The Bristol Magazine September 2019 by MC Publishing Limited

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Issue 183

THE

I september 2019

MAGAZINE

THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK

£3.95 where sold

THE PHILOSOPHER’S TOME Killer dishes, last suppers and tales from a life in food: Jay Rayner and his new book at the Redgrave

ART AS ACTIVISM Yoko Ono’s first solo exhibition in Bristol

UNFINISHED BUSINESS Behind the scenes of Jane Austen’s Sanditon

WE JUST CAN’T WAIT The Lion King hits the Hippodrome

JOURNEYS IN THE WILD One of Attenborough’s globe-trotting team talks nature’s wonders

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

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

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Image courtesy of Red Planet Pictures/ITV

Image by Gavin Thurston

Image courtesy of Apple Corps Ltd

Contents September 2019 REGULARS ZEITGEIST

EDUCATION SPECIAL

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We get the latest from our schools; some those who’ve upped their nutrition game in the classroom and the canteen; and the two Bristol students improving diet and lifestyle education in medical schools

FOOD & DRINK

Catch up on local news and meet Arnolfini curator Kieran Swann

BARTLEBY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 ...On the facts of life: the wasps and the bees

WEALTH MANAGEMENT

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Top activities for the month to come

CITYIST

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Family finance under the spotlight with Lansdown Place

HEALTHY & BEAUTY NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Local snippets from these sectors

NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Stories from local foodies, restaurants and producers

RECIPE

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Briony May Williams’ chocolate and coffee stout cake

CHRISTMAS PARTIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 ’Tis almost the tie-loosening season; time to start making plans...

INTERVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

THE CULTURE

Jay Rayner on his barnstorming new show at the Redgrave

TELEVISION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

HABITAT

Behind the scenes of Jane Austen’s final, unfinished tale; brought to life at Bristol’s Bottle Yard studios and now being televised

WILD BRISTOL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

WHAT’S ON

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

THEATRE

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The Lion King hits the Hippodrome: we hear from the president of Disney Theatrical Productions ahead of opening night

MUSIC

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The Beatles’ Abbey Road album is 50: delve deeper this month

ART & EXHIBITIONS

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What’s on at the city’s galleries; plus Yoko Ono’s first Bristol show

September brings surprise visitors such as the handsome hoopoe, says Pete Dommett

GREAT OUTDOORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 From the architecturally dazzling to the bleakly functional, Bristol’s bridges figure prominently in the city’s history; check them out...

GARDENING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 We may not want robots to tend our plants for us, but thanks to tech there’s a fantastic amount of plant-based info at our (green) fingertips

PROPERTY

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News and developments

FEATURES FASHION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 We’re making like Chanel and going monochrome this autumn

NATURAL HISTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 One of Sir Attenborough’s elite team talks natural wonders

TRAVEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 All the reasons why Chicago should be on your holiday radar

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ON THE COVER

Food writer, musician and broadcaster Jay Rayner, who will soon be at the Redgrave Theatre with his show My Last Supper. On p48 he chats to Melissa Blease about his “gloriously ludicrous” day job, being a frustrated actor at heart, and his new book – out this month (image by Levon Biss)

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THIS MONTH WE’VE BEEN...

See Immolation IV by Judy Chicago at Arnolfini (image courtesy of Salon 94, New York and Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco)

...On ‘Still I Rise’, at Arnolfini from 14 September and exploring Bristol’s history as a hotbed of radical resistance.

Leafing...

from the

EDITOR

istful as we are to see the height of summer start to ebb away, this season swap is always exciting in Bristol because the city’s as adept at indoor entertainment as it is alfresco fun and festivals. This month, you might head to the Hippodrome for the explosion of song and colour that is The Lion King; Arnolfini for its major new exhibition (we’ve also been loitering around that way in hopes of sniffing out the exact location of new music venue Strange Brew); or the Redgrave to dissect The Beatles’ final studio album or see revered food writer Jay Rayner’s new show. On p48 our cover star talks about his latest book and his “gloriously ludicrous” day job. Otherwise you can stay at home and watch the newest telly creation filmed in Bristol – Andrew Davies’ adaptation of Jane Austen’s unfinished novel Sanditon, following impulsive young Charlotte Heywood as she moves to the coast and gets drawn into the intrigue and dalliances of the locals. Georgette McCready explored the set at The Bottle Yard studios (p24) before the drama hit our screens (it’s on ITV every Sunday now at 9pm). Either that, or have a crack at Briony May’s chocolate and coffee stout cake (p51) before curling up with a sweet slice and a decent book. To stick with the made-in-Bristol theme, pick Journeys in the Wild by local cameraman and member of Sir David Attenborough’s globe-trotting team, Gavin Thurston. Turn to p38 for a bit of that. There’s a first for Bristol this month as artist-activist Yoko Ono’s solo show is unveiled at the Georgian House Museum (p46), encouraging conversation around some of society’s most problematic issues, both historic and contemporary. Within these pages you’ll also find everything from AW19 fashion to gardening – while we may not want robots to tend our plants for us, suggests Elly West, there are many tech tools handy for those who want a heap of useful plant-based info at their green fingertips. In our education special, read about social enterprise Nutritank – winner of the BBC Food and Farming Awards’ Pat Llewellyn prize – set up by Bristol students to address the fact that as little as two hours of food education is being taught in medical school. We’re celebrating FareShare’s work, hearing from those who’ve upped their nutrition game in the classroom and the canteen and, as a new batch of University of Bristol undergraduates leave the nest, looking at why it’s the place to be in 2020. Also, did you know that when the Saxons settled here they called it Brycgstow (translating as ‘meeting place by the bridge’)? We’ve a bewildering array of bridges, from the architecturally dazzling to the bleakly functional, and they figure prominently in Bristol’s history. Find out more on p100 and have a go at the route that takes in all 45 of them. Better still, do it while raising money for local causes... (p18). Off we trot then.

AMANDA NICHOLLS EDITOR

@thebristolmag

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@thebristolmag

...Through James Rich’s debut cookbook, based on his family’s Somerset Levels cider farm and featuring everything from chicken, cider and cheddar crumble, and braised pork knuckles in cider, to autumn pavlova with apple and vanilla cream. Clouded Leopard supports big cats of South Asia

Buzzing... ...For another exciting month in food and drink. Clouded Leopard’s launched its gin (p50), Korean restaurant Bokman is due to open on Nine Tree Hill and former Paco Tapas chef Dave Hazell is launching vegan tapas project Casa Verde. Coffee House Project also takes place on 7 & 8 September at the Passenger Shed.

Brushing up... ...On surfer-speak because The Wave Bristol has opened booking lines for its inland surf lake – 1,000 waves per hour, peaking at 1.9m. It also has a restaurant, shop and gardens. Sessions from £35.

Image by Jamie Woodley

Reading up...

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ZEITGEIST

top things to do in SEPTEMBER

LAUGH Get ready for an adaption like no other. Six young women have a story to tell: you might have seen them emptying the chamber pots and sweeping ash from the grate. They’re the overlooked and the undervalued, making sure those above stairs find their happy ending. They’re the forgotten voices of Austen’s world, but now the servants are playing every part. Men, money and microphones will be fought over in this loving, irreverent all-female adaption of Jane Austen’s literary classic Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of), at Bristol Old Vic from 7 – 28 September. Let the ruthless match-making begin. Tickets from £7.50.

FEEL ENERGISED Take a bit of time out of your weekend to wind down and relax at the Yoga Brunch Club. Taking place on 8 September, 10.30am – 1.30pm at The Forge, Colston Yard, where Bristol-based yoga teacher Elena Byers will guide you through a playful and intuitive yoga session, suitable for all levels including beginners. Feeling revitalised, you can then tuck into a three-course plant-based feast prepared by Jasper, founder of Hummusapiens. Tickets £50, includes 75min yoga session, brunch and a Yoga Brunch Club gift bag.

• bristololdvic.org.uk

EXPLORE Plaza de San Francisco, Seville by Chris Lee

• yogabrunchclub.com

Celebrating its 25th birthday this year, Somerset Art Weeks Festival (21 September – 6 October) hosts a diverse programme of inspiring art exhibitions, workshops, talks and films in 135 locations across Somerset. There will be four new commissions by internationally celebrated artists, installations by 12 local artists who have been awarded SAW bursaries, as well as showcases of emerging new talent. Plus there’s a family-friendly finale weekend on 5 & 6 October where children can get stuck into some creative activities. See the full programme online.

DISCOVER

PARTY

This month audiences will get the first opportunity to witness the works of unconventional composer and pianist Larkhall as he performs tracks from his brand new album in four free concerts in Millennium Square. His intricate songwriting and spellbinding sounds will be paired with a short film of mesmerising movements and images created by coded algorithms that transform musical data into shapes and colours on the We The Curious Big Screen on 27 September, 1pm and 6pm, and 28 September, 11am and 2pm. Free entry.

1980s chart-topping band The Human League will be headlining Bath Racecourse’s open-air stage on 14 September, playing the band’s biggest hits following a thrilling afternoon of horse racing. The band, who have been cited by the likes of Madonna, Pet Shop Boys and Robbie Williams as musical inspiration, have sold 20 million records worldwide, including their much-loved number one single Don’t You Want Me. The event will kick off with seven races from 2pm, with the band taking to the stage at 6pm. Admission from £35.

• larkhall.org • bath-racecourse.co.uk 14 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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P&P: Mihaela Bodlovic

• somersetartworks.org.uk

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THE CITY THE BUZZ

BRISTOL Meet Australian-born Arnolfini curator Kieran Swann

Image by Alex Smye-Rumsby

I grew up in Brisbane but I’ve spent the past few years living around the world – Melbourne, Adelaide, Portland, New York, Venice. I came to Bristol in 2018 after getting the job at Arnolfini, and I’ve loved it. Bits of it remind me of a lot of places I’ve lived (particularly Portland) but it adds up to something unique and progressive. There’s a lot of linking people together – figuring out the conversations that tie Bristol to the rest of the world. I might be in and out of studio visits, or hosting curators, managing an event, meeting with community groups, or off to see exhibitions and performances round the country.

Art for Earth’s sake A beautiful piece of environmental-action street art has been unveiled as part of a collaboration between We The Curious and Jody Thomas, the acclaimed Bristol artist behind the world-famous mural of Greta Thunberg. The piece, located above the water features in Millennium Square, references the Jaws film poster to highlight the devastating impact of single-use plastics on our oceans. The partnership comes following We The Curious declaring a climate emergency in June. The first science centre in the world to do so, it joined Bristol City Council and University of Bristol in promising to become carbon neutral by 2030; aiming to inspire organisations and individuals to take action. “When the idea came up my first thought was: where would this have the most impact?” said Jody. “I immediately thought of Millennium Square, We The Curious’ declaration and their focus on sustainability.” Chris Dunford, head of sustainable futures for We The Curious, added: “A big part of our work is to raise awareness of the ways that humans are damaging the world, and to couple that with bold action to reduce our impact. Since April, visitors have pledged their own ‘promise to the planet’ as part of our ‘change makers’ activity. We have found that art is a fantastic way to explore these challenging issues. We’ve hosted a range of sustainability-themed murals and sculptures and are proud to have Jody’s piece.” With beehives and solar panels on the roof, a tank that ‘recycles’ and redistributes heating and cooling, pollinator hotels and public art installations that highlight climate change, embedding sustainable practices is a commitment We The Curious takes seriously. • wethecurious.org

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Our next exhibition ‘Still I Rise’ explores the state of feminism and activism – struggles through history, issues we’re still grappling with. It’s so powerful to see work from artist/activists from, say, 1980s Iran, and how it relates to work being made by artists in Bristol right now. It’s also celebratory – highlighting the triumphs of women and the ways they’ve changed the world. We’ve got brilliant NYC-based artist Keijaun Thomas, who does jaw-dropping performance about life as a trans woman of colour, and we’re also working with In Between Time to present events like Cigdem Aydemir’s The Ride – a lovely one-on-one performance that puts you on the back of a motorcycle riding across the Australian desert (by way of a little movie magic). There will also be a whole slate of events we’re co-hosting with UWE, giving a platform to the next generation of artists. The Arnolfini building is full of nooks and crannies – weird little doors that open into spaces you have to crawl to access, a labyrinth of a basement, a secret open-air rooftop mezzanine. Most I haven’t been allowed to go into yet – probably wise because I’d just try and get art into them. Artists are hugely important in that they spend their time imagining new worlds. Arts centres like Arnolfini create the space for them to do that, and bringing them together with communities to turn those imagined worlds into reality is a big privilege and responsibility. I want to bring in amazing

contemporary art and performance; host new conversations about things that are important in Bristolians’ daily lives. I’m a fan of the homegrown, independent arts scene in Bristol – it’s vibrant and active on a limited resource. Jo Bannon is a great performance maker, and we’re working with MAYK to present her latest work. The Brunswick Club collective constantly put on brilliant events (despite recently being forced out of their home). Black Artists On The Move recently presented the UK’s first festival of black women’s theatre – amazing, right? Thorny host great DJs and events for the city’s queer community and Action Hero are taking their work around the world. The city is such a hub for art and ideas and they really deserve more support. I love the city’s great green spaces; and a good Somerset cider (I live round the corner from the Star and Garter and Bristol Beer Factory run a few good spots). I’m trying hard to cultivate tomatoes in my little Montpelier backyard and through the summer that’s been a great place to end the day with my housemate’s excellent cooking. Bristol’s had a host of fantastic progressive politicians – its legacy with the Green Capital Partnership, as a sanctuary city, the commitment to the real living wage. There’s more to be done, however, with Bristol’s commitment to affordable housing. I’m looking forward to Strange Brew opening; it’s a late-night venue set up by the crew behind Dirtytalk via a crowdfunder that shows how supportive Bristol is of new ideas. I also love Bristol Old Vic and the Cube Cinema for film by new artists/filmmakers, and rarely shown older work. n

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THE CITY Gromit, we have a problem!

Image by Jeﬀ Lucas

Aardman Animations has partnered with the Curzon cinema in Clevedon to support their urgent appeal to restore the roof. Aardman founders David Sproxton and Peter Lord are patrons of the community cinema and, together with Nick Park, they are keen to help save the cinema from closure due to a significant damage caused by a leaking roof. For some time rainwater has been damaging the building. In December 2018, water started to seep into the main auditorium and the long-term future of the cinema is now at risk without a full roof restoration, with the charity appealing to the community to help save the cinema. The ornate tin panelling which reaches throughout the building is the earliest and most complete example known to survive in England, but it’s rusting and deteriorating and cinema staff and volunteers are concerned for the safety of their collection of 500 cinematic artefacts. A memorable, and aptly rainy, scene from the award-winning Wallace and Gromit film The Wrong Trousers is being used in a trailer to promote the cinema’s roof appeal and will be shown on the big screen before every film. “We are incredibly grateful to Aardman Animations for their support,” said fundraising campaign manager Karen Edgington. “The trailer will be shown in our cinema every day to encourage the audience to give generously in our bucket collection at the end of each film and our volunteers will be wearing Sou’wester hats just like Gromit! The situation we are in is critical – there’s no other way of describing it – but we equally wanted a trailer that would bring a smile to people’s faces just like the Curzon has done for many, many years.” The full roof restoration will cost in excess of £500,000 and the team is aiming to raise more than £100,000 from the local community and businesses by the end of the year. A massive £26,500 has been raised since the appeal launched at the end of April and a bid has been submitted to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for £240,000; the result will be known in early September. The cinema charity has also accumulated £60,000 in reserves which have been allocated to the project and grant applications are in progress to charitable trusts.

• curzon.org.uk

Cracking good job, Gromit! An apt rainy scene from The Wrong Trousers is being used to promote the roof appeal

Bridge the gap A day of good, clean fun is taking place next month with a view to spreading generosity across Bristol and fundraising for 45 of its community causes. Bristol Giving Day will bring together local companies and philanthropic organisations to encourage charitable donations that will make a big difference to those doing good in the city. The event has been organised by Quartet Community Foundation with the support of the Bristol business community. Participants can opt in to conquer the main event, the Bridges Challenge on 9 October, by crossing as many of Bristol’s 45 bridges as possible. (Turn to p100 for more on these bridges – both historic and contemporary – from our columnist Andrew Swift.) Those taking part will be able to choose one of six different routes around the city, donating £1 for each bridge they cross and helping to raise the £45,000 set as a target in the process, while they discover hidden cityscapes and the open vistas of the Severn Estuary as well as enjoying a bit of healthy competition with workmates, family or friends. This year’s event has been inspired by the Bristol Bridges Walk which, in total, is a 45km walk that takes in all of the Bristol bridges spanning its main waterways. The companion handbook to the walk – From Brycgstow to Bristol in 45 Bridges by Jeffrey Lucas and Thilo Gross – is published by Bristol Books. The Bridges Challenge divides the full walk into five routes of varying lengths and numbers of bridges, plus the full route. Visit the website to find out more.

• bristolgivingday.co.uk @johnhowen570

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The wasps & the bees

ur neighbour came to the door the other day to bring us some news: we have wasps. I wasn’t around at the time, but when Ms B passed on this information my heart sank. Our secret was out. When I was growing up all stinging insects provoked the same reaction: screams, a flailing of rolled-up newspapers, the sprint for cover. Even then, however, we understood the essential difference between bees and wasps: the former only stung you in self-defence and the effort of stinging you would kill them; the latter enjoyed stinging people. They ate jam and drank beer for sustenance and then, sugared up and tipsy, went rampaging around the pub garden or the park, stinging as many people as possible. My stepfather was once stung by a wasp that had crawled into the can of lager he was drinking. The sting was on his lip but it could have been much worse. Nevertheless we all thought it was hysterically funny. Bees, on the other hand, have always been appreciated as hardworking, useful insects, producers of honey and pollinators of crops. We admire their well-ordered lives and their willingness to do their bit for the general good. Unquestioning obedience to authority is a popular trait in some circles. Others love the bumble bee, that solitary eccentric with its warm buzz and the build of Winnie the Pooh. Nowadays we’re more aware just how many types of bee there are, even living here in Bristol. Our garden is home to a colony of leafcutter bees, which you see flying around clutching improbable heart-shaped pieces of leaf. These they use for partition walls in their nests. Seeing these insects in the garden, we feel like we’re doing our tiny bit for nature; it’s fun to tell people about them. Everyone agrees that having bees in the garden is a good thing, even though there’s every chance of standing on one by mistake and getting stung. We don’t talk about the wasps. Or, rather, we didn’t. But now the secret’s out, so here’s what happened. A long time ago we planted a row of willow saplings, bending and twisting them to form a hedge. This also has a creeper and a climbing rose growing through it, as well as the occasional – ahem – bit of bindweed. The willow attracted blackfly (a kind of aphid). Being of a Green-ish persuasion we left the blackfly to it, and got on with our own lives. Fast forward a few years to a day in August when I happened to notice a couple of wasps among the willow leaves. Looking closer I saw that there were more than one or two. In fact there were quite a lot. They were crawling around among, or across, the aphids. Each one would do that for a while then fly off. Evidently they had been there a while, but we had never noticed a wasp actually in the garden. We ate breakfast four feet away from the hedge, but they didn’t bother us. Nor did they bother our neighbours. In fact you’d never have known they were there, along with a pretty decent population of ladybird larvae. But what were they doing? As far as I could make out, they weren’t eating the blackfly, but were sucking the sticky stuff they secrete. Apparently ants like this sweet, milky goo too, and have been known to farm aphids, moving them around as ants do. So wasps were basically treating our willow hedge as a kind of buffet. We decided to leave them be, as we leave spiders in corners, on the basis that all natural things are valuable whether or not we think they’re useful. They’ve been coming for years now, although now everyone knows I feel I should ‘do something’ about them. But... is it weird that I’ll miss having them around? ■

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Current mood: Make like Chanel and keep it classic this month

Lead image – Cara Delevigne in slouchy tweed trouser suit – courtesy of Chanel

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FASHION

hile AW19 catwalks were awash with ‘big dress energy’, bold, blooming prints and various shades of loud clamouring for attention in the melting pot, among bourgeois-babe brass buttons and bouclé, there are two sides to the story. If you don’t fancy being a jazzy Jeff in fluffy bucket hat or feathers, perhaps forgo in favour of the low-key minimalism and monochrome, slouchy knits and sharp tailoring at the other end of the spectrum. We’re massively subscribing to the latter school of thought at the moment, largely because of the Lagerfeld tribute at Paris Fashion Week. When we saw the imagery from Chanel’s veritable alpine wonderland – featuring Cara Delevigne and cohorts’ gorgeous greyscale goodbye to a fashionworld figurehead – we knew we had to devote a double pager to its chic theme. As the new season approaches and our thoughts turn to chillier couture, we’re here for the houndstooth, the charcoal leopard print, the tartan: check, check, check, quite literally. Here we keep the inspo classic with a few nice pieces we spotted locally... ■

Gingham hat and gloves, £16 each dents.co.uk

Valentino wool-blend shift dress, £1,890 harveynichols.com Bella Freud jumper, £310 harveynichols.com

Parsonage boot, £160 duoboots.com

Carvela trainers, £149 houseoffraser.co.uk

Max Mara scarf, £85 houseoffraser.co.uk

Suede Amery boot, £295 duoboots.com

Mads Norgaard Seersucker Bolissa blouse, £136 movementboutique.co.uk

DKNY dress, £95 houseoffraser.co.uk

ByFar leather ankle boots, £405 harveynichols.com Florence shirt, £199 sophiecamerondavies.com

Calvin Klein tote, £75 houseoffraser.co.uk THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK

Andor wool coat, £180 johnlewis.com

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UNFINISHED BUSINESS Georgette McCready visits The Bottle Yard studios where Jane Austen’s final – and incomplete – novel Sanditon has been brought to life for a new TV series

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(Images: Red Planet Pictures/ ITV)

akers of period dramas face a tough choice when it comes to recreating the past. Do they descend on an old town or stately home and hope to get the shots that will capture the setting of the original book, or do they start from scratch and build an entire make-believe world? Building a whole new village and set of rooms is exactly what the production team have chosen to do with the new ITV adaptation of Jane Austen’s incomplete novel, Sanditon, set in a fictional south coast seaside town. This latest adaptation has been written by Andrew Davies (who brought TV viewers the popular 1995 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle) and follows young and impulsive protagonist Charlotte Heywood as she moves from her countryside home to the coastal resort, where she is exposed to all of its intrigue and the dalliances of the locals. Award-winning British set designer Grant Montgomery has literally gone to town at The Bottle Yard Studios in Whitchurch where this corner of Bristol has been transformed into Sanditon High Street. He took me on a personal guided tour of the outside set which stands in for the seaside town, before showing me inside the vast warehouse where he has ingeniously built interiors ranging from a full-size ballroom to a Gothic folly purporting to be in the grounds of a country house estate. We begin outside where, from behind, all you can see of Sanditon village are flat backs and scaffolding, but turning the corner we find ourselves in 1817, walking down a high street between the facades of houses and shops, where the wealthy and fashionable have newly arrived in town to live alongside the existing fishing community. Looking at the lobster pots stacked up outside one cottage you can almost smell the sea air, but the actual beach scenes are filmed on location at Brean Sands overlooking the Bristol Channel. These scenes include men sea-bathing naked as they plunge into the waves from bathing huts, as was fashionable at the time. Andrew Davies is well known for his habit of embellishing his modern-day television adaptations of the classics with a little 21st-century heat (that Mr Darcy moment: emerging from the water in wet shirt and breeches) so as well as taking a scholarly interest in his treatment of the text we might also be keeping an eye out for the occasional low-brow water-cooler moment. Set designer Grant’s previous successes include the recent film Tolkien, award-winning Victorian drama The Crimson Petal and the White and the Brummy gangsters’ world of Peaky Blinders. He has created something special here with Sanditon, so much so that the set has become a character worth watching in its own right. The High Street set features authentic looking posters advertising some of the entertainment to be had in Sanditon in Regency times. Visitors to the seaside town could take boat trips or attend a cricket match between the Gentry and the Workers teams, representing the two factions of Sanditon whose worlds collide in this small community. There are lots of little visual

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Rose Williams stars as Charlotte Heywood

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FILMED IN BRISTOL gags to be had, with references to Bennet Promenade and a stationery shop called Austens. Inside the warehouse where the indoor scenes are filmed, Grant and his team have paid close attention to detail so nothing will jar on even the most sharp-eyed viewer. Actress Anne Reid, fresh from her powerful performance in Years and Years, plays the twice-widowed Lady Denham. Her wealth and status is displayed in the jawdroppingly sumptuous full-size ballroom, complete with a ceiling painted with gods and cherubs among clouds. You really have to pinch yourself that you’re not inside a genuine period house, with its realistic looking marble columns and a serpent picked out in mosaic on the ballroom floor. There is a pair of what, to the untrained eye, look like priceless crystal chandeliers which were lit with real candles for the Venetian masked ball scenes. Across the end wall is a dramatic panorama depicting a bridge collapsing, with people tumbling into the water. And no, Grant won’t tell me how he has created these fake painted masterpieces on a budget. Of course there’s no garden or parkland outside the ballroom; the exterior of Lady Denham’s grand country house was filmed instead at the National Trust’s Dyrham Park, a few miles north of Bath. The crew descended on other West Country locations for filming such as Clevedon’s seafront and, if you watch carefully, you may recognise Charlotte Heywood and her father walking along the banks of the River Frome besides Iford Manor in Bradford on Avon. Kris Marshall, of Death in Paradise fame, plays Tom Parker – a salesman with grand plans for modernising Sanditon and making it a fashionable resort. Parker’s sense of ambition to be taken seriously as a man of substance is perfectly reflected in his study room. Grant was inspired by architect and collector Sir John Sloane’s house in London and has gone all out on classical allusions, with busts of Caesar and other such heroes, intricate carving and, on the ceiling, in the powerful colour scheme of black and gold, are friezes of bees, the insect Napoleon chose as his favoured motif. A model of Sanditon as Parker would like to re-imagine it stands on a table, laid out in every detail, including a crescent of townhouses inspired by the Circus in Bath and a Chinese pagoda like the Great Pagoda at Kew Gardens. From Parker’s study we climb through bits of plywood and plasterboard to find ourselves inside the Gothic folly which feels like a love-nest, with its chaise longue piled seductively with cushions. It is here that the characters of brother and sister Edward and Esther set up home together, keeping a greedy eye on Lady Denham and her fortune. Grant has set up all kinds of treats on set for Janeites (as Jane Austen enthusiasts call themselves) with references that the film people call

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‘Easter eggs’, although you might need to screengrab during airing to spot them. In one scene, for instance, there is a first edition of the book Pride and Prejudice left lying around, in another there’s a pamphlet illustrated by the author’s sister Cassandra, while in a ballroom scene there’s a visual nod to the novel Emma via apple blossom. The folly, with its fairytale-like doors and windows, makes oblique reference to Northanger Abbey in which the character Catherine Morland has a fascination for Gothic literature. Our final part of the indoor tour took us to a cut-away bedroom, its walls covered in green floral and bird-print wallpaper. As through the rest of the set, Grant has given the Austen audience a fresh take on what to expect. There’s not a Regency stripe in sight. This almost feels as though we’re approaching the early Victorian era in terms of interiors, as pattern and colour replace the understated shades that we’re used to seeing in so many adaptations. This is the bedroom of the mysterious Miss Lambe, who Austen mentioned in the book but never got as far as bringing directly into the action – sadly the book remained unfinished, almost certainly due to the author’s ill health and she died within months of abandoning the manuscript. We know little about Miss Lambe other than that she is ‘a young West Indian of large fortune in delicate health’ but, it is hinted, she will be a character to watch. There are no clues in this room as to her personality, so we will have to wait until we see her on screen. Back outside behind the high street set, we squeezed into a tent where the team for hair and make-up were watching the action on small screens to ensure continuity in every scene. Photographs are taken of actors in costume to ensure they look the same as they did in a previous scene, even though weeks of real time might lie between those two scenes. Between takes, the actor Rose Williams, who is playing the lead Charlotte Heywood, joined us for a chat, wearing her bonnet and gown. She was wearing a corset under her dress to give an authentic line, but she told us she has grown used to the corset’s constrictions. Behind her was Young Stringer (played by Leo Suter) and the pair had been shooting a scene together. Do we detect a bit of romance on the streets of Sanditon we ask them? The pair are sworn to secrecy. Davies is not the first writer to take on the challenge of completing the plot of Austen’s last work, but with his track record I think we will be in for a treat this autumn. ■

• Sanditon was made by Red Planet Productions for ITV and Masterpiece. The series is currently being shown on Sundays at 9pm on ITV.

