARWA, Three Of Us, oil on canvas, 51cm diameter. RWA Collection.

Photo copyright RWA (Royal West of England Academy).

Nic Dartnell, Open Space at Cass Art, Park Street, 27 September – 17 October Nic Dartnell is a Bristol-based artist who used to live and work in London. This is Nic’s second exhibition at Cass Art. After his previous show, in 2019, he won the People’s Choice Award at the Mall Gallery/Royal Institute of Oil Painters (ROI) in London. In recent years his work has mainly focused on images from Notting Hill Carnival and Kerala in Southern India. As there is no gallery commission at Cass Art, Nic is able to offer his paintings there at significantly lower prices than those he sells at major London galleries or to corporate buyers. See all his paintings on his website.

• nicdartnell.com Image: As Time Goes By, by Nic Dartnell

110th Annual Paintings Exhibition, The Bristol 1904 Arts Society, 23 – 30 October The Bristol 1904 Arts Society’s artistic roots run deep into the city’s creative history. In 2020, the society rebranded itself with a new name and new activities, more accurately portraying its current interests, as well as the enduring ones of painting, music, magic, poetry, storytelling and fellowship, progressing from an all-male society to an open, diverse, inclusive and welcoming one. The society encourages new membership, with artistic or musical talents – or none – and guests of members are very welcome. The society meets on Wednesday evenings in the hall built in the style of an old tithe barn adjacent to The Red Lodge on Park Row Bristol. The society’s major artistic event, open to the public, is the 110th Annual Paintings Exhibition running from 23 – 30 October.

Members who are pianists and jazz musicians will be entertaining visitors during the exhibition.

• bristol1904arts.org Image: Stalking Cheetahs by David Royle ©

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ANTIQUES

Expert opinion Chris Yeo, valuer at Clevedon Salerooms, curator of the Ken Stradling Collection in Bristol and an expert on BBC Antiques Roadshow

Wallpaper to die for

D

espite their rather dour image, the Victorians loved bright colours. They also had the know-how to create new ones, thanks to the invention of chemical dyes, one of the fruits of the Industrial Revolution.

Wallpaper manufacturers were quick to catch on to the public’s new-found appetite for colour and soon homes all over the Empire were emblazoned with bold patterns in eyepopping shades. As interior décor goes, this would strike any modern-day minimalist stone dead. But in the Victorian era wallpaper could – and did – kill.

The root of the problem was the colour green – a particularly bilious shade popular at the time, known as ‘Scheele’s Green’. It was named after the Swedish chemist who achieved the distinctive colour by way of a particular ingredient – arsenic. We might recoil in horror, but the average Victorian was perfectly used to having arsenic around the house and would have considered small doses of it perfectly safe.

Tiny amounts were used in everything from food colouring to the paint on children’s toys. The problem was Scheele’s Green contained more than a tiny amount.

Following a number of unexplained deaths, an unsettling idea began to spread in certain medical circles: arsenic wallpaper could kill. These concerns were initially swept under the carpet but by the 1870s the secret was out. The country was gripped by a public health panic that reached every level of society. Queen Victoria reportedly had all the green wallpaper torn down in Buckingham Palace after a visiting dignitary became ill. While many joined her in consigning their wallpaper to the dustbin – a few sensed a whiff of hysteria and pronounced the whole thing a hoax. One of them was the most famous wallpaper designer of the time, who also happened to be the son of the owner of the largest arsenic mine in the country. His name was William Morris, and his era-defining designs, with their scrolling foliage and biscuit-cutter birds, were also laced with arsenic.

By the end of the following decade the British government had begun to regulate the use of arsenic in a variety of industries. Morris and other manufacturers followed suit and the presence of arsenic pigments in wallpaper eventually became obsolete. ■

• clevedonsalerooms.com; @chrisyeo_antiques (Instagram) Image: William Morris design for Trellis wallpaper 1862. Source: Wikicommons

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

GOT BUNS, HUN

The new cafe will support local producers

The Choux Box Patisserie opened its first site in Bristol last month, bringing classic French patisserie to Wapping Wharf. Founded by Somerset-born pastry chef Orlando Partner, The Choux Box opened its first site in Bath in October last year.

Having worked as a pastry chef in Michelin-starred kitchens for over 10 years, Orlando wanted to use his knowledge and expertise to make high-quality patisserie fun.

Visitors can expect “buns with personality” on the patisserie counter, colourful macarons and delicious local coffee, plus a brand new weekend special released each week. Limited edition creations include the chocolate custard ‘chouxnut’, pistachio and chocolate mille-feuille choux Oli hasinworked in wine The Vaulted Chambers Cafe has opened and the ‘tirimi-choux’. for in years and has now the remains of Bristol’s medieval castle The Choux Box works closely with South West his own business Castle Park. The building is thoughtstarted to have suppliers, with everything used in the choux buns originally been the entrance to the castle’s sourced from within a 20-mile radius of the great hall and consists of two rooms known production kitchen in Bath.

Expect colourful as the porch and north chamber. The macarons too • thechouxboxpatisserie.com vaulted chambers, the sally port and several rampart ruins are the only parts of the castle to still survive above ground.

Over the last 18 months Bristol Parks and Green Spaces has been working with Historic England to restore the scheduled A new range of ready-to-serve drinks has popped The Pornstar Martini ancient monument, a status given to up in the city, under the name Bristol Cocktails, nationally important historic buildings. which launched at the Clifton Observatory in “Park cafés provide focal points for September. The team have launched a trio of communities and act as hubs for many local drinks – the classic Pina Colada, the Pornstar groups,” said Mayor Marvin Rees. “I’m Martini and the Margarita (in 50cl bottle format, delighted to see this collaboration deliver a serving four drinks, priced at £19.95) soon to be unique, striking addition to a much-loved followed by the Clover Club and Espresso Martini. part of the city.”

Developed and created by award-winning The council already operates seven cafés bartender Dee Davis, Bristol Cocktails has drawn and kiosks across Bristol, with income used on her experience and expertise to deliver to help fund the maintainance of green superior flavour. “Bristol Cocktails is about spaces. “Bristol Park Cafes support local delivering cocktails to the market that taste just like freshly made bar cocktails,” she food producers and proudly offer said. “Each product has gone through a rigorous development and research process sustainable and healthy menu options,” to ensure the quality, taste and texture is of the highest standard.” said catering business manager Jayne There’s no need for mixers, mixing or shaking, and the bottles travel well, too, Grocock. “It’s always exciting to add making for easy yet premium portability. another to our group, especially one in such a significant location.”

• bristolcocktailcompany.com

FANCY COFFEE AT THE CASTLE?

RAISING (AND RECREATING) THE BAR

A LOCAL TONIC A South Bristol wine and beer store will be lifting spirits as it goes on the road with a mobile bar thanks to a grant from the West of England Combined Authority, led by metro mayor Dan Norris.

Alpha Bottles’ new mobile bar means they can dispense up to four beers, and many other drinks kept chilled by a new fridge, to cater for social events in community venues and homes across Bristol and beyond.

“For such a long time so many social plans were put on ice, but as more people

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venture out we’re reminded of the joy of getting out, winding down, and having our spirits lifted with friends and families,” said Dan Norris who recently met with Emily Penney, owner of the shop at Imperial Arcade, East Street, to see the new mobile bar and fridge.

“Cheers to Alpha Bottle Shop & Tap! I look forward to finding out about future plans to meet growing demand for this new mobile service.”

• alphabottleshop.co.uk

Cheers to Alpha!

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FOOD & DRINK

Kanpai!

We’re toasting Bristol’s new Japanese restaurant with the country’s classic tipple, the high ball.

There’s more to it than whisky and soda...

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including those esteemed as more premium and refined. Bars quickly developed signature serves, with an almost zen-like focus in terms of production standards and using only the finest of ingredients.

Bartenders would hand-select and carve blocks of ice for the perfect cube, they’d debate the optimum number of stirs so as to preserve bubbles in the soda, and they’d all have their own opinion as to whether you should garnish or not. The creation of the perfect high ball became so much more than just mixing whisky with soda – the devil was all in the detail, and the detail had turned this simple cocktail into a work of art.

So why are they so popular now? They’re refreshing, to start with, plus they’re low-calorie, low-carb and lower in ABV. This combination makes them the perfect drink to enjoy with a meal, and also makes them discerningly sessionable.

How to make the perfect high ball

• Fill a high ball glass with ice (the larger the size of ice the better) • Add a slice of lemon • Add the whisky – about ⅓ to ¼ filled • Add soda • Stir once – so you keep all those bubbles

Otherwise, head over to Kibou and let the pros do the work... From the classic high ball, featuring sweet and spicy Toki whisky, to their smoky Kunsei – a delicious infusion of Chita whisky with lapsang – you’ll soon discover why this drink has become so popular in Japan. n

• Kibou Japanese Kitchen & Bar opens this month in King’s Road, Clifton Village, Bristol. kibou.co.uk

Photography : Nic Crilly-Hargrave

O

ne quick scan of the drinks menu at Kibou sees it crammed with Japanese-inspired cocktails, sakes and Japanese brewed beers and whiskies. But what really caught our attention was the extensive high ball section. A whole page dedicated to whisky and soda, we mused... It wasn’t until we began to explore the almost cult status that surrounds the traditional Japanese high ball that we understood its long backstory with the country.

