South Bristol Voice February 2019 by South Bristol Voice

southbristolvoice

February 2019 February 2019

southbristolvoice

No. 45

www.southbristolvoice.co.uk

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Shock as Wilko confirms it’s going to pull out of Knowle KNOWLE’S Wilko store is to close – removing the largest retailer in the troubled Broadwalk shopping centre – when its lease expires in September. A spokesperson for Wilko said: “It was a very tough decision for us to close our Knowle store. We’ve loved serving our hardworking families in the area but sadly, we’ve had to make the decision to close the store due to its performance and the change of ownership of the shopping centre.” The firm said it would offer Knowle staff “any available” jobs at other branches, though it did not rule out redundancies. It does not appear that any other Wilko stores in Bristol – the nearest are in Bedminster and Avonmeads – are under threat. The news adds extra urgency to the debate about the future of the Broadwalk shopping centre. Plans for a £100 million redevelopment have won the support of many – local retailers have gathered 2,500 signatures on a petition backing the plans. Developer Pelican wants to pull down the multi-storey car park, which has concrete cancer, and rebuild – hopefully attracting

WIlko store: The largest in the Broadwalk centre, it’s not bringing in enough trade. Rebuilding plans would have closed it temporarily anyway – so the retailer has decided to walk away a supermarket – all paid for by 420 flats in up to 12 storeys. But the scheme will take five years to build and the loss of Wilko will mean shoppers have less reason to visit the centre. The Voice understands that at least one other trader in the centre is considering pulling out. Some residents vehemently oppose the plan, saying the blocks are far too large for an area of mainly two-storey houses. Those who back the plan say it is the only hope to save the centre, which has been in decline for years. Footfall has declined from 2.6 million to 2m in the last 10 years. A spokesperson for

Pelican said: “Broadwalk, like many shopping centres and high streets, is in a downward spiral. These plans are about turning this around, creating a destination that brings people back. This will be done by refurbishing the centre, diversifying the offer, rebuilding the car park and creating a family-friendly, Wapping Wharf-style piazza. The new homes will fund the work but will also provide new customers.” The Voice understands that if the plan wins outline permission on February 27, the developer may offer support to keep stores open until the scheme is complete. • FULL STORY: Pages 4-5

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London – as too important for developers alone. Put a publicprivate consortium in charge, says the society. Hear, hear.

A NEW SOLUTION IT’S HARD to disagree with the worthies of the Bristol Civic Society when they say that a new approach is needed at Bedminster Green. This large, under-used brownfield plot is a “once in a generation opportunity,” the society says in its contribution to the Framework for the Green. Trouble is, the Framework has been left to the developers to draw up. Why should they be expected to put the interests of the community – both existing residents and the 2,000-odd who will live in the new homes – at the top of their priorities? Bedminster Green should be seen like King’s Cross in

IN FEAR OF VAN MAN WHY has the council dithered so long in drawing up plans for a Clean Air Zone that the Government has now threatened it with legal action? Because, it seems, there is no easy solution – pollution in Bristol city centre can’t be cut without charges for thousands of diesel vehicles – including those driven by White Van Man. The problems are plain – not enough money, no compensation to help drivers buy a new vehicle, and years of government inaction. Trouble is, the way things have played out look like a PR own goal for the council.

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n THE COLSTON Hall is seeking opinions after deciding to change its name to avoid links with the slave owner Edward Colston. One of a series of consultation days will be held at Knowle West Media Centre in Leinster Avenue, Knowle West, on February 5. It’s open from 9am-8pm to gather views on a vision for the new hall after a two-year, £48.8 million rebuild. colstonhall.org n VOLUNTEERS from Franc – the Friends of the Avon New Cut – meet on Saturday February 9 to clean up the York Road riverbank. Meet at 9.50am by the Banana

n NEWS bridge. Refreshments and chips will follow at Harry’s Café in Fowlers motorcycle showroom. Details: call 0117 954 4888. n THE ROYAL Photographic Society has chosen Paintworks on Bath Road for its prestigious new exhibition centre. Opening on February 7, it has a 101-seat auditorium. The first event, Discovery, features 54 international photographers. rps.org n REV BRENDAN Bassett is leaving Victoria Park Baptist church in Sylvia Avenue next month after 18 years. His last service will be on February 24. An interview with Rev Bassett will be in the next issue of the Voice. n THE WINNER of tickets to the Little & Large reunion event at Bristol Old Vic on January 18 was Gordon Dyer of Bedminster. Thanks to the Slapstick Festival, who also gave tickets to winners from the Portishead Voice and the Keynsham Voice.

HOW DO I GET IN TOUCH WITH ...

My councillor? Post: You can write to all councillors at City Hall, College Green, Bristol BS1 5TR. Christopher Davies

Lib Dem, Knowle Email: Cllr.Christopher.Davies@ bristol.gov.uk Gary Hopkins Lib Dem, Knowle (Lib Dem deputy leader) Email: Cllr.Gary.Hopkins@bristol.gov.uk Phone: 07977 512159 Lucy Whittle Labour, Windmill Hill On maternity leave Jon Wellington Labour, Windmill Hill Phone: 07392 108804 Email: Cllr.Jon.Wellington@bristol.gov.uk

USEFUL NUMBERS Bristol City Council www.bristol.gov.uk 0117 922 2000 Waste, roads 0117 922 2100 Pests, dog wardens 0117 922 2500 Council tax 0117 922 2900 Housing benefit 0117 922 2300

Social services 0117 922 2900 Police Inquiries 101 Emergency 999 NEIGHBOURHOOD MEETINGS Tresa (Totterdown residents), Wednesday March 20, venue tba. tresa.org.uk

My MP? Karin Smyth MP By email: karin.smyth.mp@ parliament.uk By post: Karin Smyth MP, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA By phone: 0117 953 3575 In person: Call 0117 953 3575 for an appointment.

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Despite our best efforts, we sometimes get things wrong. We always try to resolve issues informally at first but we also have a formal complaints procedure. If you have a complaint about anything in the South Bristol Voice, contact the Editor using the details below. We aspire to follow the the Code of Conduct of the NUJ (National Union of Journalists), nuj.org.uk/about/nuj-code. Further details of the complaints process can be found on our website (below) or can be obtained by contacting the Editor by email: paul@southbristolvoice.co.uk or by post: 18 Lilymead Avenue, Bristol BS4 2BX or by phone: 07811 766072. southbristolvoice.co.uk/complaints-procedure All stories and pictures are ©South Bristol Voice (unless otherwise stated) and may not be reproduced without permission in this or any other plane of the multiverse. South Bristol Voice Ltd | Co. no. 09522608 | VAT no. 211 0801 76

To advertise, contact sales@southbristolvoice.co.uk or Ruth on 07590 527664

n COMINGS & GOINGS The Bristol Upholstery collective has moved into 186 Wells Road, the former Craftisan store, offering furniture sales

and upholstery classes. Next door, the former Melting Pot charity shop is being converted into a practice for Top2Toe Physiotherapy. Meanwhile Park

Bakery in St John’s Lane is for sale. Also vacant and seeking new management are the Baked bakery in Oxford Street and the Star & Dove pub in St Luke’s Road.

Landlord told to knock down illegal home in back garden A LANDLORD has been told to demolish a home he built illegally across the back gardens of two houses in South Bristol. John Fry has lost an appeal to a government inspector to keep the two-bedroom dwelling behind 152 and 154 Marksbury Road – meaning that he has three months to comply with an enforcement notice and knock it down. However, after the inspector made his ruling on December 21, on January 16 a new planning application was made for a “single storey home office” behind 152 Marksbury Road – on part of the same site where the new home already sits. Several applications and appeals relating to the site have been made since 2016 by Mr Fry, who lives in Dundry. He first applied for a two storey “ancillary building” behind No. 154, with a home office downstairs and a games room upstairs. This was refused, but a later plan for a single storey home office, 6m long, was approved. However, what was built was quite different. Mr Fry bought part of the garden of No. 152, and constructed a 10m-long structure behind both houses. It has a gate

onto Marksbury Road open space, from where it is visible. The Voice has established that the structure isn’t a games room or ancillary building – it is a two-bedroom home, rented to a tenant. The council visited in January 2018, when “it was evident that the building was being used and occupied as a fully self-contained separate dwelling unit”. Officials noticed a house sign, “154A” on the passageway leading to the new home, between 152 and 154 Marksbury Road. This sign was not visible when the Voice visited. Planners also advised that the home didn’t meet minimum room sizes – the bedrooms are both too small, and the home is 50 sq m in total, instead of the 70 sq m necessary for the four bed spaces provided. The Voice asked Bristol city council whether the new planning application would have to be considered before the illegal home is demolished. The council was unable to respond before our deadline. We also attempted to contact Mr Fry through his agents but received no reply.

Who are our wonderful women? THE VOICE is seeking wonderful women! Next month – March – includes International Women’s Day and to celebrate, our history feature will be about the long struggle in the city for women to win the vote. To bring us up to date, we want to hear about wonderful women in our community. Please nominate a woman you think is special and deserves our respect. They might be in business, they might have coped with difficult personal circumstances, Side Elevation or they might be doing something that in past times, women weren’t expected to do. We can think of plenty of candidates in South Bristol – but we want to hear from you. There will be prizes! Email paul@ southbristolvoice.co.uk by February 13. 4000

Next deadline for editorial and advertising: February 13th

n A COMEDY, Beryl’s of Mayfair, is the next offering by Entertaining Local Knowle at Redcatch community centre. It’s a one-woman show starring Kate McNab as a cast of characters trying to keep the peace at a hair salon in 1963 Weston-super-Mare. The trouble is, Beryl is off to the wholesaler (or is she?) and Hattie the new junior is in charge. Tickets at £10 (from Broadwalk News) include a fish and chip supper from Friendchips. Doors 7pm, show 8pm, on Saturday March 9. elknowle.wixsite.com/elknowle

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Intro

Independent Community News Network member

February 2019

Permitted – a 6m ‘home office’ Front Elevation

Built – a 10m, two-bedroom home

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Paul Breeden Editor & publisher 07811 766072 paul@southbristolvoice.co.uk Ruth Drury Sales executive 07590 527664 sales@southbristolvoice.co.uk Editorial team: Beccy Golding, Alex Morss, Martin Powell & The Wicked Witch. Deliveries: Greg Champion

February 2019

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Rear Elevation

Side Elevation

n BRIEFLY n KNOWLE has a new folk club – the Redcatch Club, which opens with a performance by Alice Jones at 7.45pm on February 9 at Redcatch community centre. Alice is a folk singer and multiinstrumentalist – R2 magazine called her “an exceptional talent”. Tickets £8, BYO, open mic session to start the evening. n A NEW group for disabled people is meeting monthly. Bristol Disability Equality Forum is led by disabled residents. The next meeting is on February 22 at the Gatehouse Centre, Hareclive

Road BS13 9JN from 10.30am12.30pm. Email mike.bristoldef@ gmail.com or call 0117 914 0528. n DEMOLITION of the sorting office next to Temple Meads station was due to begin on January 30, amid fears that the costs of knocking it down are not yet known. Bristol city council sold the site to Bristol university for a new £300 million campus – but the council is responsible for the demolition. Among the risk factors are the depth of the concrete foundations, and the presence of a cholera burial pit.