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LOCAL | EVENTS

WHAT’S ON IN SEPTEMBER FullRogue presents Wild Swimming at Bristol Old Vic

Watch artists battle it out on their canvases at Trinity Centre

Jack Dean brings Jeremiah to The Wardrobe Theatre

Autumn Stargazing 3D 4 September – 2 December, times vary, We The Curious When was the last time you looked up at the stars? Wander into the planetarium and be guided through the autumn night sky. Discover constellations, explore the mysteries of Neptune, and fly to planets beyond our solar system. £3.50; wethecurious.org

John Robins: Hot Shame 2 – 7 September, times vary, Tobacco Factory Theatres Edinburgh Comedy Award winner and Bristol-born comedian John Robins returns with his first new show since the sell-out smash The Darkness Of Robins. Prepare for soul-bearing, self-lacerating, piping-hot shame. £18.50; tobaccofactorytheatres.com

Art Battle Bristol 5 September, 7pm, Trinity Centre Watch as painters battle the clock and each other to transform blank canvases into beautiful pieces of original artwork in just 20 minutes. Then vote to help determine the night’s winner. £5 – £10; artbattle.com

Bon Ami 3 & 4 September, 7.30pm, The Wardrobe Theatre Ami is normal, Ami has a job, Ami has family and friends, a gym membership and decent broadband. Ami shouldn’t feel desperately alone…but she does. If only there was an aquatic adventure, a malevolent wizard or a an overly self-aware giant monster to distract her. Oh wait… £10; thewardrobetheatre.com

GoT Fest 7 & 8 September, Ashton Court Estate A Game of Thrones-inspired family festival where you can meet the actors from the award-winning series, watch live stunt shows, visit the medieval market and get your picture taken on a replica iron throne. Laugh at the jester, visit the Stagger Inn for a refreshing drink or try your hand at axe throwing, archery or knights school. Tickets from £12; gotfest.co.uk

Iford Arts: L’elisir d’amore – Donizetti 3, 6, 7 September, 7.30pm, Belcombe Court, Bradford on Avon Enjoy Donizetti’s comic masterpiece L’elisir d’amore, following bashful village boy Nemorino who is besotted with the wealthy 28 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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The Coffee House Project 7 & 8 September, opening times vary, The Passenger Shed The first of its kind in Bristol, this is a

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caffeine-fuelled festival celebrating the local artisan roasters, independent food and drink retailers and home-grown baristas that champion all things coffee. There will be 50 exhibitors on show, plus workshops, talks, street food and live music. On the Saturday night, the official CHP party will kick off with espresso martinis, craft beers and local spirits. £13; thecoffeehouseproject.co.uk Afternoon Tea 8 September, 1.30pm and 4.30pm, Brunel’s SS Great Britain Enjoy a Victorian-style afternoon tea within the elegance and sophistication of the first class dining saloon onboard Brunel’s SS Great Britain, before exploring the ship. £5 – £26; ssgreatbritain.org Wild Swimming 10 – 21 September, 8pm, The Weston Studio, Bristol Old Vic Nell and Oscar meet on a beach in Dorset. It’s 1595… or maybe 1610. Oscar has returned from university and Nell is doing f**k all. They will meet here, again and again, on this beach for the next 400 years. Stuff will change. As it does with time. They will try to keep up. A kaleidoscopic exploration of cultural progress, and fresh from the Edinburgh Fringe, Wild Swimming is an interrogation of gender and privilege and a wilfully ignorant history of English literature. From £13; bristololdvic.org.uk Jeremiah 11 & 12 September, 7.30pm, The Wardrobe Theatre Jack Dean, the critically acclaimed rap storyteller behind Grandad and The Machine, presents a raucous new show with live music about England’s forgotten Luddite rebellion –

TFTs: Joe Roberts

Adina. His desperation deepens when Adina apparently falls for a handsome man in a uniform. In abject misery he turns to the dreadful and dazzling quack Dr Dulcamara for a love potion… Gates open for picnics from 5.30pm. £130, under 18s go free; ifordarts.org.uk

Escape Rooms at Cheddar Throughout September, times vary, Cheddar Gorge and Caves Have you got what it takes to escape? In The Vault you will be transported back to the Victorian era, trapped in the very house that Richard Gough, discoverer of Gough’s Cave, lived in. Will you be able to crack the code to get out? Or try Caved In – where you must find the keys to escape the cave before time runs away. You can also give both challenges a try for a reduced price. 12 years and up, two – six players. £14.95 – £34.50pp; cheddargorge.co.uk

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EDITOR’S PICK... THE BARBER OF SEVILLE 18 SEPTEMBER – 5 OCTOBER, 7.30PM, TOBACCO FACTORY THEATRES

Opera Project is back with Rossini’s exuberant treatment of Beaumarchais’s The Barber of Seville. This great masterpiece of operatic comedy catapults the audience into the romance of Rosina and the Count Almaviva, a dalliance ably assisted by the Count’s factotum, Figaro. In a plot bordering on the farcical, Dr Bartolo’s own plans to marry Rosina, his ward, are thwarted at every step. This is an explosion of youth, optimism and wit where love conquers the ever-encroaching cynicism of age. From £12; tobaccofactorytheatres.com

a movement that spanned the whole north of England, had more British soldiers fighting it than Napoleon and made the destruction of machinery a capital offence. £10; thewardrobetheatre.com Bristol Open Doors 13 – 15 September, various locations Celebrating the past, present and future of Bristol, this weekend of events sees the doors to numerous buildings and locations around the city open to the public for a weekend of hands-on workshops, talks and tours. Go underground at Redcliffe Caves, drop in at the Merchants’ Hall, and hear music on the

“Too much hairspray?”

promenade deck of MV Balmoral, plus much more; bristolopendoors.org.uk

The legendary saxophonist Pee Wee Ellis joins Bristol Ensemble on stage for a multimedia concert in which east meets west in an electroacoustic soundfest. Featuring vocals by Kat Kleve. £12 – £20; stgeorgesbristol.co.uk

The Human League 14 September, gates open 12pm, music from 6pm, Bath Racecourse The ’80s chart-topping band The Human League takes to the stage after a thrilling day of seven horse races. First race takes place at 2pm. From £35 for adults, 11 – 18 years £15, under 10s free; bath-racecourse.co.uk

Griff Rhys Jones 19 September, 8pm, Redgrave Theatre Griff is back with a new, full-length stand-up show. Following sell-out performances of his previous one-man entertainment Jones and Smith, it’s time to join one half of Smith and Jones, one quarter of Not the Nine O’Clock News and one third of Three Men In a Boat as he presents an evening of hilarious true

Standing Waves: Pee Wee Ellis and Bristol Ensemble 18 September, 7.30pm, St George’s Bristol

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Bristol comedian John Robins brings new material to Tobacco Factory Theatres

All In Theatre present new comedy Bon Ami at The Wardrobe Theatre

year, allowing gaming enthusiasts to see and try everything from classic video games, consoles and board games to custom-made artwork. £2; bristolgamingmarket.com

stories, riffs, observations and details of his recent medical procedures. £20; redgravetheatre.com The Luna Cinema 20 – 22 September, doors 6pm, Ashton Court Mansion The 850 acres of Ashton Court Mansion’s grounds provide the ultimate backdrop for an evening of cinema under the stars. The 1990s classic Pretty Woman, starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, will be shown on 20 Sept, before the family-favourite sequel Mary Poppins Returns is screened on 21 Sept. Then the Oscar-winning celebration of the music of Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody, takes place on 22 Sept. A bar and food will be available. Tickets from £7.75; thelunacinema.com

Fashion Show and Auction Lunch 26 September, 1pm, Bar 44 Join the team at Bar 44 for its first fashion show and auction lunch in co-ordination with Mary’s Living and Giving. Enjoy a glass of fizz followed by a two-course lunch, before a fashion show and vintage clothes and accessories auction for Save the Children. £25pp; bar44.co.uk

11th Birthday Dinner 26 September, 7pm, Harvey Nichols Second Floor Restaurant And Bar To celebrate Harvey Nichols Bristol’s 11th birthday, head to the restaurant for a welcome drink, bespoke four-course menu and a slice of birthday cake. Plus Bristol’s Paper Moon band will be playing vintage swing tunes all night long. £45; book via Eventbrite; harveynichols.com

1940s Weekend 21 & 22 September, Avon Valley Railway Admire the vintage vehicle and re-enactor displays, enjoy music from Jayne Darling and the Goodnight Sweethearts, and get the chance to meet Winston Churchill and Field Marshall Montgomery during this 1940sthemed weekend. You can also swing along to your ’40s favourites on 21 Sept, 7pm, at the Bitton Blitz Boogie, £10pp. Steam train rides will also take place throughout the weekend from 10am – 4pm. avonvalleyrailway.org

Wiltshire Game and Country Fair 28 & 29 September, 10am – 6pm, Bowood House, near Calne This popular annual country show includes scurry driving, horse boarding and displays from the Drakes and Hazard. There will be falconry demos, gun dog displays and fishing, as well as the World of Dogs Arena. Get expert airgun and archery tuition, and have a go at paintballing and clay shooting. Plus

Bristol Gaming Market 22 September, 12 – 4pm, The Passenger Shed Due to popular demand, the Bristol Gaming Market is returning to Bristol for a second

SEPTEMBER 2019

there will be local food stalls, trade stands, crafts, and chef demos. £15/£4 children; wiltshiregameandcountryfair.co.uk Wedding Fair 29 September, 11am – 2.30pm, Brunel’s SS Great Britain Explore the historic ship and have a sneak peek at the museum’s newest wedding location Riggers Yard, which will be dressed for a big day. Find out about weddings on and off board the ship, and meet local suppliers. Free, no booking required; ssgreatbritain.org

PLANNING AHEAD Healing Against the Odds 26 September, 6.30pm, College of Naturopathic Medicine Bristol Iida van der Byl-Knoefel was diagnosed with inflammatory arthritis aged 33 and was able to reverse the symptoms of the condition with a plant-based diet through the Paddison Program for Rheumatoid Arthritis. In this talk she will discuss the benefits of a plant-based diet and how she healed herself with nutrition, and will provide ideas for gluten, dairy and sugar free recipes. £10; naturopathy-uk.com/events

Autumn seasonal trail 21 September – 17 November, 10am – 4pm, Tyntesfield Step into autumn for the first of a series of new seasonal trails around the Tyntesfield estate. What trees look best at this time of year, and what animals might you see and hear as they busy themselves for autumn? Pick up a free trail from the ticket office, which will highlight the best colours and sounds of the season. Normal admission charges apply; nationaltrust.org.uk/tyntesfield

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Penguin Cafe 5 October, 7.30pm, St George’s Bristol Transcending both popular and classical music, combining elements of classical, ambient, world and folk to form a truly unique and immersive sound, Penguin Cafe presents an evening of extraordinary music, perfumed by a talented and disparate group of musicians from the likes of Suede, Gorillaz and Razorlight. £29.50; stgeorgesbristol.co.uk Austentatious: The Improvised Jane Austen Novel 9 – 11 October, 8pm, Redgrave Theatre Austentatious is an improvised comedy play starring the country’s quickest comic performers. Every single show the cast conjures up a brand new ‘lost’ Jane Austen novel simply based on a title suggested by the audience. No shows are ever the same, with some past masterpieces including Sixth Sense and Sensibility and Double 0 Darcy. This comes fresh from six sell-out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe and a weekly residency in London’s West End. £18; redgravetheatre.com Endgame: James Lisney 13 October, 4pm, St George’s Bristol Pianist James Lisney explores four composers who are particularly close to his heart – Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert and Chopin – and whose piano music is some of the most endlessly satisfying and masterly work. £12 – £20; stgeorgesbristol.co.uk n

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THEATRE

WE JUST CAN’T WAIT The president of Disney Theatrical Productions talks to Holly Williams ahead of The Lion King’s return to Bristol Hippodrome

t’s day one of rehearsals at a studio in Bristol that’s filled with beautiful puppetry, masks and costumes for a new UK and Ireland tour of The Lion King, and the brand new cast have just performed their first ever rendition of Circle of Life. “I get all weepy, every time,” says Thomas Schumacher afterwards – and as president and producer of Disney Theatrical Productions, a producer on the 1994 Lion King movie, and an executive producer on the new film version, he’s heard the song more than most. Schumacher is the impresario of the original Broadway musical. The American, who’s worked for Disney for more than three decades, was the man who got the acclaimed, experimental theatre director Julie Taymor on board to adapt the show. She transformed it from an animated adventure to a theatrical spectacular that feels even more vibrant today, with its inventive, enchanting puppetry and music grounded in the rhythms and voices of South Africa. It might seem surprising that a figure such as Schumacher would fly over for rehearsals in Bristol for a show that’s been around so long – the West End version celebrates its 20th anniversary this autumn. But every new production or tour of The Lion King (and this tour is the 26th production in the show’s lifetime) gets the full treatment: that’s partly how the show stays feeling fresh and vital, he insists. “You want it to stay alive. It’s not a museum piece,” Schumacher says outside the rehearsal room, already filling up with the bright, bold costumes the musical is famous for. Zazu is hanging out by a grand piano; multi-coloured giraffes loom in hallways. It takes a village to put on The Lion King, Schumacher insists – and it’s a village which can turn into a family. While many of the cast and crew are new to the show, others are returning for their second, third or fourth time. Few have been involved as long as one unexpected guest however: Lebohang Morake, known as Lebo M; the South African composer, musician and singer who contributed to the original film soundtrack alongside songwriter Elton John and the score’s composer Hans Zimmer. Morake expanded his music to create the original Tonywinning show with Taymor, and even performed in it when it opened on Broadway. Having worked on the soundtrack of the new film, Morake had been in London for its premiere. When he heard a new tour was starting rehearsals in Bristol the next day, he also felt he had to be there. “Landing here today for a fresh start, feels very much like the first day 20-something years ago,” he says with an enormous grin. Today, The Lion King is one of the longest running musicals in the UK, and has been seen by over 100 million people on six different continents. What’s the secret to its enduring popularity?

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THEATRE

(Image by Brinkoff and Mogenburg)

The Lion King invites the audience to see on two levels at the same time: the fiction, and how it is created

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What’s the secret to its popularity? “It’s about all of us. It’s about family , community, responsibility and growing up.”

Image by Deen van Meer

“It was the first movie translated into 32 different languages; it was even translated into Zulu,” begins Schumacher. “Whether you were a kid in Israel, a grandma in South Africa, a college student in Finland, you all saw the same story and it becomes a universal story – because it’s about all of us. It’s about family and community and responsibility and growing up: I think that is just so universal.” But he adds that it was Taymor, the “genius of the show”, that transformed that fable into a live work that really connects with audiences. “Even though people think of Julie as a visualist, she’s really a storyteller. And the first thing we talked about was how would the story be expanded? She enhanced the physical beauty of the show by not trying to be literal – by being more metaphorical and theatrical.”

...You want it to stay alive; it’s not a museum piece... You always know you’re watching actors – but through the use of masks and puppetry, you’re also seeing the animals of the Pride Lands spring to life. Whether it’s giraffes played by performers on stilts or a dancer animating half a herd of leaping gazelle puppets, whether it’s a comic actor inside a giant Pumbaa suit or grasslands created through waving headdresses, The Lion King invites the audience to see on two levels at the same time: the fiction, and how it is created. Somehow, knowing how the magic is made only makes it more magical. For generations of audiences, it has been their introduction to the huge potential of theatre – and the show’s worldwide gross exceeds that of any film, Broadway show or other entertainment title in box office history. But its success was by no means guaranteed. “I thought it was the worst idea in the world,” Schumacher deadpans, recalling the first time someone told him to make a stage version of the cartoon. “In the early days of Disney Theatrical, the goal was recreating the film on stage,” he says. But the thought of actors prowling around in fluffy lion outfits did not seem promising. Schumacher’s background, however, was in theatre rather than Hollywood – and in experimental, international work at that. As a young man, he was influenced by seeing Peter Brook’s legendary A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which staged Shakespeare’s magical forest in a stark white cube. At college, he studied different puppetry traditions, including Japanese Bunraku, where several puppeteers manipulate one character. You can see this tradition in the Timon meerkat puppet. So Schumacher knew there could be another way to adapt

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President of Disney Theatrical Productions Thomas Schumacher (image by Helen Maybanks/Disney)

The Lion King for stage. “I thought, well, who could do this? Only one person: Julie. I called her, and she didn’t even know what The Lion King was.” But the pair had a shared theatrical language, and Schumacher made it clear that the key to the show’s success was her having the freedom to pursue her own style. Today, Disney Theatrical shows are never expected to simply recreate a film. “We’re much more stylised now: whether you see Frozen or Aladdin, we make them absolutely theatrical.” And he argues that the knock-on effect of the global success of Disney’s theatrical division also paved the way for the recent rush of live action (or CGI) remakes: the musicals proved that Disney stories can stand being reinterpreted, and that there’s a huge appetite for re-telling them in a whole new way. Beyond Disney, how influential does he think The Lion King has been on theatre? “I don’t think it has influenced directors as much as it has influenced audiences,” Schumacher muses. “It just tells them everything is possible in the theatre.” That, in turn, emboldens producers to trust there’ll be an audience for more imaginative work. Still, mounting a tour of a show which is so technically demanding, with so much set and costume, isn’t exactly a breeze. “Over the years we’ve changed the way things are built, how they come together, how they pack. We have things now that self-assemble with magnets: rather than having to pack a big bird kite in a huge box, we can pop the wings off,” Schumacher explains. But audiences for the touring show will experience what those at the Lyceum Theatre in the West End and the Minskoff Theatre on Broadway cheer at every performance: the puppets and costumes may have to be built to withstand travel, but onstage they look the same. “You’ll see the same elephants, the same giraffes; Mufasa will look the same,” says Schumacher. “We just have to reconfigure [the show] because it has to get on and off a truck.” The make-up of this new Lion King is a little different however – even for a show known for its diverse casting, this is the most international company they’ve ever assembled, with cast, crew and creatives from 17 different countries around the world. From its inception, it’s been mandatory for any production to feature South African performers. “Julie was adamant,” recalls Schumacher. “It’s absolutely intentional to have South Africans in the show: you hear that sound and beautiful singing style that is part of South African culture.” But to begin a new tour with such a diverse, globe-spanning company is a real joy. “I think it speaks to what The Lion King is all about,” he says. “It is just so universal.” ■ • The Lion King: 7 September – 23 November at Bristol Hippodrome; thelionking.co.uk; atgtickets.com/venues/bristol-hippodrome

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MUSIC | HISTORY

The Beatlesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; final photoshoot on 22 August 1969, shortly after the Abbey Road album was completed

Abbey Road: 50 years on

(Image courtesy of Apple Corps Ltd)

This month Beatles fans can delve further into the fascinating history behind this landmark album at the Redgrave Theatre. Words by Jeremy Blackmore

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MUSIC | HISTORY

t was 50 years ago this September that the world’s most famous band released their final masterpiece. Abbey Road was not The Beatles’ last album, as Let It Be followed in 1970, but it was the last John, Paul, George, and Ringo recorded together as a band. A few weeks earlier, they’d stepped out of London’s EMI Recording Studios to stride, single-file, across the black and white stripes of Abbey Road’s nearby zebra crossing. With photographer Iain Macmillan balanced on a stepladder and one policeman stopping traffic, The Beatles crossed back and forth three times. Just six photos were taken, with the fifth selected as the iconic cover image for the album named after the tree-lined street in which the studios are located. Countless Beatles fans from all over the world have made that crossing since as part of a pilgrimage to the place where four young men from Liverpool created music that changed the world with its profound influence on popular culture. Abbey Road may have marked the end of their recording career but their legacy lives on in perpetuity. It is an album ripe for the deluxe boxset treatment, and the anniversary is being celebrated with a suite of special releases this autumn. As Sir Paul McCartney says in his foreword to the new edition: “The Beatles recording journey had gone through many twists and turns, learning curves and thrilling rides. Here we were – still wondering at the magic of it all.” The album’s 17 tracks have been newly mixed by producer Giles Martin and engineer Sam Okell in stereo, high res stereo, 5.1 surround, and Dolby Atmos, accompanied by 23 session recordings and demos, most of which are previously unreleased. Martin and Okell worked with an expert team of engineers and audio restoration specialists at Abbey Road Studios and all the new releases feature the new stereo album mix, sourced directly from the original eight-track session tapes. Giles was guided by the album’s original stereo mix supervised by his late father, Sir George Martin. “The magic comes from the hands playing the instruments, the blend of The Beatles’ voices, the beauty of the arrangements,” Giles explains in his written introduction. “Our quest is simply to ensure everything sounds as fresh and hits you as hard as it would have on the day it was recorded.” There is an opportunity for fans to delve even further into the fascinating history behind this landmark album with a special event in Bristol this autumn. The world’s leading Beatles historian, Mark Lewisohn – whose acclaimed Tune In is the first part of his three-volume definitive biography of the band – is embarking on a 24-date tour of the UK and Ireland with his newly created Abbey Road show Hornsey Road. With the world’s best archive of Beatles materials at his disposal, harvested over 40 years of unrivalled deep access to public and private collections, Mark will draw on rare music, photos, films and collectable artefacts. I ask him what else fans can expect. “The big breakthrough in knowledge is going to be the 50th anniversary boxset with Giles Martin delving into all the tapes. That is going to give us several new dimensions to digest,” he says. “My tour is going to be a celebration of the album, the tracks on it and the way it was made but also very much a look at the people who made it. It’s me presenting a kind of balanced historical view of The Beatles, them as people going through this experience and how they had developed to this point. It’s about the songs and the stories behind the songs and recording and the times in which it was being done.” Boasting some of The Beatles’ best-loved songs, including George Harrison classics Something and Here Comes The Sun and closing with a symphonic suite comprising several shorter tracks, beautifully blended together, Abbey Road is a remarkable album in so many ways, but perhaps even more so given that the group were in such disarray in their personal and business lives by 1969. That they were still able to be so creative and produce one final classic album in those circumstances is extraordinary. With McCartney’s astonishing gift for melody and some of the most beautiful harmony work in The Beatles canon recorded on an eight-track tape machine for the first time, the album sounds brighter and clearer than perhaps any of its predecessors. “It is remarkable,” agrees Mark, “but the fact is they had always been capable of creating great work, no matter what else was happening. So, this was just another, now final, example of that. “But there was always the plan in their mind that this would not be their final album. So, history tells us that it was, but at the time of its creation, it wasn’t necessarily going to be.” Ideas for future recording projects were discussed after Abbey Road

was completed and it was not until a few days before its release that John Lennon informed his bandmates, “The group’s over, I’m leaving” – setting off on a new journey of discovery with his wife Yoko Ono. Mark had the rare privilege of listening to all the original Beatles’ studio tapes as part of his research. He dispels the myth that the band were at loggerheads inside Abbey Road in summer 1969. Indeed, Linda McCartney’s photographs of the band at work show a group of friends relaxed in each other’s company. “The photos of George and Paul look particularly happy,” says Mark, “somewhat belying what was going on outside the studio, but the truth of what was going on inside. The only thing you can go on are the photographs and the recordings. They always could leave their problems outside the studio door.” Indeed, he reasons, it is clear from listening to the finished album just how well they were able to put their divisions to one side and focus on making some of the most harmonious music of their careers. “They were definitely no longer singing from the same hymn sheet outside the studio, but inside you can see that they were.” Born in London in 1958, Mark started his career at the BBC in the 1970s before becoming a research manager at Music Week. It was a role which led him, in 1983, to go freelance as a writer-researcher-historian, intent on turning his lifelong interest in the Beatles (and much else) into his profession. In that time, his projects have included a lengthy period working directly for Paul McCartney as well as being employed on The Beatles Anthology, the band’s own official history. Yet as a teenage fan of the band, he could never have predicted such a career. “The careers adviser at my school did not suggest I became a Beatles historian!” he laughs. “The idea of there being such a position would be laughed off as ludicrous. “That’s because we were all too close to it in the 1970s to recognise how the impact of The Beatles was going to stick around, how it was going to reverberate. It’s a brilliant thing to spend pretty much my entire life researching The Beatles and making sure they are appreciated properly. By which I don’t mean I’m keen to push them on people who aren’t interested or to continually bang on about how great they were. I’m just looking to make sure that what they did is presented accurately.” People regularly remark that we must know everything there is to know about The Beatles after all these years. Mark does not agree, and Tune In contained several startling revelations putting the record straight and busting myths, based on years of painstaking, meticulous research. “I’m still making connections and enjoyable discoveries that are new to me, even though I’ve been doing this for 40 years on and off. And as ever with The Beatles, the magic sits at all levels. So, it’s always interesting and it always engaging and remarkable and this Hornsey Road show will be packed with things to surprise, delight and engage the audience.” Why is it so important that we get their story right? Mark argues that any part of history that we believe we know is probably riddled with mistakes. “As ever with The Beatles, to know them more is to love them more. They were the biggest band ever and they had the best story; extraordinary people doing extraordinary things and making quite profound connections into other forms of art and society. If we can understand their history correctly then it stands the best chance of being appreciated correctly. It’s also Mark with The the story of post-war life, the Beatles’ final Sixties, the music industry and studio tons of other artists who all got masterpiece their break because of The Beatles’ breakthrough. So, getting their story right means getting so much else about culture right.” It is a story which ends with the recording of that incredible record 50 years ago, ending with an eternal message of hope for the world: ‘And in the end/The love you take/Is equal to the love you make’. ■ • Mark Lewisohn appears at the Redgrave Theatre on 23 September THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK

SEPTEMBER 2019

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NATURAL HISTORY

Journeys in the wild One of Attenborough’s elite team, Bristol cameraman Gavin Thurston talks nature’s wonders – witnessing more of them than anyone has a right to – the common kindness of strangers and going on expeditions dressed as... Elvis. Words by Georgette McCready

hen I get to my brother’s house in Westbury on Trym I find him on his hands and knees, clearing duckweed from the surface of his pond by hand. He stands to greet me, both hands full of dripping green stuff, and at my questioning face explains that my nephew’s dog, Frank, keeps thinking the weed is grass, trying to walk on it and ending in the water. Gavin Thurston is a BAFTA and Emmy award-winning cameraman and world record diver (more of that later), one of Sir David Attenborough’s elite team who travel to the remotest spots of the world to bring us footage for series including Our Planet, Blue Planet, Planet Earth, Great Natural Journeys, Life and many more. But to me he’ll always be my teasing, muck-about brother, the one who can’t sit still, the one always working on some new project, whether that’s building a shed from reclaimed pallets and bits of wood for their allotment, or using a CNC router to create precision foam shapes to store his camera equipment safely.

...Animals don’t always come into view on cue, even if you have flown halfway round the world to film them... His family and friends have been entertained over the years by stories of his close encounters with gorillas, lions, snakes and octopuses in all kinds of terrain, from the depths of the ocean to mountains and in the jungle. But now, finally and after quite a lot of nagging, Gavin has finally written up these remarkable – some laughout-loud funny – stories from his long career. Journeys in the Wild: The Secret Life of a Cameraman, with a foreword by the man himself, David Attenborough, was published on 22 August. In some ways this is like the bit at the end of a wildlife film where we go behind the scenes and find out how a shot was set up and caught. The cameraman can sit for hours, even days, being bitten by thousands of unseen insects, or cramped inside a stuffy hide while waiting for that shot. And, as Gavin reminds us, patience doesn’t always pay off. Animals don’t come into view on cue, even if you have flown halfway round the world to film them. You can really hear Gavin’s voice in these stories – just a selection from many years of diary keeping – and he has thoughtfully included geographical co-ordinates in the different chapters. “Why have you done that?” asks his sister, slow as ever to grasp the point. “That’s so you can tap them into Google Earth and then you can travel the world from your armchair.” Gavin keys in a series of numbers and within seconds we’re looking down at the site of the Barneo Camp in the Artic Circle. It is this spot that the crew flew to in order to shoot the opening sequence to Frozen Planet, with Sir David suitably wrapped up against the freezing wind to speak the introduction.

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Journeys in the Wild takes the reader to places we may never get to visit. I was entranced by Gavin’s description of searching for a glimpse of wild pandas in the Qinling Mountains of China. Gavin and a tracker climbed to about 12,000 feet to the snow-line, following the clues left by the elusive creature (a trail of panda poo). After the tracker left him, Gavin pitched his tent on a ridge just three feet wide, over a drop of 400 feet of scree, where he attempted to sleep but was kept awake by a combination of that drop, the cold, “the crunch, crunch, crunching of the panda working its way through its bamboo dinner” and the excitement of the thought of seeing a real wild panda the next day. The next morning, installed in his hide, our lone cameraman gets some fabulous footage of a female panda sitting majestically, eating in a clearing among the bamboo, where she is joined by a cute little panda cub who rolls and tumbles around like a toddler. As giant snowflakes start to fall, Gavin recalls that this picture postcard scene was a moment of sheer pleasure. There are many more special moments, some of them magical, like the sighting of a rare Persian leopard slinking past him in southern Russia, or filming two young gorillas being released from captivity into the forests of Gabon, as playful and curious as boisterous children clambering on the human grown-ups. But other experiences are not so pleasant, such as having rats crawl up his trouser legs while filming in the Karni Mata Hindu Temple in India, home to some 25,000 holy rats. Gavin and I talk about the impact that Blue Planet II had. This was the series in which David Attenborough issued a wake-up call.

...One episode got 50% of the audience – half of all people watching television were choosing a wildlife programme and that’s extraordinary... “The future of all life depends on us,” was his solemn message, delivered to camera in his characteristically understated style and grabbing the world’s attention. The images of plastic pollution in our oceans, clogging up the seas, killing fish and mammals, were enough to make consumers, politicians and manufacturers sit up and think. The BAFTA award-winning and Emmy-nominated series has revolutionised the way we consume, beginning with cutting down on single-use items such as drinking straws, coffee cups and supermarket packaging. Did the Blue Planet II team know that what they’d filmed would have such an impact? “We got double the audience we were expecting. One episode got 50 per cent of the TV audience that night – half of all people watching television were choosing to watch a wildlife ➲ programme, and that’s extraordinary.”