Commercial production of Japanese whisky began in 1923 at the Yamazaki Distillery, following a trip by one of its employees to Scotland. By the end of the Second World War, Japan’s taste for whisky was becoming evident, and its popularity as a drink of status among businessmen, especially with respect to more premium brands, was really growing in momentum.

Drinking habits in Japan were mainly based around eating rather than pre or post-meal, and many of the Japanese began adding soda to their whisky to make it more palatable while consuming food and to reduce the alcohol content. By the ’50s and ’60s, the high ball had burst onto the drinks scene and was being consumed in izakayas (Japanese-style ‘pubs’) and restaurants across the country as an alternative to drinking beer.

As we headed into the ’80s, however, high balls started to fall out of favour, with emerging generations viewing them as old-fashioned and wanting to try the new drinks coming onto the menu. That was until a campaign introduced by Suntory, one of Japan’s largest distillers, put the high ball back in the limelight a few years later. Designed to shake off the out-of-date stereotypes of the classic drink, Suntory aimed to re-introduce high balls to a younger, fresher audience, highlighting their own range of whiskies on offer and a more refined take on this simple cocktail.

Since then high balls have escalated in their popularity, incorporating the full range of whiskies available across the country,

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BRISTOL UPDATES NEWS FROM LOCAL BUSINESSES AND COMMUNITY ORGANISATIONS

Axx VITAL LEG UP Bristol charity Legs4Africa has launched a campaign to raise £100,000 to support those with limb differences in sub-Saharan Africa.

Supported by current and ex-Paralympians such as Julie Rogers, Joe Bestwick and Rosie Bancroft, it will provide prosthetic leg parts for the only mobility centre in The Gambia, plus community outreach and emotional support through counselling and rehabilitation.

“We have been approached by a long-term friend of the charity who will match fund all public donations,” said Evie Dickinson, Legs4Africa fundraising manager. “The good work we can do with double the amount is unbelievable. We have the opportunity to give thousands of amputees the ultimate leg up.”

Donate to help people like Paul Mensah get back on their feet

• legs4africa.org/legup

SMASHING SUPPORT Atomic Smash – celebrating its 11th year in business this month – is sponsoring a desk at Spike Island Workspace, where WordPress first set up shop. Co-founders Piers Tincknell and David Darke will sponsor a creative professional or pair who would benefit from the creative and commercial opportunities Spike Island Workspace presents. The sponsorship is open to all Piers Tincknell with Spike Island’s Jane Faram and Sitheag Mckinnon creatives from all backgrounds; simply tell the team how the opportunity could make a difference to your future, before the 18 October deadline, and describe any access requirements. Desk space will be made available for 12 months.

• bristolcreativeindustries.com/atomic -smash-is-sponsoring-desks-at-spikeisland-workspace/

BUILDING FOR BETTER A campaign has launched to open the UK’s first disability-specific play and leisure facility in Bristol. The facility will be the first of its kind in the UK and provide an outlet for the 66,000 young people with disabilities living within an hour of Bristol. Project Home, a campaign run by Bristol charity Gympanzees, should see the state-of-the-art facility open in 2023.

Offering fitness, fun and friendship in a safe, welcoming, nonjudgmental environment – think music, a trampoline, sensory and soft play, a gym, playgrounds, therapy rooms and a cafe – it will be open to those with sensory, physical, learning difficulties, SEN and any mild to profound disability, tackling isolation and inactivity. Some 77% of disabled children cannot access regular leisure facilities, so they can’t play, exercise, or socialise in the same ways as their peers. They are also twice as likely to be lonely compared to their non-disabled peers. Additionally, 72% of parents with a disabled child also suffer mental health issues because of isolation.

The centre will cater for disabilities first but be an inclusive space for everyone, including non-disabled siblings.

• gympanzees.org/appeal

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CONGRATULATIONS! International law Lara Burch firm Osborne Clarke has appointed Lara Burch as the head of its Bristol office. Lara succeeds Peter Clough, who has completed two terms in the role.

The head’s principal role is to promote a high quality working environment, embracing best practice, new technologies and new ways of working, and acting on employee feedback. Under Peter's leadership, the Bristol office saw its head count increase from 400 to just over 700 people; it had a strong performance and won Law Firm of the Year for two consecutive years at the Bristol Law Society Awards.

It also raised considerable funds for charities including FareShare, LandAid and Children’s Hospice South West. “We’d like to thank Peter for the huge contribution he’s made,” said Andrew Saul, senior partner. “We’re really looking forward to working with Lara as we enter the next stage of our development in Bristol.”

Lara – a partner in the commercial law team – joined the firm in 1997 and has been a partner since 2001. She has more than 20 years’ experience advising on high value, complex commercial transactions. Lara’s term will coincide with the firm’s move, planned for autumn 2022, from Temple Quay to Halo, a landmark green office building in Finzels Reach. “It’s an exciting time to be stepping into the role,” said Lara. “There’s certainly plenty to keep me busy, not just with Halo but in terms of Osborne Clarke’s contribution in Bristol. As one of the region’s largest employers, we have a key part to play in supporting not just our own employees but also Bristol’s communities and the natural environment. I’m really keen to make sure we do that effectively.”

• osborneclarke.com

FREE BUSINESS SUPPORT Do you have a brilliant idea to turn a hobby into a business? Thinking about taking the leap into selfemployment? Maybe you have a business you'd like to grow? Free expert mentoring and training in marketing, business planning, finance and strategy is now available via the North and East Bristol Enterprise Support (NEBES) programme and, with a mix of online and live resources, can be tailored around your schedule and commitments. Contact nebes@ytko.com to enrol. n

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BOOKS

Autumn leaves

New releases for the new season, as recommended by the lovely team at Wapping Wharf’s gorgeous new Bookhaus

A

iming to represent the best of contemporary literature with a focus on diversity and global outlook, as well as children’s and modern fiction, history, science and current affairs – via books that address the burning questions of the world – Rope Walk store Bookhaus opened over the summer to reflect Bristol’s tradition as a centre of radicalism.

Store events include reading and writers’ groups as well as launches. This month (11 October) sees Alan Woods, editor of In Defence of Marxism magazine, presenting a talk on his major new book The History of Philosophy which outlines the development of the subject from the ancient Greeks, all the way through to Marx and Engels.

The October calendar also features events to mark Black History Month, including the launch of Grown: The Black Girls Guide to Glowing Up by Melissa Cummings-Quarry and Natalie A Carter on 9 October. The founders of Black Girls’ Book Club will share stories and offer honest, practical advice on owning your choices, living your truth without fear, and being grown on your own terms without limits or apologies.

Then, on 16 October Alex Wheatle launches the paperback edition of The Cane Warriors – irresistible, gripping and unforgettable, it follows the true story of Tacky’s War in Jamaica, 1760 – while on 27 October the focus is Lola Akinmade Akertstrom’s In Every Mirror She’s Black.

This timely and arresting novel will appeal to fans of Queenie and Americanah.

In the meantime, the Bookhaus team have a few more new reads for you to snuggle down and get autumnal with, stat.

The Ministry For The Future

by Kim Stanley Robinson (published by Orbit on 14 October) – as recommended

by Darran McLaughlin

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (published by Bloomsbury on 2 September) – as recommended by Jack Stead

The newest novel from Susanna Clarke, the acclaimed author of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, is an absolute marvel of world building, intrigue and wonder. Piranesi recently won the 2021 Women’s Prize for Fiction and it’s easy to see why.

Effortlessly gripping, it tells the story of a young protagonist as he uncovers the mysteries of the House, the never-ending labyrinth of halls and statues that he calls home. Piranesi held my attention at knifepoint, leaving me no choice but to read it cover to cover, in a single sitting. It’s one of the most satisfying books I’ve read in a while, and I can’t recommend it enough.

Voices Of The Nakba: A Living History Of Palestine, edited by Diana Allan (published by Pluto on 20 Sepember) – as recommended by Emilia Bermejo-Ford

Winner of an English PEN award in 2021, Voices Of Nakba is a collection of stories from first-generation Palestinian refugees detailing their experiences and the legacies of the Nakba, where more than 750,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were voilently expelled from their homes. What’s exciting about this book is hearing first hand, personal stories that are unmediated, defining the complexity and multiplicity contained within the experiences of those who lived

I recently finished Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson, which is the second part of his Mars Trilogy and that

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was enough to convince me that he is one of the greatest living writers, and now one of my favourite writers. This novel, which is set in the near future, depicts the transition that the Earth goes through in adapting to a postcapitalist future that is able to address climate breakdown. It was selected by Barack Obama as one of his favourite books of last year.

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through the Nakba. The voices of Palestinian people are toooften lost in what is one of the most important political issues of our time.

We’re Going To Find The Monster! by Malorie Blackman and Dapo Adeola (published by Penguin on 2 September) – as recommended by Nayya Raza

We’re Going To Find The Monster! is a newly released picture book from storytelling favourites Malorie Blackman and Dapo Adeola. The story follows siblings Charlie and Eddie as they venture through the mysterious and fantastical landscapes of their family home.

Traipsing through mountains, oceans and (scariest of all) messy bedrooms, the pair are on the hunt for the monster who’s late for breakfast. This is a book that captures the unfettered joy of children as their imagination transforms the domestic and familiar into marvellous and magical terrain. A heartwarming family story that will resonate with all.