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Got a story or any other inquiry? Call Paul on 07811 766072 or email paul@southbristolvoice.co.uk

February 2019

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n NEWS

BROADWALK CENTRE

Do flats have to be so tall to save the Residents who object to scale of building are told that £15m is needed just for repairs and car park THE WOULD-BE developer of the Broadwalk shopping centre was challenged to convince opponents of the £100 million scheme that it is really necessary to avoid the centre falling into decline. Pelican Property Development has put forward plans to rebuild the tired-looking shopping centre and add 420 flats in buildings of up to 11 storeys. A new plaza with restaurants or bars would open on to Redcatch Park, and the multistorey car park – which is cracking up and at risk of closure – would be replaced with enclosed parking.

TRACK RECORD

Skyline Central: A Manchester project led by Pelican, which wants to rebuild the Broadwalk centre in Knowle

PELICAN DEVELOPMENTS is working for the owners of the Broadwalk Centre, administrators Moorfields, who are trying to collect debts owed by the previous owner, Frogmore. Pelican director Francis Hilton agreed that his job will be over as soon as the building is finished – but he is committed to delivering “a shopping centre that will stand the test of time, and in 30 years still meets the needs of the community.” He pointed to other

centres designed by Pelican which he said are still sharp and attractive long after they were built.

Supporters – including many Knowle traders, and the area’s two councillors – say the plan is vital to save the shopping centre. News that the Wilko hardware store is pulling out in September has added urgency to the argument. Opponents – led by Laura

Chapman, who lives in the shadow of the centre in Ryde Road – say the new homes will be a gigantic eyesore which will change Knowle forever. At a meeting of Knowle Community Forum on January 16, Laura Chapman challenged Pelican to prove that the huge

scale of the development is necessary. “There’s a lot of talk about the shopping centre not being financially viable, yet we have not had access to financial information about that viability, so it’s hard for us to know if this is Project Fear, or if this is well founded,” she said. She asked for proof that the shopping centre is in financial danger, and for evidence that the new plan is the minimum that it will take to save it. The development could be reduced to six storeys and retain 65 per cent of the flats, she said. Francis Hilton, director of Pelican, said he couldn’t share confidential financial information about the Broadwalk shops. But he said the future of the centre is at genuine risk. Cllr Gary Hopkins said council officials were privy to all the figures, and would use them when deciding whether to

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To advertise, contact sales@southbristolvoice.co.uk or Ruth on 07590 527664

February 2019

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n NEWS

BROADWALK CENTRE

Broadwalk? Yes, says the developer recommend the plan. “Bluntly, we could end up with an empty shopping centre,” he said. If the centre fails altogether, “it could be knocked down and a larger number of flats would be built than we are seeing now.” Mr Hilton warned that the car park, built in the 1970s, has to be replaced, at a cost of £10m. The car park is inspected weekly by safety engineers. It could be shut down at any time, he warned, or it could last five years, it is impossible to predict. But Pelican can’t remove the car park or make it much smaller – leases for the shops guarantee that parking will be available. Another £5m of investment is needed in the rest of the centre – in its electrical, heating and water systems, and its roof. Previous owners of the centre had neglected it badly, he said. This £15m has to be invested before any new shops are built. He warned that the retail sector is very uncertain, though food and beverage outlets are doing better than most. He would love to attract independent operators such as Harts bakery at Temple Meads – “operators who are really passionate about where their food comes from are thriving,” he said. But height is necessary to allow the number of homes needed – “you cannot build apartments underground,” he said. The meeting heard a lively discussion of the pros and cons of the centre. “People don’t want to end up with an eyesore and expensive housing they can’t afford,” said resident Aileen McLoughlin. “Assure us that what you leave behind is going to

LABOUR’S VIEW KNOWLE Labour party called for more affordable homes in the plan, and said the blocks are “too high and out of keeping” with the area. It said the central blocks are too densely packed – over 350 homes per hectare. The party asked if the scheme met council rules on providing private open space: problems with 1960s high rises mustn’t be forgotten, it said. Of 44 members who replied to a survey, 65 per cent were against the height of the tallest, 12-storey block, with six per cent in favour. But 50 per cent welcomed the

PARKING

PHOTO: Pelican

ABOUT 400 parking spaces would be provided on the lower floors of the centre – about 280 for residents. It is claimed many would be retired and not have cars – a point of some dispute. Cllrs Hopkins and Davies say a two-thirds majority of residents surveyed in the streets around the centre are in favour of a resident parking zone. The developer would pay to set this up – and residents of the new flats would probably not be eligible for permits.

in half and keep it viable. Objections to the plan totalled 283 on January 25, with 159 statements of support and 16 neutral. But many were ambiguous, saying they supported a redevelopment, but disliked some parts of the plan – such as the height. The Broadwalk

Redevelopment Community Group, a Facebook group set up by Laura Chapman, has started a petition against the scheme: tinyurl.com/Broadwalkpetition • The 800-odd new residents of the flats will spend about £13.3m a year, Pelican told the Voice. Mr Francis mistakenly told the meeting the figure was £3m.

View showing the new blocks compared to the car park work for us: a big part of that is affordable housing. I know you need to make a profit but can you make a bit less?” Mr Hilton said that he would be happy with 100 per cent affordable housing if it is possible with public grants. Resident Bill Bowdren said the new centre will be an eyesore visible for miles around – taller than Knowle’s Grade II-listed water tower on Talbot Road. “Anything that sticks up as high as the tower will be an eyesore,” said Bill. Laura Chapman and others in Ryde Road and Broad Walk face being overlooked and overshadowed by the new flats. One 10-storey block has been reduced to eight storeys next to Ryde Road. Ms Chapman agreed this reduced the sense of mass near the homes – but they would still be overshadowed, she said. Cllr Hopkins said he and fellow councillor Chris Davies would love the buildings to be lower but he did not think it was realistic to cut the development 420 new flats. And 70 per cent backed the piazza facing Redcatch park. About 50 per cent were concerned or very concerned about car parking.

CAN THE GPs COPE? THE CLAIM that Priory surgery on Wells Road can accept 800 new patients from the new flats was greeted with derision from some at the meeting. Several residents said they already wait three weeks for an appointment.. The Priory says it can cope with the new flats, because it will phase in extra resources. Urgent cases are seen quickly, often the same day.

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Got a story or any other inquiry? Call Paul on 07811 766072 or email paul@southbristolvoice.co.uk

February 2019

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n NEWS Invitation to library talks AN EXTRA £2 million, which could be raised by Bristol city council if it increases council tax by 3.99 per cent, could help pay for a revamp of the library service. It would mean tax on an average band D property would rise by £64.87, or £1.25 a week. Consultation on libraries, announced in December, was criticised because it wasn’t clear if any branches were under threat. But if councillors agree the tax rise on February 26, the extra cash will be spent on libraries, parks and education. The council is seeking ideas on how to improve libraries, perhaps with volunteer help or more activities. Meetings will be held at The Park centre in Daventry Road, Knowle, on Tuesday February 26 and Saturday March 2, 10am-12 noon, to discuss libraries at Knowle, Wick Road, Stockwood, Filwood, Marksbury Road and Bedminster.

Local, ethical gifts for Valentine’s WE’RE head over heels for our range of great new locally made products here at Fox & West! They include crueltyfree Lyonsleaf 100% natural skincare, Norty Nut Butters and Food Friends raw vegan Snickers-style bars and truffles. All of which make fantastic gifts for the one you love this Valentine’s. We also flippin’ love pancake day! Follow us on social media for alternative recipe ideas and pop into the shop for your packaging-free ingredients.

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BEDMINSTER GREEN

How will Green developers respond to public’s views? ANGER and frustration over the Framework which is supposed to tie together the five development sites around Bedminster Green came to the fore at a public meeting in January. Calls were made for a consortium of developers, planners and the community to manage the development, which could provide up to 1,500 homes. Many people feel their concerns have not been listened to for several years, heard the meeting, hosted by Action Greater Bedminster (AGB). At the moment the four developers have signed up to a Framework document which is supposed to guide how they make their individual plans. But consultation on the Framework ended on January 13 – five days after the public meeting – and it’s not clear if developers will amend their plans to take public concerns into account. Three planning applications have already been made – for a 22-storey tower at St Catherine’s Place by Firmstone; for 599 new homes, mainly for students, by A2Dominion on Malago Road; and for 329 homes in up to 17 storeys at Little Paradise by Dandara. Plans have yet to be revealed for a second plot to be built by Dandara on mainly council-owned land near the Green and the railway station, and for the NCP car park, owned by Deeley Freed. The public meeting heard calls to consider the impact of the

A2DOMINION

Framework – which will see Bedminster Green walled in by tall buildings on all four sides. WHaM, the Windmill Hill residents group which has led opposition to the high-rises, said the Framework was too vague, with no defined heights or mix of housing types. The plans so far revealed are almost all for one or two bedroom homes. The developers are breaking its guidelines already, “showing a complete lack of respect for the community,” WHaM says. The meeting heard from Cllr Nicola Beech, the cabinet lead on city design, who has been trying to get the developers to sign up to