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NATURAL HISTORY

All photography courtesy of Gavin Thurston

Finished Korowai treehouse, West Papua

Did you know? Jayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s big in the gym-bunny This magical shot aofliterary Sir David Attenborough and one game, and detests festival panel of his many animal (image by Levon Biss)pals may well be our favourite

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NATURAL HISTORY

...I think in 20 years if you showed a plastic cup to a child and told them you’d use one then throw it away, they’d be shocked... In Journeys in the Wild we are shown plenty of instances where mankind has destroyed habitats and killed wildlife, but there are also many examples of positive action by people to save animals and protect the environment. It was after his experiences in Borneo and filming the endangered orangutan that Gavin became personally involved in the charity the Borneo Nature Foundation, of which he is now patron. Gavin, his wife Maggie and their sons Thomas and Harry, have lived in Bristol for many years and he has watched the cultural changes taking place in how we shop and our attitude to waste. “Twenty years ago we’d have gone to the supermarket, loaded up our trolley and come home with loads of single-use carrier bags filled with food,” he says. “We’d have thought how lovely to have fresh sweetcorn, or beans, or flowers out of season – not thinking that they’d have been flown thousands of miles from Kenya or wherever. Customers are now voting with their wallets and choosing more ethically sourced produce. “I think in 20 years time if you showed a plastic cup to a child and told them there used to be a time when you’d get one of these with coffee in, use the cup once and then throw it away, they’d be shocked and surprised to hear how wasteful we were.” There some great adventures involving elephants, penguins, octopuses, vampire bats, swarms of bees and many more. But adventures have their risks and I sometimes worry about how many of his nine lives Gavin’s had when you’re reminded of all those neardeath experiences, like the time he was in a plane crash, the deadly python he had to literally jump over, the elephant who charged their open-top jeep, or the time when the three-person submarine got stuck in the mud at the very deepest, darkest bottom of the ocean. It was in that submarine, the Nadir, filming many hours for Blue Planet II, that they set a new world record – 1,000 metres – for the deepest dive in the Southern Ocean. And how did he celebrate? By drinking champagne with his fellow crew members while rising to the surface of the sea to ‘a little less conversation, a little more action’ blasting from the speakers, accompanied by Gavin dressed in the Elvis white suit and mask that go with him on shoots. It breaks the ice when you don’t speak the language, as he points out. He writes that he feels incredibly privileged to have witnessed more of nature’s wonders than anyone has a right to. “I’ve never once regretted doing what I do. Well, maybe once: when I was arrested by two military guards in Iran for photographing a ‘do not photograph’ sign. What an idiot!” And although he is happy when working in the remotest places on earth far from towns and cities, Gavin pays tribute to some of those he’s met along the way and the kindness of strangers. “All the people who, in so many countries, whether I could speak their language or not, have gone out of their way to help me. Penniless in Tanzania, an American pilot called Mike bailed me out, paying for my food and hotel. Out with the Dinka in Sudan, a child saved my life when a venomous snake was about to bite me. When filming treehouses in West Papua there were always hands from the Korowai tribe ready to catch me if I lost my grip. This book is a thank you letter to people the world over.” ■ • Journeys in the Wild: The Secret Life of a Cameraman by Gavin Thurston is published by Orion, hardback £16.99. Visit gavinthurston.com or follow Gavin on Instagram: @thegavinthurston and Twitter: @gavinthurston 40 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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A little more action: black and white capuchin tries its hand at camerawork, Costa Rica 2011

Gavin at Barneo camp, High Arctic

The Golden Fleece moored in the lee of an ice cliff in Antarctic Peninsula

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EXHIBITIONS

STATE OF THE ART Image, Imagination and Experience, Clifton Contemporary Art, 14 September – 11 October This autumn, see a selection of layered, dynamic abstracts by Andrew Bird, informed and inspired by both the bustle of coastal life and the natural ruggedness of Cornwall and Derbyshire. “I try to capture the essence of a place or situation,” Andrew says of his work, “as well as trying to simplify the form and colour of what I see.” This formal manipulation of the essentials and gestural mark making combines with a lively, evocative palette – not to represent a specific scene, but to encapsulate a “particular slice of time”. • cliftoncontemporaryart.co.uk

Below the Rocks II by Andrew Bird

Bristol: The Birthplace of Photography, St Pauls Darkrooms, 13 – 15 September Awareness of light sensitivity began in the 1700s when Johann Schultz realised it was light, rather than air, that darkened silver salts. The Bristol link began when the potter Thomas Wedgwood thought he could use light to make images on pottery. In 1803 he met with the chemist Humphry Davy in Hotwells and the first photographic process was invented, resulting in detailed images of plants and leaves made with light. Although the pictures only lasted a few weeks, these ‘photograms’ were the world’s first images, 35 years before the announcement of photography in France by Daguerre. The first photograph of a ship was of the SS Great Britain and, several decades later, Bristol’s William Friese-Greene invented the moving image which went on to become film. In 2003 the darkrooms of the Watershed were moved to the St Pauls Learning Centre and three years ago the facility was taken over by the Real Photography Company with the aim to revive traditional photography and introduce new audiences to the wonders of optical science, silver and light. They have spacious, accessible darkrooms and will be opening their doors in September as part of Bristol Open Doors weekend. The drop-in event is free, and will feature hands-on experiments and demos of early processes; discover how experimentation in Bristol and the surrounding area led to the discovery of photography. • realphotographycompany.co.uk

Autumn Exhibition, Lime Tree Gallery, until 14 October Lime Tree Gallery, which specialises in representing artists known for the painterly use of colour and light, is welcoming two new artists for the first time; Ann Oram RSW and Elsa Taylor. Ann is one of Scotland’s finest artists in the colourist tradition and her feeling of paint and colour is hard to surpass while Elsa Taylor, a natural colourist, lives and paints in her beautiful cottage in the Cotswolds. Her abstract imagery, combined with a confident use of colours, create enchanting harmonies. • limetreegallery.com

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Still Life on a Pink Table by Ann Oram RSW

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EXHIBITIONS

Bright Path, Rainmaker Gallery, until 28 September Self-taught Chickasaw artist Billy Hensley draws his inspiration from the world around him even when his paintings seem abstract. Through the shifting light of his rhythmic lines emerge twilight hues, shadowy forms and creatures of the natural world. The bold stripes of his canvases reference the appliqué embellishments of ‘ribbon shirts’ and ‘ribbon skirts’ widely worn by Native tribes today. This colourful attire is a way to celebrate and assert indigenous individual and collective identity, and combat the invisibility of Native peoples in North America. A visually rich exhibition that hints at the countless lives lived by indigenous people whose stories, both everyday and inspirational, have frequently been eclipsed by layers of colonial indifference and oppression. Hensley challenges us to look more deeply into the world that surrounds us in order to appreciate lives and lifeforms often obscured and overlooked. Please note that the gallery will be closed until 2 September.

Fala by Billy Hensley

• rainmakerart.co.uk

Linda Brothwell: Conversations in Making, Stonehenge, until 24 November See the first contemporary art exhibition at Stonehenge, featuring 40 works in silver and copper, made by Linda Brothwell in her Bristol studio on Spike Island. The show is inspired by Stonehenge, the prehistoric objects found in the landscape around it and by conversations with present-day Image by Jo Hounsome makers and tradespeople working in the area – from a thatcher to a tattooist, a cobbler to a leather worker and a key cutter to a hairdresser.

Space Steps, Royal Photographic Society, until 29 September An exhibition celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing – one of humankind’s most extraordinary adventures. The exhibition explores the journey of Apollo 11, illustrated by some of the Apollo prep most remarkable images ever © NASA captured on film. It also traces the story of the earlier Mercury and Gemini space missions and the Apollo programme up to 1969, paying tribute to the crucial role that women played. Recognising the importance of space exploration today and providing a contemporary focus, the exhibition will present Ascension, an interactive installation by Mexican-British photographer Monica Alcazar-Duarte, exploring how space scientists working in facilities across Europe, are engaging in a new space race. • rps.org

• english-heritage.org.uk Glastonbury Tor and Full Moon by Stephen Spraggon

Somerset Art Weeks Festival, 21 September – 6 October Paintings, sculpture, print and jewellery are among the art that will be on display in galleries, studios, barns, a library, a hospital and an old prison during SAW. Somerset Art Weeks Festival showcases the work of more than 300 artists, with exhibitions, talks, films, installations and workshops across the county. This year celebrates the 25th anniversary of Somerset Art Weeks, an annual county-wide celebration of the variety and quality of contemporary visual art that can be found in Somerset. The festival takes place every other year, alternating with the biannual Open Studios event, and is firmly established as one of the biggest showcases celebrating the visual arts in the South West. • somersetartworks.org.uk

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Summer Flowers on a Pink Ground by Ann Oram RSW

Autumn Exhibition: Sept 14 - Oct 14

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

Tel 0117 929 2527 â&#x20AC;¢ www.limetreegallery.com

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Yoko Ono/1969/Portrait/ Iain Macmillan Â© Yoko Ono

ART | EXHIBITION

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ART | EXHIBITION

Art as activism The month sees a special solo exhibition – featuring influential conceptual works by none other than Yoko Ono, which aim to open conversation about historical and contemporary issues – touching down in Bristol

he ‘Bed-In’ she staged with John Lennon in 1969 might be the most famous image of Yoko Ono but it’s fair to say she’s had a few big moments since then, as an artist-activist renowned around the globe. In 2009, she received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement from the Venice Biennale, and she’s had countless major exhibitions worldwide over past decades including her first French retrospective ‘Light of Dawn’ more recently in 2016 plus a permanent installation, Skylanding, unveiled in Chicago’s Jackson Park. Her first specifically Bristol moment, however, comes this month, when the Georgian House Museum – the six-storey townhouse that’s part of the Bristol Museum group – hosts ‘Interventions/2: Films by Yoko Ono’. Ono’s first solo show here in the city, its title refers to the act of reclaiming the Georgian House space in a new way to allow a varied audience to explore its significance in Bristol’s history. By offering conceptual art in an unexpected context, it hopes to create a platform and extend an invitation to members of all communities to join in the conversation as “co-creators of the city’s legacy”. “Art is one of the few authentic platforms that allows us to have difficult but necessary conversations,” says Bristol artist and composer Jimmy Galvin, who is curating the show, “and this will be, in effect, a show within a show.”

...Does art have a significant role to play anymore in the new cultural landscape of social media?... It’s inspired by a show that Ono did in the villa of Austrian painter, sculptor, architect, composer, poet, singer and Vienna School of Fantastic Realism founder Ernst Fuchs. It had her films shown on television monitors in each room, and a performance of Cut Piece, one of her early performance art works which sees Ono dressed in a suit and kneeling on a stage with a pair of scissors, instructing audience members to cut pieces of her clothing off. As well as this piece, the Georgian House show will feature the participatory Wish Trees that have been an integral part of many Ono exhibitions, in the garden, inviting visitors to make a wish and write it on a small card that is then hung up. The September show will also feature a version of Ono’s Arising, first exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2013 but updated for Bristol, addressing the sexual abuse of women by men; a poignant piece for the setting of the Georgian House. “For this part of the show I have partnered with local charity Safe Link (safelinksupport.co.uk) and for me it’s the most powerful,” says Jimmy. “There are dozens of testimonies from victims of sexual and violent abuse; each has been asked to supply a photo of their eyes, to be placed in rows in a particular room. This work is aimed to empower victims to speak openly about their trauma and also know that help is at hand. “As with all great art, it gives us permission to open dialogue and create a better understanding of ourselves and our city’s past, as well as its future. I believe it is the job of art to reach out to the wider communities and keep us all engaged. “When I first contacted Yoko Ono I made the history of the house clear [it was built in 1790 for John Pinney, a wealthy slave plantation

owner and sugar merchant]. For me, to have one of the most iconic female artists in the world reclaim that space, bringing it bang up to date, will help people to understand that the slave trade is not a thing of the past. We live in an age where human trafficking is more prevalent than ever, so my aim is to make clear that the slave trade is not just a thing of the past but a modern human crisis. According to Amnesty International it’s at an all-time high, so having the voice of one of the most famous artist-activists in the world is a way to bring a new spotlight onto Bristol’s heritage and involvement with the slave trade. Yoko felt the Arising piece was appropriate for this setting; bringing Bristol’s past into the now so we can all decide what our legacy should and can be. The show’s subtext is art as activism; everybody has a voice and if they are given a platform to be heard we can improve our communities.” Jimmy is also running an outreach programme around the show including renowned educator Vic Ecclestone MBE, who will be bringing young people from Withywood and Hartcliffe to the Georgian House for the first time; Carlton Romaine from Redshift, who works with young people with dyslexia to get them engaged; and Grace Kress who works with young adults in the St Pauls area; plus poets doing live readings during the show. Yoko Ono made 16 short films between 1964 and 1972, the most well-known perhaps being 1966 Fluxus film Bottoms, featuring a series of close-ups of human buttocks walking on a treadmill. Interventions/2 will also feature this and other films such as Eyeblink (1966), Freedom (1971), Fly (1970, directed by John Lennon and Yoko Ono) as well as a new version of Sky TV, the seminal work Ono produced in 1966, and Film No. 5 (Smile, featuring John Lennon). It will be the first time for many years that these films will be shown together. An artist whose thought-provoking work has challenged people’s understanding of art and the world around them, Ono has been a conceptualist since the beginning of her career; her work encompassing performance, instruction, film, music and writing. Born in Tokyo in 1933, she moved to New York in 1953, following her studies in philosophy in Japan. By the late 1950s, she had become part of New York City’s vibrant avant-garde activities and in 1960 she opened her Chambers Street loft, where she and La Monte Young presented a series of radical performances. The following year she performed a solo concert at Carnegie Recital Hall of works involving movement, sound, and voice that were somewhat revolutionary for the time. Today, Ono travels annually to Iceland for the lighting of her Imagine Peace Tower, a permanent installation created in 2007, and continues to campaign tirelessly for peace. She is widely recognised for taboobreaking film and her radical music has finally been acknowledged as a contributor to the genesis of much of the new wave of musical forms. “For me, the Georgian House is a special place to host this show as it was the first museum I ever visited,” continues Jimmy. “It was a place of refuge, but over the years the romanticism of the aesthetics started to fade as I discovered its past, and the Pinney history, and it took on a whole new meaning, forcing me to think about the context of these kind of places, and what they stand for, how their creation came about. “This experience became my window onto art and how we engage with our immediate environment of museums and galleries – does art have a significant role to play anymore in the new cultural landscape of social media? Or has the silent fascism of the corporate culture of consumerism finally taken over? This show hopes to reignite the narrative of art as activism, as we all have a voice, yet for many people, technology has somehow diminished the narrative.” ■ • Interventions/2, 28 September – 31 December; bristolmuseums.org.uk THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK

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FOOD & DRINK | INTERVIEW

The philosopher’s tome

The path to feisty food critic Jay Rayner’s last supper is paved with piano practice, box-set binges and contentment. He talks to Melissa Blease about his new book, his “gloriously ludicrous” day job, and being a frustrated actor at heart

ver the past three decades, Jay Rayner has written extensively across the British and international media, focusing his razor-sharp wit and inimitable way with words on all manner of topics from politics to fashion, the arts and – of course – food. He’s been a MasterChef judge more times than Greg Wallace has told us how much he loves sweet stuff, he’s hosted BBC Radio 4’s Kitchen Cabinet for six years. He broadcasts his own podcast (Out To Lunch), and he’s published four novels and five non-fiction books. An ardent pianist, he formed The Jay Rayner Quartet in 2012, and then there are his legendarily feisty restaurant reviews, published in The Observer every Sunday, attracting an average of around 100,000 online views. If I were asked to select just one course from the Rayner menu to tease my palate, it’d be a tough job making that decision. But Jay himself has recently narrowed his own options down rather dramatically. In his new book My Last Supper: One Meal, A Lifetime In The Making (Faber & Faber, £16.99), he sets out to answer the one question he is most frequently asked, resulting in a highly personal journey focusing on our relationship with what, where and how we eat. And when he visits Bristol’s Redgrave Theatre next month to tell us all about it in person, we’re in for a sensory feast. “Essentially, I suppose I’ve written a bit of a memoir, but one that I hope has a solid, very thick spine of thoughts around how and what we eat, and how that makes us who we are,” he explains. “Each chapter is named after an ingredient, and the chapter goes through my personal story behind that heading. There are some people who simply won’t get it, because not all people are as obsessed with our dinners as people like you and I are. But for like-minded folk, I’ve put a narrative of my life in food together one plate at a time. Inevitably I suppose, My Last Supper is sort of the story of who I am.” And who we are, for all of us, goes back a very long way. Would Jay agree that our childhood food memories form the basis of our overall attitude to food as adults? “One of the brilliant things about being a grown-up is that most of us have the ability to eat what we like, when we like,” he says. “But as children, we’re all dependent on others to enable us to eat. I once read a very interesting piece a friend of mine wrote about buying sweets with pocket money, and how that’s the first bit of control we have over our lives: the ability to make the choice to spend your money on Flying Saucers or Sherbet Dib-Dabs. Those experiences stick in the mind not just because we enjoyed eating the sweets, but because the very process was a marker of our earliest experience of independence. And status would have been involved too: learning how we can influence people by being generous. Once we get deep into adulthood, we forget how we learned to become who we are – and many of those early lessons revolved around food.” So how does he feel about being ‘responsible’ for the food lessons he’s teaching his own children (he has two sons, aged 19 and 15)? “Oh, they’re going their own way,” he sighs. “But when I take them out to eat, I make a point of them knowing how much the bill cost. I don’t want them to think that Dad’s eating-out life is ‘normal’ – in many ways, my own upbringing was privileged in both previous and modern senses of that word, but my parents were keen on making sure that we were aware of that privilege; I try to do the same, with my two.” So far, Jay and I are enjoying a cordial chat, peppered with none of the fiery seasoning that his back catalogue of reviews is infamous for. So, is Ranty Jay a mere persona? “Oh, if something makes me cross then I love a good rant,” he says. “But I’m careful about it. Yes, my more negative reviews tend to be the 48 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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most popular. But fewer than a fifth of my reviews in any one year are negative – I honestly don’t go looking for them, and I often argue with myself about how far I should go. If you’re going to have a rant, you have to make sure that the place you’re ranting about is worthy of it, and my job is to keep writing in a way that convinces you that I’m giving a reasonable appraisal. Restaurants are all about everything that happens before anybody walks through the door: the dishes, the ingredients, the atmosphere, the training of the staff, the decor – by the time I rock up, the amount any restaurant can do to turn it from a mediocre one to a good one, let alone from a bad one to a mediocre one, is tiny. If they start being silly or giving me extra treatment because of who I am, I can spot it; having done this gloriously ludicrous job for 20 years, I can spot every trick in the book. So are my reviews honest? Absolutely, totally, and always.”

...If you’re going to have a rant, you have to make sure that the place you’re ranting about is worthy of it... So I ask him to be honest, then, about which Jay we can expect to meet when he visits Bristol. “I like to think that I’m actually quite a pleasant, genial host,” he laughs. “The thing is, I used to live in fear of being asked onto discussion panels at literary festivals because I hate them – they bore me. My way around the whole promotional tour idea was to come up with a one-man show to accompany my books, travelling the country and visiting small theatres. But if you ask someone to pay money to spend time in your company, you’ve got to deliver something worthwhile, so I invest quite significant resources into the live show to create what I hope will be an entertaining experience; it grows out of the book, but it has to be a separate performance piece. The shows seem to get more and more theatrical over time – I think I’m probably a bit of a frustrated actor at heart.” Frustrated actor? That’s another side dish to add to the Jay Rayner bill of fare. Does he have any time to pause between the courses that make up his Renaissance Man buffet? “When I’m not writing, I spend an awful lot of time at my piano trying to get to where I need to be,” he says. “My quartet may get to do gigs at Ronnie Scott’s and play some very big festivals, but for me, attempting to fill the gaps that I know I have, as a pianist, is a continuous process. I have an obsessive gym habit too – doing my job, it’s a necessity. But I’m also really good at sitting on the sofa in front of the TV and not feeling guilty about it. My dear old mum [the journalist, broadcaster, novelist and much-loved ‘agony aunt’ Claire Rayner] once said that people go in search of happiness when actually what they could go in search of is contentment. Happiness is a bursting bubble at the top of a champagne glass, but put me on a sofa with a takeaway and a box set and I’m very content – and contentment is a greater goal than happiness.” Jay Rayner, philosopher? That’s a new one for his burgeoning CV; may his actual last supper take a mega rant-worthy long time to arrive. • Jay Rayner, My Last Supper: Redgrave Theatre, Tuesday 1 October; redgravetheatre.com; jayrayner.co.uk

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(Image by John Arandhara-Blackwell)

FOOD & DRINK | INTERVIEW

Did you know Jayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s big in the gym-bunny game, and detests a literary festival panel?

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FOOD & Drink

TASTY TIDBITS FROM THE CITY’S RESTAURANTS, CHEFS AND PRODUCERS All hail the reblochon

CHALET-STYLE TREATS Specialising in the finest French Alpine cheeses, the Bristol-based turophiles at Slate & Wedge have launched their new range of ski-themed cheese boxes, as thoughts turn towards cooler days. Included in each box are three of your favourite Alpine cheeses, using ski piste colour coding to help you pick the most suitable cheese box for your taste buds. Complete with tasting notes, the two, four and eight-person boxes contain the perfect portions for an indulgent cheeseboard and are available from the online shop. Produced by local farmers and affineurs in the Savoie region, they’ve certainly got us dreaming of our next ski holiday... Get in touch with the team to learn more about their unique Alpine cheese tastings too; magnifique for private events. • slateandwedge.co.uk

RIPE FOR DISCOVERY Mad for Merlot? Puzzled by Pinot? The wine world is ripe for discovery and, having awarded over 400,000 wine qualifications in the UK since 1969, the Wine & Spirit Education Trust is celebrating its 50th anniversary with the first global Wine Education Week. From 9 – 15 September, it will celebrate diversity, taste and culture with events such as West of England Wine School’s label deciphering sessions on 9 & 12 September. “It’s a celebration of our mission to inspire and inform,” said CEO Ian Harris. “With events everywhere from New Zealand to Thailand and, of course, the UK, I can’t think of a better way to mark the progress we have made in wine education over the last half-century.” • wineeducationweek.com

DRINK GIN, SAVE LEOPARDS! Sales of a new Bristol-distilled gin are helping to support the clouded leopard, a species close to extinction. Chef and brand founder Will Phillips is donating 15% of Clouded Leopard’s gross profit to the Born Free Foundation. “Having worked in the food sector for years, I am well versed in what ingredients marry well as well as being an avid gin lover,” Will said. “I started experimenting last year when we were experiencing a heatwave; a summer similar to those of India and Southern Asia. The provenance of core ingredients was key and I started playing with fruits from Southern Asia, the home of the clouded leopard. I really want to help save this fantastic animal.” The finished product (50cl £35.95) delivers a classic London dry juniper, bright citrus notes and a tropical mango and fragrant black pepper finish. produced from British wheat spirit trees.

ROSEMARINO: THE REBOOT Hyde & Co has teamed up with Rosemarino to re-invigorate the Clifton Village restaurant, known for its Italian-inspired food and drink. “The restaurant scene in Bristol is so fast paced and we’ve always felt it's important not to forget the more established venues among all the new openings, so the partnership with Hyde & Co was a great opportunity for us to start a new chapter and bring some fresh new ideas to the table,” said founder Sam Fryer. “Nathan, from Hyde & Co, and I began working together 17 years ago in The Glass Boat and Goldbrick House, so it’s exciting to be working with each other again and pooling our shared expertise to bring something really special to Clifton.” The Italian influence will remain strong at Rosemarino, as cofounder Mirco is now based in Verona and will continue to supply the restaurant with top quality produce. Head chef Emilio Allegretti, who hails from Modena, has also brought his expertise to a new menu including a selection of cicchetti (Italian small plates) which will be served alongside the popular all-day brunch and laid-back family-style evening dining. “We opened Hyde & Co at almost the same time as Rosemarino opened in Clifton nearly 10 years ago, and having weathered the storm of what’s been a very unpredictable decade for the food and drink industry we saw this partnership as a great opportunity to help out a fellow Bristol restaurant and celebrate everything our industry has to offer,” said Nathan Lee, founder of Hyde & Co. Rosemarino has been undergoing a gradual refurbishment but is still open seven days a week. • clifton.rosemarino.co.uk

• Twitter: @cloudedleogin

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FOOD & DRINK | RECIPE

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

arlier this year I did a baking demonstration at a cheese and ale festival and needed to come up with a cake to fit in with the theme, so I had to go with the classic stout cake. Now when you think of stout cake, you probably think of a big, dark sponge with a dollop of cream cheese frosting on top – don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with that! I just thought that it could do with a 2019 makeover. My version is made with a Bristol chocolate stout, a coffee buttercream and a chocolate ganache drip. I carried on making this cake at food festivals across the country throughout the summer and it has gone down an absolute storm with the crowds so I wanted to share it with you all to enjoy.

• Next, make the ganache. Break up the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl. Heat the cream in a pan until steaming and bubbling around the edges. Pour over the chocolate and leave for a few minutes. Stir until smooth and glossy. • Assemble the cake. Set aside eight walnut halves for decoration. Chop the remainder into small pieces. Place one sponge on a board or plate, spread over a thick layer of buttercream and sprinkle with chopped walnuts. Repeat with the next sponge. Top with the final sponge. Spread the buttercream evenly over the top and sides of cake and smooth with a cake scraper and palette knife. • Drip the ganache over the edges on three to four sections of the cake. Transfer the rest of the buttercream to a piping bag with a star nozzle. • Pipe stars of different sizes on top of the cake. Sprinkle with chocolate covered coffee beans and top with walnut halves. ■ Follow Briony on Twitter and Instagram: @brionymaybakes. Illustration by Cat Faulkner; @catherinedoart

Chocolate and Coffee Stout Cake Cake ingredients: 325ml chocolate stout (or dark porter) 325g unsalted butter 130g cocoa powder, sifted 530g golden caster sugar 200ml crème fraîche 3 large eggs 2 tbsp dark rum (it brings out the chocolate flavour) 370g plain flour 3 tsp bicarbonate of soda For the buttercream: 350g unsalted butter, softened 700g icing sugar, sifted 4 tsp instant coffee 3 tsp boiling water For the ganache: 100ml double cream 100g dark chocolate, chopped To finish: 50g chocolate covered coffee beans (optional) 200g walnut halves Method: • Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan. Grease and line three eightinch cake tins. • Make the sponges. Place the stout (I use Bristol Beer Factory’s El Choco) and the butter into a large pan and heat gently until the butter has melted. Add in the cocoa powder. Mix to combine. Add the sugar and mix to combine then remove from the heat. Beat the eggs and the crème fraîche. Add to the pan and mix to combine. Add the flour and the bicarbonate of soda and mix. Divide between tins. Bake for 30 – 35 minutes. Leave to cool in tins. • Now make the buttercream. Beat the butter until it’s pale and smooth. Add half of the icing sugar. Beat to combine. Repeat with the second half of the icing sugar. Mix coffee and boiling water. Add to the buttercream. Mix well to combine. THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK

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MUSIC CITY || INTERVIEW INTERVIEW

PLAN TO PARTY Don’t panic, it’s not Christmas yet. But the oﬃce party does need thinking about. ’Tis the season to start making plans for the annual tie-loosening fest that should be one of the highlights of the working year for you and your colleagues, advises Melissa Blease

he corporate Christmas party represents an opportunity to relax with your work buddies, hang out with people you don’t usually get the chance to hang out with; perhaps even make a few new friends. And hey: if it’s a working hours shebang, then you’re actually being paid to party. So what’s not to love? Think of our planning checklist as your very own version of Santa’s Little Helper, and prepare to party like it’s... well, like it hasn’t been hard work at all.

BUDGET Once you’ve established how much (or how little) you can spend on the party, then start by asking your colleagues how they’d most like to spend it. And do bear in mind that your colleagues may not necessarily be office-based: does the budget stretch to your company’s freelance/occasional workforce? You need to know, and now, to put your plans in place. However some companies and businesses (such as tiny start-ups, collectives, not-for-profit organisations or independent shops with maybe only two or three part-time staff) just don’t have any spare corporate cash available to fund significant festive frolics. But small teams such as these can still make the most of big Christmas party deals to suit the numbers. You can establish a voluntary kitty with your coworkers and proceed as above, paying particular attention to early booking deals – even if you can only stretch to a swift half and a sausage roll in a festive pub, it’s a chance to get together and chill out as a community and there are plenty of places that will make you welcome. No matter how small or large your party, there will be something to suit every budget... the only proviso is that you should book today. Yes, really, right now; you see, when it comes to office party planning, Christmas is, quite literally, just around the corner. 20 TheBATHMagazine

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SAVE THE DATE In work terms, December is the shortest month of the year – few offices remain fully open for business for the third week of the 12th month. While 15 working days of possible dates sounds like a lot of options to play with, you have to consider the fact that everybody on the guest list will have other people’s parties to attend, presents to buy, houses to get ready for visitors, travel plans to make and deadlines to meet, while parents have school plays and school holidays to consider; the list of other people’s commitments is endless, so get in early. Is the team thinking lunch, or an evening soirée? December Thursdays are traditionally the most popular Christmas party dates, but going off-piste (Monday evening? Wednesday lunchtime?) gives you more options to play with. If you choose a Friday or Saturday, nobody has to show up at work the morning after – but few people want to lose a Friday or Saturday evening in December to a workbased commitment. Late lunch parties can be the best way forward if you’re not going for a full-on party package; that way, Henrietta from

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FOOD & DRINK HR can make the 4.40pm train home with Rosie from reception, while Sarah from sales, Stuart from systems and Tony from tech support can hit the nearest cocktail bars. If you opt for an early lunch, though, do establish beforehand whether or not you’re all expected to go back to work afterwards. But if there simply aren’t any December dates that work for your work do, consider this: Christmas office parties scheduled for January are officially A Thing – for several very good reasons: it’s easier to find a January date that works well for everybody; staff at your venue of choice will be considerably less stressed than they are in December; you may be able to wrangle an out-of-season deal... and a January knees-up to look forward to brightens up an otherwise dreary month.

Well worth considering, we think. Away from the more formal venues, what can possibly go wrong? Well, have you heard the one about the boss who arranged to have a fish’n’chip truck, complete with rooftop speakers blaring Christmas music, pull up on the car park, which was intended to doubleup as an impromptu dance floor? The truck wasn’t licensed – and it rained. Or the party in a nightclub for an office with an average age range of 34 – 58 mixing it up with revellers with an average age range of 18 – 21 that didn’t quite, erm, work well. Then there was the party in the boss’s house in the countryside 10 miles from the city centre, scheduled for the last Friday before Christmas; and nobody had thought about pre-booking taxis. You have been warned.