• bookhausbristol.com

Team Bookhaus

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EDUCATION NEWS UPDATES FROM THE CITY’S SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES

NEW SCHOLARSHIP

MAKING SURE LITTLE FISH DON’T LOSE OUT

A new swim scholarship has launched between Clifton High School and Bristol Sport. Its aim is to make elite swimming more accessible through extra funding and bespoke co-curricular education, and strengthen Bristol’s reputation as a swimming hub for young athletes.

The Bristol Sport Swim Scholarship will give young athletes the opportunity to marry up national-level coaching and first-class schooling.

Ex-Team GB swimmer Jez Birds, who joins Clifton High from Henleaze Swimming Club, leads the programme.

The first recipient is Sean Simmons who joins Clifton High in Year 12, from the Oasis Academy.

Regularly in the top 10 of UK rankings for 50metre backstroke, 50-metre fly, 100-metre backstroke and 100-metre fly, Sean learnt to swim at the age of six and has been excelling in the sport ever since.

“Bristol has a long history of national and international success in aquatics, most recently with Clifton High’s Issy Thorpe and Kate Shortman representing Team GB at this summer’s Tokyo Olympics,” said Bristol Sport communications director Lisa Knights. “We hope that by continuing our ethos of being ‘the team behind the team’ we can promote and inspire the next generation of swimmers to proudly represent the city.”

According to new research released by Swim England, millions of the country’s children lack basic life-saving swimming skills, with the average child having stopped swimming lessons by the time they are eight years old, and more than nine out of 10 children not able to swim 100 metres or tread water for half a minute.

This puts them at severe risk of drowning, campaigners have warned.

The figure has risen during the pandemic with roughly two million children missing out on swimming lessons between March 2020 and April 2021, directly contradicting the statutory guidance for schools as part of the national PE curriculum.

Badminton School’s swimming pool was used throughout summer by numerous local swimming clubs, and in partnership with Bristol Penguins Olympic Swimming Club which helped young children from across Bristol to learn to swim one 25-metre length in just a few short weeks. If they were still struggling, the children were then offered additional lessons free of charge. “We were delighted to be able to host Little Fish Swimming Lessons alongside our regular users: Bristol Penguins (Swim England’s Club of the Year) and Bristol Henleaze Swimming Club,” said James Lindsay, operations manager. “It was great to see the little ones making so much progress in such a short time. Learning to swim should be available to all and that is why we encourage clubs to use the pool.”

• bristol-sport.co.uk; cliftonhigh.co.uk

• badmintonschool.co.uk

SCHOOL OPEN DAYS

October and November dates for prospective parents’ diaries

Badminton School

Haberdashers’ Monmouth Schools

www.badmintonschool.co.uk Whole school open day: Saturday 2 October, 9.00am - 12.00noon.

www.habsmonmouth.org Open Days: Friday 1 October and Saturday 2 October.

Bristol Grammar School www.bristolgrammarschool.co.uk Open Evening: Friday 1 October.

Years 3 – 6, 4.00pm – 6.00pm.

Years 7 – Lower Sixth, 4.00pm – 8.00pm.

Sixth Form Information Evening: Thusday 14 October, 5.00pm – 7.15pm.

Clifton High School www.cliftonhigh.co.uk Sixth Form Open Facility: Thursday 7 October, 6pm – 8.30pm.

The Downs Preparatory School www.thedownsschool.co.uk Open Days: Friday 1 October, 10am – 12.00noon and Saturday 2 October, 1.00pm – 3.00pm.

Fairfield High School www.fairfield.excalibur.org.uk Open Mornings: Tuesday 5 October, 9.30am – 10.30am and Friday 15 October, 9.30am – 10.30am.

Virtual Open Morning: Wednesday 6 October, 9.30am – 10.30am.

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QEH Bristol www.qehbristol.co.uk Open Mornings: Saturday 9 October, 10am – 12.00noon.

Also 5 November, 10am – 12.00noon.

Redmaids’ High School www.redmaidshigh.co.uk Junior School - Saturday 6 November.

Open Mornings: Senior School – Tuesday 9 November.

The Royal High School www.royalhighbath.gdst.net Senior School Open Morning: 9 October, 10.00am – 12.00noon.

Sidcot School www.sidcot.org.uk Open Morning: Friday 1 October.

Tockington Manor School www.tockingtonmanorschool.com Open Day: Friday 8 October, 2.00pm – 5.00pm.

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COSMETICS

beauty NOTEBOOK Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare Advanced Retinol & Ferulic Overnight Wrinkle Treatment, £86 An overnight treatment powered by phyto-retinol blend™ to visibly firm, reduce the look of wrinkles and restore hydration by supporting the skin’s natural renewal process.

Hourglass Equilibrium Restorative Hydrating Cream, £125 A rich, hydrating cream formulated with Hourglass’ cell balancing complex to help rebalance, restore and renew the skin barrier for a healthy-looking complexion. This nourishing cream is also infused with niacinamide to help reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, improve skin texture, and help protect against pollution and blue light stressors.

Fenty Beauty Diamond Bomb Palette, £34 Fenty Beauty’s most-wanted highlighter is now sparkling in three reimagined nude shades – Fenty Glow, Fu$$y and Hot Chocolit. This palette features a unique jelly-powder formula that’s cool to the touch, melts into skin, and creates an all-glitz-no-grit finish for all skin tones. It also delivers a 3D glittering veil of pure sparkle for face and body.

THE AUTUMN DROP

Memo Paris Lalibela Hair Perfume, £55 A new launch from Memo Paris. With an alcohol-free and long-lasting formula, this perfume contains a gentle moisturiser for the hair and delicately scents it with its Lalibela fragrance – perfect for travels all year round.

Take your pick of the latest releases designed to help with that new-season glow – from limited edition luxuries to soon-to-be staples.

All products featured are available from the ground-floor beauty hall at Harvey Nichols Bristol and online at harveynichols.com

OUAI Refresh Kit, £28 Offering a total refresh that’ll keep your hair feeling ‘just styled’ between washes, this kit calls on the detox shampoo to give a thorough clean and the ‘super dry’ shampoo to keep you feeling clean for days after.

Coco and Eve Sunny Honey Bronzing Face Drops, £22.90 Get a gradual, natural, glowing tan while moisturising and plumping skin with Coco & Eve’s ultra-hydrating bronzing face drops.

Just add two to three tanning drops to your daily moisturiser. Boosted with self-tan benefits so you can dial-up your Bali bronze, drop by drop.

Creed Sample Inspiration Set, £35 Cannot decide which perfume to choose? Discover your next signature scent with The House of Creed’s sample inspiration set which allows you to explore some of the finest fragrances.

Jo Malone London Wood Sage & Sea Salt Body & Hand Wash, £52

Tom Ford Shade and Illuminate Blush, £65

A supersized body and hand wash infused with fresh wood sage and sea salt. Created with meadow foam seed, the formula gently cleanses skin, helping to leave body and hands feeling conditioned and soft.

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A luxurious, two-in-one cheek colour, formulated with rice silk powder and available in six silky-smooth, multi-dimensional shade duos. Each blush offers complementing semi-matte and highlighting hues, for a light-reflecting, youth-enhancing glow.

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Private pregnancy ultrasound scans for ‘picture-perfect’ peace of mind Why Imaginatal?

Care for You:

Imaginatal are dedicated to making sure that you as expecting parents have an exciting and reassuring experience.

Bringing you peace of mind and the ability to enjoy the pregnancy through to the end. The Bristol clinic has been finished to a high standard to give you a comfortable, calming, and relaxed environment. You will find friendly staff that create a welcoming atmosphere to ensure you cherish your special experience.

Imaginatal offer longer appointment times in order to give sonographers optimal time to undertake the scan of your baby and to allow for you to ask any questions you may have. Only 2 families are allowed into the building at one time so there are no queues and families are given much more privacy. The state-ofthe-art ultrasound imaging technology provides you with high quality and accurate images.

Baby Scanning Services for You: There are a variety of scanning services offered by Imaginatal. From the very first scan at 6 weeks where you will be able to see your baby for the first time, through to gender scans, 4D scans, wellbeing scans and even a well woman scan available within 24-hours of your request.

Out of hours appointments are also available on request.

Expert Staff: Imaginatal clinics are health professional led with patient centred care at its core, focusing on ensuring that both parents and baby are happy and as healthy as can be. All sonographers are registered practitioners, fully trained in the UK with years of NHS working experience behind them with up-to-date evidence of Continuous Professional Development.

Bristol Clinic 151 Wick Road, Brislington, Bristol, BS4 4HH

Phone: 0800 640 4299

Email: info@imaginatal.co.uk www.imaginatal.co.uk

Imaginatal also offers NIPT blood tests to check your baby’s DNA for underlying risks of chromosomal disorders, as well as gynaecology and fertility scanning services.

You will feel ready, happy, and healthy throughout your pregnancy journey.

Imaginatal provide complimentary consultations to discuss what you can expect. This also gives you as parents the chance to visit the facility and ensure Imaginatal are the right fit to meet all your pregnancy needs. The scanning services, whether one off or regular, are ensured to work around your pregnancy.

For Your Peace of Mind: Imaginatal’s clinical activities are regulated and registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). We are registered members of the British Medical Ultrasound Society (BMUS) and have full Medical Professional Indemnity Insurance.

SPECIAL OFFER:

£50 voucher to spend on add-ons.