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Lower: The Malago Road blocks The number of student rooms has been reduced from 573 to 550 and the number of social housing units from 64 flats to 49. A2Dominion said it would not comment further until its planning application was online – though there was nothing preventing it from doing so. more stringent guidelines. She pointed out that Bristol needs 33,500 new homes by 2036, with Bedminster earmarked for 2,500. Southville councillor Stephen Clarke, who serves on a planning committee, did not want to pre-judge the plans. But he assured residents that planners do listen to residents’ concerns. He said a 12-storey block proposed for Redcliffe was refused by planners in November. AGB has sent a summary of views raised at the meeting to the council. The Nash Partnership, which drew up the Framework for the developers, is considering a response to the consultation.

n NEWS

BEDMINSTER GREEN

‘The public interest requires new approach’: Civic Society

Reward for slashing waste

BRISTOL Civic Society, one of the most respected commentators on developments in the city, has called for a new privatepublic partnership to oversee Bedminster Green. In a measured response to the developers’ Framework for the up-to-1,500-home scheme, the society accepts many of the ideas. But it also makes a list of major criticisms – and concludes that the public interest means a partnership between private and public sector is essential. The society calls the plan “a massive piece of urbanisation” and “a once in a generation opportunity”. “This opportunity will be lost if each development site is treated as a stand-alone development. The public interest requires a consortium to carry forward the work begun by the Nash Partnership to integrate the Bedminster Green development with the East Bedminster town centre. There should be a public/ private partnership as there is with Kings Cross ... in London.” The society points out gaps in the Framework – there is no overall view of the Green, because some of the plans are not ready. It criticises the lack of open space, and the way Bedminster

Somewhat larger: an image from Dandara’s planning application shows its own block, and St Catherine’s Place, set against houses in Church Lane Green itself will be surrounded by tall buildings. “The Green could offer few more advantages than a pocket park,” it says. It asks planners to look instead at Bristol’s historic Queen Square, with much lower buildings and much more green space. At the moment, the Framework is a document drawn up and paid for by the four private developers – Dandara, A2Dominion, Deeley Freed and Firmstone. The council – and in particular city design chief Cllr Nicola Beech – has been trying to persuade the developers to commit to high standards of design and to work together for the good of the community. Yet three of the developers made planning applications before public feedback to the Framework has even been considered. The public’s chief worry – the height of the buildings – is not controlled by the Framework. It

sets no limit on the tallest parts of the buildings. And height guidelines that cover the rest of the plots have been broken. The Civic Society says it will be for the council to decide whether A2Dominion’s “abrupt” tall buildings “harm or humanise” Malago Road. Like the Voice, it points out that the Framework says the plot should be 6-9 floors, with extra floors only where set back from streets. But it praises the use of the site for students and social housing. At St Catherine’s Place, it calls Firmstone’s plan for a 22-storey tower “overbearing” and “a continuous cliff of masonry”. It also questions whether the building will be economic if new fire safety rules post-Grenfell mean it has to install an expensive double core. The Voice was unable to speak to Cllr Beech to learn her response to the society’s views.

SOUTH Bristol’s international event and exhibition organiser Ignition has won two national awards including one as Best Eco Supplier. The firm has its HQ at Paintworks on Bath Road and prides itself on its ethical approach. At the EN Elite Awards in London it won Best Employer 2018 (after winning a Best Places to Work Award earlier in 2018) as well as Best Eco Supplier 2018, a reward for its efforts to combat waste in the events industry. Chief executive Sam Rowe said: “Twelve years ago, when we set up Ignition, the industry was incredibly wasteful. We would regularly see skips at the end of events piled high with expensive and non-biodegradable kit, all heading straight for landfill. It was one of our founding missions to take a stand against this ‘build and burn’ culture.”

Ages unite to build a boat WOULD YOU like to build a boat? All Aboard Watersports, a charity based at the Underfall Yard in the harbourside, is assembling a team of up to eight people – half of them 16-24 year-olds and half over-50s – to join a one-day a week project. As well as learning to assemble a wooden boat over eight weeks, the team will spend time sailing, rowing and on other maritime activities. Details on 0117 929 0801. allaboardwatersports.co.uk

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BRISTOL PILATES FITNESS REDCATCH COMMUNITY CENTRE Wed 6.30-7.25pm Beginners Pilates

southbristolvoice

‘Opportunity will be lost if each plot is treated separately’

2DOMINION, which calls itself “a residential property group with a social purpose”, has still not told the Voice why its proposed housing blocks are higher than allowed by the Framework it has signed up to. The firm made a planning application in January, shortly after Framework consultation ended, though it had not been posted on the council website when the Voice went to press. New images from A2Dominion show that it has reduced the size of its blocks – though still not to the Framework size of 6-9 storeys. Three buildings that in the original drawings were 11 storeys are now 10 floors. A block that was 15 storeys now appears to be 12.

February 2019

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AND between Little Paradise and Stafford Street could see a 17-storey tower and smaller buildings to contain 329 flats (pictured right). They would be mainly one bedroom – 239 – with 90 flats of two bedrooms. There would be a ground floor gym, and a residents lounge and terrace facing Stafford Street, plus a private, shared green space next to Little Paradise. There would be 358 cycle spaces, and 84 basement car parking spaces. Dandara’s planning application was recorded on January 2 – 11 days before the Framework consultation ended.

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n NEWS Helen’s keeping children safer THE LIFESKILLS safety education centre has presented Knowle volunteer guide Helen Brown with an award for completing over 100 sessions. Helen, who lives near Perrett’s Park, has been a volunteer at Lifeskills for four years, helping show more than 400 children aged 10 to 11 how to stay safe. Based in the Create Centre, Smeaton Road, Ashton, Lifeskills is an interactive village with 19 safety scenarios. Children can practise 999 calls, react to a house fire, learn first aid and see the consequences of trespassing on a railway – all made realistic with light, sound and wind effects. Manager Andy Townsend said: “We know what we do here makes a difference; one child helped his family escape a fire, another prevented a gas explosion.” To find out more about volunteering at Lifeskills visit lifeskills-bristol.org.uk

February 2019

TRANSPORT

n NEWS

Ring road ‘is in wrong place’ MP calls on council to rethink its backing for route A RING road around South Bristol which has the potential to divert traffic from jammed-up roads in Knowle and Brislington will not work, agree a Knowle councillor and the area’s MP. Cllr Gary Hopkins, Lib Dem member for Knowle, says the plan is in the wrong place and will send “massively more” vehicles along residential roads. The intention is to take traffic away from parts of Bath Road and the A4174 Airport Road, but both Cllr Hopkins and MP Karin Smyth fear this won’t happen. The new route, proposed by Bath & North East Somerset council (BaNES), starts at Hick’s Gate roundabout near Brislington, crosses Green Belt on the fringe of Stockwood, then passes

Whitchurch Village and crosses the A37. After that, controversially, it runs along Whitchurch Lane to the roundabout at Hengrove. Also planned are 3,500 homes at Queen Charlton and Hengrove. MP Karin Smyth said Bristol city council’s own transport strategy says building new roads will not solve congestion. Research shows that more road space simply attracts more cars. She said it was “absurd” for BaNES to propose 2,500 homes near Queen Charlton without “substantial” new public transport. It’s now down to Weca, the West of England authority led by Conservative metro mayor Tim Bowles, to pull together a regional plan for transport and housing. Ms Smyth also wants Bristol to “vigorously oppose” any new links from the A37 to Whitchurch Lane using either Washing Pound Lane or Halfacre Lane. Mayor Marvin Rees faced around 300 angry protesters

when he arrived at St Augustine’s church in Whitchurch on January 17 to debate the plan. Resident after resident asked him to reject the route, citing damage to the Green Belt, the impact of homes on neighbours, and the pollution, road safety risks and traffic congestion. Applause greeted one woman when she said: “We understand that there’s a real problem with transport and something needs to be done, but Whitchurch Lane is not the right place for it.” Mr Rees calmed the mood somewhat by promising to look at alternative routes. But change was coming, he warned – Bristol expects a huge jump in population by 2036, from 450,000 to 550,000. If the city does not try to plan new homes and roads, developers will march in and make their own plans. These might not include schools, amenities or public transport, he warned.

South Bristol would get the first route, says Marvin IN DEFIANCE of the sceptics who say it will never be built, Bristol city council is seeking more backing to investigate how to build an underground network. The next steps towards a mass transit network, which could include buses, overground or underground rail, will be debated by the West of England Combined Authority (Weca) on February 1. Weca will be asked to approve £200,000 to work on a business case, with guidance from the Department for Transport. The first subway route would be under South Bristol, mayor Marvin Rees told a meeting in Whitchurch to discuss the ring road proposal (see opposite page). There was laughter when Mr Rees mentioned his underground plan – but he urged residents: “Let’s not believe the newspapers, let’s look at the evidence.” So far, studies on engineering

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HERE’S one teeny problem before Bristol can get an underground – the cost. The £350m budget Weca has for transport doesn’t come close to the £3-4bn price. What’s the answer? Bristol is seeking private investors, and hopes that if a developer wants to build 2,000 homes at the proposed Western Harbour in Cumberland Basin, it might fund a tunnel under the harbour. But more cash will

and on the finances have been positive, he said. Planners believe corridors in Bristol are so tightly packed, there are few other options but to go underground. The city’s biggest transport need is a fast route to the airport, and a subway could cut under South Bristol to emerge near the A38. Experts are looking at short, driverless trains arriving every couple of minutes. No stations

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have been planned yet, but a stop in Bedminster looks likely. With two more routes, journeys from the city centre to the airport, Aztec West and Emersons Green could be cut to 20 minutes. But it could take 20 years to build a tube network. Weca is also looking at better links to East Bristol, and to Bath. A new Metrobus route along Bath Road looks likely, but there’s also

an idea for a light rail link from Temple Meads to the new park and ride proposed for the Hicks Gate roundabout. West of England mayor Tim Bowles, said: “This is an ambitious plan that could dramatically improve transport for residents across our region. It’s not something that we can deliver overnight, so it’s essential that we do the groundwork.”