HELP! THE VENUE Mike from marketing has had far too many martinis and needs his car Even if the purse strings are extremely tight, the days of the office party keys confiscating, Cerys the copywriter is crying in the corner and the social media team’s phones have gone flat; at times like these, you need a being held in the actual office are over – no member of staff should be responsible personal to organise taxis, offer support and find a phone tasked with the pressure of contributing to an in-house buffet, and charger. At around the same time as you circulate invitations, ask for a nobody should be responsible for the clean-up when the party’s over. And anyway, the Christmas party is all about escaping the office, not volunteer (or two) to designate themselves in the role of nanny-if-needed; having a knees-up around your tee-total Tina from telecoms or grown-up George the GM may well day-in, day-out desks; it’s difficult to switch off from work mode if welcome the opportunity to elevate themselves from wallflower to heroof-the-hour status. n you’re in your work environment, and water coolers rarely recover after being filled with wine. Restaurants are, in many ways, the easiest, least contentious option because the format is so familiar. Party guests will want to hang up the shirt THINKING AHEAD Most restaurants offer crowd-pleasing set Christmas Christmas Jumper Day falls on Friday 13 and tie for the day or swap the white lunch/dinner menus throughout December, designed December and raises cash for a good cause blouse/grey trousers for a little black dress. to suit a range of numbers, price brackets and (savethechildren.org.uk/christmas-jumperBut the office Christmas party is not the dietary preferences. Once booked, they’ll ask your day). Having Christmas jumpers as the time to give either your ancient Star Wars guests to place their orders well in advance t-shirt or your slinky, skintight, spangly official party dress code does run the risk of the date; this is where a bit of spreadsheet of making more reserved colleagues feel catsuit an airing unless you want to turn mastery comes in handy – you don’t want Peter awkward – and anyway, warm jumpers, your party into an episode of The IT from production ending up with the VP’s vegetarian cosy environments and lashings of Crowd. As for dancing: think David Brent vol-au-vents, do you? Christmas, erm, spirit don’t mix well. – and don’t be David Brent. You’ll also be offered a with or without wine price option – and most party-goers would indeed like at least half a bottle of wine with their lunch or dinner. Does your budget stretch to a welcome drink on arrival, or extra wine if necessary? Establish this before The Big Day to avoid embarrassing moments at bill time – and perhaps consider setting up a kitty shared between staff to cover what we’ll politely refer to as ‘extra costs’ (i.e. Sharon from statistics’ sherry habit.) Meanwhile, aside from the restaurants... Over the past few years there’s been a distinct rise in the popularity of the ‘themed venue’: hotels, bars, function rooms and even temporary ice skating rinks or ski chalets that are dressed up in suitable seasonal attire (Christmas decorations, a dance floor, chill-out zones, etc) and offer a one-stop shop of cover-all party packages, from light lunchtime buffets to cocktail hour soirées and evening extravaganzas. And they’re popular for a reason: a one-size-fits-all solution for an all-in price suitable for parties of any size (often several at the same time), headed up by a team of experts in the field... THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK

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FESTIVE SEASON

THE CHRISTMAS PARTY GUIDE the smartest venues, finest dining and coolest bars for your festive fiesta It may be September but there’s no denying it, party season is right around the corner. Whether you’re planning the office shindig, or a get-together with family and friends, we’re bringing you some of our top spots for celebrating Christmas in the city.

BAR 44 18–20 Regent Street, Bristol BS8 4HG Tel: 0333 344 4049 Web: bar44.co.uk ¡Feliz Navidad! Bar 44 give a Spanish twist to traditional fare with their two set menus this festive season. You can enjoy the tapas feast at £28 per person, or the Spanish roast sharing platters at £38 per person; both menus are available from 30 November until 23 December. Dine in the restaurant, or for a truly memorable experience why not book one of the atmospheric private dining rooms located in the underground bank vaults?

HYDE & CO. 2 Upper Byron Place, Bristol BS8 1JY Tel: 0117 929 7007 Web: hydeand.co The perfect spot to escape the yuletide madness, Bristol’s original speakeasy will be staying true to its reputation for award-winning cocktails, outstanding service and an atmosphere reminiscent of 1920s New York this Christmas. Swing by for drinks with friends, or do things a little differently with your office get-together and book a cocktail masterclass or spirit tasting. Hyde & Co can be booked exclusively for up to 60 people.

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BOCABAR Paintworks, Bath Road, Bristol BS4 3EH Tel: 0117 972 8838 Web: bristol.bocabar.co.uk Picture this; a festooned and fairy-lit bar and lounge serving Christmas cocktails and seasonal pizzas, with enough space for up to 200 party guests. Be sure to remember your dancing shoes on Fridays and Saturdays, there will be DJs and dancing throughout December! Choose from the relaxed pizza, fizz and a pud menu, £20 per person, or the two and three-course Christmas menus, from £24 per person. Bocabar Glastonbury will be serving up plenty of Christmas spirit throughout the season too. Don’t forget the new Finzels Reach venue opens at the end of October, bringing you all of Bocobar’s festive feasting and drinking.

WOKY KO: KAIJU

LE VIGNOBLE

Unit 25, Cargo 2, Wapping Wharf, Bristol BS1 6ZA Tel: 0117 929 3143 Web: wokyko.com/kaiju

12/13 Milsom Place, Bath BA1 1BZ Tel: 01225 465 907 Web: levignoble.co.uk

Tired of turkey? Stuffed with sprouts? Full of figgy pudding? Then this ramen bar and Japanese grill from MasterChef finalist Larkin Cen makes for a welcome alternative. Watch the chefs cooking over a traditional Japanese robata grill and enjoy a menu of grilled sharing plates and celebratory drinks for the festive season.

IWC South West wine merchant of the year 2019, Le Vignoble in Milsom Place is the one-stop shop for wine lovers in Bath. Enjoyan out-of the-ordinary Christmas Party with some fun festive wine tasting, delivered as a private group tasting by one of their inhouse experts, or by the funky self-service Enomatic wine dispensers, from which you can try up to 32 different wines. The wine lounge has a small but well-formed menu of French tapas dishes, and the group buffets are built to impress - perfectly complementing the wines and providing the recipe for a great evening out.

Group bookings welcome, or if you’re a larger party, exclusive hire for 20-36 people is available for lunch or dinner. Christmas parties can be booked Monday to Friday between 22 November and 20 December. Saturdays available on request. Plus groups can order five bottles of house wine for £100!

PATA NEGRA 30 Clare Street, Bristol BS1 1YH Tel: 0117 927 6762 Web: patanegrabristol.com If you’re looking for an Iberian-style take on party season Pata Negra is the place for you. There won’t be a turkey in the sight - instead expect authentic Spanish tapas feasts perfect for sharing between friends, family and colleagues. For larger bookings Pata Negra boasts two private event spaces with capacity for 120 on each floor, including private bars, sound systems and dance floors and the entire venue can be booked for groups of up to 300.

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COLSTON HALL Colston Street, Bristol BS1 5AR Tel: 0117 203 4040 Web: colstonhall.org/christmas-parties The perfect space for your festive shindig, the experienced team at Bristol’s premier music venue are here to help you nail your Christmas bash. Suitable for parties from 50 – 800 people, the foyer building comes alive with professional lighting and sound technicians, a range of catering options and entertainment from DJs to acrobats. With prices from £30 per head and a flexible, expert events team on hand, get in touch for a chat about your Christmas party.

BAMBALAN Podium Level, Colston Tower, Colston Street, Bristol BS1 4XE Tel: 0117 922 1880 Web: bambalan.co.uk Known for its vibrant, fresh food, drink and decor, Bambalan is bringing you something just a little different for Christmas 2019! Bambalan can cater to parties of all sizes, including team lunches, drinks parties or full venue takeovers for up to 400 people. The Christmas menu is designed especially for sharing, taking inspiration from their award-winning Middle Eastern inspired menu, and expect plenty of cocktails to wash it all down with. What’s more you can enjoy their covered, heated outdoor terrace with some of the best views across the city centre.

THE CLOCKWORK ROSE 16 St Stephen’s Street, Bristol BS1 1JR Tel: 0117 927 6869 Web: theclockworkrose.com Take a step back in time to a traditional, Victorian-style Christmas at The Clockwork Rose. Explore the alternative history of Steampunk and try the new Christmas menu, based on Hans Christian Andersen’s, The Snow Queen (1844). The Clockwork Rose can organise private Christmas parties that will go down in history, including Champagne receptions, live music, buffets and best of all, a complimentary bespoke cocktail, designed exclusively for your event.

BRISTOL OLD VIC King Street, Bristol BS1 4ED Tel: 0117 907 2681 Web: bristololdvic.org.uk/christmas-parties Celebrate in style at Bristol Old Vic; its Grade I listed Coopers’ Hall is a wonderfully histroic setting for your Christmas party. Festive party packages include a welcome drink, three-course meal and DJ. Otherwise you can always consider canapés, bowl food or a festive buffet. Old Vic’s event partner, Fosters Events is on hand to make your Christmas party extra special and will take care of all the finer details.

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SMOKE AND MIRRORS 8 Denmark Street, Bristol BS1 5DQ Tel: 0117 929 0362 Web: smokeandmirrorsbar.co.uk Make this Christmas a truly magical one with a little help from Smoke and Mirrors. Their ever-popular comedy and magic show is a guaranteed night of nonstop entertainment for you and your party guests. 90 minutes of comedy, close-up magic and live music until 12am, topped off with pizza and prosecco. Book a show, a party package, or a private event and receive 10% off all drinks at the bar. No party-planning sleight of hand required here, this intimate and lively venue has Christmas all wrapped up.

THE OX 43 Corn Street, Bristol BS1 1HT Tel: 0117 922 1001 Web: theoxbristol.com If you’re looking for somewhere to pull out all the stops and impress friends, family, colleagues or clients The Ox is the place for you this year. Boasting a delicious festive menu staying true to its ethos of fine British fare, The Ox is ideal for team lunches or dinners and can offer semi-private dining in its gorgeous Green Room for up to 30 or exclusive hire for bigger parties of up to 80.

RWA ART GALLERY Queen’s Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 1PX Tel: 0117 906 7609 Web: rwa.org.uk This Christmas why not treat your guests to an unforgettable event in the heart of Bristol, set in a magnificent Grade II* listed building with a unique backdrop of world-class exhibitions? Choose from one of the five spectacular galleries available for hire throughout the year and enjoy access to an impressive marble landing, overlooked by a breath-taking atrium, and spacious balcony looking onto Queen’s Road. The artwork can be enjoyed alongside wine from Bristol Fine Wine and seasonal canapés created by Papadeli.

THE MILK THISTLE Quay Head House, Colston Avenue, Bristol BS1 1EB Tel: 0117 929 4429 Web: milkthistlebristol.com With four unique floors, The Milk Thistle has something for everyone this Christmas. Hire the Attic, The Milk Thistle’s private dining room for dinner parties of up to 16, book out The Lounge for larger cocktail parties of up to 60 or why not throw the ultimate Christmas party and hire the whole venue for up to 120? Canapés, buffets and festive feasts are all catered for by sister restaurant The Ox, so you know you’ll definitely be well-fed!

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Show oﬀ at Skydeck if your nerves can hack it (image: Ranvestel Photographic)

Wickedly good eats, waterfront fun and urban swank: Chicago is chock-full of charm

All the joy

Pie and biscuits at Bang Bang (image: Adam Alexander)

OF ILLINOIS

A charismatic cosmopolis of culinary, musical and sporting prowess, where beach buﬀs and suits hang out side by side: could Chicago, jewel in the Illinois crown, be the States’ coolest, most underrated city? Amanda Nicholls is starting to think so

Wrigley Field is one of the most storied stadiums in history

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hicago, Chicago; the toddlin’ town that baseball star turned preacher Billy Sunday – even with his smart little aptonym – could not shut down, according to Ol’ Blue Eyes. Sinatra was singing about the 15,000 or so underground speakeasies there were estimated to have been during Prohibition and, while the place is not quite as overrun now, it’s certainly not hard to find a party in Windy City. There’s even an Art Deco skyscraper (the Carbide and Carbon building on Michigan Avenue) designed to look like champagne bottle. Lively allAmerican watering holes blast out BB King and Buddy Guy as you pass by of an evening, if they’re not faithfully broadcasting the game for the baseball nuts tucking into beer and deep dish (the pizza-pie creation the region is known for). Meanwhile, a district along, you might happen upon a rich raft of craft breweries, comedy clubs and swanky cocktail-quaffing spots, ripe for exploration. Yes, it might be a home of the blues (we defy you to discover a duff pub band) and the Midwest’s centre for music in general, as well as a major sporting city (it’s hot on basketball, football, hockey and soccer too) but there are far more strings to its bow and to size it up simply by its base elements would be to do it an injustice. Besides the melodies and the matches, any trip to Chicago should feature a thorough foodie odyssey, leave room to learn a little gangster history – more on Capone and cohorts later – and give the architecture a lookin, at the very least. Given the city’s reputation for structural design, it’s only right to allocate time to absorb it. Possibly the best way to do this is to wander down Wacker Drive and board the First Lady cruise, whose guides cheerfully interpret more than 50 buildings making up the Chicago River’s physical urban timeline.

Holiday romance: sailing through Chicago “You just missed Beyoncé!” someone shrieks as we pass under one of the burgundy bascule bridges that straddle Chicago’s backwardsrunning river, our tour guide briefly pausing her explanation of how the city grew from a small settlement into one of the world’s largest cities in less than a century. We’re not sure if Mrs Carter is here on business or for pleasure but Chicago is a favourite vacay choice in the States, even if it’s still a little under the radar for Brits, and we’re quickly starting to see why it’s so popular. It’s a visual feast, this little voyage, with Spanish Revival (see Wrigley Building, 1921) sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with a sundry of sawtooth edges from somewhere else entirely, and Romantic styles swirling round the melting pot with Midcentury Modern and Prairie. Greek, Roman, even Egyptian influences abound (the latter introduced after the discovery of King Tut’s tomb in 1922) while belvederes and flying buttresses borrowed from French Gothic cathedrals butt up against postmodernist ’90s creations, as we hear about the 1893 world fair and how the city erected the first Ferris wheel to show how much inward investment they’d attracted since the Great Chicago Fire. Careful to protect their picturesque skyline, the Chicagoans have instated a conscientious caveat, we’re told as we sail by the Spirit of Progress statue, which means any commercial development attempting to muscle its way in must reserve a bit of the budget for public art. Poised to become a ‘megacity’ in the next 20 years, Chi-Town is seen as something of a laboratory for urban planning; and the weight of this is not lost on its placemakers. You only have to pop into its architecture centre (also on Wacker Drive) to see the thought that goes into its design today and why it really matters. Another way to admire the metropolis is from the dizzying heights of Skydeck, found within one of the tallest buildings in the Western Hemisphere, Willis Tower. Whizz up to the 103rd floor in one of the world’s nippiest elevators and, if your nerves can hack it, step into glass boxes jutting out from the main building for panoramic views spanning up to 50 miles and four states. To recap: it’s skyscraper central here. But that doesn’t mean you should visit Chicago sans swimsuit because there’s plenty of opportunity for indulging beach-bum inclinations with 26 miles of shoreline around the second largest of the Great Lakes – which actually doesn’t feel at all incongruous in the midst of the daily bustle. Lake Michigan tempts you with everything from volleyball and VIP cabanas to roller hockey, jetskiing and an 18.5-mile bike path with

cycles for hire; who says you can’t have the best of both worlds on your city break? During holiday weekends such as Fourth of July you’ll see locals head out on the water on their little (or luxe) boats, racing about, diving off the sides, sipping on fizz and lounging like they’re Leo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street.

City of Neighbourhoods This town certainly has its snazzy side. If you want to be ‘bougie’ there’s no shortage of hipster joints putting the chic in Chicago, delicately threaded throughout the City of Neighbourhoods, and each locale has its own distinct flavour profile. Don’t pass up the River North area and its antique stores, fine art and even finer dining, nor its sleek clubs and upscale wine bars. Cocktails at Sunda New Asian won’t go amiss (the Aperol, St Germain, blood orange liqueur, Moët, lemon juice and grapefruit bitters combo of Lady and the Champ is all sorts of lip-smacking); there you can also send for a super array of sushi or, maybe, plump for miso-bronzed black cod. Also worth a gander is Wicker Park, for the nightlife alone. To achieve maximum buzz we suggest steamrolling some strangers at snooker in Nick’s Beer Garden before bar-hopping around clubs like Rainbo, passing gloved-up boxers sparring on the sidewalk as you go. Despite all the towering edifices of downtown Chicago, it has a glut of green spaces – from Lincoln to Hyde Park and Humboldt there’s roughly 8,000 acres to explore. Even the rooftop of City Hall has itself some 20,000 plants; and all this illustrates another nickname in the collection; ‘city in a garden’. For a daytime stroll, you can’t go far wrong with elegant Millennium Park – where you can take in free classical concerts staged beside the steel sculpture and tourist magnet best known as The Bean – before you move onto a shopping spree along Magnificent Mile or nip up to Cindy’s Rooftop at the Chicago Athletic for a classy afternoon overlooking the leafy landscape. And if you overhear any discussions about the state of the LSD, don’t be perturbed: they’re only referring to busy Lake Shore Drive below.

Pitch perfect You can easily spend a day in Wrigleyville, starting, if you’re wise, at Kanela Breakfast Club where you can order Greek doughnuts with honey and toasted walnuts or crab cake Benedict, and spicy feta omelette. Like your leisure time slightly rough and ready? Even if you don’t, stop in at Sluggers for a go in one of the batting cages and hone your baseball swing, or clap eyes and ears on its duelling pianos. Just across the street is the stadium from which this perky little pocket of Lakeview gets its name, Wrigley Field itself; built in 1914 in just four and a half weeks and one of the most storied stadiums in sporting history. The site of alleged ‘called shot’ in the 1932 World Series, it has played host to some of the game’s great moments; as well as Pelè, who made his first Chicago appearance there; and 40 ski-jumpers who once competed on the ramp they decided to put in. We pass a group of pretzel-like locals doing yoga outside as we head in for the tour and soon see why sports enthusiasts should stick this one on the itinerary – followed, we reckon, by tacos and tequila at Big Star, the late-night honky-tonk opposite. The boutique place next door; that’s Hotel Zachary, inspired by the stadium’s renowned architect Zachary Taylor Davis. There was a real boom in new hotels in Chicago last year and this one, a few minutes from bustling downtown and vast Lake Michigan, blends new and old, refined and comfortable with thought and character. During baseball season rooms start from $309 ($209 off-peak) but if you’re just passing by, it’s a good shout for a strapping coffee fix too. Walk as much of the city as you can, but as with many sprawling US cities, you will find yourself tempted to taxi here, there and everywhere due to the sheer scale. Mix things up by making use of the overhead metro line that weaves its way around the city, propped up by iron arches that give the streets below a hit of extra character. Rattling along on the L (short for ‘elevated’) à la Rhett Miller, you can plan out your day – pie and biscuits (more of a bready, savoury scone to us) at Bang Bang on North California Ave, or a stroll around the vintage shops. Later, dinner and a show…

A colourful past 2019 is Chicago’s year of theatre and during the past few years, the THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK

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diverse offering has developed to such a degree that it’s now seen as a match for New York. To feel fully immersed in American history, nab tickets for Hamilton (at the CIBC Theatre until January 2020) and watch the story of the USA’s founding father unfold to a dynamic musical score of hip-hop, jazz, blues, rap, R&B, and Broadway – learning how the West Indies immigrant became George Washington’s right-hand man and later embroiled in the new country’s first political sex scandal. Another theatre to pencil onto the to-do list is Victory Gardens, or the Biograph as it was known in its former life as a movie cinema – where notorious gangster and bank robber John Dillinger, who underwent plastic surgery to evade police, was finally shot down by FBI in 1934 after popping to the flicks. To really delve into the city’s darker depths, hop onto one of its fun and informative gangster tours and swot up on the crimes that contributed to its chequered character – notably the St Valentine’s Day Massacre, after which Chicago became a symbol of corruption in the US. It’s interesting to discover that Capone only really became poster boy for the underworld because, rather than being its undisputed king, he could never keep schtum or resist boasting about his exploits. Other highlights include the fast-food joint with the special extra on the menu and Frank Nitti’s vault, with original newspapers from the period as well as a secret passage used for dodgy dealings. With a stately urban skyline offset by lush greenery and vast water features, plus flourishing foodie talent and pitch-perfection in terms of music and sport, just for starters, it’d be a wonder if you didn’t want a piece of Windy City. Equally as palatable for city slickers as for those into their sun, sea and sand, Chicago is a serious contender for coolest and most underrated US destination. ■ • choosechicago.com

Whistlestop foodie tour? A few more places to consider when dining out • Widely regarded as one of North America’s best towns for gourmet gorging, Chicago’s food scene is on point. Fancy steak, in the meat-packing capital of the world? Try Gibsons or Steak 48 near the Trump tower, one sharp-dressed taxi driver insisted. Italian beef? Pick Portillo’s, which started as a tiny hotdog stand in 1963 Villa Park and is still run by founder Dick Portillo. • If you find yourself in Pilsen, the husband-and-wife team at HaiSous Vietnamese Kitchen can expertly showcase to you the flavours of Vietnam at their acclaimed restaurant. Do leave space for dessert. • Keen for sauerkraut and other such treats? Head to AmericanGerman staple Berghoff, established 1898 and proud owner of Chicago’s coveted first liquor license – it’s made the most of its history by having just opened its own brewery, so it’s a nice idea to get a beer flight while perusing the menu, which now also features lighter contemporary options. • The most authentically Chicagoan experience we felt we had came courtesy of 1932-born mom-and-pop tavern Twin Anchors: housed in a building dating back to 1881 and so named because its booze once trickled down from Canada via the Great Lakes. Mary and her family can be found cooking pretty much 24/7 to ensure their barbecued baby-back ribs retain their renown; for tender, lean meat that slides clean off the bone at the barest touch.

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The Wrigley Building as seen from the Chicago River

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BRISTOL UPDATES

BITE-SIZED BUSINESS AND COMMUNITY NEWS FROM ACROSS THE CITY Fancy tying the knot in one of Bristol’s most iconic settings?

AYE, AYE!

NICE WORK, FOLKS!

BIG IN THE GAME

Arnos Vale Cemetery Trust has been recognised by the Green Flag Award Scheme, among a record-breaking 1,970 UK parks and green spaces that received the prestigious Green Flag Community Award – the mark of a quality park or green space. The international award, now into its third decade, is a sign to the public that the space has the highest possible environmental standards, is beautifully maintained and has excellent visitor facilities. Arnos Vale Cemetery was the first great cemetery in the South West, set up in 1839 and designed as a beautiful garden cemetery where people could wander and enjoy the space. “We are absolutely delighted to receive a Green Flag Award for first time – it shows how hard staff and volunteers have worked to make the cemetery a place for everyone; bringing it back from a neglected and derelict site to a community space and place for nature,” said CEO Ellie Collier. “This award also coincides with the opening of our fantastic new community garden funded by Tesco Bags for Life, which has turned a derelict area into a wonderful new bee and butterfly-friendly garden for visitors to relax in.” International Green Flag Award scheme manager Paul Todd added: “It’s fantastic that we have more Green Flag Awards in the UK than ever before, joined this year by 131 international winners. They honour the thousands of staff and volunteers who work tirelessly to maintain high standards.”

Bristol has been shortlisted for the title of European Capital of Innovation by the European Commission. Eleven cities have been shortlisted for the iCapital Awards, including Bristol, London and Glasgow. Leaders from each city will be pitching for the prestigious title in September, which brings €1m of funding. Five runners up will receive €100,000. Bristol has been recognised for its unique One City Approach which brings together a huge range of public, private, voluntary and third sector partners. All share an aim to make Bristol a fair, healthy and sustainable city. In January 2019, mayor Marvin Rees published the One City Plan which sets out ambitious targets for the future of Bristol decade by decade up to 2050. “One City is an exciting and innovative approach to shaping and investing in the future of Bristol,” he said. “The plan is the result of city partners collaborating and coproducing. It’s already delivering cultural change across leadership, governance and citizen participation. We know where we want to be in 2050, but our path to reaching those goals is evolving all the time. To be shortlisted is an amazing achievement in itself, but should we be successful in gaining this prize, we’ll be able to make huge strides forward, testing ideas across the whole system which everyone in Bristol will benefit from.” The annual cash prize is awarded to the city best able to demonstrate its ability to harness innovation to improve the lives of its citizens. Winners are expected to be announced by 26 September.

• arnosvale.org.uk

• bristolonecity.com

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Brunel’s SS Great Britain is launching a new outdoor wedding location this month, right beside the water’s edge. The rustic-style Riggers’ Yard will allow couples to exchange vows outside, under floral arches and festoon lighting, while guests take in the special views across the harbour. They can also complement the day by taking guests on a boat cruise around the harbour before returning for dinner and an evening celebration aboard the ship, in the First Class Dining Saloon, making the most of the whole day at the ship. “Our new wedding venue arguably has the best backdrop in the city,” says Lynsey McKinstry, venue hire sales manager at Brunel’s SS Great Britain. “With unrivalled views across the harbour, right out to Bristol’s rows of colourful houses in the distance, Riggers’ Yard will appeal to couples who are looking for a unique yet affordable outdoor, rustic-chic venue. “If you want to be the first to experience Bristol’s newest harbourside venue and enjoy a day exploring the finest wedding suppliers in the South West, come along to our free wedding fair on Sunday 29 September, 11am – 2.30pm.” Suppliers are to be announced via the SS Great Britain Facebook page, so keep an eye out! Aye? • ssgreatbritain.org

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Probate – Can you afford to take the risk?

any people who are appointed as executors under a will know that their duties include administering an estate in accordance with the will to ensure that the beneficiaries receive what they have been left. However, wills can be complicated documents and the law surrounding wills and probate is, to put it kindly, quite old. The will may include provisions to ensure children from first marriages inherit their parents’ share of the estate, to protect minor beneficiaries and sometimes to protect beneficiaries from themselves or from others taking advantage of them. This can mean that the will is complicated and not always as straight forward as may appear. Recent changes at the Probate Registry designed to make it easier to obtain a Grant of Probate may encourage executors to try to deal with the administration of an estate themselves without professional assistance. However, obtaining the Grant is only the first hurdle and not the finishing line and after issue of the Grant there are still traps for the unwary. The executors will have completed an Inheritance Tax form on applying for the Grant. However, any changes to the estate may still have to be reported to HMRC. There may also be further tax reliefs which can be claimed during the administration period to reduce the amount of any tax paid. Few people seem to know that executors may be personally liable throughout the administration of an estate. They are not just liable to beneficiaries, should they fail to deal with the tax affairs of the deceased be it inheritance tax, income tax or capitals gain tax they can be liable to HMRC personally for failing to deal with matters. These tax bills can sometime run into thousands of pounds. Taking advice from a Solicitor can ensure that all your obligations as an executor are fulfilled so that not only are the wishes of the deceased carried out completely and correctly but also you are protected from claims against you for failing to administer the estate properly. Administering an estate fully and correctly can take time and if you are doing this around a busy life, sometimes even the most simple things can be overlooked. Using a Solicitor who specialises in this area can ensure that this does not happen. Obtaining legal advice may appear expensive, especially with the complexities of modern finances and complex family situations; however, with your family finances at risk if you do not fulfil your obligations correctly, can you afford to take the risk? For further advice on the administration of estates, Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney and other private client matters, contact Andrew Jack or one of his colleagues at AMD Solicitors 100 Henleaze Road, Bristol BS9 4JZ Phone 0117 962 1205, email info@amdsolicitors.com or visit our website www.amdsolicitors.com

Celebrate Bristol’s variety of booming businesses; from start-up creatives, established innovators in tech, to people using collaborative workspaces and all of our available networking opportunities.

You are invited to a Coworking Day on 4th September, 10-4pm at The Quorum, Bristol S3 8JY.

The Quorum is a vibrant and diverse working environment right in the heart of the city, next to Cabot Circus, with unrivalled amenities including a private garden & courtyard, gym, showers, secure cycle store and private parking. Here, Let Ready are pioneering flexible, vibrant and diverse workspace to support smaller businesses flourish in your local area, offering beautifully designed Studios on no-nonsense, hassle-free 12 month leases and an all-inclusive monthly fee, so it’s easy for you get straight to work from day one. With your own front door and 24/7 access, our flexible Studios come fully furnished with cabled workstations, wired for work high speed broadband & Wi-Fi, fully fitted kitchens with integrated dishwasher & fridge, functional meeting rooms and lots of breakout space. We’ve thought through all the little details so you can concentrate on what’s most important to you; your business. The work community is inspiring, innovative and we know you’ll find our Studios at The Quorum to be your home away from home. Forget the old ways of office renting, we’ve seen the future - smarter spaces, easier contracts, realistic rents. Interested? It’s easy to get started with our super simple all-inclusive packages that combine rent, service charge, insurance and broadband. Curious? Be bold.

Get in touch with our dedicated Community Manager, Heather, on how we can help you make an impact. Call 07377 362476, or email heather.manning@ceg.co.uk .You can visit www.thequorumbristol.co.uk for more information, too.