Call to redeem Quoт: Bristol Mag 50

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Launch & develop your business with us!

The Bristol Magazine has all the treatments and all the wonderful therapies to help your business feel fantastic!

Health and Beauty advertising in Bristol’s brightest & most widely delivered magazine really works.

Telephone 0117 974 2800

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ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

CNM helped me achieve my dream career in nutrition Kimberly Espinel, CNM Nutritional Therapy Graduate

I now have a successful business and work full-time as a food photographer and recipe developer. I do all this from home, working my own hours and I also get to spend lots of quality time with my son.

After working as an adoption and fostering social worker for many years, I took time off after I had my son. When I went back to work, things didn’t feel the same; my job was demanding and my work-life balance wasn’t right. I wanted a job where I could set my own hours and have the flexibility to spend more time with my son.

Food and nutrition had always been my passion, so I went to an open day at the College of Naturopathic Medicine (CNM) and decided to do the naturopathic nutrition diploma.

Studying at CNM completely changed my life.

All the topics were incredibly interesting, especially the nutrition modules, and I loved the practical component of the in-clinic training. Doing mock consults was a fantastic experience. All the lecturers are so inspiring and knowledgeable. I also met some lovely people who I’m still in contact with.

I started my vegan food blog whilst studying to build an audience and a catalogue of recipes to share with clients when I graduated. Thinking about the marketing and business side early on has been pivotal in my business’ success with my blog gaining a lot of traction from the start.

I realised food photography was my strength so I’ve focussed my business around food photography and styling, and having my nutrition qualification has given me an edge and set my blog apart from others.

I loved that the course was part-time and spread over three years; it offered flexibility that other courses didn’t. CNM has a fantastic reputation and the college is conveniently located in central London.

I now work full-time as a food photographer and recipe developer, and I also teach food styling and food photography. I do a lot of sponsored content and influencer work too, promoting products for brands.

My advice to anyone thinking about studying nutrition at CNM is to go for it as the knowledge you gain is invaluable. Even if you don’t want to practice, you can use it to improve your own health. The course gives you a solid foundation in how the body works, nutrition and healthy living.

Think about your end goal from the outset – what do you want to achieve and how will your business look? When you know this, you can start brainstorming and put plans in place to make it happen.

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Free CNM Lecture Scan the QR code No 1 training provider for Natural Therapies

Visit www.cnmcourses.com or call 01342 777 747

Geoff Don

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ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

LOOKING AFTER YOUR HEALTH

Your body is amazing, and to keep it running as it should, it’s important to understand the basics of gynaecological health.

Here, the Consultant Gynaecologists from Nuffield Health Bristol Hospital breakdown some of the issues you should be aware of to keep your body in good working condition.

Menstrual health Periods will generally last for between 3 to 5 days, and occur every 21 to 35 days. Just over a third of people will develop period problems during their lifetime. Although longer or heavier than usual periods are not a sign of a problem, it needs to be assessed further, and bleeding in between periods, with intercourse or after menopause, could be a sign of cancer and medical advice should be sought promptly.

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) occurs due to the hormonal changes prior to periods and can result in significant emotional changes, which may also require specialist input. Some mild discomfort is common, but if you are experiencing severe pain with your periods (dysmenorrhoea) you may want to speak to your doctor.

Hormonal contraception can affect periods in various ways, and if required could also be used as a method of treatment. Most period problems can be evaluated during a consultation with a gynaecologist by reviewing your past medical history, performing an examination, and potentially including an ultrasound scan and biopsies.

requires an ultrasound scan and a CA125 blood test.

Womb cancer generally causes postmenopausal bleeding which should always be investigated. Outcomes of womb cancer are relatively good if detected and treated in the early stages. Ovarian and womb cancer can be hereditary, and if you have a strong family history of these types of cancers, as well as bowel or breast cancer, you should contact a specialist to discuss gene testing and prevention surgery.

Most cervical cancer occurs between the ages of 30 and 40 years. Not taking part in a screening programme when invited is the biggest risk of developing cervical cancer.

Screening is important, even for people who have received the HPV vaccine. Most cervical cancer presents with bleeding in-between periods or after sex. Vulval cancer is relatively uncommon. Any ulcer, lump or bleeding from vulval skin should be promptly assessed.

Precancer changes can cause soreness and itching and should also be checked by a specialist.

Menopause Gynaecological cancers Up to two thirds of gynaecological cancers can be prevented by risk reduction, screening and vaccination programme, and it’s important to remember that the outcome of a cancer diagnosis can be improved by earlier detection.

Ovarian cancer can be silent, but symptoms such as weight loss, nausea, vomiting, persistent bloating, abdominal distension or difficulty in breathing could all be a sign and should be taken seriously. Initial investigation

Menopause occurs when the ovaries stop producing eggs, reducing levels of oestrogen hormone. The average age is 51 with a quarter of people experiencing severe symptoms. It occurs naturally or resulting from treatment, e.g. for cancer. Treatment is based on symptoms which can include hot flushes, insomnia, fatigue, joint ache, painful sex, anxiety, and forgetfulness.

There has been much publicity about the risks of HRT (oestrogen replacement). HRT can increase the risk of breast cancer if used for 5

years, but this risk is lower than being overweight or excess alcohol intake.

HRT has considerable benefits too. Heart disease accounts for more deaths than cancer and starting HRT before age 60 is protective.

Oestrogen can reduce the risk of dementia and protects the bones, reducing the risk of fractures due to osteoporosis. Not everybody needs HRT, however, individualised help is available for those who do.

At Nuffield Health Bristol Hospital, our team of Consultant Gynaecologists – Dr Jo Bailey, Dr Suvarna Mahavarkar, Miss Naomi Crouch and Mr Amit Patel – work closely together to offer a comprehensive service for our patients. As well as treating general gynaecological conditions, they each have their own specialties. Dr Bailey and Mr Patel both specialise in gynaecological cancers, while Dr Mahavarkar specialises in the treatment of related skin conditions, and Ms Crouch in adolescent gynaecology.

If you would like to book an appointment with a Consultant Gynaecologist at Nuffield Health Bristol Hospital, call 0117 911 5339, or visit our website: www.nuffieldhealth.com/hospitals/bristol.

THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK

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

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HISTORY

Honey-hued houses in Dollar Street and (pictured, right) Black Jack Street – named after the soot-blackened figure of John the Baptist which once looked down on it from a church tower niche

Corinium Museum

St John’s Hospital

Market Place and (right) the Church of St John the Baptist, a stand-out build funded by wool trade profits

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HISTORY

Salute to Ciren

For an autumnal day trip avoiding tourist crowds, Andrew Swift recommends one of the most elegant and self-assured market towns in England – a glorious juxtaposition of the imposing and the vernacular

A

lthough few towns have such a resounding name as Cirencester, it’s long been regarded as too fancy for everyday use. As far back as the 16th century, it was shortened to Cicister. Today, many know it simply as Ciren, which trips more easily off the tongue. Nothing encapsulates as neatly as this dual identity the unique character of a town where grandeur and homeliness rub shoulders so amicably.

Few towns have such an illustrious history as Cirencester – or Ciren – but in few towns is that history less apparent. It was founded – as Corinium Dobunnorum – by the Romans, and was the second largest city in Britain after Londinium. All there is to show for it today, though, is a short length of broken-down wall, a grass-grown amphitheatre out beyond the bypass and a collection of mosaics and columns in the town’s museum.

From the ruins of the Roman city a new town arose, where in 1176 an abbey was consecrated in the presence of Henry II. It became the richest Augustinian abbey in England, but, after its dissolution in 1539, it was razed to the ground. Nothing of it survives apart from a few perimeter walls and a gatehouse hidden in woods on the edge of town.

Even before the abbey went, though, Cirencester was a boom town. In the late middle ages, wool was the lynchpin of England’s economy. Cirencester, surrounded by some of the finest sheep pastures in the country, grew rich. Wealthy merchants built townhouses in the narrow streets north of the Market Place, but, grand though they were, there was no standing on ceremony. They stood amid weavers’ cottages and warehouses, built, like them, of the local stone, and creating a townscape of surpassing variety and interest. Profits from the wool trade also funded the building of the church of St John the Baptist, the largest in Gloucestershire, which dominates the Market Place. It was to have been even grander, with one of the highest spires in England. Inadvertently, however, the tower’s foundations had been laid in a filled-in Roman ditch. When they started to give way, the builders hurriedly revised their plans, erecting buttresses to prevent the tower’s collapse.

By the end of the 18th century, the wool trade was in decline, but Cirencester was still a force to be reckoned with – so much so that it was the first town in Gloucestershire to be linked by rail to London, on 31 May 1841, a month earlier than Bristol. Any hopes that the town would become an industrial hub soon faded, however. The town didn’t exactly slumber on; it remained what it had been for centuries, a prosperous market town, content to let industry go elsewhere. The railway was soon downgraded to a branch line and in 1966 it closed altogether, so that Brunel’s station now lies stranded in a car park on the edge of town.

We owe an immense debt to those who set their faces against the modern age. Industrial expansion would have destroyed what had been maturing for centuries – one of the most elegant and selfassured market towns in England.