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February 2019

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n NEWS

Council ordered to come up with a Clean Air plan

‘My daughter is coughing when she walks here’

A GOVERNMENT minister has threatened legal action against Bristol city council after it failed to come up with a plan for tackling air pollution by a deadline of December 31. The Voice has been asking the council for two months why it was set to miss its deadline for planning a Clean Air Zone (CAZ). In a statement just before Christmas, mayor Marvin Rees said modelling all the options for CAZs and their potential impacts had taken longer than expected. He blamed a lack of support from central government and added: “It is essential that whatever option is chosen it is right for Bristol and we will ensure we have all the evidence in place to make the right decision for the city and residents.” But the mayor did not say what he was doing about the deadline, which was made by a government directive in July 2017. Now the council has been forced to confront

the issue by environment minister Denise Coffrey. She wrote to Mr Rees saying she is “alarmed” to hear that the council will not unveil its plans until the summer. The council is also refusing to share its data with the Government before then. “This means you have unlawfully failed to comply with the Direction, and I am absolutely astonished at your delay in improving air quality for the people of Bristol as quickly as possible,” wrote Ms Coffrey. She has set a new deadline of February 21 for the council to come up with a new plan. As the Voice went to press, the mayor was preparing a letter to the minister to explain the council’s position. Last year the council released maps of two alternative Clean Air Zones. A small zone would include the city centre, within the inner ring road. The medium zone includes Bedminster and

AIR POLLUTION

PARENTS have been on TV to call for action to protect their children’s health from traffic pollution on South Bristol roads. “We know that it has lots of damaging effects on health, including children’s health,” Alex Morss, the Voice’s environment writer, told ITV West on January 25. “You can feel it in your lungs when you walk along,” Alex said, against a backdrop of exhaust fumes from early-morning traffic

Fuming: Alex Morss PHOTO: ITV West on St John’s Lane. My daughter is asthmatic and when she walks along here she starts coughing.” You can see the ITV West interview, including warnings from a health expert, at tinyurl.com/StJohnsLane

Ashton (though not Ashton Vale). But the Voice understands that once officials started planning a CAZ, it began to to dawn that the implications were alarming. To be effective at cutting pollution by 2021, the council might have to charge not only older buses and lorries entering the zone, but cars and vans too. Petrol vehicles made before about 2004 and diesels made before 2015 would be affected. This would affect many tens of thousands of Bristolians with relatively new diesel vehicles – including probably a majority of tradespeople. Until recently most vans were diesel powered.

It’s not clear how the council will square this circle. But Mr Rees has publicly called for more support from the Government, for example by funding a scrappage scheme for diesels. Other councils are grappling with the same issue: Bath has aroused protests by announcing a £9 a day pollution charge by the end of 2020. Many politicians hold the Government, not local councils, responsible for the delays and confusion over tackling pollution. Air quality limits have been broken in the UK since 2008 and the EU ordered the Government to take action as far back as 2010.

n THE INBOUND bus lane on n ST LOUIS Blues is the next film Wells Road, Totterdown, between with a live musical introduction Lilymead Avenue and St John’s at the Old Picture House, in Lane, will not be made 24-hour, Winton Street, Totterdown, on the council has said. Traders on March 1. The show is expected to Wells Road said the move would have sold out but queries can be have threatened their businesses. emailed to dmerr9226@aol.com. This section will be made bus-only in the evening peak (4-6.30pm) n WINDOW Wonderland returns PROPERTY MAINTENANCE but this will not change parking to Windmill Hill and Victoria restrictions. Other changesINTERIOR include & EXTERIOR PAINTING Park on February 22-24, along a bigger yellow box at the Marston with Bedminster, Southville and FENCING • PATIOS • LANDSCAPING Road junction and a shorter bus Ashton. To register and add your LOGclub, STOREShome • GUTTERING FASCIAS lane next to Knowle cricket to the event• map, visit to make merging easier. ELECTRICStinyurl.com/whillwindows2019 • DOORS • PLUMBING

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THE COUNCIL has been urged to conduct its own tests on the effect that a proposed gas generator plant could have on air and noise pollution. Parents whose children attend St Philip’s Marsh nursery school reacted in dismay when the third generator plan in three years was submitted for the area. But while two previous plans for diesel generators were about 200m from the nursery, the new site in Philip Street is much closer – just 90m away. The Meriton pupil referral unit is only 60m. Simon Holmes, the head of St Philip’s nursery, wrote in an objection to the council that the latest plan, from Conrad Energy, was “simply unacceptable” because of the likely noise and air pollution. The plant could operate for four hours a day, or 1,500 hours a year. Conrad Energy wants to build three gas generators, each of 2.5MW capacity, housed in a shipping container. It says the plant is needed to back up the National Grid when renewable sources such as wind and solar fall short. After objections, it has raised the height of the chimneys from

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HYDROELECTRIC scheme is being proposed at Netham Weir, at the far end of Feeder Road, by a firm called Renewables First. It would use three Archimedes screws to draw energy from water rushing through the weir, in a communityowned scheme led by Bristol Energy Cooperative. However, its output would be small – 360KW,

enough to power 260 homes. The Conrad plan, at 7.5MW, is 20 times bigger, and the Plutus diesel scheme of 20MW is about 55 times bigger. Plans to use giant batteries to provide standby power for the National Grid are in their infancy. But a pioneering scheme in Lockleaze, run by Bristol firm Aura Power Storage Solutions, stores 15MW of power in battery containers, with no air pollution and little noise.

DEVELOPERS are testing the water with a series of planning applications in St Philip’s Marsh which could affect neighbours in Totterdown – including an openair concert venue open till 3am. The council wants to see extensive redevelopment in the area, possibly involving high-rise, high-density housing. At present the Marsh island is largely an industrial area, probably home to more animals (at the Bristol ARC dogs and cats home) than people. The area was redeveloped in the 1960s and 6,000 residents were moved out. Plans for new homes may have to wait until Bristol has a long-term strategy for flood defences on the Avon. However, an application has been made for up to 760 student bedrooms, 30 affordable homes and up to 1,200 sq m of commercial space on the site of the Autochoice car dealer and the neighbouring Manor Scrap Co. Planners are considering it – though the Environment Agency (EA) says there is no proper flood evacuation plan. Also condemned by the EA over flood risk is St Philip’s Gate, a 3,000-capacity concert venue off Feeder Road and Chapel Street. Police and neighbours in Totterdown have also objected. Community group Tresa said members were invited to a site meeting but couldn’t get in because a key could not be found.

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7m to 12m to better disperse pollution. It says emissions will be well within legal limits. But critics say this isn’t enough, and that the firm’s planning statement doesn’t even mention the nearby schools. An air quality assessment by Conrad does acknowledge the schools – but refers to its pupils not as children but as “sensitive receptors”. Mr Holmes and other objectors say Conrad has not considered that St Philips may soon be in a Clean Air Zone to combat pollution. The proposal also doesn’t take account of plans for major housing developments

in the area (see story, right). Labour MPs Thangam Debbonaire and Kerry McCarthy are among almost 50 objectors. Ms Debbonaire, whose Bristol West constituency includes St Philip’s, said: “Bristol should be leading in genuinely clean and renewable energy and tackling the dangerous levels of air pollution we see in the city.” Ms McCarthy pointed out that the area “already suffers extremely poor air quality with local monitors recording dangerous levels of particulate matter and nitrous dioxide”. • Previous plans by Plutus Energy to instal diesel generators with a total output of 20MW, working up to 200 hours a year – much less than the Conrad plan – were rejected by Bristol planners in 2016 after around 300 objections. The firm appealed, but a planning inspector rejected the appeal in 2017.

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MPs unite with nursery head to condemn gas generators

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February 2019

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THE NHS

MP slams secrecy over NHS contract Plans could be a big boost for South Bristol hospital, says Smyth – but why can’t bidders be named?

about who is bidding for the NHS services. Companies competing to build Bristol arena, for example, were named in a public shortlist. In theory, private companies could bid – such as Virgin Care, which in 2016 won a similar £700 million bid for community services in Bath & North East Somerset. Virgin has been much criticised for suing the NHS when it doesn’t win contracts. Ms Smyth also wants to see that South Bristol’s community hospital gets more services. She says it could help serve residents of new homes in Bedminster, Hengrove and beyond. “The intention behind the new Metrobus routes was to link in to South Bristol hospital and and to allow people from North Somerset to come to the hospital,” she said. Ms Smyth believes these extra patients would help justify new services at the hospital. The community services are

South Bristol hospital: Could gain currently run by Bristol Community Health, a social enterprise company. Ms Smyth wants to make sure the plans cater for the real needs of people in South Bristol. Someone living in Knowle West being discharged from hospital may have a very low income and poor housing. They will need more help than someone with the same health needs who lives in a better home in Clevedon, she said. Dr Kate Rush, speaking for the CCG, said the aim of the project was to ensure that “high quality care will be available

consistently, no matter where in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire you live. “We will make the best use of current buildings and services, like South Bristol Community Hospital, which many local people rely on,” she said. “We’re using a rigorous competitive process to choose the organisation.” She said a panel of patients and carers will meet the bidders “to make sure they put patients’ needs at the heart of their plans”. She added: “We need to keep the details about interested organisations private, in line with NHS national guidelines. Following detailed evaluation of organisations’ proposals by clinicians, patients and other experts, the organisation selected will be announced in the autumn.” Ms Smyth told the CCG the secrecy was not necessary “and is certainly not helpful in keeping any of this process transparent.”

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n NEWS

MP KARIN Smyth has called on health bosses to end the secrecy around a big overhaul of adult community health services which could have major implications for South Bristol hospital. A shortlist is being drawn up of organisations which want to provide services such as district nurses and support for people leaving hospital. The new deal will cover not just Bristol, but North Somerset and South Gloucestershire as well. The CCGs or commissioning groups which run NHS services in the three areas were merged in 2017, despite protest by Ms Smyth. She wants the CCG to open up

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February 2019

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n CELEBRATIONS – WEDDINGS & VALENTINE’S Whether your next celebration is for Valentine’s Day or you’re planning a wedding, our advertisers can help

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February 2019

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n CELEBRATIONS

ADVERTISING FEATURE

Flowers Galore: a floral tribute for every occasion at Wells Road

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S WE approach the most romantic day of the year, the gift of flowers is bound to be top of the list for those wanting to mark the occasion. Flowers are always given and received with love, and there is always a huge section at Flowers Galore, the long-established florist on Wells Road, Knowle, opposite the Broadwalk Centre. Owner Helen encourages people to make an individual choice – “Its not just about roses! Be different,” she says. Helen and

her staff are always happy to advise on their wide range, and to make up arrangements to order. Maybe this Valentine’s Day will be the start of your wedding plans! Flowers play a defining role in any wedding and have the power to transform ambience and spaces. From beautiful natural country to more formal modern styles, Flowers Galore will help you choose the look for your special day. Flowers Galore also stocks a

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large selection of greetings cards, contemporary house plants, chocolates and gifts as well as local artwork and original pottery from a St Ives-based artist. Orders received by 2pm Monday to Friday and 12 noon on Saturday can be delivered the same day. The cost within Bristol is £8. For deliveries booked in advance the cost is £5.