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EDUCATION | HEALTH

Nutrition mission Research shows as little as two hours of food education is being taught in five to six years of medical school. Two Bristol students have set up an award-winning social enterprise to address this...

igh blood pressure, type two diabetes and cardiovascular disease. These are some of the UK’s major chronic health conditions associated with mortality and disability. With many of these, the first step in the management pathway is to offer patients diet and lifestyle advice; such a crucial step that you’d think current frontline doctors and medical students would be confident in delivering this important advice to patients. But that is not the case, according to medical students Iain Broadley and Ally Jaffee at Nutritank – the Bristol-born social enterprise which recently won the prestigious Pat Llewellyn prize at the BBC Food and Farming Awards. “They feel ill-equipped to give such advice and we saw why, through our own experience at medical school. From discussions with students nationwide we realised that this problem was systemic in medical education. The only ‘nutrition’ we learn concerns the physiology, anatomy and biochemistry of the digestive system. But within the context of chronic disease, theoretical teaching of nutrition and lifestyle and how this knowledge can be used to advise patients is hardly touched upon.” So what does this mean for patients? “Missed opportunities to advise on beneficial lifestyle modifications can lead patients to look elsewhere and receive non-evidence based, potentially harmful advice,” say Iain and Ally. “This is a real problem.” Lifestyle-related health conditions are rising exponentially and putting the NHS under immense strain as the demand for resources increases. “Of course, we don’t want to develop an individual blame culture, especially as societal issues have largely contributed to this rise, with our modern-day food environments, junk food advertising and socioeconomic inequality,” the pair continues. “However, doctors can suggest basic modifications for better nutrition, physical activity, sleep and stress management and include diet and lifestyle within a clinical history. We now have good quality evidence that lifestyle interventions can prevent cardiovascular disease and type two diabetes, particularly when implemented early in the time-course of their pathophysiology.” Findings from the Lyon heart study, involving patients who’d had previous heart attacks, showed that when healthcare professionals advised them on Mediterranean diet principles, these patients had a 50 to 70% lower risk of recurrent heart disease. Findings from a metaanalysis involving over 200,000 cancer patients showed that sticking to a high-quality diet reduced the risk of overall mortality by 22% in cancer survivors. Meanwhile, keeping to a western dietary pattern was associated with a 46% increase in overall mortality risk.

Addressing the issue Iain and Ally created Nutritank less than two years ago as a hub for nutrition and lifestyle medicine, with the aim to campaign for greater emphasis on this type of education within UK medical schools. Beginning from the bottom-up and taking grass-roots community action, they empowered a network of medical students through national conferences and events with registered dieticians and nutritionists collaborating with doctors to educate students, and established their own Nutritank branch at their medical school, with 23 of the total 33 UK medical schools following suit. “As this takes place outside of the curricula, ultimately our branches seek to showcase the importance of this type of education to their medical faculty,” say Iain and Ally, who have been collecting 66 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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data on nutrition in current medical education and practice. “Our research shows that as little as two or three hours of nutrition is being taught in five to six years of medical school. And interestingly the data showed the reasoning behind doctors not giving diet and lifestyle advice was primarily due to lack of confidence, not lack of time during consultations. We use this data to make educational policy briefs to be presented to faculties, the ministry of health and international governing bodies to show them the need for greater nutrition and lifestyle medicine.”

...Interestingly the data showed the reasoning behind doctors not giving diet and lifestyle advice was primarily due to lack of confidence, not lack of time during consultations... Feedback on Nutritank workshops, equipping students and professionals to speak about lifestyle changes in a sensitive, informed manner, has been positive. “An engaging and extremely relevant workshop that every medical student should take part in,” summarised one participant; “An excellent foundation for consulting future patients about their diet.” “At a time when lifestyle-related disease is on the rise, there’s never been a more important time to bring nutrition to the forefront of medical education,” said another. ““It was really useful to highlight small, manageable approaches that we could suggest patients adopt. Enabling doctors of the future to give sound nutritional advice will bring so many benefits and help us improve the nation’s relationship with food, weight and a healthy, sustainable lifestyle.” Having chatted with Sheila Dillon on BBC Radio 4’s The Food Programme and appeared alongside Jamie Oliver on Channel 4’s Jamie and Jimmy’s Friday Night Feast, Iain and Ally helped Jamie’s team launch the #Nutrition4Medics campaign – instrumental in adding a clause to the NHS long-term plan on a commitment to increasing nutrition education for healthcare professionals. They also helped enable a Culinary Medicine UK course to be piloted at Bristol to change the nutrition education landscape; the pair have really raised the issue in medical training. “In less than a year, having gained a large student following nationwide and through our research work, the Association for Nutrition invited us to join their interprofessional working group, who have been tasked by the General Medical Council to ensure more nutrition education is included in curricula. We were recognised as the collective medical student voice wanting a change to help our future patients.” By the end of 2019, they’re aiming for a commitment, from each UK medical school, to increasing nutrition and lifestyle education within the curricula so future doctors can more confidently advise patients within consultations. Bravo, both! ■ • nutritank.com

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EDUCATION | HEALTH

Founders Ally and (pictured right) Iain

xxxx

The student-led hub for nutrition in medical education won one of the prestigious BBC Food and Farming awards

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HIGHER EDUCATION

Bristol: the place to be for students in 2020

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HIGHER EDUCATION

Back to school

As term time begins again, thousands of University of Bristol undergraduates will leave the nest for their new home away from home. With Bristol alive again with academia, Malcolm Croft reveals the reasons why the UoB is the place to be in 2020

ristol is home to two world-class universities, so it’s never short on students. University of Bristol (UoB) and University of West England (UWE) have had an affectionate rivalry ever since the latter set up campus in 1992, a century later than the former’s 1876 founding. Considered the ‘posh’ alternative to the largely Frenchay-based UWE’s ‘edgier’ vibe, with both sides gently teasing either each other for those same reasons, Bristol has long been a favourite among private school students, with its main campus and halls of residences around affluent Redland, Cotham, Whiteladies Road and Clifton – currently undergoing major construction with the aim to pedestrianise the area and create more of a community vibe.

Campus of the future Construction of University of Bristol’s brand new Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus is underway on the east side of Bristol Temple Meads station – in the disused Post Office site that has been begging for development for 20 years. The construction has been deemed one of “Europe’s biggest regeneration programmes,” helping transform one of the city’s “most neglected areas into a vibrant new quarter,” (so says the website). This campus will be the envy of every UK university with tech innovations driving its purpose and students tackling the challenges of tomorrow such as driverless cars and ‘the future of work’. The campus, near Barton Hill, will house 3,000 students, and is intent on opening up the infamously “symbolically posh” (so says The Guardian) university to local people on “the wrong side of the tracks” where only 8.6 per cent of school leavers go on to higher education, unlike Clifton, where 100 per cent of school leavers go on to university.

renowned for its academic excellence and we are delighted to be ranked within the world’s top 50 universities,” said Hugh Brady, vice-chancellor and president of the University of Bristol. “I was particularly pleased to see how highly regarded we are by top employers, which is testament to our exceptional students.”

Proper job The Graduate Market Review 2019 – a major new study of graduate vacancies, starting salaries and undergraduate work experience programmes at the country’s top 100 employers – revealed that UoB students are the second most targeted by Britain’s top 100 employers, including PwC, HSBC, Unilever, the BBC and the NHS. University of Manchester took the top spot. The review also highlighted that the median starting salary for UoB graduates joining the nation’s leading employers in 2019 is £30,000.

Highest paid graduates Students of the UoB are among the highest paid in the country within three years after graduating, according to the Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) report released by the Department of Education this year. This data reveals that UoB graduates in subjects across engineering, science, arts and social sciences are among the top 10 highest earning graduates in the UK. “The LEO data is significant because it reveals, for the first time, information about graduate earnings and employment based on HMRC administrative data, rather than self-reported surveys,” said Hugh Brady, before concluding: “University is, of course, about more than securing a high graduate salary and at Bristol we pride ourselves on our proven track record of producing well-rounded and independent students who are equipped to succeed in a dynamic world.”

Best place to live for graduates and under 26s

...Bristol was named fourth best UK city for graduates, based on monthly rent, wage growth and employment... Top 25 in the UK, top 50 in the world The Guardian’s long-revered university guide has ranked UoB as the 23rd best university in the UK, out of 130. The university featured in the top 10 for 12 subjects (with six in the top five) and second overall for two subjects – engineering design, and film and television. The newspaper ranks universities on the quality of teaching, student satisfaction and employability; the three main issues important to students when choosing where to study. Also, as revealed by international league table QS World University Rankings 2020, UoB is, from 2019, the 49th best university in the world. Each year, 90,000 academics and 45,000 employers assess the world’s top 1,000 universities across 85 countries, and QS also positioned Bristol as the ninth best university in the UK; 11th overall in Europe. “Bristol is

Bristol has been regularly voted, ranked and honoured as ‘the best’ in a diverse multitude of awards. The city has been named by various sources as the happiest city in Britain, one of the best European cities to visit, the kindest city in the UK, vegan capital of the world, the UK’s most environmentally friendly city, the fourth most inspiring city in the world (ahead of all other UK cities) and the best place to live in Britain – all within the past three years. More importantly for students, however, this year Bristol was voted the best place to live in the UK (outside of London) for people under the age of 26, according to a BBC Newsbeat survey, which included rent, transportation, mental health, music events, sports facilities and 4G strength among its determining factors. In 2019 Bristol was also named the fourth best city in the UK for graduates, based on monthly rent, year-on-year wage growth (4.1 per cent!) and employment rates, beating Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham to the punch. Proof, were it needed, that smaller cities such as Bristol are starting to provide better opportunities for younger people than larger cities. The average monthly wage for graduates in Bristol is currently £2,189.

Sports clubs and societies The academic reputation is second to none. But for the 15,000 students who like to sweat outside of the exam room they are rewarded with more than 60 university-led sports clubs. THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK

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HIGHER EDUCATION

There are also more than 330 societies for students looking to expand their learning – from the strange (Brizzlepuffs Quidditch Club, the Bristol University Zombie Apocalypse Network) to the straight (Philosophy Society, Real World Economics Society) there is something for everyone.

Girls and boys

out from the pack. One of the institution’s most celebrated quirky facts is that, in 1998, its scientists discovered the perfect technique for dunking biscuits in tea. (They didn’t say which brand of tea, or biscuit.) They concluded that the perfect dunk is a smooth submersion at an angle, followed by a slow twisting of the biscuit 180 degrees, so that the dry side bears the load of the soaked side. Do try this at home.

Gone are the days of gender inequality at UK universities. In 2019, University of Bristol has a fair ratio of girls to boys and an approximate 55:45 split. The gender make-up of each university is influenced by the type of subjects on offer, so an equal split of male and female highlights that the university has a well-rounded academic course structure. This is apt considering the university, founded in 1876, was the first higher education institution in England to enrol women on an equal basis to men.

The University of Bristol is famed for its celebrity alumni including Simon Pegg, Derren Brown, Matt Lucas, David Walliams, Emily Watson and James Blunt. More importantly, however, there are 12 Nobel Prize laureates who used UoB as their foundation stone to greater success, including Winston Churchill and Dorothy Hodgkin, the first – and, still, only – woman to win the Nobel Prize for science.

A university for everyone

Cantock Steps

University of Bristol remains a leading voice for the LGBTQ+ community. It established the Trans Students Network, which secured huge wins for trans students such as gender-neutral toilets – one of the first in the UK – and inclusive health service registration.

Often called the ‘Indecision Steps’, for the awkward and unnatural one-and-a-half steps per step, the Cantock Steps, near the Queen’s Building and Principal’s House, are one of the UoB’s more curious creations. Sadly, there’s no shortcut to the top of hill, leading to much frustration for those students running late to lectures.

Don’t forget the famous alumni...

Best student union in the UK Located on Queen’s Road, UoB’s SU at the Richmond Building is the largest purpose-built student union in the country. And, as the union’s ‘wall of accomplishment’ currently tells us, it is also the ‘fastest improving’ union in the land too, with a 14 per cent increase in student satisfaction from 2018 – the biggest for any university SU in the country. The results come hot on the heels of the SU’s revamped bar, new student aid strategies, and refurbishing of its image with the opening of the fair trade, sustainable and healthy Source cafés campus-wide. Legend also tells us that the floor area of the Richmond Building is equivalent to four full-size football pitches!

Course of treatment Parents, put your mind at rest. The UoB is one of only two universities in the UK that runs its own full NHS doctors’ surgery dedicated just to students. This means that all new undergraduates enrolled are automatically registered at the university’s GP practice.

...An equal split of male and female highlights a well-rounded course structure; apt as Bristol was the first HE institution in England to enrol women on an equal basis to men...

Pioneers of invention

Last year, UoB championed the Fossil Free Bristol campaign with the aim of fully divesting all of its £2million investments in fossil fuel companies by 2020 – the first of the prestigious Russell Group of universities (to which UoB belongs) to do so. The future starts here.

In the past half-century a staggering amount of world-changing inventions have been pioneered at UoB. From the NHS’s famous fivea-day healthy eating campaign to non-stick chewing gum, the first Wi-Fi brainwave to the first mobile phone, Ribena to Olympicstandard bicycles, when it comes to bringing the best out of its students, UoB’s proof is in the pudding.

World-class courses

The Russell Group

The university has more than 200 degree courses covering a broad range of subjects. In 2019, QS World University Rankings revealed that 27 of the courses taught at UoB – including English, philosophy, anatomy, physiology, education, social policy and geography – are rated within the world’s top 100. Nine of its subjects were ranked in the top 50 with two placed inside the top 20, putting UoB on a par with world-leading universities such as Princeton, Stanford, UCLA, Oxford and Cambridge. The best performing courses were Earth sciences (ranked 15th best in the world, and third in the UK) and veterinary science, ranked 19th in the world.

University of Bristol is one of 24 universities selected by the Russell Group, a prestigious research-intensive organisation committed to providing an “important part in the intellectual life of the UK,” as well as offering outstanding teaching and learning experience with unrivalled links to business and the public sector. The group guides its universities by suppling strategy, policy development, intelligence, communications and advocacy. The UoB is in very good company, with Cambridge, Oxford, Edinburgh, Leeds, Kings College and Manchester also part of the team.

Fossil free

A beautiful university Best city life – naturally In 2015 University of Bristol was voted the best in Britain for best city life, as revealed in the Whatuni Student Choice Awards survey conducted with 40,000 university students across the country. Another trophy to add to the gleaming cabinet! The legendary UoB institution (and sadly now shut) kebab van ‘Jason Donervan’ may have been responsible for most of the votes that year. In 2019, the UoB had again been nominated but came third behind Northumbria and Edinburgh. All eyes are on 2020...

For all those who have wandered the hallowed halls and Clifton campuses, it’s obvious that UoB is an enviable place to elevate your higher education. Earlier this year, Times Higher Education voted the university the ninth most beautiful in the UK thanks to its stunning fusion of Gothic and heritage architecture, large open garden and park spaces, and buildings designed by noted visionaries Charles Dyer and George Oatley. But, as the only university in the world that can boast Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s famous suspension bridge as a backdrop, it’s little wonder the university, and its graduates, are inspired to achieve greatness. ■

Nice cup of tea It isn’t just pioneering tech and coming first that makes UoB stand

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EVENTS | FOR KIDS

Family diary

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

The Space Shed 7 – 8 September, We The Curious The Space Shed is landing to host two days of space-based entertainment for all the family at Millennium Square. There will be theatre shows and conversations in the Unlimited Space Agency’s mobile headquarters; take a picnic and get ready for an action-packed, thought-provoking day exploring space travel and what it can teach us about our existence here on Earth. Free entry. • wethecurious.org

Top pick...

Teddy Bears Picnic 14 & 15 September, Avon Valley Railway Take part in the family teddy bear trail around the station, watch Punch and Judy, and be amazed by a balloon modeller at this special family-friendly weekend. Plus there will be crafts onboard the trains and face painting. £8.50 adults, under fives free, and children aged five – 14 can get free entry when they bring their teddy bear; avonvalleyrailway.org

DON’T MISS... Aardman: Animating Early Man Until 3 November, M Shed Step behind the camera with Aardman and discover how the world-famous animation studio made the hit film Early Man at this exhibition featuring original puppets, sets, tiny props and behind-the-scenes footage. Become part of the action by dressing up as a member of the Stone Age tribe, create a live action sequence on a green screen and use unusual materials to make sound effects. £5/£6 concessions, under 16s free; bristolmuseums.org.uk/m-shed Friday Fun Night 6 September, 6 – 8pm, Avon Valley Adventure and Wildlife Park The adventure park is open late on the first Friday of every month. Weather and light depending, the play barn and outdoor adventure area will be open. Adults can enjoy a free glass of prosecco on the new decking from 6.30 – 7.30pm. The Woodland Cafe will be open for entertainment, and there will be a barbecue outside if it’s sunny and pizza indoors if its wet. £7, £4 under twos, babies free; avonvalley.co.uk

Dino Family Raceday 15 September, gates open 12pm, Bath Racecourse Get ready for a colossal family adventure at Bath Racecourse’s brand-new Dino Family Raceday. Journey back in time and meet T-Rex, Raptors and baby dinosaurs as Europe’s largest and most realistic animatronic dinosaurs visit the racecourse. Kids can try their hand at ranger training in interactive workshops and be guided through Jurassic knowledge and what to do in an emergency dinosaur break-out situation. Plus there will be crafts, face painting and a giant egg to climb. There will also be seven exciting horse races, the last taking place at 5.40pm. Under 18s get free entry, adult tickets from £12; bath-racecourse.co.uk

Disney's The Lion King 7 September – 23 November, times vary, Bristol Hippodrome Set against the majesty of the Serengeti Plains and to the evocative rhythms of Africa, Disney’s multi award-winning musical uses breath-taking masks and puppetry to create pure theatrical magic. At its heart is the powerful and moving story of Simba – the epic adventure of his journey from wide-eyed cub to his destined role as King of the Pridelands. Ages six and above. Tickets from £20; atgtickets.com/bristol

Young Theatre Makers Weekly from w/c 16 September – w/c 25 November, times vary, Spielman Theatre, Tobacco Factory Theatres Love theatre? Want to be a part of something exciting? Then it’s time for you to join TFT’s young theatre makers! With sessions for ages seven – 10, 11 – 13 and 14 – 19, young people can learn new theatre skills, build their confidence and develop their performance technique while working towards a production to be shown at the end of term. £70/£80 per term; tobaccofactorytheatres.com

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TYNTEtots: The Ugly Duckling 18 – 20 September, 10 – 11.45am and 1 – 2.45pm, Tyntesfield Have a go at making snow, play hook-a-duck, make a feathered friend and hear the classic story of The Ugly Duckling. Suitable for two – five years. £8 per child, adults go free; nationaltrust.org.uk/tyntesfield Aftermirth: Daytime Comedy Club for Parents 20 September, 12.30 – 2pm, The Wardrobe Theatre An adult comedy club that you can bring your baby to. Each show features three top circuit comedians delivering their usual club routines, so the material is mature and sweary with the odd birth story flash back… The only difference is it’s during the day. Adults and babies under 18 months only. Café and bar open. £8 advance, £10 on the door; thewardrobetheatre.com The Luna Cinema: Mary Poppins Returns 21 September, doors 6pm, film 7.30pm, Ashton Court Estate The sequel to the favourite childhood film, starring Emily Blunt, Mary Poppins Returns will be screened in the wonderful grounds of Ashton Court. Bar and food stalls available, or take a picnic. £15.50, three – 15 years £10.50; thelunacinema.com Sleepy Ship 21 September, 7pm – 9am, Brunel’s SS Great Britain Ever wondered what it would be like to spend the night on board Brunel’s historic ship? Well now you can! Set up camp in the First Class Dining Saloon and step into the shoes of the ship’s past passengers and crew. There will be activities such as an interactive planetarium experience, a captain’s tour of the decks, and

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EVENTS | FOR KIDS

Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s Tabby McTat comes to Redgrave Theatre

a workshop to learn how to make your own sextant. Suitable for seven – 11 year olds, parents and guardians must be present. £60pp; ssgreatbritain.org Tabby McTat 21 & 22 September, times vary, Redgrave Theatre Tabby McTat is a cat with the loudest of meows and a best friend with a guitar. Together they sing their favourite songs delighting the crowds, until one day Fred disappears. Tabby sets off to search the streets for his long-lost friend. Based on the book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, this is a

Have a sleepover onboard Brunel’s historic SS Great Britain

Researchers on loan 28 September, 1 – 2pm and 3 – 4pm, Bristol Central Library Researchers will take over the children’s library as part of the city-wide FUTURES event to provide an interactive workshop exploring the habitats and food chains in the world around us. Children will get hands-on with real animal skulls to investigate what they eat, design their own creature with all the features it needs to survive, and learn all about ecosystems and what can affect them in a giant game of ecosystem kerplunk. Aimed at ages six – 11. Book in advance; futures2019.co.uk n

heart-warming tale of friendship and loyalty interwoven with original songs and a sprinkling of magic. £14; redgravetheatre.com Bath Children’s Literature Festival 27 September – 6 October, venues around Bath city centre The city’s celebration of children’s books features a vibrant range of talks and activities for kids of all ages. The programme includes Jacqueline Wilson, Cressida Cowell, Dougie Poynter, Harry Hill, Chris Riddell, Horrible Histories’ illustrator Martin Brown, Konnie Huq, Clare Balding and many more; bathfestivals.org.uk/childrens-literature

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EDUCATION NEWS UPDATES FROM THE CITY’S SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES

THINKING OF YOU!

A BRAND NEW SCHOOL

HIGH-PROFILE ROLE

Cathedral Schools Trust has announced a new school for north Bristol. Designed to meet the increased demand for secondary school places, Trinity Academy was oversubscribed for the initial 120 places for Year 7 entry in September 2019. The school will grow year on year with an eventual capacity of 1,220 students (180 per year group as well as sixth-form provision). Planning permission has been granted and the £25million building project will commence in autumn. Trinity Academy will become the third secondary school of Cathedral Schools Trust alongside Bristol Cathedral Choir School and St Katherine’s, and performing arts will form a key part of the curriculum offer. “It’s a great privilege to open a new school,” said headteacher Eiron Bailey. “Trinity Academy’s focus on developing the whole child will ensure we offer outstanding teaching, a focus on care and respect and an extra-curricular programme second to none. ”

Former England Rugby player Danny Grewcock MBE starts at Clifton College this month as their new high-performance rugby manager. The role will see him nurture the talent of sixth form rugby players and help give them the best opportunity to move into a professional rugby environment after finishing school. “We are delighted Mr Grewcock will be joining the coaching team, helping to develop our players,” said headmaster Dr Tim Greene. “Mr Grewcock’s appointment will enable us to build on our success and provide even more support for those in our high-performance sport programme.” Danny will be splitting his time between Clifton College and Bristol Bears Rugby Academy, building on the strong relationship that exists between the two. “With the experience I’ve gained from a professional playing career and the last eight years working with academies, I am sure I can support the players and coaches to ensure they continue to develop players to achieve their potential,” said Danny.

• cathedralschoolstrust.org

• cliftoncollege.com

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A Whiteladies Road nursery is launching a new flexible childcare scheme aimed at helping busy working parents arrange childcare more easily. Mama Bear’s Day Nursery and Pre-School has introduced ‘flexi-care’ as an extension of the normal booking pattern, meaning parents can mix and match the sessions they choose depending on what they need. The new arrangement is aimed at flexible workers and freelancers whose working patterns change throughout the month and it means parents only need to pay for the care they need. “Usually parents book set days or sessions for their child to attend nursery but our flexi-care scheme means that one week they can send their child to us on a Monday and Wednesday and the following week on a Tuesday and Thursday,” said Mama Bear’s co-owner Tony Driffield. “It’s really tough for parents to balance work and childcare sometimes and this will hopefully make things a little bit easier, particularly because many industries are moving towards more flexible working patterns and there are many more freelance workers around. “Parents will also be able to use their free entitlement hours and tax-free childcare vouchers with flexi-care. Our Whiteladies Road nursery is close to hospitals, the university, the BBC building and many other organisations where workers may need this service so we’re hoping it is received well. “We can also see it working for stay-athome mums and parents who only want to place their child in nursery now and again as there are no minimum sessions per week.” The nursery, a former auction house, can be found on the corner of Whiteladies Road and Apsley Road and caters for children aged three months to five years. With separate rooms for babies, toddlers and preschool children, it also has a fully secure outdoor play area and a drop-off zone in the adjoining car park. Children receive free meals and snacks and benefit from a homefrom-home environment. “Spaces for flexi-care are limited,” continued Tony, “so if you’re interested in registering your child for September we’d encourage you to enquire now.”

• mamabear.co.uk

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EDUCATION NEWS UPDATES FROM THE CITY’S SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES John Milne wants Constellation Group to be a one-stop shop for educational needs

THE HIVE: NOW OPEN!

DOING BRISTOL PROUD

Clifton High School has officially opened the highly anticipated expansion of its existing nursery pre-school provision. Open to children from the term in which they turn three, The Hive is now available to families for 45 weeks of the year in impressive newly renovated facilities. Its highly experienced, specialist teaching staff place strong emphasis on exploration, investigation, discovery and problem solving, through teaching and free-play activities. The large, light classrooms, within handsome Victorian buildings located close to Clifton Village, are a hive of activity; with ‘busy bees’ making use of the department’s new indoor climbing frame and STEAM room, as well as on-site Forest School facilities. The Hive’s provision covers 8am – 6pm daily including three home-cooked meals, for £57 per day. Explore The Hive during its open mornings on 19 October and 21 November.

A student from Downend has become one of the first to be awarded a prize for excellence from a new architecture school. Jacob Hill, 19, a student at the University of Reading’s School of Architecture, received RIBA’s Berkshire Society of Architects’ Conrad Birdwood Willcocks Award for Technical Excellence. The judges were impressed by his project visualising affordable housing by the River Thames in Shadwell, East London. “The thorough process of site analysis and the visual imagery used illustrate a considered approach to larger-scale local context, masterplan and the smaller scale ‘moments’ in the proposed buildings,” the judges commented. “The work is accomplished and shows sophistication.” Jacob was formerly a student at Winterbourne International Academy and is about to begin the third year of the partone degree course at Reading (qualifying as an architect in the UK takes at least seven years).

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JOINING THE DOTS The South West is home to some of the best schools and universities in the world, but with growing student numbers in the region, the provision and quality of support for these young adults and their families can often feel fragmented. A new hub for educational businesses and the education community has been launched at 1 Berkeley Square in Clifton, giving schools, universities, students, families and businesses a single point of contact for a range of education services. Constellation Group’s team of specialist trusted experts, led by founder John Milne, is offering a broad spectrum of consultancy to help achieve education goals. The experts comprise experienced headteachers, senior managers and a network of wider contacts and niche specialists, who have already begun working on some significant projects. Jimmy Beale, a former headmaster with experience in both senior and prep school education, has been appointed operations director, bringing with him his successful school consultancy The English Education. This brand will grow into new markets under the wing of Constellation Group. John says he set up Constellation Group in response to a notable gap in Bristol. “The provision of high-quality education services is fragmented and inconsistent,” he explains. “Bristol is a world-class destination for education and demands a consistent provision of connecting services. We have created Constellation Group to be a first port of call for students and families, including advice about academic direction, pastoral support, relocation and other wraparound services. We offer an experienced point of access, saving clients from having to shop around for each one individually.” They offer training and recruitment solutions, as well as management strategies on how to grow new commercial opportunities. “While we are starting out with a proposed list of services, we are an agile business and can quickly respond to opportunity and need where we see it. If we cannot deliver ourselves, we are uniquely positioned to signpost clients to other highquality providers.” The group also plans to open its own international sixth form college in Bristol in 2020, providing pathways for international students to the UK’s best universities. • constellationgroup.co.uk

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BADMINTON SCHOOL

BRISTOL GRAMMAR SCHOOL

CALDER HOUSE

University Road, Bristol, BS8 1SR Tel: 0117 973 6006 www.bristolgrammarschool.co.uk website@bgs.bristol.sch.uk Reception Open Morning: Tuesday 24 September 9.30am–11.30am Tuesday 26 November, 9.30–11.30am Open Evening: Friday 4 October, 4–8pm (until 6pm for BGS Juniors) Junior School Open Morning: Tuesday 15 October, 9.30–11.30am Sixth Form Information Evening: Tuesday 5 November, 5–7.15pm

Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol, BS9 3BA Tel: 0117 905 5271 www.badmintonschool.co.uk Email: admissions@badmintonschool.co.uk Autumn term: 4 September – 11 December 2019 Spring term: 6 January – 26 March 2020 Summer term: 20 April – 1 July 2020 Age of pupils: 3–18 years Number of pupils: 460

Autumn term: 4 September–13 December 2019 Spring term: 7 January–1 April 2020 Summer term: 21 April–2 July 2020 Age of pupils: 4–18 years Number of pupils: 1,300 approx.

Day fees per term: £3,331 – £5,612 – Nursery Sessional Fee: £28 per session. Boarding Fees per term: £7,535 - £12,995

Day fees: £2,908–£5,014 per term

Religious denomination: Non-denominational

The curriculum: The emphasis at Badminton is on a holistic education, not narrowly academic, and both the curriculum and the timetable are constructed to create a balance between academic achievement, personal development, life skills and other enterprising activity.

From their first lesson aged four, to 18 and looking ahead to university and the wider world, at BGS the staff support each child on their educational journey. Inspiring a love of learning and with a huge range of opportunities in and out of the classroom, every child can flourish there.

Extra curricular activities: Our enrichment programme is extremely important in the overall development of the girls in our care, as it provides opportunities to pursue wider interests and to contribute to the community. There are many activities on offer and they range from clubs with an academic bias such as Model United Nations, Ancient Greek and Science Research to those that allow the girls to pursue creative interests, such as Leiths School of Cookery, art and drama. Music is also an important part of school life, with nearly 80% of girls learning at least one instrument during their time at Badminton.

The curriculum: The infant curriculum covers all of the requirements of the National Curriculum. Lessons are linked in to a topicbased curriculum, which allows the children to explore a particular area while linking the subjects into a topic. In the junior school children enjoy a breadth of education that stretches far beyond the National Curriculum. In the senior school and sixth form pupils enjoy choice and opportunity. They can discover their strengths through a wide range of optional subjects, within a curriculum that encourages them to realise their potential, explore their ideas and take their learning as far as they can go. Pupils in the sixth form can choose to study either the International Baccalaureate Diploma or A Levels.