For lovers of old buildings, the narrow, tightly packed streets north of the Market Place are among the country’s most richly rewarding. Dating largely from the 17th and 18th centuries, though with much that is earlier, there are surprises round every corner – a four-storey wool merchant’s house in Coxwell Street, complete with counting house and warehouse, the arches of a 12th-century hospital in Spitalgate Street, cottages in Gloucester Street with massive stones from the demolished abbey built into their walls – and everywhere that glorious juxtaposition of the imposing and the vernacular.

Cirencester’s stand-out building, though, is its most improbable.

The three-storey porch of St John’s church dates from the early Tudor period. Its elaborate ornamentation would not look out of

place on a palace and it manages the seemingly impossible – outshining the church to which it is the entrance. But that is what it was intended to do. The nave and tower of the church were built by the townsfolk, but the Market Place – along with much else – belonged to the abbey. It was the monks who built the porch as an office from where they could regulate trade – a potent reminder of their determination to resist attempts by the citizens of Cirencester to infringe their prerogatives or seek borough status for the town. Little wonder that the townsfolk hated them; little wonder too that, once the abbey was gone, they used the porch as their town hall.

Cirencester isn’t just about old buildings, however. Few towns are so blessed with open spaces. When the abbey was pulled down, a mansion was erected in its stead. The abbey grounds became rolling parkland, its fishponds an ornamental lake. The mansion has now followed the abbey into oblivion and the parkland, entered through a gateway beside the church, is open to all.

Cirencester was a force to be reckoned with – the first town in Gloucestershire to be linked by rail to London, a month earlier than Bristol

On the other side of town – all of five minutes’ walk away – is Cirencester House, for over 300 years the home of the Earls of Bathurst. Although screened from the town by a high wall and an even higher yew hedge, the 3,000 acre park beyond it, dotted with 18th-century follies, is also open to anyone wishing to visit.

With so much going for it, it may seem surprising that Cirencester is no tourist honeypot. Wander through the narrow streets north of the Market Place, and the chances are you’ll have them more or less to yourself. Even Cecily Hill, the only wide street, apart from the Market Place, in the old town, which leads into Cirencester Park and is often cited as one of the loveliest streets in England, is unlikely to be that busy.

In the heart of town, though, it’s a different story. The narrow streets around the Market Place will, as likely as not, be teeming – but not with tourists. Cirencester is proud of its claim to be the Capital of the Cotswolds, fulfilling the role it has fulfilled for centuries – as a market town.

And, although this is the Cotswolds, this doesn’t just mean highend boutiques and antique emporia. A traditional market is held in the Market Place twice a week. There’s also a regular farmers’ market, while the nearby Corn Hall hosts craft fairs, as well as the Home, Fashion and Garden Bazaar. And, in the busiest, narrowest street of all, Black Jack Street – named after the soot-blackened figure of John the Baptist which once looked down on it from a niche in the church tower – you’ll find an independent bookshop, a sweetshop, a baker’s, two traditional pubs and a butcher’s, established in 1808, still with its superbly tiled frontage.

Whether you call it Cirencester or Ciren, and for whatever reason you might fancy going there, this is a town well worth a visit. ■ • There are several car parks in Cirencester, but the cheapest longstay option is at the Beeches, just off the ring road on the east side of town (GL7 1BW). For more information, check out cirencester.co.uk; cirencester.gov.uk THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK

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INTERIORS | BRISTOL GUIDE 2021

Embrace your space Wondering what’s falling into fashion this autumn? Our interiors guide is brimming with the city’s most cherished design, decor and DIY experts, all of whom are ready and waiting to bring your home into the new season in sensational style...

MANDARIN STONE

BONITI Dunsdon Barn, West Littleton, Wiltshire SN14 8JA; 01225 892200; boniti.com

15 Regent Street, Clifton, Bristol BS8 4HW 0117 9731552; mandarinstone.com Renowned for its comprehensive natural stone collection, Mandarin Stone has also gained quite a reputation for its ontrend and beautifully designed porcelain.

Ranging from tiles that cleverly mimic materials such as wood, concrete and marble to striking glazed and patterned tiles, the collection has endless surface design possibilities. Established for over 25 years and with 10 inspirational UK showrooms, it offers dependable specialist knowledge as well as technical expertise. Almost the entire natural stone and porcelain collection is held in stock in the UK, so lead times are short.

Run by Giles and Simon Lunt, Boniti is a high-quality interiors (and exteriors) business, whose showroom is a destination for all types of natural stone, porcelain and timber flooring, as well as decorative tiles, stoneware, Kadai firebowls, garden furniture, homeware accessories and the very desirable Everhot range cookers. Boniti has an impressive client list of property developers and a specialist bespoke service that can supply and fit worldwide.

When it comes to any project – large or small – the Boniti team are masters of their profession and it shows in every detail. You can reach the showroom easily from junction 18 of the M4.

BRACEY INTERIORS 15 Waterloo Street, Clifton, Bristol BS8 4BT; 0117 9734664; braceyinteriors.co.uk With over 50 years’ experience, Bracey Interiors has earned an enviable reputation for its design services. Working throughout the UK and abroad, the team creates unique and bespoke interiors for clients. Within the showroom in the heart of Clifton Village, Bracey showcases fabrics and wallpapers from all the major suppliers as well as a unique and eclectic mix of home accessories.

Paints by Little Greene and Paint & Paper Library are also mixed to order in a matter of minutes. No matter how big or small your requirements are, Bracey Interiors has friendly staff ready to help.

With their own workrooms they ensure all soft furnishings are made to their exacting standards, and offer an installation service.

2017 saw their Silver House project win three awards in the RSAW Welsh Architecture Awards.

COLOURFENCE BRISTOL colourfencebristol.co.uk; 0117 259 1789 If you’re looking to spruce up your garden this season, or if your fence was struggling to withstand some of the colder recent weather then you need look no further than ColourFence. ColourFence metal fencing needs very little aftercare and can stand winds of up to 130mph meaning less time spent painting fences and more time spent enjoying your surroundings. As well as steel fencing, they also offer ColourRail and ColourShed, so get in touch today and take the first step to investing longer-term in your outdoor spaces.

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ORIENTAL RUGS OF BATH Bookbarn International, Hallatrow Business Park, Bristol BS39 6EX 01761 451764; orientalrugsofbath.com

PAUL WHITTAKER

Situated in the rolling countryside between Bristol and Bath, Oriental Rugs of Bath is home to a wonderful collection of handcrafted carpets, rugs, runners and kilims from the Middle and Far East, where these crafts have sustained their peoples for centuries. Unique furnishings such as Turkish kilim upholstered sofas and silk suzani cushions pair perfectly for any interior design project. Personalised on approval services are available and expert advice is provided for bespoke orders and specialist cleaning and repair enquiries. Open seven days a week with free nationwide delivery. Visit the website to buy online and feel inspired.

BATHROOMS AND WETROOMS

Showroom by appointment at Bathroom Solutions, 54 Redcliff Street, Bristol BS1 6LS 0117 2230086 / 07879 666221; paulwhittakerbathrooms.co.uk Paul Whittaker Bathrooms and Wetrooms is a design, supply and installation bathroom company with a huge reputation in the Bristol area. Working closely with his clients, Paul is able to deliver cleverly designed bathrooms and wetrooms, expertly installed by his experienced team of fitters. With 3D design layouts to help with decision making and project management through the course of the works, Paul Whittaker makes bathroom renovations easy and stress-free.

JOHN BOYCE PLASTERWORK Unit 5, Channel View Farm, Clevedon, Bristol BS21 6US 07970 278028; john-boyce.co.uk

WREN KITCHENS

John Boyce Plasterwork Ltd is a locally based company with over 30 years’ experience in the plastering trade, tackling any size of job from a simple repair to a complete restoration project. The team has a large range of moulds built up over the last three decades and is capable of matching and reproducing any type of plasterwork.

The company also has a large range of stock cornices and ceiling roses to pick from, with something to suit most tastes and budgets.

They carry out ceiling surveys and repairs, lime plastering and rendering and bespoke one-off pieces; offering free, no-obligation quotes and advice. Visit the website for a taste of what John Boyce Plasterwork can offer.

Cribbs Causeway Retail Park, Lysander Road, Bristol BS34 5TX 0117 2443168; wrenkitchens.com A visit to the Wren Kitchens website reveals an exceptional choice of over 60 kitchens in three ranges to suit all tastes and pockets. The Vogue, Infinity and Infinity Plus collections are further divided into modern, Shaker and traditional styles, allowing you to create your own perfect kitchen. Add to this your choice of handles and thousands of unit sizes and you’re well on your way to creating a truly unique room which will be the heart of your home for many years to come.

Book a showroom appointment for a free consultation with one of Wren’s expert kitchen designers; chat about layout and design requirements; see a personalised 3D design and get a quick price estimate, with no obligation to buy. Whether you’re looking to follow the latest colour trends or choose something timeless and classic, Wren will have the kitchen for you.

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ARCHITECT YOUR HOME 0800 0515304; architect-yourhome.com Architect Your Home’s service kicks off with an initial design consultation in your home – think of this as the real starting point of your project.

It will provide you with sketch drawings of a properly considered and collaborative design proposal, help you develop a clear understanding of the practical implications of your design and equip you with the necessary tools so that you can move your project forward confidently to the next stage.

During the consultation there will be an in-depth discussion to fully establish requirements and aspirations, a set of sketch design drawings showing the proposals, advice on planning permission/listed building consents/structure etc, an agreed proposal by the end of the session, and recommendations on the next steps and how to move the project forward.