Tastevin

info@tastevin.co.uk Instagram and Facebook: @tastevinuk HEN it comes to wine, many of us feel that we know what we like, but we don’t necessarily know how to find it. Luckily, expert help is at hand. Whether you’re planning a big celebration or a small dinner party, let Tastevin help you choose the best wines for your special day and avoid wasting money on bad wine. You can also hire Tastevin as private sommeliers to choose, pair and serve your wines during the wedding meal. Book a free half-hour consultation to meet Tastevin’s Certified Specialist of Wine, Deniz Bayram, and to talk about

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Valentine’s meal: Eat Your Greens is offering four-course tasting menu

what your needs are. Deniz has the WSET Advanced qualification from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust. Tastevin also offers wine tasting sessions at home.

cashew alfredo sauce, lambs lettuce and truffle oil. The third course is cauliflower and roasted drumhead steaks, baked tofu and puy lentils in a raspberry sauce. If you have any room left for dessert, it’s strawberry and rose sorbet with candied violet petals. Entirely vegan and glutenfree, the meal is £25 and includes a glass of prosecco or an alcohol-free alternative. If you haven’t tried Eat Your Greens, its mission is to make plant-based food more exciting. Feedback on Facebook is

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F YOU’RE looking for a firstclass wedding caterer to serve plant-based food, talk to Totterdown’s Eat Your Greens. Babs and Hywel will talk you through all the options and can also tell you about catering for other occasions such as parties, funerals and buffets. The next big celebration at Eat Your Greens is on Valentine’s Day, when romantics can sample a very special four-course tasting menu. Served as dishes for two to share, it starts with a platter of olives, sun dried tomatoes, baked cashew cheese, fig chutney, fresh fruits and crudités. Following that is a butternut, sage and nutmeg ravioli with

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n NEWS Homegrown play tackles deprivation and diversity in South Bristol A GRITTY new theatre production aims to get people talking about the wellbeing of South Bristol communities. The homegrown show, Southside Stories, is being staged at the Tobacco Factory Spielman theatre, but it was born at the Zion community space in Bishopsworth Road. Zion is well known for holding events that celebrate the diversity of the South Bristol community, and the play is the brainchild of Zion owner Jess Wright and playwright and poet Liz Mytton. Southside is “a mystical and little known neighbourhood between Hartcliffe, Withywood and Bishopsworth”. Southside

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Stories explores the challenges of Bristol’s multicultural society and gives a voice to individuals who have experienced hate crime and inequality. The newly-formed BS13 theatre company held workshops where participants helped shape the script by sharing and reliving some of the most challenging incidents of their lives. Lynn Hunt, one of the cast members, said: “I’m interested in being part of a production that highlights the paradox of a city divided by class and race.” Jess Wright said: “Members of our community have in the past felt isolated and disconnected, so it is vitally important that society celebrates diversity if there is any hope of improved community cohesion and increased social wellbeing for everyone in our city.” Performances are on February 6 and 7 and tickets are £12. The play has been funded by Bristol city council, Triodos Bank, Quartet Community Foundation and Clarks. tobaccofactorytheatres.com

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positive: after 73 reviews, the score is five out of five. During daytimes from Thursday to Saturday Eat Your Greens is a café serving breakfast and lunch. The Beasty breakfast (£9.50) is somewhat enormous and not to be tackled lightly, but for the averagely hungry there is the Demi breakfast at £6 with garlic mushrooms, vegetarian sausage, hash browns, toast, beans, tomato, crispy tofu and greens. Sunday is for roasts only, advance booking necessary, from 12.30-5.30pm.

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n LOOKING BEYOND TOMORROW Planning ahead can mean many different things. It can be looking after your mobility, so that older age isn’t such a trial; insuring yourself against things going wrong; and making sure that when you’re gone, your will makes your last wishes clear.

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February 2019

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EEPING active has many benefits as we age: regular exercise can help improve our balance and core strength helping to minimise fall risk. Pilates is great for these as they work to strengthen us from the inside out, by focusing on the deep muscles of the ‘core’. A stronger body will also help to strength the joints and muscles, keeping good posture and flexibility and reducing aches and pains from restrictive muscles. Not only that, but

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read carefully and check. The experts at traditional insurance broker Mark Richard find that many people still value the ability to talk to them by phone, or call in for a chat (they like that!) They will be able to listen to any concerns you may have and make a recommendation based on a real conversation and your own requirements rather than just a tick box exercise. Mark Richard has been in Bedminster since 1963, so has years of experience to call on, and because most of the team have been here for over 10 years you’ll probably deal with the same person time after time.

n Pelvic floor health, core restoration, fitness and pilates for pregancy, post natal and beyond.

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n COMPETITION

Maplebrook Wills HERE Building 470 Bath Road BS4 3AP 0117 440 1230 graham.southorn@ maplebrookwills.co.uk maplebrookwills.co.uk

OUTH Bristol resident Graham Southorn is a will writer with Maplebrook Wills. He visits clients to discuss the best options for passing on their estates. Graham says: “When you work hard your whole life, it’s only natural that you’d want your estate to go to your loved ones. With a will, you get to decide who should benefit. For example, many unmarried couples get a will because otherwise the estate passes automatically to a blood relative rather than the surviving partner.” Along with wills, Maplebrook Wills also offers trusts, lasting powers of attorney (LPAs) and pre-paid funeral plans. Graham says: “Trusts are a very effective way of protecting your assets – including your

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HERE’S no better way of hiding from the winter gloom than being transported to another world by a big-screen film. Cineworld in Hengrove is South Bristol’s biggest cinema with 12 screens, showing up to 14 films a day, which means there’s a movie for every occasion. And now tickets at Cineworld are only £5 – for every showing. So a treat at Valentine’s – or any other time – won’t cost the earth. Among the films you may be able to choose from (depending on the date) is Aquaman, the breathtaking underwater adventure starring Jason Momoa as the half-human, half-Atlantean Arthur Curry. For children there’s

also Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns, starring Emily Blunt. For adults, choices include Clint Eastwood’s new thriller The Mule, and Stan and Ollie, the true story of Hollywood’s greatest comedy double act, Laurel and Hardy, starring Steve Coogan and John C Reilly.

WIN FREE TICKETS To celebrate, we have a pair of Cineworld tickets valid for any film to give away. To win, just tell us: How many screens are there at Cineworld Hengrove? Send your answer by email to paul@southbristolvoice.co.uk, or by post to SBV Cineworld competition, 18 Lilymead Avenue, Bristol BS4 2BX. Not open to employees of the Voice group or Cineworld. The first correct entry drawn at random on February 11 will win. The editor’s decision is final.

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Write to paul@southbristolvoice.co.uk or to 18 Lilymead Avenue, BS4 2BX

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February 2019

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LETTERS and provide your postal address.

Please keep letters as short as possible,

Broadwalk development at any cost? I WRITE concerning Gary Hopkins’ column in your January issue, regarding the proposed development of the Broadwalk. Mr Hopkins’ conduct throughout this matter has been unworthy of an elected official, and this latest column only highlights his biased attitude and desire for the development to go ahead at any cost. It was reported in the Voice that the ratio of comments on the portal is 2:1 against the development, meaning there is a clear majority of local people who have serious and legitimate concerns about the scale of the development and its impact on the area. Yet Mr Hopkins is dismissing these as “trying to kill the scheme and make completely unrealistic demands”. The recent edition of the

Liberal Democrats Focus newsletter has an even more biased tone of voice. All local residents are entitled to their opinion on the plans, particularly those in the adjacent streets. As a resident of Ryde Road from 2006-13, I know first hand that the street suffers from poor planning decisions relating to the Broadwalk. The proposed redevelopment will have a huge impact on the day-to-day lives of residents, and their concerns need to be listened to by those elected to represent them on the council. They should not be belittled in print, and for a councillor to do this is a disgrace. Bristol city council’s code of conduct for councillors states that they will “deal with representations or enquiries from residents fairly, appropriately and impartially” and “always treat people with respect.” This is certainly not the case with Mr Hopkins’ recent behaviour. Helen Webster Talbot Road, BS4 2NW

n PROPERTY

10 years’ Knowle success OBSERVERS of the property market keep talking prospects down until the Brexit question is settled. But in South Bristol many estate agents are still busy – and at Matthews, which is celebrating its 10th birthday this month, the New Year has started with a rush. Matthews is run by brothers Matthew and James Sheedy, who have between them more than 30 years agency experience. They opened their doors in Wells Road on February 1, 2009, convinced that Knowle was on the up. And they have been proved right, with prices probably doubling in that time and interest spreading from the sought-after Victorian streets to areas further from Wells Road.

The brothers pride themselves on offering high standards of service and on supporting local businesses – such as nearby solicitors, Cooke Painter and David Lees & Co. They use the local florist, Flowers Galore, to provide each new home owner with a bunch of flowers on moving in. Matthews also supports Broad Plain football club, Knowle cricket club and other local groups. Matthew Sheedy believes buyers and renters will continue to flock to BS4 because of its range of properties and ease of access to the city. “Knowle is a great, diverse, up-and-coming area, with plenty of potential in the next coming years,” he said.

Prices rising

was against a background of the number of sales falling 25.9 per cent to 414 transactions. The average property price was £258,798. In BS3, transactions were down much less, by 4.5 per cent to 450, with sale prices up by 3.1 per cent to an average £292,568.