Pastoral care: The size of the campus and community at Badminton gives a homely and vibrant feel to the school. This, coupled with excellent pastoral care, leaves no scope for anonymity, but rather lends itself to strong mutually supportive relationships between girls as well as between girls and staff. At Badminton, we wish every girl to feel happy and confident about her school life. We work to ensure a well ordered and supportive environment where we ask the girls to take responsibility for themselves and others. This gives them opportunities to face challenge and build resilience.

Extracurricular activities: The curriculum is supported by an extensive extracurricular programme that includes activities such as photography, samba band, bee club, various sports, and many more. Name of Headmaster: Mr J M Barot Scholarships and bursaries: Scholarships: A wide range of scholarships including academic, creative and performing arts, and sport are available for entry into Year 7 and Year 9. Scholarships are also available for entry into the Lower Sixth.

Name of Principal: Mrs Rebecca Tear Outstanding characteristics: While Badminton retains a nationally outstanding academic record, the community gives girls a chance to develop an understanding of the viewpoints of others and to think about contributing to the world around them. Girls leave Badminton ready to face the changing and challenging wider world and, when they do, they take with them a strong network of lifelong friends developed through a wealth of shared experiences. 80 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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Bursaries: Families with a low or limited income can apply for a means-tested bursary through the bursary scheme. For further information or to arrange a visit, contact Hollie Matthews in the admissions office on 0117 933 9885.

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Thickwood Lane, Colerne, Wiltshire, SN14 8BN Tel: 01225 743566 www.CalderHouseSchool.co.uk Enquiries@CalderHouseSchool.co.uk Autumn term: 9 September – 20 December 2019 Spring term: 8 January – 3 April 2020 Summer term: 23 April – 22 July 2020 Age of pupils: 6 – 13 years Number of pupils: 48 Day fees: £6,150 per term (£18,450 per year) includes all remedial support required to meet each pupil’s individual needs. Religious denomination: Non-denominational The curriculum: Calder House is a small, coeducational day school for pupils who, for various reasons, are out of step with their potential. The school offers a friendly, noncompetitive environment in which children with dyslexia, dyspraxia and other specific learning/language difficulties are encouraged to enjoy school while developing the skills they need to successfully return to mainstream education. The average class size is eight with a staff to pupil ratio of one to four. Name of Headteacher: Mrs Julie Delahay A specialist approach: The staff offer a wholeschool approach to specialist education – one which delivers a carefully structured programme of one-to-one support within a normal school environment. A typical pupil: • arrives with an unmeasurable reading age or one that is more than two years behind their chronological age • spends just over two years at Calder House • leaves with a reading age appropriate for their chronological age or (in the case of one in three pupils) an adult reading age • sucessfully returns to mainstream education

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CLIFTON COLLEGE

CLIFTON HIGH SCHOOL

32 College Road, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 3JH Tel: 0117 405 8417 www.cliftoncollege.com Email: info@cliftoncollege.com

College Road, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 3JD Tel: 0117 973 0201 www.cliftonhigh.co.uk admissions@cliftonhigh.co.uk

Autumn term: 4 September – 12 December 2019 Spring term: 7 January – 26 March 2020 Summer term: 21 April – 4 July 2020 Age of pupils: 2–18 years Number of pupils: 1,249 (Preparatory School, ages 2–13, 525; Upper School, ages 13–18, 724)

Autumn term: 5 September – 17 December 2019 Spring term: 8 January – 27 March 2020 Summer term: 21 April – 8 July 2020 Age of pupils: 3–18 years Number of pupils: 600 Day fees: Nursery Pre-School ‘The Hive’ – £57/day. Reception to sixth form from £3,590 to £4,995 per term

Day fees: Nursery and Pre-Preparatory pupils from £3,780 Preparatory School from £4,540 Upper School from £8,340 Flexi Boarding and Boarding packages available Religious denomination: Christian foundation welcoming all faiths, with a long-standing tradition of welcoming Jewish pupils through the Polack’s Educational Trust. The curriculum: Clifton College offers an outstanding all-round education. The college is equally strong in STEM, literature, language and the arts. In 2019, 46% of A Level grades were A* –A. In 2018, 36% of GCSE grades were A*s or 8s or 9s. In 2019, 90% of students won a place at their chosen university, including places at Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, Toronto, San Francisco and Hong Kong. Extra curricular activities: Music, art and drama play a large part in the life of the school, as do sports, outdoor pursuits, Clifton in the Community and the Combined Cadet Force. The wide range of activities available provide opportunities to develop leadership skills, to take on responsibility and to broaden interests. Pastoral care: The school provides a real sense of community, both to its pupils and their families. Pupils form friendships that last a lifetime, with many opportunities in the years after school to network and join together again through the Cliftonian Society. The house system is at the centre of the Clifton College community; it provides a strong support network for pupils while inter-house competitions offer a fun way for pupils to compete across a variety of talents from the House Play Festival. Name of Headmaster: Dr Tim Greene MA DPhil Outstanding characteristics: Clifton College is a traditional British day and boarding school with inspirational teaching, first-class inclusive sport, diverse co-curricular activities, exceptional pastoral care and an outstanding environment. It aims to inspire each child to seize learning and opportunity and realise their full potential through an eagerness to embrace life with passion, integrity and resilience, and to make a positive difference to the lives of others. Recent high achievers include GB hockey player Lily Owsley who won gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics and internationally-recognised violinist Julia Hwang, who released her first album last year.

Religious denomination: Non-denominational The curriculum: Clifton High School is a leading independent, selective 3–18 co-educational school. The only school in Bristol to operate the Diamond Edge Model of education, in Years 7–9 boys and girls are taught separately in the core subjects of mathematics, English and the sciences, coming together in other subjects and of course socially. Extra curricular activities: Clifton High is outstanding in its provision of enrichment opportunities from EYFS to Sixth Form, with more than 100 extra-curricular clubs on offer each week. The school also partners with Bristol Henleaze Performance Swimming Club and University of Bristol tennis coaches to offer elite coaching right across the school. Heavily subscribed, the school’s bronze Duke of Edinburgh’s award has the highest success rate in the South West, with the most ambitious students going on to complete the gold award. Pastoral care: The school is recognised for its enabling environment and an emphasis on pupils and their personal development. The school aims to equip pupils with the necessary skills to succeed in twenty-first century society, cultivating resilience, a global perspective and self-belief. From the ‘key person’ system in the EYFS to thriving peer support arrangements, pupils are encouraged to take risks in the pursuit of their ambitions with the committed support of their class teachers, tutor and peers throughout their journey at Clifton High. Name of Principal: Dr Alison M Neill Outstanding characteristics: A meaningful education is much more than simply achieving the highest grades. Realising individual brilliance is the school’s tagline and the school encourages every child to reach their full potential as ‘Developing Thinkers’. New for 2019: Now open, the school has extended its outstanding nursery pre-school for families to 45 weeks of the year. The Hive will encompass the school’s existing nursery preschool and reception departments, and children will be able to make use of the wildlife pond, mud kitchen, fire pit and outdoor classroom as part of the onsite Forest School provision. Clifton High welcomes families looking to join the school at its whole school open morning on Saturday 19 October 2019. THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK

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Calder House have just rated ed fst O S! row. ES STOP PR third time in a (2019) for the ng di an st ut O as

• Co-educational day school for pupils aged 5-13 with

dyslexia and other specific learning/language difficulties.

• Located in Wiltshire between Bath and Chippenham. CReSTeD approved.

• Fully qualified specialist teachers with maximum class size of eight - reducing to one-to-one as required.

Call 01225 743 566 or visit www.CalderHouseSchool.co.uk 82 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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THE DOWNS PREPARATORY SCHOOL MILLFIELD PREP SCHOOL

Wraxall Bristol BS48 1PF Tel: 01275 852008 www.thedownsschool.co.uk Email: office@thedownsschool.co.uk Autumn term: 4 September – 13 December 2019 Spring term: 7 January – 25 March 2020 Summer term: 21 April – 3 July 2020 Day fees: Reception/Year 1: £3,750 per term Year 2: £4,215 per term Year 3: £4,610 per term Years 4 to 8: £5,695 per term

Millfield Prep, Glastonbury, Somerset, BA6 8LD Tel: 01458 832446 Email: admissions@millfieldprep.com Autumn term: 1 September – 6 December 2019 Spring term: 5 January – 27 March 2020 Summer term: 19 April – 26 June 2020 Age of pupils: 2–13 years Number of pupils: 460 Fees per term: Day – £2,835 – £6,235 Boarding – £9,460 Occasional Boarding – £59 per night

Religious denomination: C of E The curriculum: The Downs is one of the few truly independent 13+ Prep Schools in the South West. The 13+ Common Entrance syllabus is central to the academic curriculum which includes the traditional subjects, two modern languages and the theory of music. In the Pre-Prep School, maths and English are the central focus, the young children beginning their learning through play. Extra curricular activities: The school provides a broad all round education, genuinely inclusive of each child. The standard of all sports is exceptional (six internationals in six different sports in recent years) but there is a team for every child. There is enormous interest and activity in the performing and creative arts: seven choirs, 80% play an instrument, 140 attends speech and drama lessons, 9 productions a year, 160 attend dance lessons. There is also an extensive range of clubs, all prep school children camp every year and regular trips are taken abroad. Pastoral care: The essence of the school is to really know and understand the children – their wellbeing is central to our thoughts. Matrons, tutors, form teachers and pupils themselves play an integral role in the process of providing outstanding pastoral care, supporting each child as they negotiate the inevitable social, emotional and academic challenges associated with modern life. Name of Principal: M A Gunn MA (Ed), PGCE, IAPS. Outstanding characteristics: The pupils are outstanding; they are highly motivated and experience considerable all round success. They nevertheless demonstrate humility and unaffected good manners; confidence in contrast to arrogance is applauded at The Downs. The stunning rural estate is unique in the area and essentially used to best effect. The entire community that is The Downs School is particularly close and happy in support of one another. Over the last decade almost every child has passed the 13+ entry requirements into the school of their first choice, over 60% with scholarship.

Religious denomination: Inter-denominational The curriculum: From Year 1 to Year 6, pupils are taught the International Primary Curriculum (IPC), a topic based inquiry-led curriculum focusing on global themes and independent learning. From Year 6 onwards pupils have specialist subject teachers. Millfield Prep offers a broad and balanced curriculum including French, Spanish and Latin, design technology and food technology. Class sizes rarely exceed 16. Extra curricular activities: Millfield Prep offers 25 sports, art, pottery, music and drama, alongside over 130 clubs which are nearly all free. Popular clubs include bushcraft, chess, clay shooting, climbing, fencing, golf, kit car, Mandarin, sailing and trampolining. Pastoral care: Pastoral care is at the heart of the school with an approach that involves all staff. Healthy eating is important to us, alongside wellbeing and medical care. The inspection report and parents rate the boarding provision as ‘excellent’. They have 120 full time boarders from over 20 nationalities and also offer occasional and flexi-boarding options. Boarders live in five homely and spacious houses – three boys’ houses and two girls’ houses. They enjoy a busy programme of weekday evening and weekend activities, including trips to Bristol, amusement parks, the seaside, theatre and cinema and plenty of space on campus to explore, use the pool, play tennis or go karting. Name of Principal: Mrs Shirley Shayler Outstanding characteristics: Millfield Prep’s strength lies in the belief that every child is an individual. With world class facilities and resources, the school’s aim to give every child the maximum opportunity to find their individual strengths and aim for excellence. The outstanding facilities include an equestrian centre, an art and design centre, music school, recital hall, golf course, 25m indoor pool, and tennis courts. THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK

SEPTEMBER 2019

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MILLFIELD

MONMOUTH SCHOOL FOR GIRLS

Millfield, Street, Somerset BA16 0YD Tel: 01458 444296 Email: admissions@millfieldschool.com Autumn term: 1 September – 6 December 2019 Spring term: 5 January – 27 March 2020 Summer term: 19 April – 26 June 2020 Age of pupils: 13–18 years Number of pupils: 1,240 Fees per term: Senior Boarding: £12,870 Senior Day: £8,535 Religious denomination: Inter-denominational The curriculum: Millfield is an innovative school which frequently takes the lead in educational development. Class sizes are small and rarely exceed 16, which allows teachers to focus on each individual. Millfield offers an exceptionally wide selection of courses; at Year 11 we offer 24 GCSEs and 3 BTECs and at Sixth Form, 29 subjects at A level as well as 6 BTECs and the Extended Project Qualification. Millfield delivers an inspiring academic enrichment programme which includes lectures, external competitions and debating. All pupils receive excellent guidance to support diverse university applications, including to the USA, alongside degree apprenticeships and work placements. Extra curricular activities: While Millfield is renowned for sport, we also offer a vibrant creative arts programme with an exceptional music school, dance, art and drama. Pastoral care: As a boarding and day school, the pastoral care and needs of children are central to their success and personal development. On a day to day basis, housemasters or housemistresses have overarching responsibility for the academic and pastoral life of the boys or girls under their care. Boarding is full boarding only in girl or boy houses, with Year 9s having their own Year 9 houses to assist in settling in in their first year. Name of Principal: Mr Gavin Horgan Outstanding characteristics: Millfield’s strength has always been around the belief that every child is individual and to enable them to reach their personal best. The world-class resources and facilities mean that pupils are provided with numerous opportunities to discover their interests, be it in the classroom, the concert hall or on the sports field.

Hereford Road, Monmouth NP25 5XT Tel: 01600 711104 www.habsmonmouth.org Open Morning: 4 and 5 October 2019 Sixth Form Taster Day and Information Evening: 6 November 2019 Autumn term: 2 September – 13 December 2019 Spring term: 6 January – 27 March 2020 Summer term: 20 April – 3 July 2020 Age of pupils: 7–18 years Number of pupils: 595 Day fees: £3,805 – £5,069 Boarding fees (per term): £6,956 – £11,166 Religious denomination: Anglican The curriculum: The school offers a wide range of subjects in Years 7, 8 and 9 to stimulate academic and personal development. The staff take care to ensure that no girl closes off the choice of a whole range of subjects for GCSEs and A Levels. Extra curricular activities: There is a wealth of lunchtime and after school opportunities which gives every girl a balance between work and play, helps develop some fantastic skills and truly enriches their learning. Pastoral care: Staff aim to create a caring and supportive environment both in and out of the classroom, helping each pupil to feel valued as an individual. The pastoral philosophy is to develop resilience, confidence and skills which take the girls through later life, while offering each pupil bespoke care. Name of Headmaster: Mrs Jessica Miles MA (Oxon), PGCE Outstanding characteristics: Access to superb educational opportunities engages, enriches and inspires pupils. Sport, music, drama and art supplement academic achievement. Endowment income provides outstanding facilities and competitive fees. Scholarships and bursaries mean one in five pupils receives financial support. Close links with Monmouth School for Boys enable us to offer around 30 A level subjects and many joint activities. Around 60% of students gain places at Russell Group universities. THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK

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MONMOUTH SCHOOL FOR BOYS QEH

Almshouse Street, Monmouth NP25 3XP Tel: 01600 710433 www.habsmonmouth.org

Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital (QEH), Berkeley Place, Clifton, Bristol BS8 1JX Tel: 0117 930 3040 www.qehbristol.co.uk

Open Morning: 4 and 5 October 2019 Sixth Form Taster Day and Information Evening: 6 November 2019 Autumn term: 2 September – 13 December 2019 Spring term: 6 January – 27 March 2020 Summer term: 20 April – 3 July 2020 Age of pupils: 7–18 years Number of pupils: 630

Autumn term: 3 September – 13 December 2019 Spring term: 7 January – 27 March 2020 Summer term: 21 April – 3 July 2020 Age of pupils: 7–18 years Number of pupils: 685

Day fees: £3,805 – £5,425 Boarding fees (per term): £6,956 – £11,166

Day fees: Juniors: £3331 per term (£9993 per year) including pre and after school supervision until 5pm. Seniors: £4970 per term (£14910 per year). Fees include text and exercise books, and essential education trips but do not include public examination fees or lunches.

Religious denomination: Anglican The curriculum: The Monmouth School for Boys curriculum is based on the National Curriculum but is not constrained by it. The school introduces pupils to a wide range of subjects in their early years and they usually go on to take 9 or 10 GCSE. Around 25 A Level courses are offered in our co-educational sixth form. In addition to their A Level studies, students have the opportunity to pursue a variety of enrichment and supplementary courses.

Open mornings: Saturday 28 September 2019 and Friday 15 November 2019 Religious denomination: Church of England, embracing all faiths The curriculum: The curriculum is broad but also offers the chance to study subjects in depth. The school expects pupils to work hard, believing a good education is a voyage of discovery to be enjoyed. Pupils are stretched but not stressed.

Extra curricular activities: Monmouth offers a wide and varied co-curricular programme. All boys are encouraged to take full advantage of lunchtime and after school activities and clubs. They develop confidence and make friends through chess, karate, reading, kayaking, choir and many other activities. Pastoral care: Each pupil is allocated to a tutor who is drawn from the academic staff. Both tutor and housemaster are able to get to know each boy well over a period of years and provide experienced and sympathetic guidance throughout his school career. Staff ensure all pupils gain the utmost from their time at Monmouth, not only in the classroom, but through all the other experiences that the school has to offer. Name of Headmaster: Dr Andrew Daniel BSc, Med, PhD, PGCE Outstanding characteristics: With a strong emphasis on academic success (around 60% of sixth formers go on to Russell Group universities), sport, the arts, music and CCF help shape the boys. Founded in 1614, endowment income ensures outstanding facilities and highly competitive fees. Scholarships and bursaries mean that one in five pupils receives financial support. Links with Monmouth School for Girls enable us to offer around 30 A level subjects and many joint activities. 86 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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Redmaids’ High School Westbury Road, Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol, BS9 3AW Tel: Senior School & Sixth Form 0117 962 2641; Junior School 0117 962 9451; admissions@redmaidshigh.co.uk junioradmissions@redmaidshigh.co.uk Autumn term: 3 September – 13 December 2019 Spring term: 7 January – 27 March 2020 Summer term: 21 April – 3 July 2020 Age of pupils: Girls aged 7 to 18 Number of pupils: 750 Fees: Years 3–6: £3,420 per term; Years 7–13: £5,025 per term The curriculum: Redmaids’ High provides the best opportunities in Bristol and beyond for academically able girls who aspire to achieve their full personal, social and academic potential. Its formation through the merger of Red Maids’ and Redland High schools has created a stronger school with outstanding facilities, high quality teaching and an exceptional range of subjects and qualifications. In the junior school, the girls enjoy a broad and rich curriculum, engaging enthusiastically in activities and achieving excellent results in national music, speech and drama exams. In the senior school and sixth form, a wide choice of subjects is available through GCSE, A Levels and the IB Diploma. Extra curricular activities: In the junior and senior schools, an extensive programme of clubs and societies offer important personal development opportunities, discovery of new talents, hobbies and interests.

Extra curricular activities: QEH prides itself on the range of activities it provides, reflecting the wide interests of students and the commitment of the staff. Variety is key and all pupils should find activities that interest them. QEH is also committed to outdoor pursuits, with around 150 pupils taking part in Duke of Edinburgh awards scheme, many attaining gold award.

Pastoral care: This is regarded to be of the upmost importance. Small classes are an important feature throughout all year groups. In the senior school, students are supported by a head and assistant head of year, form tutors and assistant tutors. The girls’ health and well-being is regarded as the responsibility of every member of the school community.

Pastoral care: Pastoral care is second to none. Pupils need to feel happy and safe and, at QEH, they are free to enjoy their learning, exploring new opportunities with confidence. People often comment on how self-assured and wellmannered our pupils are. Their friendly spirit and good behaviour are partly the result of unobtrusive but strong pastoral care.

Outstanding characteristics: Redmaids’ High was the first International Baccalaureate (IB) World School in Bristol, winning accreditation in 2008. 10 years on, it has guided its sixth form students to world-beating IB Diploma results, alongside its established and successful A Level programme. Its small, family friendly junior school provides the perfect new start for girls rising up into Year 3. The spacious sixth form offers independent learning and relaxation space, and girls from many local schools join at this point to benefit from the excellent opportunities. Bursaries and scholarships are awarded to girls from all backgrounds joining at Year 7 and above. Redland Hall, opened in Sept 2017, is a busy and modern hub at the heart of the school, and is fast becoming a popular venue for concerts and other shows.

Name of Principal: Mr Stephen Holliday, MA (Cantab) Outstanding characteristics: QEH is recognised for its outstanding academic record and the friendliness and confidence of our pupils is notable. The school is not socially exclusive, having a good mix of people.

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Name of Principal: Mrs Isabel Tobias BA Hons

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SIDCOT SCHOOL

ST KATHERINE'S SCHOOL

TOCKINGTON MANOR SCHOOL

Oakridge Lane, Winscombe, North Somerset, BS25 1PD Tel: 01934 843102 www.sidcot.org.uk

Pill Road, Bristol, BS20 0HU Tel: 01275 373737 www.stkaths.org.uk school@skdrive.org

Autumn term: 4 September – 12 December 2019 Spring term: 7 January – 3 April 2020 Summer term: 21 April – 2 July 2020 Age of pupils: 3 – 18 years Number of pupils: 603

Autumn term: 4 September – 20 December 2019 Spring term: 7 January – 3 April 2020 Summer term: 20 April – 17 July 2020 Age of pupils: 11 – 18 years Number of pupils: 780

Tockington Manor School, Washingpool Hill Road, Tockington, Bristol BS32 4NY; Tel: 01454 613229 emial: admin@tockingtonmanorschool.com www.tockingtonmanorschool.com

Day fees: from £2,710 (Reception) to £6,080 (Year 13) per term. Nursery £22.90 per session

The curriculum: St Katherine’s is set in a stunning rural location just outside the city and well served by bus transport. The school is part of Cathedral Schools Trust and is working closely with Bristol Cathedral Choir School. We aim to provide a dynamic, inspiring curriculum that will enable pupils to maximise their future choices and opportunities. Staff believe in engaging pupils through high quality, creative teaching that fully utilises specialist resources. At KS3 pupils follow the full National Curriculum and at KS4 we provide the flexibility for pupils to follow their own direction, and to facilitate further study Post-16. All pupils study a core of GCSE subjects: English, maths, science, society and culture and physical education. Pupils can choose to study GCSEs in: geography, history, French, Spanish, drama, art, music, philosophy and beliefs, computing, statistics, engineering, food technology and nutrition, photography and film studies. All pupils study either double award science or triple award science. Vocational courses are offered in performing arts, sports, business and hospitality.

Religious denomination: Non-denominational The curriculum: The school provides a creative and stretching education that inspires children to want to learn. To achieve this, the curriculum is shaped to meet government requirements without an exam obsessed and prescriptive syllabus. The curriculum and teaching methods are designed to foster students’ intellectual curiosity and creativity. Staff want to educate students, rather than simply train them to pass tests. Throughout their time at Sidcot, students develop the self-motivation to enable them to take responsibility for their own learning. It’s no surprise that these personal qualities go together with academic excellence. Results have been consistently excellent with average points per candidate always significantly higher than the world average scores. Extra curricular activities: Sidcot is based in an excellent rural location and top class facilities for sport, arts, crafts and environmental studies. The P.A.S.S. programme (Programme of Activities for Sidcot School) is based on the key Quaker values of integrity, stewardship, self-reflection, adventure and community. This range of co-curricular activities is embedded in the timetable for every year group, throughout the year. Year 9, for example, focus on self-reflection and practical life skills, first-aid, sewing, car maintenance and money management. Whereas Year 11 visit elderly people, run primary school after-school clubs and work with people with disabilities.

Extra curricular activities: St Katherine’s has a well established reputation for co-curricular work including an exceptional arts and sporting provision. There are many clubs to join, including a wide range of sports (hockey, rugby, netball and many more), humanities, community and charitable projects. Many pupils take part in the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme at bronze, silver and gold level to develop their skills and we run a range of fieldwork days and residential trips for Years 9 to 12. The school is active in our community and is supported by the St Katherine’s Music Parent Supporters (SKAMPS) organisation. We offer both European and International exchanges. Pastoral care: Each child has a tutor who looks after their progress and wellbeing throughout their time. The school’s tutorial programme and house structure helps students develop study skills, social responsibility, self-confidence and respect for others. Student house captains and tutor groups regularly lead school briefings, assemblies and student voice, showcasing the achievements and contributions of their house.

Pastoral care: The Quaker value of equality is evident in the open and friendly relationships between staff and students, and between students of all ages. It’s often remarked that our students are extremely supportive of each other, making newcomers, students, teachers and visitors quickly feel at home.

Name of Headmaster: Justin Humphreys Outstanding characteristics: St Katherine’s is a thriving, diverse school community founded on core values of excellence, aspiration, acceptance, resilience and respect. The committed staff nurture young people through our strong pastoral care and our learners achieve highly, finding their way to varied higher education and employment opportunities.

Name of Headmaster: Iain Kilpatrick Outstanding characteristics: International Baccalaureate diploma – Sidcot offers its sixth form the choice of both the IB and A levels. The ethos of the IB, with its broad curriculum and emphasis on study skills, community service and internationalism fits well with our Quaker values. 88 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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Open Days: 2.30–5pm, 4 October 2019 and 15 May 2020 Autumn term: 5 September – 13 December 2019 Spring term: 6 January – 27 March 2020 Summer term: 20 April – 11 July 2020 Age of pupils: 2–13 years Number of pupils: 226 Day fees: Lower School £3,332 Upper School £4,519 - £5,197 Religious denomination: Church of England The curriculum: The pupils from nursery through to Year 8 are taught a full range of academic subjects. The school introduces French and Spanish from nursery, Latin from Year 5 and geography, history and science as separate subjects from Year 1. Tockington Manor has an exceptional record of achievement in the Common Entrance Exam. The new music and performing arts suite allows each child access to state of the art facilities and dedicated music tuition. Extra curricular activities: A diverse and wideranging choice of activities are available in break times and as part of the school’s wraparound care. Activities are led by teaching staff and external subject specialists including judo, archery, football, tennis, drama, computing and horse riding. Educational trips support classroom activities e.g. SS Great Britain and Chepstow Castle. Extra-curricular excursions are also offered with the schools educational partners The Bristol Hippodrome and Wild Place Project, including career workshops. Residential camps in the UK and France form part of Summer Term activity week. Pastoral care: The school’s aim is to provide a caring, safe environment where children develop their individual abilities and enjoy an effective education tailored to their needs and interests. The school adheres to traditional family values with small class sizes encouraging strong bonds between year group and teacher and a sense of community and respect throughout the school. Name of Principal: Mr. Stephen Symonds BAED (Hons) Outstanding characteristics: The school strives to allow children to be children for as long as possible whilst preparing them with the attitude and aptitude for senior schools and beyond. They help ensure a smooth transition into senior school, offering parents and pupils personalised guidance in choosing their next step, resulting in an enviable success rate in first choice senior school entry many with scholarships. The 28 acre grounds lend itself to sports with cross country trails, national standard all-weather pitch, cricket/rugby/football pitches and an indoor heated swimming pool.

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EDUCATION

Brain food We speak to a few of the many Bristol education workers who have been giving our local schoolchildren’s nutrition plenty of thought, both in the canteen and in the classroom

ver the past few years, as awareness of the importance of decent nutrition in schools has been raised and the issue widely publicised, with any over-reliance on the demonised turkey twizzler, among other offenders, deemed a canteen no-no, Bristol students have been afforded more and more when it comes to lunchtime options. It’s not just about the provision of balanced school dinners though; what’s also being given more of a focus in many of our schools is the teaching of food science in terms of cooking and giving children an understanding of nutrition. They’re learning about different kinds of diets as well as sustainability, agriculture and farming in geography and getting involved in activities such as planting and cultivating food. So many schools are getting it right now; we spoke to just a small handful to find out the specifics of their foodie curricula. “Children at BGS learn about healthy eating from reception onwards, with lessons becoming more in-depth as they get older,” says Lynne Bolton, head of food and nutrition at Bristol Grammar School. “Practical cookery lessons take place in our specialist teaching kitchen, beginning in year four and continuing up to sixth form, when everyone has the opportunity to complete a ‘cooking for university’ course, giving them skills to feed themselves well when they leave home. “Our aim is to develop an understanding of food, healthy eating, food purchasing, storage, preparation and making so that they can make informed decisions in adult life about what they are consuming. This includes helping pupils to understand nutritional information on packaging.” BGS Infants learn about where food comes from through curriculum topics such as ‘Down on the Farm’ and ‘Growing’ and have their own chickens in the garden from which they collect eggs. Students are also lucky enough to have beehives on the science block roof and the senior school bee-keeping club look after them and harvest the honey.

...Everyone has the opportunity to complete a ‘cooking for university’ course, giving them to skills to feed themselves well when they come to leave home... The wider issue of sustainability is addressed when the kids become seniors – in geography lessons they learn about farming systems, the impact of farming on the wider environment and why food shortages occur, as well as plastic pollution and recycling. From September 2019, a new wellbeing programme will include climate change teaching – BGS is one of the first schools in the UK to have a qualified climate change teacher, accredited by the One United Nations Climate Change Learning Partnership. The school’s environmental club meet once a week to discuss sustainability in the school and surrounding area and from this month it will be working with other schools, Bristol City Council and local organisations on an exciting project to initiate some of the ideas at BGS. As for the everyday eats, the in-house catering team provides homecooked meals to meet pupils’ needs, including those who are vegan or vegetarian, and those with food allergies. Choices include a main hot 90 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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meal, pasta or baked potatoes, a salad bar, homemade soup and sandwiches, while the breakfast club offers everyone a healthy start to the day. With around 1,500 meals being served a day, using locally sourced produce is very important to them in terms of sustainability – and this year the lunch service has also gone plastic-free, with all packaging now compostable, along with leftover food, if there is any... The provision of water fountains and taps on site has also increased to allow pupils to fill up their own reusable water bottles.