SJP INTERIOR DESIGN SJP Interior Design, 36 The Mall, Clifton Village, Bristol BS8 4DS 01179 730880; sjpinteriordesign.co.uk SJP Interior Design makes the process simple and enjoyable from start to finish. They truly take the time to understand each and every client’s needs and together they create not just great schemes, but inspiring places that ooze quality. Not only do they have an in-depth market knowledge, they also have the full set of skills needed to carry out a smooth and successful project. With continuous research into the everchanging interior style trends across the UK, the team are confident that they always create relevant and impressive proposals that really incorporate both their own knowledge, and the client’s own style.

SJP offers a range of services, from residential and commercial interior design to furniture rental and home staging. As established interior designers and property developers, they fully understand the value of creating a desirable space that allows their client’s potential home buyers to really visualise not just the property itself, but the aspirational lifestyle that comes with it. This undoubtedly helps maximise both the sales value of a house and also the speed of the sale.

As a business, their ethos really is to make each and every project, big or small, one to be proud of.

GARDEN AFFAIRS Trowbridge Garden Centre, 288 Frome Road, Trowbridge BA14 ODT 01225 774566; gardenaffairs.co.uk Garden Affairs specialises in made-to-measure, high-quality garden buildings. The extensive display of top-notch garden offices, posh sheds, summerhouses and gazebos can all be made to the size and style you require – flexibility is what they’re all about here. Take a look at the range of garden rooms – with contemporary concepts that solve the problem of space constraints, especially in city gardens. The Linea range of modern, Scandi-style cabins are perfect for all uses, comply with most planning guidelines and look great too. Garden Affairs offers a fixed-price installation service throughout the UK, or you can choose for a DIY kit to be delivered to your door.

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THE KITCHEN PARTNERS The Kitchen Partners Design Studio, 102 Whiteladies Road, Bristol BS8 2QY 0117 9466433; thekitchenpartners.co.uk When you work with The Kitchen Partners on Whiteladies Road, you’ll work directly with Fiona, Clinton and Vicky – from the initial enquiry, throughout the design process, to the final completion. They will ensure the journey always begins with you. It’s your kitchen and your home and you will be a fundamental part of the process, with access to all trades involved.

The Kitchen Partners are design, planning and installation professionals dedicated to giving each client their dream kitchen. As a fully independent retailer they can offer clients not only a greater variety of choice, but the best quality prices and lead times when considering a kitchen restoration. They have a keen eye for up-to-theminute kitchen design and extensive product knowledge, based on many years working in the kitchen and interior design sectors. With innovative spatial awareness and flair for interior design, they will make sure your visit to their kitchen design studio is a worthwhile and rewarding experience.

GARDINER HASKINS Brunel Rooms, 1 Straight Street, Bristol BS2 0FQ 0117 9292288; gardinerhaskins.co.uk Gardiner Haskins Interiors has luxury interior showrooms that allow you to create your dream home space. Its knowledgeable and skilled team of design experts can help you design your own bespoke kitchen or bathroom, with wrap-around project management from start to finish. Create your perfect bedroom with over 40 beds on display from brands such as Harrison, Sleepeeze, Millbrook and Relyon, then blend in beautiful bedroom furniture from Ercol, or wardrobe storage solutions from Wiemann and Nolte. The team has over 40 years’ experience, so you can guarantee exceptional customer service. Open six days a week with a free customer car park and less than 10 minutes’ walk from Cabot Circus.

KINDLE STOVES Glenavon Farm, 331 Bath Road, Saltford BS31 3TJ 01179 243898; kindlestoves.co.uk At the heart of your home should be the perfect stove. Kindle Stoves is a local specialist in clean-burning, eco-design ready stoves approved for burning wood in Bristol, with a wood-burner to suit every home and every style. The team stock the super-efficient Woodwarm, Contura and Rais models as well as many more, offering a full installation service – from fireplace alterations, to slate hearths and stone fireplaces. Their lovely showroom, situated just outside Keynsham, has one of the largest displays of wood-burners in the South West and is open six days a week.

Pop in for advice and brochures or to book a home survey. They also sell seasoned logs and a Big Green Egg outdoor cooker.

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HAL BUILD The Studio, 23 Chandos Road, Bristol, BS6 6PG 0117 2591591; halbuild.co.uk Hal Build provides high-end luxury construction projects for residential customers and property developers in Bristol and the surrounding areas. The company specialises in new build construction, extensions and period property refurbishments. All work is carried out to the highest standards and the company employs a team of professional, time-served craftsmen who take pride in every aspect of their workmanship. All projects are completed with exacting attention to detail and the Hal team can handle your entire project from design through to planning and building regulations, to completion. The team are more than happy to chat through your plans to see if they can help and will provide an indicative cost to help with planning your project so pop into the studio for a chat.

JUST SHUTTERS 0117 3701594; justshutters.co.uk/bristol Whatever your style – contemporary, modern, cosy or traditional – Just Shutters have the perfect fit for you. The shutters do not fade, warp or age and come with a lifetime guarantee. Rob and Linda Reeves are experts in the field, trained to the market-leading Just Shutters standard. They are passionate about shutters and transforming the homes of local people, with an understanding of outstanding quality, great value, and professional customer service. Work closely with Rob and Linda as they tailor Just Shutters to your tastes, giving you honest and impartial advice. The company has the largest range of material and finishes in the UK, granting you choice and options in terms of shutter style.

NATURAL STONE CONSULTING Unit 4 Ebdon Bow, Ebdon Road, Wick St Lawrence, BS22 9NZ 0333 444 8899; naturalstoneconsulting.co.uk Natural Stone Consulting is a family-run business with a passion for natural materials. Its collection of stone flooring, tiles and paving features an ever-evolving range of modern, contemporary, aged and rustic options, which remain affordable for homeowners, designers, architects and trade customers alike. Its products include something to suit any setting and if you can’t find what you are looking for, the team will use their expertise to create or source it directly for you.

Materials they supply include limestone, slate, marble and terracotta.

Natural Stone Consulting has a new showroom in Wick St Lawrence, just off of M5 junction 21. This is operated by appointment to ensure each client gets their undivided attention.

MARBLE SUPREME Unit 8, Bridge Road, Kingswood, Bristol BS15 4FW 0117 9563030; marblesupreme.com Marble Supreme provides master craftsmanship in stone.

Whether you’re looking for new stone worktops for your kitchen or bathroom, it offers a range of materials to suit your needs.

With over 20 years of experience, the team produce a wide range of products from beautifully crafted granite kitchen worktops and flooring, right through to bespoke stone fireplaces, vanity tops, splashbacks and sink surrounds. Marble Supreme provides a complete service – from sourcing the perfect stone to crafting perfectly fitting, beautifully finished kitchen worktops. It also prides itself on delivering the very best in granite, marble and quartz stone, knowing its creations will play a part in family life for years to come. Whether you know what you want or are considering the options, the team is happy to discuss your plans so pop into the Kingswood showroom.

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CLAVA DINE UMAGE, DENMARK

LIGHTING SPECIALIST 8 BATH STREET, FROME. TEL: 01373473555 WWW.FIATLUX.CO.UK

craftsmanship means FOCUSING ON FINE DETAILS AND TAKING THE TIME TO MAKE EVERY JOB OUTSTANDING

SEE CHECK A TRADER AND GOOGLE REVIEW FOR ★ RATINGS OPENING TIMES MONDAY – FRIDAY 8.00 AM – 5.00 PM SATURDAY 9.00 AM – 12.30 PM MARBLE SUPREME T: 0117 956 3030

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WWW.MARBLESUPREME.COM

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Timorous Beasties’ totem damask wallpaper design has no pattern match and the design changes throughout the 10metre roll. It can be hung wherever you decide to cut your required drop; timorousbeasties.com 68 TheBATHMagazine

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Back to basics

Time for an interior upgrade? To achieve this, it’s wise to strip away the decorative layers and assess the style impact of your walls and floors, says Emma Clegg

O

ne problem about living in a flat or house is that once it’s decorated and furnished to your taste, it’s easy to develop a careless appreciation of a thing done well.

Any walls that have been knocked down, any spaces reshaped, the addition of Velux windows, sliding doors, log burners and clever lighting systems along with colour schemes, wallpaper choices and furnishing styles were well-admired after their unveiling. But their novelty has receded, the freshness gone and a style blindness on the part of all who live there has ensued.

Pictures become invisible through familiarity, new bookshelves pop up to house new possessions, colour matching becomes dissonant through the introduction of additional accessories. More seriously, things are looking a bit shabby: the vinyl flooring has developed raised bumps and cracks where the sunshine falls, the carpet has lost its bouncy pile and its evenness of colour, tiles are cracked in the bathroom and the grout is grubby.

Cook's blue, St Giles blue, Stiffkey blue and Lulworth blue from Farrow & Ball, painted to give extra presence to each bed head; farrow-ball.com

Floors of natural stone – formed beneath the earth under intense heat and pressure – have that close-to-the-elements quality

A wise approach if your room needs a style refresh is to go back to basics, and that means stripping back and rethinking your walls and floors. Now, you might think that walls and floors form just the simple architectural structure of a room and it’s what you put within these planes that matter. But you’d be wrong, because there are multiple design options and material choices available and every element contributes to the whole. Making decisions about these will be essential in creating a meaningful three-dimensional space.