PROPERTY prices jumped 10.9 per cent in the BS4 postcode in the 12 months to December. This was the second highest increase in the South West, according to Land Registry figures compiled by Propdex.co.uk. However, this

19 Write to paul@southbristolvoice.co.uk or to 18 Lilymead Avenue, BS4 2BX

• Reply from Cllr Gary Hopkins: As the editor of this paper knows, I and Chris have paid considerable attention to the views of residents of Ryde Road, which contrary to claims are not 100 per cent of the same voice. We have listened to the views of Ms Laura Chapman, but that does not mean we have to agree with them. We represent over 10,000 people in Knowle, and to some extent the 40,000 visitors that come to the Broadwalk centre every week. There are many others in Knowle who would want to use the centre more but need the greater variety of shops that the rescue plan will deliver. There are many who have raised reasonable concerns about the scheme, which will receive consideration by the planning committee. But I am afraid that those that have been misled into complaining about bulldozing of the park, or the hordes of children in the flats who will take up all the school places, will be passed over by the committee, because these things are not happening

and were never planned. Ms Webster is right though in one point. Residents in Ryde Road have put up with being surrounded by a very large, ugly building for a long time. We are not dealing with a blank canvas. I was struck by how much the survey of local Labour Party members matched the views of the much wider soundings we had taken – very keen for the development to proceed, approving of most of the design points, but would like to see if some redesign could reduce the top height a little. After apparently finally realising that the previous owners of the centre had left a legacy that needs £15m of repairs – before any improvements – Ms Chapman is saying that it is unfair of the new owners to put up a plan to cover these costs. The question is WHO ELSE? Any suggestions for realistic alternatives to save what is the heart of our community from a lingering death will be read with interest. Cllr Gary Hopkins

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n PLANNING APPLICATIONS Knowle ward: Awaiting decision 44 Imperial Walk BS14 9AE Steel and timber framed balcony, staircase to rear, replacement of bay window with patio doors. 62 Melbury Road BS4 2RP Single storey side and rear extension. Knowle Water Tower, Talbot Road, Knowle Replacement of six antennas with new antennas on existing support poles to improve Vodafone 4G network. 75 Sylvia Avenue BS3 5BU Demolition of garage and erection of single storey dwelling, with pedestrian access onto St Agnes Avenue. Land at 13 Broadfield Road, Knowle Park Incidental building in rear garden. Knowle ward: Decided 17 Jubilee Road, Knowle BS4 2LR Single storey rear extension. Granted subject to conditions

120 Broadfield Road BS4 2UU Single storey granny annexe in rear garden. Withdrawn 65 Wingfield Road BS3 5EG Hip to gable loft conversion with rear flat roof dormer. Granted 47 Norton Road BS4 2EZ Loft conversion with flat roof rear dormer. Granted 22 Calcott Road BS4 2HD Alteration to single storey rear extension, including new roof. Granted Windmill Hill ward: Awaiting decision 14 Bower Walk BS3 5AN Single storey rear extension to extend beyond the rear of the house by 6 m, of maximum height 3m with eaves 3m high. Bristol Arena, former Diesel Depot, Bath Road Brislington BS4 3DT Remove condition No. 33 (Provision of footbridge) attached to permission 15/06069/F, to allow for commercial negotiations.

Knowle, Totterdown, Windmill Hill 18 Almorah Road BS3 4QQ Single storey rear extension.

to residential (Use class C3). Granted

60 Ravenhill Road BS3 5BT Single storey rear extension to extend beyond the rear of the house by 3.5m, of maximum height 3.9m with eaves 3m high.

24 Haverstock Road BS4 2BZ Roof alteration with hip to gable extension, glazed central side panel, rear dormer, rooflights to front and rear. Granted

First floor flat, 254 Bath Road, Totterdown BS4 3EN Garden studio.

58 Ravenhill Road BS3 5BT Wooden pergola with solar panels. Granted subj. to conditions

Spielman Centre, Arnos Vale Cemetery, Bath Road BS4 3EW Pergola-style structure and lighting on terrace next to pavilion of Spielman Centre; sliding glazed door to rear.

41 St John’s Crescent BS3 5EL Construction of 2-bedroom detached house. Granted subj. to conditions 184 Wells Road, Totterdown BS4 2AL Variation of Condition 3 of permission 18/04170/F: vary opening hours of physiotherapy practice to 8am-8pm. Granted subject to conditions

Windmill Hill ward: Decided 2 Green Street BS3 4UA Single storey rear/side extension at lower ground floor; lower ground level to front and replace bay window with double doors. Granted subj. to conditions 30 St John’s Lane BS3 5AD Change of use from retail and financial and professional services (Use classes A1 and A2)

11 Gwilliam Street BS3 4LT Cellar conversion and single storey rear extension. Granted • The status of these applications may have changed since we went to press. Check for updates at planningonline.bristol.gov.uk

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n THE MAYOR

MARVIN REES Mayor of Bristol

We’re leading other cities when it comes to recycling

T THE start of the year I was pleased to announce that, according to data released from the Department of Environment and Rural Affairs, Bristol is the leading city for recycling. The city ranks number one out of the eight English Core Cities with an increased recycling rate of 44.9 per cent for 2016/17. This means Bristol is on track to meet our ambitious recycling rate of 50 per cent by 2020. The stats show a further 1.6 per cent increase in recycling since 2016/17, and confirms Bristol’s environmental credentials. Our rate is better than the other seven English core cities, where it ranges from Birmingham at only 20.7 per cent of waste recycled, with Liverpool on 26.6 per cent, while Manchester and Newcastle achieved

38.6 per cent and 38 per cent respectively. The new data demonstrates that Bristol is well ahead of the game in terms of recycling with rates increasing rapidly and general waste tonnages going down. The figures also show a significant drop in the amount of

waste sent to landfill, which fell eight per cent, from 27.9 per cent to 19.9 per cent. We’re committed to reaching our target, which is why we are investing in a fleet of new vehicles and trialling new ways of collecting recycling to help people to improve the rates even further. I’m really grateful for the work by the council’s waste company, Bristol Waste, who have worked to raise awareness and help residents understand the small steps they can make to save resources, save the city money, and ultimately save the planet. Campaigns like the award-winning food waste campaign Slim My Waste – Feed My Face meant a 16 per cent increase in the amount of food waste collected since June. That’s more than 700 tonnes of additional food waste collected to date, equivalent to 56 double-decker buses. When food waste composts naturally it generates CO2 which is bad for the environment. The additional waste diverted to date thanks to Slim My Waste is equal to 669 tonnes of CO2 savings, the same as the emissions of 142 cars. Plus, the additional biogas created will power an extra 180 households for a whole year. We know there is still a journey to go on and that we cannot do it alone, but by working with residents – who have literally done tonnes to help already – we can help Bristol waste nothing.

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February 2019

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February 2019

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n COLUMNS

INVITATION

In witch I deal with trauma

IMSELF has not been sleeping well of late and I am not surprised. Mother Nature seems to be throwing lots of horrifying scenarios at him. While driving in the countryside one night, his headlights lit up a tragic bunny rabbit that had been half squashed. As he passed, the rabbit raised her head and looked at him, pleading sad eyes. There was a car coming up behind and he could not stop to put it out of its misery. That rabbit’s face haunts him. Then he was in a barn, where his mate’s boat is stored. They were due to go fishing. Himself was early, and alone, when a mouse hurtled in and cowered between his size 12 boots. A large tom cat crept into

Who is the Wicked Witch? She’s the one definitely not laughing about the fate of frail creatures ... the barn, green eyes flashing. Himself roared, scaring the cat away and the mouse made a run for it, hiding by his truck. Then the mate turned up, and they hooked up the boat, put the truck into gear – and POP. The mouse, the mouse that Himself had saved, had burst under his tyre. That mouse haunts him. We have a friend who lives on a houseboat. Himself was telling him about all the traumatic events. His friend said, “What are you going to do about that, then?” nodding at a cat playing with a bird on the towpath. Himself shooed the cat

away and scooped up the tiny wren. Its wee heart was fluttering against his large, rough palm. It was in a bad way. “Give it back to the cat,” said his heartless friend. Himself decided the kindest thing was to wring the bird’s neck. He closed his eyes and twisted. The head came off! That head haunts him. It is no surprise that he is having terrible nightmares. And then I got a panic call from Uni Girl. “Oh my God, Mum,” she cried, “something awful has happened”. I thought one of her needy friends (oh, she has lots of these) had jumped into the harbour again (she is by the sea) but no, it turns out that while lounging on her bed, studying, watching Netflix and fiddling with her earring, she had managed to flick the stud out and it had plopped into her ear. She sent me a photo. A tiny

silver orb in the entrance to her ear canal. “What shall I do?” she wailed. I had a think. “Get the Hoover and put a sock over the nozzle and suck it out.” I could hear her banging about, then the whirr of the vacuum. “Oh my God,” she cried, “It’s gone deeper”. Strange, how could that happen? “Well, you’re going to have to get yourself to A&E,” I told her. “But I can’t,” she sobbed. “I can’t let anyone see my small ears”. This is true, she has tiny, weenie ears that we have teased her about over the years which, in hindsight, will probably cost lots of money in therapy. Anyway, all ended well as her housemate flicked it out with a needle (shudder). I thanked her for the laugh, but before hanging up she shouted “Wait!” I paused. “Do not, I repeat do not, write a Wicked Witch about this.” Cackle, cackle.