...A strategically placed suggestion box enables daily written feedback – girls very much have an influence on what they are being served... The kitchen at Badminton School also has its work cut out, providing almost 1,000 breakfasts, lunches and suppers every day to pupils from a wide range of countries and cultures, with a breadth of dietary requirements, but it always rises to the challenge. “The meals are freshly prepared and cooked on site with deliveries received daily, including fresh fruit and veg making their way very quickly from the city’s morning market to the girl’s lunchtime plates,” say operations manager James Lindsay and head chef Jason Maggs. “Recipes are developed within the small catering team and monthly food committee meetings, involving girls from each year group – allowing for the opportunity to develop menus in accordance with the current trends and preferences of the girls. A suggestion box is also strategically placed to enable daily written feedback – girls very much have an influence on what they are being served – and we have access to the support of a dedicated nutrition professional who works with the school and the girls to ensure the effective delivery of a well-balanced and nutritional menu.” In the classroom, the nutrition department, headed up by Fiona Williamson, stimulates an interest in food and equips students with the confidence to adapt to an ever-changing world. “The curriculum is based around the British Nutrition Foundation’s core competencies for food studies,” says Fiona. “Junior pupils have the opportunity to experience working in a kitchen from age seven, developing their skills and understanding of safety and hygiene while producing healthy foods such as scrambled eggs and fruity oat muffins. In the senior school students progress their food science knowledge and practical skills, working with each food group from the Eatwell Guide. The option to study GCSE food preparation and nutrition further develops skills such as filleting fish, portioning chicken and using alternative protein sources. This enables debate on food provenance, sustainability, and economics.” Pupils can also study the Leith’s introductory certificate in food in the sixth form, and the international ethos of the school facilitates a range of food cultures to be investigated and celebrated, for example through teamwork in year nine to explore street food across the world. Outdoors, during GCSE and A-level PE, nutrition plays a key part in the curriculum and Badminton sports scholars have access to advice and workshops with Hartpury University Centre.

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Cor, we wouldn’t mind a colourful lunch at Clifton College Millfield’s bright and airy dining space

Tockington’s nursery grew and harvested potatoes which they washed and gave to the kitchen to cook for lunch

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EDUCATION

Wholesome, healthy food is something that’s taken equally seriously at Redmaids’ High. In lessons, the students learn about balanced diets, how to decipher the mixed messages on food labels and learn the basics of how to produce healthy meals themselves. The food tech department has a broad curriculum which links to other areas: they use science to explain how food reacts during preparation and cooking, geography to explain how climate and geology affect different types of foods produced around the world. Each day the girls eat very well thanks to the award-winning catering team on site. Chartwells provides four nutritious main meal options daily, as well as homemade soups and breads, a salad bar, a protein bar with fish, meat and cheese, fresh fruit and yogurt and a hot pudding. There’s vegetarian fare plus gluten-free dishes and a halal meat option is also available, all sourced from local growers and suppliers where possible. “The key for us is to provide interesting menus with a wide variety of options and to educate our pupils about nutrition as part of the process,” says Julie Linzell, head of catering at Clifton College.

...Every week we get through 120kg of carrots, 753kg apples and 349kg bananas! Popular dishes include vegetarian lasagne, Quornballs and sweet potato and chickpea curry.... “We believe it is very important to provide healthy, nutritious and tasty meals for our pupils, and make salads a significant feature of the daily menu. We have a salad bar chef who works solely on creating our wide range which includes a weekly superfoods salad. “Fruit and vegetables also feature prominently on the menu across all three meals each day, and every week we get through 120kg of carrots, 753kg apples and 349kg bananas! Some of our most popular dishes include vegetarian lasagne, Quornballs and sweet potato and chickpea curry. We hope we can be part of establishing healthy eating patterns among our students that they will take with them throughout their lives.” Around a 20-minute drive from the centre of the city, Bristol’s Tockington Manor School is also doing well in its quest to cultivate in its students an understanding of the environment and where food comes from – an integral part of the ethos, it’s taught from nursery upwards. Children benefit from nutrient-rich meals using fresh ingredients, and a sound knowledge about the importance of healthy eating; learning about the field-to-fork process by growing fresh vegetables in their own kitchen garden, planting seeds, watering and tending to their plants, learning how birds and insects affect crops and then picking and eating what they’ve grown. During regular ‘welly walks’ and nature trails they visit nearby farms to find out how vegetable growing and cattle farming happens on a larger scale. The 28-acre school site has a breadth of outdoor activities and sports pitches so pupils must be suitably fuelled to achieve their best in and out of the classroom – this means close collaboration with caterers to develop seasonal menus which support educational needs and meet the more specific nutritional requirements of pupils. The team feel that it’s not only the food eaten that is important but the environment in which it is eaten and all the children, from nursery upwards, sit in the dining hall, learning table manners and exploring new tastes from a young age. Meanwhile Somerset’s Millfield School has launched a new campaign called ‘Eat to Excel’ which aims to promote positive behaviours with food and teach pupils about optimal fuelling. The initiative promotes the concept of adapting food choices and nutrition to students’ own daily demands, whether that be academic, music, sport, or social activities. Key messages and prompts are displayed in the dining hall to remind everyone just at the point they will make 92 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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their choice. “Our dining hall is a live lab of behaviours around nutrition and hydration, and with the help of our in-house nutritionist and specialised catering team we are constantly analysing and updating our catering offer, to provide everyone with the tools to be their best at all times,” says Dr Scott Drawer, director of sport at Millfield, which also offers more than 20 different sports at specialist level in worldclass facilities.

ActiveAte Bristol: making a difference All of the above is wonderful news for thousands of the city’s kids. But, of course, at the other end of the spectrum, there are many children in Bristol who don’t have access to anywhere near as fulsome foodie services and provisions, at school or at home, and this summer we’ve been super impressed by the efforts of one particular local organisation, the FareShare South West charity. With the knowledge that, in the UK today, up to three million children are at risk of going hungry during the school holidays – a time that should be fun and exciting for them – they recently launched the ActivAte Bristol campaign. In Bristol, reports show that food provision for families in need drops considerably over the summer. For parents of children who are normally eligible for free school meals, the summer can be a difficult time to make ends meet. The extra strain of added food costs, activities and child care can mean hard-working parents struggle to provide nutritious meals for their children. The effects of holiday hunger last long after the summer, with low nutrition levels meaning kids find it hard to concentrate once they are back in the classroom. Fun, accessible programmes which provide quality food and activities to children can really help parents over holiday periods. Along with local supporters, over the summer they worked with Feeding Bristol to supply food to more than 40 projects across the city, including The Vench lunch club in Lockleaze and Cog Cafe Bristol in Bristol community arts centre Creative Workspace, providing approximately 40,000 meals to children in need. Wapping Wharf restaurant Box-E and Temple Meads’ Harts Bakery also raised nearly £3,000 between them through pop-up Lunch for a Lunch fundraisers and a Ready Steady Cook-style challenge that saw Bristol chefs compete using bags of surplus produce saved from going to waste by FareShare. Another of Bristol’s food poverty charity’s that’s hugely worth of celebration and support. ■

Tockington kids benefit from nutrientrich meals using fresh ingredients

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HEALTH & BEAUTY NEWS FROM THE SECTOR

THE RIGHT TRACK

Noel and team

Bristol’s Noco Hair has been shortlisted as a finalist for two major national awards – Newcomer Of The Year at the British Hairdressing Business Awards and Best New Business at the the National Hairdressing & Beauty Federation Awards 2019. “We are absolutely delighted to be part of the UK’s best business start-ups,” said owner Noel Halligan. “We strive every day to build an environment where our guests can relax and feel pampered, safe in the knowledge that their hairdressers are highly trained and passionate, 100% focused on making you look and feel amazing. Bristol is a place that oozes creativity and it’s our job to show that its hairdressing scene is alive and kicking. The finals are in September and November so fingers and toes crossed for a Bristol win!” Noco has also been carrying out training for staff to spot signs of domestic abuse in clients. “Behindthemask.online is a fantastic website that helps us recognise when someone may be in danger and helps us understand how to point towards help,” said Noel. “Seeing the signs, offering a kind word and providing information on how to access professional support may change or save someone’s life. “Most women see a hairdresser or use the services of a beautician; we are renowned for being experienced listeners so it’s no surprise that many people feel comfortable confiding in us about things they might never tell anyone else.” • nocohair.com

NEW LEADING LADY Jo Malone has launched its new poppy and barley-based fragrance for autumn, offering a vibrant scent evoking images of England’s meadows and succulent cereal fields, where grains mingle with poppies cocooned by cotton-soft barley. The lively floral fragrance is enhanced by rose, violet and juicy blackcurrants. We also learned this month about the service the team provides to help customers find the perfect bespoke scent. We’d normally steer clear of attempting to layer difference fragrances – we just don’t trust ourselves to do it correctly – but this is something Jo Malone London heartily recommends and it’s one of the reasons they keep the ingredients in each perfume to a mininum. It’s welcome information for those of us who often find fragrances that bit too floral or not quite sweet enough when we’re sniffing out a potential new scent while out shopping. This season, the brand has been celebrating the best of British produce – champion limes, juicy pomegranates, English pears, precious peonies and vibrant bluebells – and supporting the St Mungos scented Physic Garden in Castle Park? Nice!

• Poppy & Barley available from

September (30ml, £48); jomalone.co.uk

NATURAL HEALING

sugar-free recipes. Healing Against the Odds, 26 September (6.30 – 8.30 pm), £10; CNM Bristol, 1B Woodlands Court, Ash Ridge Road, Almondsbury.

The College of Naturopathic Medicine – leading training provider in a range of natural therapies – is hosting an event with inspirational speaker Iida van der Byl-Knoefel this month. Iida was diagnosed with inflammatory arthritis at the age of 33 but was able to reverse her symptoms with a plant-based diet and went on to write the whole-food plant-based cookbook A Kitchen Fairytale. A speaker with a fast-growing global following, Iida will share her experiences of a plant-based diet and how she helped heal herself with nutrition, and will offer ideas for gluten, dairy and

• naturopathy-uk.com; eventbrite.co.uk

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ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

“CNM allowed me back into education and the career I wish I’d always had.” Amie Charraudeau, Nutritional Therapist Graduate, CNM (College of Naturopathic Medicine)

Waterstones to choose. It’s entirely thanks to her I found the solution to my PCOS. After years of living in denial, I decided I was the only person who could make these changes and started researching the effects of diet and exercise. I didn’t want to feel miserable anymore! Marilyn Glenville’s books were a real turning point. Having a lot of weight to lose, I removed all refined sugars and carbohydrates and added plenty of vegetables to my diet. I exercised at the campus gym daily. Within 4 months I’d lost 2 stone. I added herbal supplements, became adventurous with healthy meals and began to really listen to my body. My periods returned, my skin and energy improved, the weight kept coming off and my body shape changed completely, motivating me further to manage my own health. I’ve kept my weight to optimal levels, which is key to my hormonal balance. I’ve had 3 children without any issues, something I never would’ve imagined all those years ago when the gynaecologist told me it wouldn’t be possible! What attracted me to CNM was the flexibility of weekend study and exciting course content. Although we hardly touched on nutrition the first year, I loved the thorough biochemistry, anatomy and physiology foundation. The 200hrs’ clinical experience was fascinating and a hugely important part of moving into practice. The transformation between year 1 and year 3 in knowledge, confidence and ability was amazing. I was in a great year group sharing this unique experience of revisiting education later in life. The support and friendships had an incredibly positive impact during my time at CNM and continue, even after graduating. Rewarding, inspiring and fascinating, my time at CNM and my qualification have opened up a whole new world to me. I feel part of a big community where there’s so much cooperation and sharing, and so many great events, webinars and learning opportunities, it never feels like a chore and it benefits our clients and everyone learning

studied languages, then moved into media intelligence, after working in IT. Having used diet, supplements and exercise to address PCOS, I had a longterm interest in natural therapies, so I decided to turn my passion into a career which was flexible and far more interesting. My first GP visit for problematic menses was at 14. A PCOS diagnosis at 19 followed numerous visits to GPs, gynaecologists and endocrinologists. I was variously prescribed the contraceptive pill, metformin, the coil, antidepressants and many painkillers for painful periods. No nutritional/lifestyle advice was offered. I gained a lot of weight, my periods stopped, I developed acne and mood and liver problems, which worsened through poor dietary choices at university. Eventually a gynaecologist told me after an ovarian scan that I was unlikely to ever be able to conceive naturally. My mum inspired me to try natural therapies. She persevered even when I told her I wasn’t interested and the GP told her not to put ‘faddy diet ideas’ into my head. She took the time and interest, bought me all the books… I remember her taking me into

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from us! I have also embarked on an MSc in nutrition science. My company based in Guildford, Surrey Nutrition, focuses on women’s health. To be able to really listen to them, when they’ve so often felt unheard, to educate and support them to use the tools which helped me so profoundly, and to see the change in them is a real privilege. The sense of empowerment they gain reminds me so much of myself once I’d learnt how to manage my health. It’s the reason I became a nutritional therapist.

I never thought it’d be possible to study again and make such a huge life change once I’d had children. The course structure at CNM allowed me back into education and the career I wish I’d always had. I qualified in the same week as having my third child! Being able to fit education and career around my family makes it all the more enjoyable. They’ve been on the journey with me and they’re certainly benefitting from my knowledge. ©Hester B image

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

11th September, 2019 Visit naturopathy-uk.com

or call 01342

410 505

CNM has a 20-year track record training successful practitioners in natural therapies, in class and online. Colleges across the UK and Ireland.

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FOR A COPY OF OUR 2019 MEDIA PACK EITHER VISIT THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE WEBSITE THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK OR CONTACT US ON 0117 974 2800 or EMAIL: SALES @ THEBRISTOLMAGAZINE.CO.UK

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Promoted Content

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

“I would recommend CREATE Fertility to all of my family and friends. The clinic was very slick and well equipped, the staff were all brilliant AND I had a baby!” An initial consultation with one of the clinic’s specialists is the best way to obtain an accurate picture of fertility health and a personalised treatment programme.

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

SEPTEMBER 2019

ome time ago, Peter Turner, Senior Clinical Optometrist at Turners Opticians found himself suffering from a condition that left his eyes with a very sore, gritty and dry feeling at one moment and then watery in almost the blink of an eye. Despite his years of experience he was unable to understand why he had the problems he did. Peter has now thoroughly researched the condition, by shadowing other experts in the field and attempting to discover the ‘why’. It’s taken a long time to get answers, but being tenacious he kept going until he did.

Peter Turner Clinical Optometrist at Turners Opticians

Turners Opticians approach is now an initial diagnostic assessment, followed by a detailed explanation of findings, and importantly a reason for your symptoms. Then they explain to you how they’re going to get you the results you want.

I was 40 when George was born – a healthy 8lb 13oz beautiful little bundle of joy! My whole life now has meaning, and I love complete strangers telling me how gorgeous my son is.

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In order to provide you with an effective, personalised treatment plan they need to carefully examine the front of your eyes on their state of the art equipment to understand the nature of your eye troubles. Once a diagnosis is reached they can even offer advice based on the salt (osmolarity) of the tear products they advise for you. To benefit from a diagnosis, (which is so much more than just an assessment), Turners’ gentle and effective treatments, as well as thorough aftercare, contact the eye care team to arrange your appointment at the specialist dry and watery eye clinic.

Turners Opticians, 57 Henleaze Road, Tel: 0117 962 2474 and 768 Fishponds Road, Tel: 0117 965 4434

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ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

PITCH PERFECT RECOVERY Nuﬃeld Health’s unique post-operative rehab programme helps Bristol rugby captain

ajor surgery of any kind can be a daunting prospect for the patient, not only due to the procedure itself, but also the recovery. To support patients on their return to full fitness, Nuffield Health offers Recovery Plus, an enhanced recovery programme, which uniquely provides extended post-operative physiotherapy treatment after hip, knee or spinal surgery, at no additional cost. Recovery Plus brings together a broad range of healthcare services across Nuffield Health’s Bristol Hospital and its network of Fitness & Wellbeing Clubs, providing the necessary support to get well and stay healthy after surgery. Andrea George, physiotherapy manager at Nuffield Health Bristol Hospital, highlights the benefits of Recovery Plus for the patient. She says, “Everyone’s recovery is different, which is why we provide an individually tailored programme, working with the patient to understand what they want to get out of their recovery. Our priority is getting you back to doing the things you love.” Patient Murray Jones was the captain of Bristol Bisons RFC when he suffered a serious injury on the pitch last year, rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during the final of the UK Gay and Inclusive Rugby Championship in Southampton. Murray explains: “The biggest effect was I couldn’t play any sport. At that stage, rugby was very much my life because I was the captain, and even though it was finals day, we had a tournament in Amsterdam coming up, which I had to miss.”

Murray (back row, 4th from the right) with his team mates at Bristol Bisons RFC. A friend suggested Murray make an appointment to see consultant orthopaedic surgeon Mr Jonathan Webb, who specialises in sports-related knee injuries, and whose practice is based at Nuffield Health Bristol Hospital. Murray says: “I saw Mr Webb within a couple of weeks, and the surgery was booked within a month of my injury.”

He continues: “The operation was amazing. I didn’t even stay the night! The whole process was incredible, from the hospital to the care afterwards, to the follow-up physio. I cannot fault any of it. It was absolutely brilliant. “For me, the crucial thing with surgery like this is the aftercare. It doesn’t matter how good the operation is if you haven’t got good rehab. My main goal was to get back to playing rugby within a year, and I Murray Jones is back to full physical fitness, did it within nine months. There is no following his knee surgery last year. way I could’ve done it without that support.” in him, and the physiotherapists. The gym’s Included with the Recovery Plus great as well. It’s fantastic to have something programme is three months’ membership at a like that, so if anyone else is in that situation, Nuffield Health gym, where you are allocated they should take it up. It’s a no brainer.” a personal recovery coach, who will tailor your exercise plan to meet your needs in line For more information, call 0117 911 5339 or with your consultant’s and physiotherapist’s visit www.nuffieldhealth.com/hospitals/bristol. advice. Andrea says, “We now have a far more consistent, high quality approach for the patient journey through Recovery Plus, using a newly developed app to offer an enhanced method of tracking a patient’s progress.” When offered the Recovery Plus programme, Murray decided to take advantage of the opportunity, joining the Nuffield Health gym in Clifton. He explains: “I had a chat with Andrea about it, as to what the best thing was, and given the fact there’s a gym here, there’s the physios, it made sense. I know of other people who’ve had ACL surgery, and after one or two physio sessions, they get left. I don’t think that’s very good aftercare. It is the kind of surgery where you need it, even if you’re not playing sport. It’s so important. “I had my operation in April last year, and I started Recovery Plus in June. I had the free three months’ gym membership, and then I Consultant orthopaedic surgeon, Mr Jonathan just kept going. Webb, who operated on Murray’s ruptured “Without the operation, I could not have ACL. played rugby again. That’s the bottom line. I’m a very active person, and there’s just no way that I could’ve done any of that. Also, it’s about your future. I’m 43, which I consider young, and I want to have an active life for a long time yet. That’s why I wanted to get it sorted quickly. You hear these stories of people leaving it a long time, and it’s never the same again.” Murray speaks enthusiastically about the Nuffield Health Bristol Hospital support he received from Nuffield Health. The Chesterfield, 3 Clifton Hill, Clifton, “It’s all the way down,” he says. “Mr Webb is Bristol BS8 1BN an amazing surgeon, so I had complete faith nuffieldhealth.com/hospitals/bristol THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK

SEPTEMBER 2019

THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE 99

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GARDENING GREAT OUTDOORS

Ashton Swing Bridge

Bristol: city of bridges

We’ve a bewildering array of bridges, from the architecturally dazzling to the bleakly functional, and it’s hardly surprising that they figure so prominently in Bristol’s history, says Andrew Swift. When the Saxons first settled here they called their town Brycgstow – ‘meeting place by the bridge’

his original bridge was probably wooden. All we know is that in 1247 it was replaced by a four-arched stone bridge. It must have been an astonishing sight, lined with buildings five storeys high, and a chapel dedicated to St Mary in the middle. It lasted for over 500 years, before being replaced by the current Bristol Bridge – designed by the appropriately named James Bridges – in 1768. Although Bristolians seemed to have liked the new bridge, they were less keen on the tolls levied to recoup the cost of building it. Eventually, in 1793, a group of citizens decided that enough was enough and burnt down the tollgates. In the ensuing riots, 11 people were killed and 45 were injured when soldiers fired into the crowd. Despite being widened in 1873, the bridge survives today. For centuries it was the only bridge across the Avon downstream from Keynsham, but, after the Floating Harbour was created and the New Cut dug, bridge building boomed. It is a boom that shows no sign of abating, and has left Bristol with a bewildering array of bridges, from the celebrated to the unsung and from the architecturally dazzling to the bleakly functional. It has truly extraordinary examples, from the monumentality of the Plimsoll Bridge at Cumberland Basin to the serpentine curves of Valentine’s Bridge near Temple Meads and the horn-shaped counterweights of Pero’s Bridge. Quirkiness abounds. The 135-year-old Langton Street Bridge over the New Cut, for example, nicknamed the Banana Bridge because of its shape, has now obligingly been painted yellow. Perhaps the most unusual is Ashton Swing Bridge. When opened in 1906, it was doubledecked, with road above and rail below, and a signalbox on top. It last swung in 1934, and the upper deck and signalbox have now gone, but the remaining deck now carries the MetroBus and a cycle route. Without its bridges, the city could not function, and, as congestion grows, there are repeated calls for more to be built. The lack of a bridge over the Floating Harbour between Prince Street and Merchant’s 100 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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Road seems the most glaring omission, but, although there have long been plans for a pedestrian and cycle bridge from near the SS Great Britain to Western Wharf, they have so far come to nothing. In 2003, a ‘wingbridge’ was proposed, with two wings rising from a central pier to allow tall ships to pass. More recently the idea has been floated again by Gavin Bridge (another aptonym!) whose company Cubex was behind the construction of the Castle Park to Finzels Reach bridge. Two more new bridges – one for vehicles and one for pedestrians and cyclists – can be found south of Temple Meads, on a stretch of the river where few venture. Built to provide access to the now-abandoned arena, they are eerily deserted, awaiting the promised development of the arena site. South of them is another little-known bridge dating from 1892, which pedestrians share with a single-track railway line. It was the number and variety of Bristol’s bridges that in 2012 prompted Dr Thila Gross of the University of Bristol to see if he could devise a walk which crossed all of them only once. He was inspired by a famous 18th-century mathematical conundrum known as the Seven Bridges of Königsberg, but, whereas the original puzzle proved insoluble, Dr Gross managed to come up with a route which crossed all 43 of Bristol’s bridges only once. Since then, two more bridges have opened, but a revised route, 28 miles long, now forms the basis of a fascinating new book, From Brycgstow to Bristol in 45 Bridges by Jeff Lucas, which includes photographs and details of all the bridges. Even that, though, does not exhaust the subject. The early 17th-century Wickham Bridge, on the River Frome, is Bristol’s oldest, while the rustic bridges on the Blaise Castle Estate are probably the most picturesque. Bridges are not just built across water, of course. In the 1960s, there were plans to build a ‘city in the sky’, extending across the city centre. Aerial walkways and piazzas at first-floor level would create a safe environment for pedestrians, while the traffic roared below. A small

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part of the scheme, including several footbridges, was actually built, but the bridges over Nelson and Baldwin Streets and Lewins Mead were demolished in 2015, and the footbridge across the Old Market roundabout followed two years later. Just north of Old Market, one footbridge does survive, however, linking Cabot Circus to a car park. Curving and tilting across six lanes of traffic, it provides a dynamic counterpoint to the flanking buildings. Unfortunately, it can also induce vertigo in certain users, and there is a Facebook group dedicated to the ‘wonky bridge in Cabot Circus’. One thing all Bristol’s bridges have in common is that the names of their designers are almost completely unknown – with one exception. Few Bristolians will have difficulty naming the man responsible for the Clifton Suspension Bridge. Brunel’s iconic structure is not only the bestknown building in Bristol; it is virtually the city’s trademark. Astonishingly, although Brunel designed it long before he worked on the Great Western Railway or the SS Great Britain, he never saw it completed. Although work on it started in 1831, it ground to a halt soon afterwards and, despite resuming in 1835, it was only completed in 1864, five years after his death. It was not the only bridge he built in the city, however. In 1839, he

designed a stone bridge to carry his railway across the Avon. Now Grade I listed, it remains in use, but metal bridges on either side almost completely hide it from view. In 1849 Brunel also designed a swivel bridge for Cumberland Basin. Although Grade II* listed, it is currently laid up on the harbourside, and is on Historic England’s register of buildings at risk. A group of volunteers are working to restore this historic structure, and on 7 and 8 September they will be marking its 170th birthday with interactive demonstrations, exhibitions and tours of the bridge. Brunel’s iconic suspension bridge may be Bristol’s most famous landmark, but it is far from being the only one worth seeking out in this city of bridges. ■ • For information on Brunel’s swivel bridge, visit brunelsotherbridge.org.uk. During Bristol Open Doors (13 – 15 September) you can find out more about the Suspension Bridge or join a Bristol Ferry Boat tour of Bristol’s boats and bridges. Walks around the harbourside, along the River Frome and along the Avon to Avonmouth feature in Andrew Swift’s Walks from Bristol’s Severn Beach Line, available from Stanfords in Corn Street, the Tourist Information Centre on the Harbourside or akemanpress.com

Brunel’s bridge under construction

Banana Bridge

Pero’s Bridge

Excellent design which was radically different from others we had contacted. Took heed of all our needs. Excellent communication throughout the ordering and fitting process. Very impressed by their staff especially the fitter for the kitchen and their showroom support staff. Would definitely recommend to others. - Mike & Suzanne

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ADVERTORIAL

From Denmark to your door BoConcept Bristol opened on Merchant Street last year, providing the city with beautiful and adaptable Danish-designed furniture

stablished in 1952, the brand now has 300 stores in more than 60 countries, making it the world’s most global furniture purveyor. “The overall concept is about creating an individual and personal experience – an ‘all about you’ approach where the customer can choose the design and style that suits their home and way of life,” explains Brett Simpson, director of BoConcept Bristol. “What makes us different is our ability to customise our furniture, the majority of which is also designed to be functional, creating harmony and saving time, space and stress. We believe that truly functional design should adapt to the way you live and we create products for just that purpose – you’ll find coffee tables that turn into dining tables, a stylish footstool that becomes a single bed and many more stylish and functional pieces. “Our focus is on customisation of size, colour or material and making products that have exceptional build quality, durability and finish that customers will enjoy for years to come. We genuinely love to help our customers find the exact piece of furniture that suits their needs, style and budget – and with our in-house interior design service, our expert team of qualified and experience interior designers co-create homes and workspaces to the customer’s needs and style.” The BoConcept team know redecorating can be a challenge, but whether you need help to design an entire new home or just need to choose a new sofa or dining table, they’re there to support you through the process. From the first meeting, be it either in the showroom or in the comfort of your home, you’ll be provided with

Find plenty of stylish and functional pieces to suit your taste and budget

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suggestions and recommendations that make the most out of your space and incorporate your personal taste and ideas. The Bristol team offer expert advice on everything from furniture and colour schemes, as well as a full 3D floorplan of your home so you can see the result before you make a decision. The store also has a commercial range and design service and is experienced in collaborating on projects with independent interior designers, property developers, private rental sector landlords or those just looking to style a home office, creating solutions for the home and commercial space every time. The lovely two-floor showroom, in the heart of Bristol city centre, has a welcoming environment with a professional team. “We aim to provide all customers with a first-class service,” says Brett, “from the moment they enter our showroom to the Brett Simpson delivery of their new items.” The new 2020 furniture and accessory collection is out now. Collect a free 21st edition of the annual catalogue, showcasing new products, trends and styles, to check it out. n • boconcept.com

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GARDENING

On apps such as the Bristol-based Candide, users can ‘dig’ the pictures in the same way as you would ‘like’ a photo on Facebook

Smart gardening

We may not want robots to tend our plants for us, but thanks to tech there’s a fantastic amount of useful plant-based information at our (green) fingertips

ne of the things I love about hands-on gardening is that it provides an escape from the fast-paced modern world where everything is screen-based and there at the click of a finger. But just like every other aspect of modern living, technology is permeating our gardens, with countless apps, websites and new gadgets designed to help, encourage and inspire. Technology is there for the taking if we wish to use it to our advantage. Sure, we may not want robots to tend our plants for us – although robotic lawn mowers are growing in popularity – but in terms of finding out information about plants and how to look out for them, the internet can (for your plants anyway) literally be a life saver. If you’re not confident in the garden, and let’s face it, even if you’ve been gardening for years there is always more to know, it’s fantastic that information is available at our (green) fingertips. Although my bookshelves are still heaving with gardening books, including the twovolume RHS A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants that used to be my go-to reference source, I can’t actually remember the last time I pulled it out, when so much information is just a click away. One of my favourite sources for reliable and accurate information is the RHS website (rhs.org.uk). It has recently introduced a really handy ‘my garden’ feature that is ideal for new and not-so-new gardeners. It’s free to register and you don’t have to be an RHS member – just type in a list of the plants in your garden and it will give you a month-by-month calendar of jobs to complete. I also love the BBC Gardeners’ World website as a source of both advice and inspiration. It has a ‘what-to-do-now’ section, practical projects and an extensive plant-finder database. 104 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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But what if you don’t know the name of a plant in your garden? This is where some amazing new identification apps come into play. PlantSnap is a free app “where nature and technology live in harmony” that seems to work well and has good reviews, but there are lots more to choose from – PlantNet, SmartPlant, PlantFinder and Garden Answers to name a few. All seem to work on a similar premise: take a picture on your smartphone and the app will tell you what it is, giving you a few options if necessary. It’s really useful if you’re out garden visiting and see a plant that you like, but don’t know the name of. Bristol-based Candide is another great app that launched last year and made it to the front page of my phone. It offers a mix of ideas, plantrelated news and useful information, wrapped in a friendly, social-networking package. It brands itself as a plant-loving community, and has a welcoming, user-friendly vibe. The home screen is a ‘feed’ of pictures that users have uploaded – whether a rare flower from their own garden, a question that needs answering, a harvest of spuds or a beautiful public garden they’ve visited. Other users can ‘dig’ the pictures and messages in the same way as they would with a Facebook ‘like’. Gardening ambassador Bethan Guest says: “It’s a really nice way for people to interact, ask questions or post their photos. However, at the heart of Candide is its warm, friendly and helpful community.” From September there will also be a Marketplace, launched exclusively for plants-people in Bristol. “This will be a great place to swap, sell or advertise any garden-related items, from seeds, to a bumper crop of courgettes, to unwanted tools,” Bethan explains. The ‘places’ section is useful if you’re away in the UK and want to find garden centres or gardens to visit nearby, or even listen to an audio tour

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GARDENING

from a head gardener of a historic garden. The ‘knowledge’ section also includes a handy plant identifier, which seems to work just as well as any apps solely dedicated to this purpose, making it a good one-stop shop for all things gardening related. There’s also a separate app, Candide Labels, which uses augmented reality and the plant identifying tool to virtually label your plants as you move around your home or garden – a great way to avoid using plastic labels, and fun to use as well. And it’s all free, which is always a bonus. As well as the massive source of information and inspiration that can be found online, there are plenty of other ways technology can vastly enrich and help our gardening experience, from watering and lighting systems controlled from our phones, to 3D virtual reality modelling programmes for garden designers, allowing clients to wear a headset and ‘walk around’ their virtual garden before any digging has taken place. I love listening to podcasts while I’m gardening, and just about any skill is searchable on YouTube if you’re not sure how to prune that rose or clematis. We may not yet have discovered how to control the vagaries of British weather, but we can certainly use tech to track how our plants are faring. Portable gadgets called weather stations can be used to measure air quality, humidity and temperature – useful in the greenhouse to keep tabs on the tomatoes – while outside you can position plant monitors around your prized plants to measure sunlight and soil moisture, alerting you via your mobile phone when a plant needs attention. Indoor ‘smart’ flower pots are also available that tell you via an app when to water, or if you’ve overwatered. Automatic watering systems are nothing new, but rather than just having irrigation on a timer, now it makes sense to control it from your phone, so you only water as and when necessary. It’s all clever stuff, and potentially beneficial to the environment as well. It seems anyone with a smart phone is now carrying a massive database in their pocket, and can use this technology as much or as little as is necessary or desirable. Muddy fingers might mean your phone needs an occasional wipe, but perhaps it’s worth the risk. ■

Plant of the month: Gaura lindheimeri This grassy showstopper comes into its own at the end of summer when many other border plants have finished flowering. The pale white or pink flowers appear en masse on tall, elegant stems that bounce in the wind, lending it the common name of whirling butterflies. It likes full sun and free-draining soil, and is well suited to gravel gardens. It copes well with drought – last summer it was one of the few plants that didn’t bat an eyelid when the rest of the garden was parched, and lawns everywhere were crisp and yellow. Although it reaches up to a metre in height and gets quite woody, it’s the new soft growth that will carry flowers the following year, so cut it back hard when it starts to look tatty, and new leaves will sprout from the base in spring.