Going back to basics is totally fashionable nowadays. Take earthen floors. This was the very first kind of floor, common in most houses until the mid-14th century in Europe. But they are no longer archived in the past and have had a resurgence in recent years with the green movement where an earthen floor is sealed with linseed oil to protect it. Natural stone floors have that same close-to-the-elements quality, materials such as marble and granite formed beneath the earth under intense heat and pressure. From pyramids to castles, kitchens to garden paving, stone has never lost its lure. Flagstones, slate and brushed limestone tiles, exposed stonework, stone in unusual shades Approaches to walls • A dado or picture rail makes a good visual divider on a wall – position the line according the room’s features.

• Introduce a gallery wall for personality and colour with a framed collection of art or photographs.

• Paint two thirds of the wall with a colour and leave the top third white to help visually raise the ceiling height.

• Grouping wall-mounted artwork in a three is an impactful way to make a big statement.

• Add a romantic, antique feel to your room by using a highimpact wallpaper, perhaps as a feature wall.

Farrow & Ball, California Collection: Faded Terracotta is a soft, warm, easygoing shade for walls; farrow-ball.com

INTERIORS

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paint in myriad colours. Recent years have seen strong trends for grounding natural colours driven by the eco movement and natural environment, then warm and cossetting colours to give emotional connections with comfort, security and protection in pandemic times.

Wallpapers came later, in the 16th century, initially used to decorate the insides of cupboards and smaller rooms in merchants’ houses.

Improvements in block-printing processes meant that by the middle of the 18th century patterns could be printed in many colours and in 1839 the first wallpaper-printing machine was patented. At the beginning of the 20th century, wallpaper was ubiquitous in poor and wealthy homes alike. In the 1970s, linked to the oil crisis and competition from paint companies, wallpaper took more of a back seat, but recent decades have seen a big upturn in its popularity with digital printing techniques and modern designers such as Tracey Kendall and Timorous Beasties introducing new visions of modern wall coverings that continue to dazzle and inspire. n Gelato sage gloss ceramic tile by Mandarin Stone; mandarinstone.com

Stone flooring: the advantages, by Natural Stone Consulting – from their new showroom in North Somerset.

Flooring decisions • For kitchen flooring, aim for durability and ease of cleaning. Good choices are linoleum, ceramic tile and wood.

• Bathrooms have more moisture, and linoleum, ceramic tile, limestone, marble and granite are all good flooring choices.

• Oak, extremely hard-wearing and with an attractive grain, is often the first choice for wooden flooring, while maple, birch, and pine are also widely used. such as pink and green, and tumbled travertine are all trending now.

Tiles are another versatile option, first used around 4000BC. Tiled floors, mosaics and sophisticated underfloor heating were the luxurious go-to for the Romans. Decorative tiles resurged in the 12th century to create patterns in churches, monasteries and palaces and have evolved constantly. Recent favourites have seen terracotta tiles, matte tiles, Moroccan style designs, terrazzo and Art Deco in the mix.

Hardwood floors – using wood from a broad-leaved tree – appeared in 1600AD but they tended to be simple and workaday and it took until the Baroque era before they became elegant and highly finished. In the Industrial Revolution, floors divided rich and poor, with the wealthy having floors of sanded hardwood and solid flagstones, and the poor having cheap wooden floorboards liable to damp. Wooden floors are now a more egalitarian favourite; practical, natural and sustainable, and if they are not part of the structure of the house there are plenty of engineered alternatives in finishes from oiled and waxed to lacquered and distressed.

Warm floor coverings have always been an essential household accessory, with animal hides and furs previously providing a warm spot in the most primitive and unheated of households. Carpets themselves – floor coverings made from thick woven fabrics – go back to 5000BC, although they were primarily used as wall or table coverings before the popularity of the Persian rug in the early 17th century. These were so valuable that, in the Middle East, carpets were common currency for payment of dowries, to buy livestock or to pay off taxes. Nowadays wool, sisal and jute natural fibres, and warm, earthy tones remain favourites as well as bold colours and jewel tones and geometric patterns for the more adventurous.

When it comes to walls, a coat of emulsion in any colour shade is an easy transformative makeover. Painting our environment is an important psychological statement of ownership – early artists used the natural materials available to them, such as calcite, charcoal, hematite, and manganese oxide, to define and decorate their environment and tell visual stories. Later, paints were handmade from ground-up mineral-based pigments such as charcoal, blood, sap, berry juice; and ochre, rust and iron hydroxides and mixed with bases of water, saliva, urine, or animal fats to create paint. The first pre-mixed wall paints, by Sherwin-Williams in 1867, revolutionised the options and since the 1940s technological advances have resulted in synthetic pigments and chemical processes enabling the easier preparation of 68 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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• Natural stone can be used almost anywhere; floors, paving, driveways, skirting, cladding, staircases and swimming pools.

• The finish applied to natural stone has a critical effect on how the material looks and can change how light or dark it is.

• With connotations of beauty and luxury attached to natural stone, its installation in a property will help add value and will ensure it remains at a high standard for years.

Belgian bluestone floor by Natural Stone Consulting; naturalstoneconsulting.co.uk

• A stone tile will warm up quickly and stay warm for longer than most flooring materials, so is efficient with underfloor heating.

• Few materials have the longevity of natural stone and it’s considered a product with the best possible lifecycle.

• Intricate details found in stone, including shells, fossils and veining, cannot be truly replicated in a manmade material.

• Every piece is unique. Natural stone, formed over many years, is full of history – no two pieces are exactly the same.

• Natural stone has been used for centuries due to its ability to withstand all that life throws at it for a long time. Even centuries-old stone can be restored to its original glory.

• Stone is easily maintained. Day-to-day cleaning can be carried out with soapy water, while a wide range of products make occasional cleaning and resealing simple.

• The durability of many natural stone tiles means they can be used for internal and external spaces to help create a consistent flow between different areas. naturalstoneconsulting.co.uk

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THE

KI TC HEN PAR TNER S DESIGN STUDIO

www.thekitchenpartners.co.uk 102 Whiteladies Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 2QY 01179 466433

Founders and Lead Designers - Fiona & Clinton

New Build Extensions Renovation

Say hello.

0117 259 1591

Visit our design studio at: 23 Chandos Road, Redland, Bristol BS6 6PG www.halbuild.co.uk info@halgroup.co.uk

Building excellence by design

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PROMOTED CONTENT

Garden goals

Life’s too short for painting fences over and over again, say the folk at ColourFence; invest in something attractive and long-lasting

T xxxx

• Plain and Ornamental plastering • • Wide selection of new cornices, ceiling roses etc • • Cornice made to match existing and repair work • • Lime plastering and rendering • • 29 years experience •

Tel: 07970 278028 Email: info@john-boyce.co.uk www.john-boyce.co.uk 70 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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he problem with traditional fencing is that eventually, it will break. And the moment it does, you have to deal with third party damage, security and privacy issues, neighbour’s concerns, quotes, the expense and inconvenience – all at once. With ColourFence however, you can avoid these issues for 25 years! ColourFence is the only fence not to warp, crack, shrink, rot or peel, and it withstands windspeeds of up to 130mph.

The goal is to provide you with metal garden fencing and gates that are attractive and long-lasting without costly, time-consuming annual treatments. Furthermore, when you purchase ColourFence products you’re investing in your garden long-term, because their garden fencing comes with a 25-year guarantee. They also offer a national survey and fitting service, via their fully trained network rather than casual contractors, and strive to give value for money.

As well as ColourFence, they offer ColourRail, which is a steel railing solution at the fraction of the cost of the wrought iron alternative. It can be mounted freestanding using the appropriate posts, or between existing pillars or on top of walls as local conditions dictate. Manufactured from 16mm galvanised steel tube, and a sturdy 25x38mm frame, it is available in a number of standard heights up to 1.5m. Garden railings come at a standard width of 2.4m but can be cut down according to your needs.

Six colours are offered as standard, including cream, blue, green, brown, anthracite grey and gloss black, with over 300 RAL colours available on request (subject to minimum order quantities). Both railings and gates are finished by hand in ColourFence workshops and are a high quality, economic, very attractive alternative to more costly wrought or cast iron.

In addition, as part of the portfolio of superior products, they offer ColourGate. All the gate engineers are Gatesafe accredited which means that they have undertaken nationally verified and independently delivered training to understand how to engineer the metal gates with the highest level of safety. Pair this with a five-year guarantee and you can be assured that you are buying a luxury product at an affordable price.

As ColourFence has gained in popularity and customers have been keen to extend the benefits to the rest of their garden, ColourShed has lately been added to the Climar product range. This 6x8ft metal shed combines the low-maintenance practicalities of the fencing to offer a storage solution that not only matches the rest of the garden but is guaranteed not to rot, warp or rust.

The garden sheds are custom designed to match the look and colour of the fence and railing products and are made from the same unique ColorbondTM steel that gives ColourFence products their resilient finish.

With their metal sheds, which can be installed onto an existing base or onto a bespoke frame that also compensates for sloping or uneven ground, they aim to give you more fitting options than a standard shed.

When installed, every garden shed should always be securely attached to the ground to prevent damage to it or surrounding property in high winds.