Blind people protest at loss of centre

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ANGRY members of the blind and visually impaired community confronted charity bosses over the loss of a Bedminster centre which they say will be a loss to the whole of Bristol when it closes in May. The centre in Stillhouse Lane, Bedminster, close to Bedminster bridge, was purpose-built for the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) in 1993, at a cost of £2.7 million. But the RNIB has been plagued by money worries for years and in April last year it sold the centre for less than £700,000. To many, this was a bafflingly small sum for a building the size of several houses, with a large car park. Despite 14 months of discussions, the charity has not found a building to replace it. The new owner, Guide Dogs for the Blind, wants to take full use of the building by May. Now a pressure group, Bristol and District Visually Impaired (VI) Voice, has pulled out of consultation with regional RNIB managers in frustration that no site has been found. “We have said we are not going to continue sitting down with them, because they are just talking the time away,” said Paul Sullivan, secretary of the VI Voice group. Plans to move into the Whitefriars building in Lewins Mead in the city centre were dropped in mid-January because

the cost is too high. Now members of the VI Voice group fear they – and the 11,000 other visually impaired people in the Bristol area – will not get the single centre they believe they need. “I think you have lost the trust of an awful lot of people,” one of about 50 visually impaired woman at the protest told RNIB officials on January 22. Another referred to public donations which have funded improvements at Stillhouse Lane, and questioned whether people would want to contribute to the charity in future. Colin Whitbourn, RNIB networks manager for the South of England, told the gathering “we will find places” for all the groups at Stillhouse Lane. But the VI Voice group believes that the RNIB wants to find short-term premises in different locations. “You know that that is totally unacceptable to the blind people in Bristol,” VI Voice member Martin Sullivan told Mr Whitbourn. The Bedminster resource centre, which supplied special equipment and training to the visually impaired, has already closed. “I spent six weeks there learning to use an iPhone and it changed my life,” said one visually impaired woman. The RNIB said the sale price had been approved by an independent surveyor. • More on the Voice website

RNIB accused of selling South Bristol building too cheap, with no replacement in sight

Got a story or any other inquiry? Call Paul on 07811 766072 or email paul@southbristolvoice.co.uk

February 2019

southbristolvoice

n YOUR COUNCILLORS

HRIS and I held a Knowle Community Forum meeting on January 16 in Knowle Park. Gary Chris has reported Hopkins on the other items, Lib Dem I will deal with Knowle Broadwalk. Around 50 people came and we gave air time to both protesters and the developers. The protesters’ line was that local services could not cope; that some roads were being disadvantaged and that the development was just too high. They also questioned if we needed as much retail as is planned. They did though welcome the plan for the residents’ parking scheme, which two thirds of local residents have approved in principle. The developers pointed out the centre had been poorly maintained by the previous owners, and that as well as the £10 million needed to replace the

Knowle

car park, there is £5m more for urgent repairs before any improvements. With the state of the retail sector there is no investment money for shops alone, but there is money for flats which can then fund the repairs and the centre redevelopment. We have worked with council officers and managed to get some design changes, but while these have been welcomed, they are not the 50 per cent reduction that the protesters are demanding. A further cost pressure is the demand for affordable housing. The developers are targeting 20 per cent. An ideal figure could be 30 per cent but about 10 per cent has been achieved so far by the mayor across the city. If public funds were made available it could help increase the percentage, and reduce pressure for the height. We will keep pushing on the design front, but we will not sacrifice our local businesses, endanger the livelihoods of the 450+ employees, or jeopardise the local retail centre to do it.

How to contact your councillor: p2

UR third meeting of the independent Knowle Community Forum on Chris January 16 Davies had around 50 Lib Dem attendees and some Knowle lively discussion. New maps and timetables for local bus routes were provided and we heard many negative comments about First Group. Consensus was that we need the mayor to take more control. Information was also circulated on the new cycle route on Airport Road and Wootton Park. This will be very important if the new Broadwalk flats get the go ahead, as they are encouraging cycling, and they need to be connected to main cycle routes. We are pressing where possible for bikes and pedestrians to have separate facilities. Parks officers have provided options for the play equipment for the new Paignton Park and

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we are inviting interested residents to form a Friends group to advise the officers. We confirmed that we would be supporting the Wells Road crossing in the bidding for planning levy money,and a couple of other people suggested that they may wish to bring forward other ideas, with which we will try to help. It is a long complicated process and we reported that this year’s successful bid for Redcatch/ Woodbridge Rd safety scheme is being delivered, but much slower than we would like, possibly by February 2020. The new secondary school continues to make progress and is on the cabinet agenda for March 5. We are pressing to make sure that all the community services on the old Merrywood site are fully protected. We thank our community centres for helping out with venues for these meetings when the council pulled out. The next one will be in April/May at Redcatch community centre.

February 2019

southbristolvoice

n YOUR COUNCILLORS

Planning gain NE OF the few remaining responsibilities available to ward councillors is to Jon consider, approve Wellington and apply for Labour CIL and Section Windmill Hill 106 monies that are available for infrastructure projects in the local area. CIL and Section 106 are planning charges that developers have to make available to the local authority to mitigate the negative effects of development. Eighty per cent of this goes to the central council coffers for larger projects, but 15 per cent is made available to local communities to spend on smaller projects that enhance the environment or improve infrastructure. The allocation of local funding used to be a function of the local Neighbourhood Partnerships, and decisions would be signed off by councillors. However, since the partnerships were wound up

Windmill Hill

a couple of years ago, it has fallen on local councillors to work with volunteers from their community to identify priorities and put forward projects. In order to identify some of these priorities, local meetings were held by the Windmill Hill Network, a group of volunteers and councillors, throughout last year, and I have attended almost all meetings of local groups to see what is the most important priorities for them. Last year, through these meetings, we identified that parks were the most important thing for people, so we successfully took forward funding proposals for improvements to Perrett’s Park and Victoria Park. We hope to hold a further public meeting before the deadline for applications at the end of this month. However I would like to encourage others to get involved even if they cannot attend evening meetings. The deadline for proposals is February 28 and

How to contact your councillor: p2

more details can be found at bristol.gov.uk/people-communities /funding-local-projects where you can download a form for proposals. If you have not spoken to me about an idea you should contact me first (my details are on page 2) for advice around how this works and how your idea fits in with other projects and priorities. The total funds available across six wards in the south of the city is estimated at around £250,000, so proposals for one-off projects of up to £25,000 (but preferably lower) would be appropriate. I am particularly keen to encourage projects from the Marksbury Road and Bedminster Road area and for the Marksbury Road Green Space as they did not have a project last year. Budget his month, councillors have the most important (and longest) full council meeting of the year where we vote on the annual budget. Amid the tedious political point scoring that all parties – including my own

– are guilty of, there are serious decisions to be made that affect services and ultimately lives. Since 2016 the mayor and deputy mayor have had to propose some eye-watering cuts in departmental budgets that reflect the massive cut in funding to local government. There are no new cuts this year beyond what was proposed in previous years’ financial plans, but this does not mean that services are not seeing continued cuts as we adapt to ever-reducing funding. The mayor and his team have worked hard to bring the council back to financial stability while protecting vital services such as children’s centres. In an ideal world none of this would be happening and we would have properly funded local authorities that can serve their citizens appropriately. Until we have a government that values local government and provides appropriate resources, we will continue to see services decline. • Lucy Whittle is on maternity leave

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n TAKE A BREAK

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Prague 2 Praia is A, B or C 3 is D, E or F 4 Rabat is G, H or I 5 Rome is J, K, or L

SUDOKU

Each horizontal row, each 2x2 square and each column must contain all the numbers 1-4.

Vaduz Yaren

Paris

Ottawa

Down Thimphu 2 42484 (5) Tokyo 3 528842 (6) 4 84245263 Trinidad(8) 6 64437 (5) Tunis 7 3276 (4)

O YOU own or work for a Bristol-based company? Would you like to increase exposure within your area and have a charity link while helping local animals in need? We’ve got the event for you! On Thursday March 7, you could be part of something very special – our very first, jail-and bail, Release the Rabbits event! What does this mean? You’re the rabbit, and you will have the day to raise £400 and be released from your ‘hutch’. That is enough money to look after one of our rabbits for nearly a month! You’ll have your phone, computer and access to WiFi – giving you all of the tools you need to raise the funds. Are you up for the challenge?

This month: Countries

Suva The numbers point you to the letters on a phone keypad Tehran Nassau 1 2 3

Across Delhi 1New 24453 (5) Noumea 5 86642 (5) 7Nuuk 3454 (4) 8Oslo 4726 (4) 9 6626 (4)

N E W D E L H I S A D D I S A B A B A

Y R M I N K U W A I T O L U A N D A P

F N N O U M E A R P N C L L S U V A E

V O T T R N N D K A B U L S A I A M A

A D A C C A A E H K O E T C O N O I U

L N C R G M E N Z E V O A D A L F A A

TXT PERT Muscat

I O S A X M U A S A N M O S C O W R S

N L U I U A G B L H A R J S S S B C S

A U M B R B A A T O U R L P O F A C A

M A N A M A R B A D J I A J F G I A N

N E M H B R P M B O N A N K A R A M D

R A

A S W T O K Y O A W A A S N A D R L E

J O N D M A S E R U S A A X A D P A I

D R N O T T A W A H C R T D U M A L E

I A U G B O G O T A H Z I U V R A U N

B U E N O S A I R E S N A D R G N J E

A T H E N S I A T L I M A P I I R N R

B I S S A U C L C R N U U K A P E A A

O M A

T A V A D U Z P T H I M P H U L B B Y

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BRISTOL A.R.C. UPDATE

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February 2019

Never before have Bristolians been given the chance to stage a rabbit escape attempt, armed with just their phone or computer to set themselves free

So what’s included? • Promotion of your company on our website and social media, giving your charity exposure • Tour of our Rehoming Centre • Talks from our staff • Full facilities and access to power and WiFi to power your phone, computer or tablet, giving

you all of the tools you need to raise the funds • Lunch and refreshments. This event will help us raise vital funds to help care for the thousands of animals that come through our doors each year. Would you like to take part or know someone you think would love the idea? Please email us at grace@bristolarc.org.uk or call us on 0117 980 3901.

n NEWS Can you help ensure art trail goes ahead? NEW BLOOD is needed to make sure the popular Windmill Hill and Victoria Park arts trail goes ahead in the autumn. The two-day event each October attracts many hundreds of visitors to the area to view art works and performances in dozens of homes, pubs, churches and other venues. However, several of the 12-strong organising committee are stepping down this year and there are fears that without new recruits, the trail will not be able to go ahead. Anyone interested can email artonthehillbristol@ gmail.com or attend a meeting at 7.30pm on Wednesday February 13 at Windmill Hill community centre in Vivian Street. Anyone with organising skills or ideas for future art trails is welcome. artonthehill.org.uk

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n FEATURES

The only UK film chosen for the Berlin film festival was born in Totterdown A FEATURE film made by a production company based in Totterdown is within reach of international success after being selected to hold its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival on February 9. Linn Waite and Kate Byers are the producers of Bait – a moving story about a Cornish fisherman without a boat. The central character, Martin, wants to carry on fishing the coves as his ancestors have done, but his brother is using the family boat for tourist day trips. With the family house now home to rich Londoners, Martin is displaced to an estate away from the picturesque harbour. “He is struggling to keep his traditional way alive in a village

that fast being sold to tourists,” Linn told the Voice. But it’s not just a story about Cornwall – it relates to many communities around the world who are becoming marginalised, says Linn. As the film poster says, “the view may be beautiful, but you can’t eat it”. The film was shot in black and white by Cornish writer-director Mark Jenkin on an old-fashioned 16mm Bolex film camera, run by clockwork. This enabled Mark to keep production work in Cornwall, processing almost three miles of film on his own, by hand. The choice of camera had several effects, said Linn. The Bolex’s motor makes a noise, and meant all the sound – including the dialogue – had to be added in

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Changed: Bait is about a Cornish fishing village struggling to keep the old ways alive PHOTO: Early Day Films

post-production. But adding the words later also meant filming could be done more quickly – just four weeks on location in Charlestown and Sennen, much less than for most feature films. Black and white gives the film a raw quality that is miles away from a picture postcard view of Cornwall. But it’s not bleak – there are touches of humour, too. Bait is the only UK film selected for the Forum section of the Berlinale festival. Linn and Kate are arranging viewings at other international film festivals throughout 2019 with the hope that it will be shown in cinemas next year. Linn and Kate run Early Day films from a base in Stanley Hill.