• ellyswellies.co.uk

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

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

SEPTEMBER 2019

THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE 105

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WILD BRISTOL

A hoopoe sits on a sloping branch with his back to the photographer and with an open crown

Rose-tinted spectacles

September brings change and the occasional surprise visitor, writes wildlife columnist Pete Dommett

emember that sinking feeling when you realised the six weeks of summer holidays were almost at an end and that it would soon be time to go back to school? As I went on to become a teacher, this annual, gut-churning apprehension continued well into my adult life! September has always been a month of change, though: a change of class or school; a change in the pace of life from the lazy days of August to the back-to-business busyness of work; a change in the seasons. So it is for birds too. Adults, having finished breeding, re-establish territories or move to new feeding grounds; this year’s youngsters, recently fledged from the nest, search for homes of their own; and our summer visitors leave us again to spend the winter in warmer climes. Most of the city’s swifts have already gone by now – they’re currently carving a sky-path to Africa on wings of curved steel – with swallows and housemartins soon to follow them. While the movements of most birds are predictable, the biannual miracle of migration always throws up a few surprises. Birdwatchers get all twitchy at this time of year, flocking to far-flung corners of the country to see a rarely seen species that has been blown off-course, or brought down to ground by bad weather or one that has simply got it a bit wrong. Occasionally, something special will be delivered right to your doorstep. A few autumns ago, an outrageously handsome hoopoe popped up – somewhat incongruously – in a caravan park at Sand Point, near Weston-super-Mare. For a while, I had it all to myself – this ridiculous-looking bird with its bent beak, zebra stripes and headdress of orange feathers. When a group of photographers arrived, it fluttered about in front of them like an oversized butterfly,

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unashamedly flaunting its exotic good looks. The following year, I drove to Severn Beach to see a desert wheatear – a two-star rarity, according to my Collins Bird Guide. This time, the snappers were already there on the sea-wall, pointing their telescopic lenses at a tiny bird just a few feet away. It was a striking male, fittingly dressed in shades of beige and sandy brown, but looking a little bedraggled. I wondered what it was doing here on the edge of Bristol, when it should be making its way to Morocco or the Middle East, and whether it would ever get back on track. Last September, Severn Beach also played host to a rose-coloured starling. This nomadic species from central Europe and Asia is another sporadic guest to the west of England, often mixing with flocks of our far more familiar common starlings. Now is the peak time for sightings, with many occurring in suburban gardens. Most are of juvenile birds, whose duller colours mean they’re easily overlooked, but a stopover from a stunning adult – still in its salmonpink and shiny black summer plumage – is hard to miss. Nevertheless, I failed to find the Severn Beach starling plus another that was spotted nearer the city centre. Because of their predilection for eating crop-munching pests, like locusts, these birds are revered in some countries; their appearance considered something akin to divine intervention. This month, I’ll be praying for a visitation from these – or any other – seasonal visions to get me through those backto-school blues. ■

• Check for local sightings of rare migrant birds on the Bristol Ornithological Club’s ‘Avon Birds’ website: avonbirding.blogspot.co.uk

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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 THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK

SEPTEMBER 2019

THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE 107

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BRISTOL PROPERTY | IN FOCUS

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BRISTOL PROPERTY | IN FOCUS

vonhurst is an immaculate detached family home in the heart of popular Leigh Woods opposite St Mary’s Church. The accommodation is on two floors and is characterised by its natural light and abundance of storage space. There are several reception rooms making this the perfect house for entertaining. Two of the south-facing ground floor rooms have bi-fold doors which open out onto the gardens. The bespoke kitchen comes with a range of high specification integrated appliances, central island and plenty of storage. In addition you’ll find a handy utility room with side access to the garden, a study and guest WC. Upstairs there are three good sized bedrooms, a shower room and a luxurious contemporary family bathroom complete with limestone tiling. The upstairs landing is large enough to be used as a further study area if required. Outside there’s a double garage with workshop and three further store rooms/workshops. To the rear the south facing garden offers a quiet, sunny escape with a blend of level lawn, patio and mature shrubs and trees. With Clifton Village just over a mile away, this beautifully maintained home is sure to appeal to a variety of purchasers. Full details are available from agents Knight Frank.

CHURCH ROAD LEIGH WOODS • Immaculate family home • Three bedrooms • Light and spacious accommodation • Double garage with additional workshop and stores

Price on Application Knight Frank, 27a Regent Street, Clifton, Bristol BS8 4HR. Tel: 0117 295 0425. robin.engley@knightfrank.com

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2019 AWARDS

(0117) 934 9977

We are delighted to have won 5 top industry awards in 2019...

Julian Cook FRICS

Jayne Rixon MRICS

Burston Cook September.indd 1

Charlie Kershaw MRICS

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Tom Coyte MRICS

Holly Boulton BSc(Hons)

• • • • •

Sales / Lettings Acquisitions Valuations Landlord & tenant Auction Sales

• • • • •

Rent reviews Property Management Investment Sales / Purchase Development & Planning Dilapidations Advice 22/08/2019 12:38

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

(0117) 934 9977

‘CLIFTON’ OFFICES

CLIFTON RESTAURANT

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

• Landmark corner unit

PENTHOUSE OFFICE QUEEN SQUARE

STUDIO OFFICES CLOSE TO BBC – BS8

• 1,958 sq ft

• Coming soon

• New refurbishment

• 2,030 sq ft

• Available Q4 2019

• Open plan studio

• New lease – rent on application

• New lease

110 WHITELADIES ROAD

WHITELADIES RD – OFFICES

• Large shop to let

• New lease - £20,000 pax

• 1st floor suite of offices • 1,000 sq ft + 2 car spaces • Contemporary refurb • New lease – rent on application

CHANDOS ROAD, REDLAND

UNION STREET, BROADMEAD

• Fully fitted shop

• C 1,000 sq ft retail space

• Clifton Village • Fitted and ready to trade • 1,400 sq ft • Only £26,000 pax

• 1,600 sq ft • Suit shop & office use

• 489 sq ft

• Suit offices and other commercial uses

• Low rent and rates

• New flexible lease

• New lease - £11,000 pax HOTWELL RD, BS8

• Economical rent

RESTAURANTS & SHOPS IN CLIFTON & BS1

• To rent / may sell • Busy prominent location

RESTAURANTS, SHOPS TO RENT OF VARIOUS TYPES & SIZES THROUGHOUT CLIFTON & BS1

• 1,235 sq ft

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

• Rent reviews • Property Management • Investment Sales / Purchase • Development & Planning • Dilapidations Advice 22/08/2019 12:38

RESTAURANTS AVAILABLE… Burston Cook are instructed to offer to let a selection of prime restaurants…

CLIFTON VILLAGE BS8

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WHITELADIES ROAD BS8

• New lease • Sensible rent • C 1,400 sq ft

• Prime position • Sunny terrace • 3,000 sq ft

A rare opportunity to acquire a very attractive prominent corner unit in Clifton (opposite Pizza Express & the new Bar 44)

One of the best sites in Clifton with sunny terrace and fully fitted to a high standard for immediate use.

PARK STREET BS1

ST STEPHEN STREET BS1

• New lease • 2,700 sq ft • Late license

• Busy city site • Fully fitted • 1,330 sq ft

A long established bar in a prime site with late alcohol license (2.00 am) recently refurbished and fitted to top spec!

Licensed restaurant, recently refurbished and fitted out ready to walk in and trade. Low rent £18,000 pax – premium offers on application.

GLOUCESTER ROAD BS7

THE GALLERIES BROADMEAD

• New lease • 2,700 sq ft • Late license Fully fitted restaurant with alcohol and recorded music license, ready to trade. Rent £35,000 pax – premium offers – on application.

• Restaurant business •

Opportunity to purchase a flourishing restaurant business in Broadmead. Existing lease – premium offers on application.

e Julian Cook FRICS

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2,000 sq ft • Fully fitted

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• • • • •

Sales / Lettings Acquisitions Valuations Landlord & tenant Auction Sales

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Rent reviews Property Management Investment Sales / Purchase Development & Planning Dilapidations Advice 22/08/2019 12:38

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COMING HOME TO BRANDON YARD How the award-winning Brandon Yard made one couple’s Bristol dreams come true

RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT SITES WANTED WITH OR WITHOUT PLANNING PERMISSION FROM SINGLE PLOTS TO MULTIPLE UNIT SCHEMES STRATEGIC LAND UNUSED PUBLIC HOUSES, HOTELS AND COMMERCIAL UNITS

contact: CAMERON GRAY mobile: 07876 197522

cameron@landdevelopmentbrokers.co.uk www.landdevelopmentbrokers.co.uk

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auline and Nick Bourqui had lived most of their lives in Bristol and the city provided the backdrop to many key moments; it was where they met and fell in love, got married and raised their children. However, for the last two decades, their home has been over 4,000 miles away in the United States. They moved abroad for work and enjoyed their lives there, but had left a piece of their heart in Bristol and always looked forward to the day they would return home. During their years abroad they kept a bolthole in the city. Pauline said: “It was fascinating to see the changing face of Bristol and we kept a particularly keen eye on the development around the harbourside.” “When we first moved to Bristol, Nick and I used to sail back and forth on the ferry and I recall thinking that the gasworks buildings would make for a fantastic conversion. I remember saying to Nick that if they ever developed the site, that’s where I want to live.” When they realised on one of their return trips that the site was indeed being developed, they were excited. Pauline comments: “It was as though it were meant to be. The timing couldn’t have been better as we were in a position to return to the UK.” “Brandon Yard could only ever have been something wonderful. Its location is exceptional, being close to the water and walkable to everywhere you would want to spend time in the city. Plus, we loved its history. Acorn Property Group has an excellent reputation for creating high quality contemporary homes and so we had absolute faith in the design and build.” They chose an apartment at New Retort House, the modern building that sits alongside the Grade II Listed former gasworks. Pauline says: “We loved the connection the apartment has with the north side of the city, and the idea that we will be able to see up to both the university and Brandon Hill from our terrace. We recently had the opportunity to visit the apartment and were bowled over by how light and spacious it felt.” Pauline and Nick Bourqui will be moving back and into their new apartment at Brandon Yard this autumn. Vicky Dudbridge from Savills Bristol said: “The last major site to be regenerated on Bristol’s floating harbour, Brandon Yard is hugely popular. Its location, opposite the SS Great Britain, is outstanding, and the quality of the design and build, inside and out, exceptional. We started selling off-plan early on and are now more than 80% sold.” n For further information contact Savills on +44 (0) 1179 100 360 or Knight Frank on +44 117 317 1973

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PROPERTY NEWS

BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM ACROSS THE CITY’S BOOMING SECTOR Image: Go Modular Technologies (UK)

PIONEERING APPROACH Bristol developer Urban Creation is behind a pioneering approach to construction that saw bespoke prebuilt homes craned into an existing building on one of Bristol's most famous thoroughfares, with huge implications for the future of house building in the UK. Modular construction – where homes are created off-site in a factory – has been used widely for new builds, but this is believed to be the first time in the UK that homes have been specially made to fit into the shell of an existing building on a historic, city centre street. The site – 50 Park Street – was formerly a nightclub but was vacant and dilapidated when Urban Creation bought it in in 2018. While most of the buildings in Park Street are Georgian, number 50 was built in the 1950s after the previous building was bombed during World War II. “We're very excited to be taking modular construction to a new level, using a highly innovative approach that has the potential to revolutionise the future of home building in the UK," said Jonathan Brecknell, director and owner at Urban Creation, which has many years' experience in transforming unusual, complex buildings. “Urban Creation teamed up with modular construction specialist Go Modular, which created bespoke, ready-to-go homes built specially to fit into the building. This is an unusual approach as usually modular units are created in uniform shapes and sizes. “The UK is facing a significant construction skills shortage, which is exacerbating the housing crisis as it means we aren't delivering enough homes to meet demand. Modular construction is set to revolutionise the future of home building in the UK – there’s potential for modular homes to be delivered much quicker than traditional homes, putting less pressure on our stretched construction skills pool. They're also created in a controlled environment, meaning the construction

GROWING THEIR OWN Bristol Housing Partnership, a group of 14 housing associations working with the council to deliver more affordable homes in the city, has launched a pilot training and employment scheme aimed at attracting young people to choose a career in housing development. The initiative, known as the BHP Academy, will offer people the opportunity to train and work as affordable housing development officers over a period of 24 months. They will receive specialist training in the first year and continue to learn while working within established development teams for the following 12 months. Each trainee officer will receive a salary of £23,000pa during the twoyear period. The pilot scheme offers 10 places on the programme and represents an investment by BHP and Bristol City Council of £100,000 in training alone. Seven of the available places are newly created roles, five of which will be recruited externally while two will be recruited internally by BHP members. The remaining three positions will be offered as internal training opportunities to BHP and BCC employees. “A career in housing development can be incredibly fulfilling but, despite the many advantages it offers, our sector is still affected by skills shortages,” said Sarah Maylor, BHP chair. “Our members are committed to building 2,500 new homes in Bristol alone over the next five years and, to do so, we need more skilled people – this is why we’ve decided to invest in ‘growing our own’ talent. The ideal candidates are university and sixth form college graduates, regardless of degree speciality – as we’re offering extensive training, our recruitment will focus more on attitude to learning, personal competence and enthusiasm.” • housing.org.uk/bhp-academy

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programme isn’t at the mercy of adverse weather. Not to mention the fact that it causes less disruption to neighbours as most of the build is carried out off-site.” While modular construction has been used widely for new builds, often on greenfield sites, Urban Creation’s approach shows what’s possible in tight urban sites, which could help meet the urgent need for homes in our towns and cities. A recent survey by the Federation of Master Builders, which represents small and medium-sized construction companies, found that housebuilders were encountering problems in recruiting skilled workers, with 60 per cent saying they were struggling to hire bricklayers and 54 per cent finding it difficult to employ carpenters and joiners. Over four nights, from 11 – 14 August between the hours of 8pm and 5am, nine pre-built apartments were lifted by 200-tonne crane into 50 Park Street through the open roof into the cleared shell of the building, after arriving by lorry from a factory in Southampton. The building team had already stripped out 50 Park Street, removing the internal floors and walls, stabilising the shell of the building with a steel structure ready for the big lift-in. “Modular homes are a far cry from the prefab housing of the 1940s,” Jonathan added: “They are designed and fitted out to the highest standard and built to last. We pride ourselves on our meticulous attention to detail and ability to take complex buildings and give them a new lease of life – and 50 Park Street is no different. Now that we’ve put this innovative approach into action, we’ll be looking to use this method in other suitable development projects.” Urban Creation is bringing back some traditional charm and character to the building by creating a mansard roof at the front of the four-storey building, as well as incorporating features such as cornicing and period-style sash windows into the design. The homes will be let to the student market and are scheduled to be ready for occupation this month. • Twitter: @Urban_Creation

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CITY | BUSINESS

MOVING HOUSE? IT PAYS TO DO YOUR HOMEWORK RICHARD BROOKS

Head of Savills Clifton office and south west residential division

s the summer draws to a close and autumn makes its appearance many people will be thinking of a new start. For some this means making the decision to put their home on the market. But how much is your home worth? And what is demand really like in your neck of the woods? Likewise, what are house prices actually doing? When it comes to selling, you’ll want to know the answers to all these questions – and more – and, of course, the agents you invite to pitch for your business will be happy to furnish you with their views and advice. Good agents will give you straightforward information based on experience and sound market knowledge but if you haven’t moved house for years and you’re not a follower of market minutiae, it may not necessarily be what you expect to hear.

So how do you judge whose opinion to listen to? Just as many of us do before any major purchase, I would always advise anyone considering putting their house on the market to do their own research of your own before meeting any agents. That way you are better placed to weigh up what you are hearing. A good place to start is to seek out what the leading players are saying. Some, such as Savills, regularly publish research on the residential market, which you can read online for free. This can be a really helpful in providing balance to the news headlines. For example, if you were to believe everything you read, you could be convinced that the new Prime Minister is set to overhaul stamp duty. Dig a little deeper however, and our recent paper on the subject shows the reality is more complex and by no means a done deal.

In terms of value, it is important to remember that national and regional overviews can mask a multitude of local variations. For example, while the southern region has experienced a slight fall in the value of prime property over the last 12 months, prices in Bristol have held firm. You should also be aware that hotspots can and do change over time – a high or poor performing school can make a big difference to the desirability of an area, as can improved local infrastructure and amenities. Arming yourself with some background knowledge will allow you to make an informed decision about how to market what is likely to be your most valuable asset. If it transpires your home is not worth quite what you thought, or your area isn’t bang on trend, then challenge an agent to come up with a strategy that will maximise exposure to potential buyers and so stand the best chance of a successful sale. Savills Clifton offers its clients a full appreciation of the market, based on in-depth specialist research and sound local knowledge. If you are thinking of buying or selling in the area, contact our team of experts. Find out more at www.savills.co.uk/insight-andopinion/research or contact one of our friendly team of experts on 0117 933 5800. n

Richard Brooks, Savills Clifton. 20 The Mall, Clifton Village, Bristol, BS8 4DR Web: savills.co.uk

New to the market for September: Caledonia Place, Clifton, Stone Lane, Winterbourne and Elan House, Sneyd Park

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cjhole.co.uk

THE CRESCENT, HENLEAZE

LAWRENCE GROVE, HENLEAZE

Significantly extended to a high specification with a contemporary feel throughout, this three storey semi-detached halls adjoining family home now offers open plan lateral living to rear and is positioned within the ever popular The Crescent, within central Henleaze. EPC C

Superbly presented throughout and positioned on one of the popular ‘Grove’ roads within Henleaze is this extended five bedroom semidetached family home with a delightful open plan family living space and modern kitchen/diner providing access to a 24m rear garden. EPC D

GUIDE PRICE £895,000

£825,000

VICTORIA SQUARE, CLIFTON

WEST COOMBE, STOKE BISHOP

This two bedroom top floor apartment is set within a stunning grade ll* listed terrace in the heart of Clifton Village with panoramic views extending across Bristol. There is lift access to the upper floors, making it an ideal choice for young and retired buyers alike. EPC D

Originally the Coach House to Salisbury House, this four bedroom family home is a beautiful example of a period property with a contemporary feel. Recently extensively renovated, this property is tucked way within the highly desirable Stoke Bishop and is marketed with no onward chain. EPC D

£435,000

£585,000

NEW Clifton Office

Henleaze Office

Westbury-on-Trym Office

161 Whiteladies Road Clifton, BS8 2RF

108 Henleaze Road Henleaze, BS9 4JZ

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

Tel: 0117 962 9221

Tel: 0117 950 0118

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

CJ Hole September.indd 1

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westbury@cjhole.co.uk

19/08/2019 11:20

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

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Howard September.indd 2

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KINGSDOWN BS2

£775,000

STOKE BISHOP BS9 GUIDE PRICE £500,000

The versatile interior is set over three floors offering on the ground level an extensive kitchen/living space with twin doors opening out to the south facing rear walled garden. In addition there is a utility room, cloakroom and storage cupboards. EPC D

SSTC £899,000

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

A detached, four bedroom, 1970’s built family home. The interior comprises two reception rooms, kitchen, cloakroom, family bathroom and a rear garden. There is also a useful utility room adjacent to the garage. EPC F

KINGSDOWN BS2 GUIDE PRICE £755,000

HARBOURSIDE BS1

STOKE BISHOP BS9 SSTC £475,000

A well-presented period property offers a ground floor shop. The first and second floors offer a spacious, well presented, three bedroom maisonette. The basement rooms offer a utility area and separate cellar storage rooms. EPC C

An impressive Harbourside apartment offers a generous three bedroom interior, terrace with views towards the water and an enclosed south west facing private rear garden. The apartment is offered with secured underground parking. EPC B

An impressive upper floor maisonette set within this fine late Victorian (1896) Grade II listed building, offers a spacious interior, generous lounge diner, separate kitchen, three double bedrooms, a family bathroom and en-suite shower room. EPC D

CLIFTON BS8

REDLAND BS6

SSTC £435,000

A well-presented two double bedroom top floor flat. The sympathetic yet stylish improvements made to the property have created a sumptuous home. The apartment consists of: front garden, lounge area, open plan kitchen lounge with a high quality kitchen and feature island. EPC F

0117 923 8238 Howard September.indd 3

HARBOURSIDE BS1

GUIDE PRICE

SSTC £485,000

SSTC £415,000

A particularly stunning and spacious two bedroom upper maisonette consists of stunning kitchen diner with outstanding views to the rear, lounge and a recently modernised bathroom. Residents parking is available in the area. EPC D

www.howard-homes.co.uk

GUIDE PRICE

£410,000

A contemporary two double bedroom apartment consisting of: living room diner featuring a Juliet style balcony, separate quality kitchen, the master benefitting from an en-suite and a main bathroom. Also comes with an under croft garage and it falls within a Residents Parking Zone. EPC TBC

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19/08/2019 11:22

0117 923 8238

REDLAND BS6

£395,000

GUIDE PRICE

CLIFTON BS8

SSTC £385,000

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

A spacious and truly stunning two double bedroom first floor apartment set in a GRADE II listed Victorian building. Comprises of: large open plan living area consisting of a lounge/diner, kitchen area, master bedroom with a lovely en-suite shower room and a second double bedroom. EPC E

CLIFTON BS8

GUIDE PRICE

£340,000

SSTC £340,000

CITY CENTRE BS8

SSTC £360,000

A most impressive Grade II Listed Building, a two double bedroom duplex apartment. The open plan living area extends to offer a dinning space, home office area, utility room, cloakroom, spacious kitchen and the spiral staircase leads to the upper floor accommodation.

CLIFTON BS8

SSTC £315,000

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

A particularly spacious two double bedroom first floor flat with generous lounge, lovely modern kitchen diner and a modern shower room. The apartment is presented to a high standard by the owner occupier and falls within a Residents Parking Zone. EPC D

A well-presented two double bedroom top floor flat offers a spacious living room with walk storage cupboard, bathroom and a separate kitchen with an open outlook along Hampton Park. EPC D

SNEYD PARK BS9

CLIFTON BS8

CITY CENTRE BS8

GUIDE PRICE

£310,000

A spacious and beautifully presented upper maisonette. This fabulous apartment offers: spacious lounge, good size kitchen diner with space for a dining table, two bedrooms and the bathroom is a generous size with his and her basins. EPC D

SSTC £225,000

A bright and spacious one double bedroom, with the interior comprising of a living room, separate kitchen and en-suite bathroom. An excellent location to live within close proximity of Clifton Down shopping centre, The Downs and Clifton Triangle. EPC D

GUIDE PRICE

£219,995

Calling all investors, this two bedroom flat is being sold with the current tenants in situ, with a current rental income of £995 per month. The property consists of: an entrance hall, storage cupboard, open plan living area/kitchen, two bedrooms and bathroom. EPC C

203 Whiteladies Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 2XT

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Clifton, Bristol | Guide Price ÂŁ695,000 An elegant and well-proportioned family home with period charm, a sunny south facing garden and versatile accommodation arranged over four floors. A fabulous family home situated between Clifton Village and the harbourside | Elegant and versatile accommodation arranged over four floors | Light-filled sitting room with an open fire and a separate snug / bedroom four | Delightful open-plan kitchen and dining room with a wood burning stove | First floor master bedroom with en-suite access to the family bathroom | Two top floor double bedrooms | Stunning family bathroom with walk-in shower and separate bath | Further shower room & a separate ground floor cloakroom | Enclosed south facing courtyard garden | Catchment for Hotwells and Christchurch Primary Schools | EPC: D |

In all circa 1675 sq. ft (155 sq. m)

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Harbourside, Bristol | Guide Price £995,000 An exceptional duplex penthouse apartment, for sale for the first time since new and occupying a significant footprint with a private balcony, 40’ wrap-around roof terrace and far reaching views. Two floors of fabulous penthouse living | Superb harbour views | Substantial 40’ wide south facing wrap-around roof terrace | Open pan family kitchen and sitting room with a separate TV room | Sixth floor sunroom and separate home office | Significant master bedroom suite with walk-in wardrobe and en-suite bathroom | Second double bedroom with en-suite shower room | Separate family bathroom; excellent storage and a separate utility room | Allocated under-croft parking space | No onward chain | EPC: C |

In all circa 1645 sq. ft (153 sq. m)

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

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Stoke Bishop BS9 £350,000 2 bedroom apartment A spacious two double bedroom top floor apartment set within this grade II listed Victorian period property. The accommodation has an entrance hallway, lounge/diner, kitchen, two double bedrooms and family bathroom. Set in a prestigious and coveted location on the fringes of the Downs and within easy reach of Whiteladies Road, Westbury Park shops and access out of town and into the city centre. EPC D

Stoke Bishop BS9 £320,000 3 bedroom apartment

Sneyd Park BS9 £450,000 2 bed first floor apartment

A spacious apartment located in this very attractive tranquil woodland development on the edge of Stoke Bishop. The three bedroom apartment is located on the first floor with it’s own sun terrace.

A spacious two double bedroom first floor apartment.The accommodation has an entrance hallway, lounge/diner, kitchen/breakfast room, two double bedrooms and family bathroom. Set in a prestigious and coveted location on the fringes of the Downs and within easy reach of Whiteladies Road, Westbury Park shops and access out of town and into the city centre.

EPC E

EPC C

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

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Cotham BS6 £345,000 2 bedroom garden flat A lovely two double bedroom garden flat with allocated off street parking space set within a private gated walled plot surrounded with mature trees. Ideally located towards the top of Cotham Brow on the border with Redland, Gloucester Road, Clifton, BRI & the University are all easily accessible by foot. EPC D

Redland BS6 £335,000 2 bedroom first floor flat A delightful two double bedroom first floor flat set within a fine period building on tranquil a Road on the Cotham/Redland borders. Offering a well-proportioned layout with views over Cotham Gardens, this impressive property is well positioned for Redland Station, Whiteladies/ Cheltenham Roads and Cotham Gardens Primary School. EPC B

Harbourside BS1 £600,000 2 double bedroom duplex apartment A stunning two double bedroom duplex waterside apartment with secure underground parking and a private balcony directly overlooking the harbour. The apartment forms part of the iconic Bristol General Hospital that has now been converted in to luxurious and super stylish homes that have been finished to an exceptionally high standard EPC C

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