If you’re interested in finding out how ColourFence can help enhance the look and longevity of your garden this year, you can book a consultation via the website or phone 0117 259 1789. ■

• colourfencebristol.co.uk

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Poisonous but beautiful blue-hooded аconite made headlines in 2009 after a woman laced her ex-lover’s curry with poison derived from the plant

One man’s poison

While the RHS lists well over 100 plants that can cause us potential harm, serious poisoning is uncommon in the UK and many powerful plant substances are used in homeopathic medicine. The difference is often in the dose, says Elly West

W

hen we sit in the garden listening to the birds and enjoying the colours and scents of our carefully nurtured plants, one would hope they are doing us nothing but good and encouraging only positive thoughts. But throughout history, plants have been misused for misdeeds and responsible for fatalities, harbouring some of the most deadly poisons known.

Long before modern drugs, chemicals and warning labels on cleaning products, the great outdoors would be the first place to look if murder was on the mind. Symptoms of poisoning were similar to those of many diseases, and given the difficulty of finding the poison in the body, criminals in days gone by had a good chance of escaping punishment.

Stories of poisoning run through history and make interesting and often gory reading, from Ancient Greek and Roman times, through the Middle Ages and into the Victorian era. Royals wary of assassins would have ‘tasters’ to confirm their food was safe to eat, and it’s said that Louis XIV was so afraid of being poisoned that he employed 324 servants to monitor his meals.

Some of these stories can be traced to Atropa belladonna, more commonly known as deadly nightshade – a herbaceous perennial in the same family of plants as tomatoes and potatoes. It sometimes pops up as a weed in gardens, and can be found in woodland and along paths and banks. All parts of the plant are poisonous, but it’s the shiny black berries that pose the real danger.

During the Renaissance, a beauty tonic was made from the leaves and berries to redden the skin and dilate the pupils, which gave rise to the name belladonna, or ‘beautiful lady’. However, the berries contain atropine, which can also cause paralysis, hallucinations, convulsions and death. The Roman emperor Claudius was famously poisoned with deadly nightshade, at the hand of the serial killer Locusta who was hired 72 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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by Claudius’ wife, Agrippina the Younger.

However, as with many potent plant-based substances, its powers have also been harnessed for the good, and it has many modern-day medicinal applications including being used in pain relievers and antiinflammatories, and by eye surgeons to dilate the pupils.

Poison hemlock (Conium maculatum) is another dangerous plant with a long history of misuse. Although it’s not native to this country, it can be found across the countryside in ditches and along riverbanks. This tall green plant is often mistaken for harmless cow parsley, with its feathery leaves and umbels of white flowers, however hemlock has distinctive purple blotches on its smooth green stems. All parts of the plant contain poisonous alkaloids that can be fatal even in small amounts when ingested. Just touching the plant can cause a skin reaction, but eating it can cause a slow death by paralysis, leading to respiratory failure.

According to Christian mythology, the poison hemlock plant became poisonous while growing at the site of Jesus’ crucifixion

According to Christian mythology, the plant became poisonous while growing at the site of Jesus’ crucifixion. His blood touched the plant, turning it toxic. In Ancient Greece, hemlock was used to poison condemned prisoners. Socrates was famously sentenced to death by

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GARDENING

hemlock, as punishment for corrupting the minds of young men in Athens, and forced to drink the poison by his own hand.

Despite the Royal Horticultural Society listing well over 100 plants that can cause potential harm on the advice pages of its website (rhs.org.uk), serious poisoning by plants is uncommon in the UK. However, it’s common sense to teach children not to play with or eat growing plants (and to follow this advice as an adult!) and to use gloves when pruning or weeding. Check plant labels for toxicity warnings, and avoid anything poisonous if you have pets or children that are likely to nibble your garden plants. If you suspect a child or adult (or pet) has eaten something poisonous from the garden, seek medical advice and take a sample of the plant with you.

Foxgloves are among the most common garden plants that cause concern, although recorded incidents of poisoning are rare. All parts of the plant contain cardiac glycosides, which can cause nausea, diarrhoea and skin irritation. However, like most plants that are on the RHS list, they are very unlikely to cause harm unless eaten in quantity.

Monkshood, also known as aconite, is another beautiful plant commonly grown in gardens, but one of the UK’s most poisonous. It made headlines in 2009 when a woman was convicted of murder after lacing her ex-lover’s curry with poison derived from the plant – the first case of aconite poisoning in England since 1882. Its attractive hooded blue flowers make it popular, and there are also cultivars in pink, yellow and white. However, every bit of it is poisonous, especially the roots, which can affect the heart and be fatal in large doses.

Like many other powerful plant substances, aconite is used in homeopathic medicine to treat anxiety, headaches and colds, along with other ailments. As they say, the difference between medicine and poison is in the dose. However, with tobacco linked to more than eight million deaths per year, this probably makes the tobacco plant, Nicotiana, by far the most deadly plant in the world. n

Plant of the month: Brugmansia (Angel's trumpets) This show-stopping plant flowers at the end of summer, into autumn, with large trumpet-like flowers dangling from sturdy stems. Hailing from tropical climes, brugmansia won’t survive hard frosts, but can be grown outside in a sheltered spot over the summer months where it will make a tropical statement on a patio or in a border. For this reason, it’s best to keep it in a pot, then bring it under cover into a cool greenhouse or cellar before the first frosts for a period of winter dormancy. Alternatively it can be grown indoors in a conservatory as a houseplant, but you’ll need space as it can easily reach a good couple of metres in height. Prune in autumn after flowering to keep the size in check, but wear gloves as the sap can irritate skin. In the same family as deadly nightshade, all parts of the plant are poisonous, particularly the leaves and seeds, which can cause paralysis, hallucinations, migraine headaches and even death if ingested.

• ellyswellies.co.uk; Instagram: @ellyswellies1

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Elly’s Wellies

Garden Designs

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.

For a free initial consultation, contact Elly West

www.ellyswellies.co.uk ellyswellies@gmail.com 07788 640934

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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

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FRANKLYN STREET, ST PAULS, BRISTOL A converted Victorian end of terrace house comprising: • Offices 1,259 sq ft • Stores 291 sq ft • Open store 1,549 sq ft • Suit various commercial uses • To rent (might sell)

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Families move in to Bristol’s 15 Minute Neighbourhood

A

Bristol neighbourhood, which grew up around a chocolate factory 100 years ago, is now being hailed as a perfect example of the latest 21st Century concept being used worldwide to design places to live.

In San Francisco and New York the “15 Minute neighbourhood” concept is being used by urban planners to design places to live where everything you need is within 15 minutes walk or cycle.

Greenbank, Bristol, meets all the criteria. Originally the chocolate factory provided work alongside a railway line. Now the former factory is being transformed into modern homes alongside the Bristol & Bath Railway Path that provides a convenient and efficient cycling, walking and gentle exercise route.

“15 Minute Neighbourhoods” have been defined as places where all residents live within a short walk of a good school, rapid transit, a place to buy fresh food and a park. Sustainability and an urban lifestyle are also part of the concept.

Among the first people to enjoy the new lifestyle are a local family who sold their Victorian house in St Anne’s, Bristol, to move into a new three-bedroom terraced home at The Chocolate Factory.

Alex, an account manager for a tech solutions company who works from home, said: “There is a real community feel about the neighbourhood with letters dropping through our letterbox from neighbours and invitations to join in local activities and Whatsapp groups.

“As cyclists it is great to be just two minutes from the Bristol & Bath Railway path so we can cycle out towards Keynsham and Bath for a leisurely ride or into the city centre without being on main roads.

“St Anne’s was our first home and we wanted to move into something new that is low maintenance as we were fed up maintaining a 100year-old house. The house is actually slightly smaller than our old house but I really like the open plan downstairs as it is easier to keep an eye on our baby Luisa while in the kitchen.

“We have explored the area and there are great pubs and places for brunch and we really like the Public Market for fresh fruit and vegetables and the Sweet Mart and other shops in St Mark’s Road.

I lived in London at one time and this has the same feel as those fashionable London villages.”

Alex, his wife Lisey, daughter Luisa and dog Mel have bought in a new build section of the development by Generator Group South West. Apartments and townhouses in the former factory buildings, will also be created as part of 140 new homes, a central square and retail store and office units.

Jason Schofield, Development Director of Generator South West, said: “What everyone has learned over the last few years is that it is possible for many people to work from home and that has put greater emphasis on what you have nearby.

“To be able to work at home and walk to some great shops and a park has become more important. To be able to cycle into the city centre or to Temple Meads to catch a train and have everything you need in close proximity is the way that people now want to live.

“While others are planning where they might put their 15 Minute Neighbourhoods, as usual Bristol is ahead of the game with Greenbank.”

A new showhome has just opened at The Chocolate Factory and details can be found at: www.chocolatefactorybristol.com

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OCTOBER 2021

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THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE 77

FAILAND BS8

GUIDE PRICE

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An exquisite four-bedroom family home offered with a beautiful garden. Two reception rooms, kitchen and separate utility, drive, and detached garage. Excellent location. Similar properties required.

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CLIFTON BS8

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£600,000

This grade II listed, period town house is situated in the heart of Clifton Village. With its versatile interior set over four floors, alongside a roof terrace with roof top views over the heart of Bristol.

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CLIFTON BS8

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£475,000

A delightful and well-presented first floor flat with private roof terrace. Spacious living room, two double bedrooms, modern kitchen and bathroom. Views enjoyed from both the front and rear elevations. Excellent location situated just off Whiteladies Road.

203 Whiteladies Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 2XT

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