Back in 2009 they won a BAFTA for a short film, September. A major part of Early Day’s role was to find financial backers. Bait had a tiny budget compared to many feature films, but it still required a crew of 14 shooting for four weeks. Investment came from Cultivator, an EU fund for Cornish creative industries, and from private equity investors. “We are really proud of it as a regional film, and the story is rooted in the people and landscapes of Cornwall – but the story is universal,” said Linn. The Voice will follow the film’s progress this year – and hopefully bring you news of a Bristol screening. baitfilm.co.uk

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n HISTORY WEST COUNTRY SHOWMAN WHO REINVENTED HOLIDAYS Genial Billy Butlin founded a holiday empire – and it all began in Bedminster Born into a West Country fairground dynasty, Billy Butlin did more than carry on the family tradition – he made his name into a trademark for the holidays that working people felt they deserved

HE HOLIDAY camp has become a bit of cliché. Too many jokes have likened the huge seaside compounds to a prison camp; too many films and TV series such as Hi-de-Hi! have made fun of the regimented rows of chalets, the bad weather and the organised fun. Mention Butlins and you conjure up a stereotype of families crammed together in tiny, flimsy holiday homes, woken by a loudspeaker and trooping out to eat together in an austere dining hall. It’s as if a British seaside holiday was a punishment, not a pleasure. But it wasn’t always seen this way. Half a century ago, a week in a holiday camp was the height of ambition for many British families – easily as aspirational as a package trip to the Canaries. Even today, the dowdy image of the holiday camp isn’t justified. Thousands of people use them every week, from Minehead to Skegness, enjoying a cheap holiday with everything laid on, from food to childcare. Families love being able to let their children run around with little supervision. Kids love the swimming pools, the fairgrounds and the chance to make new friends. And everything is on hand in the camp – though these days it’s more likely to be called a holiday park, or a village. Almost everyone has heard of Sir Billy Butlin, the man who did the most to make the holiday camp famous up and down the UK. But how many know that the

great man’s ascent to fame and fortune began right here in South Bristol – in a tucked-away corner of Bedminster?

ILLIAM Heygate Edmund Colborne Butlin was born on September 29, 1899, in Cape Town, South Africa. His father, William Colborne Butlin, was the son of a clergyman in Leonard Stanley, Gloucestershire, and something of a gentleman. So when he fell for Bertha Hill, who arrived with a travelling fair at the village, his family were not impressed. William and Bertha shipped themselves to South Africa, where William opened a bicycle shop in a shed behind their house in Mowbray, a suburb of Cape Town. But William preferred tennis to business, and much of the work was left to Bertha. Both the business and the marriage were rocky. By 1901, Bertha was back in England, living with her mother and sister in Rodborough, Gloucestershire. But she reunited with her husband and in 1904 their second son, Harry, known as Binkie, was born in South Africa. The reconciliation did not last. By 1907 Bertha and her sons were once again with her family near Stroud. Binkie contracted polio and died in March 1907. The next year Bertha and Billy took another ship, this time to Montreal, Canada. For the next 13 years Bertha was unable to settle, travelling back and forth

Man of the people: Billy Butlin visits a munitions factory in 1941 as part of his role to raise morale PHOTO: IWM Collection across the Atlantic, though mostly staying in Canada. At any rate the records show that after sailing to Canada in July 1908, they returned. Bertha sailed off again in 1911, in 1912 and in 1914. Her brothers, Marshall and Ernest Hill, had a travelling fairground based in Bristol, and it seems she and Billy worked the fairs several times, Bertha running a gingerbread stall. The travelling fair was both a family setting and a source of employment – perhaps Bertha wanted to get away but couldn’t support herself as a single mother. In his autobiography, Billy said he went to Bedminster Down school for nine months at about this time. Their winter quarters was at Organs Yard, off Regent Road, Bedminster. This was the yard of an old sawmill on the site where Asda now stands. (Regent Road and several other streets of housing covered what is now the supermarket car park; and old maps also mark Asda’s location as the place of the medieval St Catherine’s hospital. Think of that next time you’re reaching for the washing powder!) In April 1911, the UK census

found Bertha, 12-year-old Billy and his aunt Lottie, described as the head of the household, living in Organs Yard in a caravan. Their accommodation is described as: “Living carriage. Two rooms.” October 1911 saw Bertha and Billy’s second trip to Canada, sailing from Bristol – but they were back in Bristol the next year. In October 1912 Bertha joined the Royal George at Avonmouth, but this time Billy was boarded out somewhere in Bristol with his cousin, Jimmy Hill. For at least two years he attended Redcliffe Endowed Boys school, just the other side of Bedminster bridge. He was good at reading, drawing and painting but not much else. “I concentrated on them and was at least able to shine in class for something,” he wrote later, noting that this was the only sustained period of schooling he ever had. Billy later recalled that his mother emigrated to Canada without him in about 1910 but his memory seems to be faulty – the voyages given above are all listed in the passenger records. She certainly returned to Continued overleaf

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n HISTORY Continued from page 29 Bedminster, though, in late 1913. She had met a gas fitter, Charlie Rowbotham, and they were married in Swindon in October. In January 1914 the newlyweds were off to Canada again, this time with Billy, stating on the passenger list that they were emigrating for good (though Bertha had said that before). The trio lived in Toronto but Billy did not enjoy his Canadian school, where the other children made fun of his accent. He left school as soon as he could, at 14, and found a job at Eaton’s department store. Shop work wasn’t much fun but Eatons gave him his first holiday, to a summer camp, a dose of freedom he did not forget. In 1915, with war raging in France, there were appeals for young men to join the army. Billy really wanted one of the “I Volunteered” badges the Canadian army was offering, in order to impress his girlfriend, who also worked at Eatons, though he didn’t particularly want to be shot at. His plan was to tell the enlisting officer that he wanted to be a despatch rider – he had heard the army had too many, so he figured he would be turned away. But in his excitement, Billy forgot to tell the recruiter of his desired posting, and he was signed up on the spot. He had his precious Volunteer badge – but he also had to go home and face his mother and stepfather, who were unaware he wanted to join up. He had also lied about his age, claiming to be 16. His joining-up papers survive, showing that Billy fibbed about his birth date, and his army role was to be as a bugler. Billy duly learned a few notes on the bugle but it was to be as a stretcher bearer that he worked on the front line in France. In his autobiography he wrote: “During my two years I was at the front, I never fired a shot in anger, but I vividly recall the horrors of trench warfare.” There were times he would willingly have parted with a leg to have been out of it, he said.

fter the war, Billy found his mother alone again. Her husband Charley had died in 1917. Eatons gave him a job, designing the store’s advertising. But “the idea of an open-air life, not tied to a desk or an artist’s

February 2019

WEST COUNTRY SHOWMAN WHO REINVENTED HOLIDAYS

Steam show: A traction engine used to pull the Bedminster-based Hill’s funfair. Photo probably taken on Durdham Downs in 1910, the year when this engine, Minoru, was bought PHOTO: Bristol Archives 43207/22/6/5 easel” attracted him. After 18 months at Eatons, Billy decided to try to make some money at Canadian fairgrounds, and at first he had a little success with a darts stall, which he ran at the Toronto Exhibition with a friend, Norman Littlewood. He decided he should help his widowed mother and enable her to return to England. He saved his earnings and eventually gathered the equivalent of £400 (worth about £18,000 today). He planned to invest it all in a major installation at a country fair, and gave the money to a plausiblesounding showman who promised to make his stalls ready for him. But when he arrived at the fair in question there was no sign of his stalls – or the conman. Chastened, Bill went back to work at Eatons. He decided to return to England, where at least he could rely on support from his family in the fairground business. He arrived in Liverpool on February 17, 1921, with £5 in his pocket (about £220 today). He didn’t want to waste a penny, so he hitch-hiked back to Bristol – the journey took five days. He found his uncles, the Hills, at their new winter quarters in Dorney’s Yard, off Hartcliffe Way. In 1921 the entrance to the yard was sandwiched between a dairy and a pub, the Enterprise. (Nowadays it’s known as Locke’s Yard, home to the Matching Brick Company; the pub was

demolished in 2007 to make way for flats.) The Hills set him to work painting and repairing their fairground rides. Many of these were probably still steam-driven. Enterprising showmen had been quick to embrace steam-driven attractions, competing to show off the latest rides, from roundabouts to miniature tunnel railways and giant swings. It’s not known what rides the Hills kept, though there is a record that before WWI they took their “cakewalk” to the Barnstaple Fair, one of the biggest fairs in the West Country, and one of the oldest in England. The cakewalk was named after a fast-paced, shuffling dance of the period. Visitors had to traverse a series of tilted, shaking platforms, kept moving by steam-driven belts. It wasn’t just fun to do, but amusing to

IN HIS OWN WORDS On visiting Minehead, aged 13, in 1912:

“I can still recall the excitement of seeing the sands for the first time, and digging with a bucket and spade and riding a donkey. When I got home I still had some sand and a tiny crab in my bucket.”

look at, and the ride was a big draw for the Hills. One photo survives from this pre-war period, when Bill would already have met his travelling relatives. It shows a steampowered traction engine at the head of a column of vehicles, the first one bearing the title Marshall and Ernest Hill Entertainments. The picture dates from 1910 and the original caption says it is of Organ’s Yard, the Hills’ winter home at the time – though it looks much more like it was taken on the Downs, where fairs also took place. Billy may even be in the picture – a small boy is visible. However, a gleaming steam-powered ride was way beyond Billy’s pocket in 1921. He invested £4 of his savings in a hoopla stall. The first fair he visited with it was the historic market town of Axbridge in Somerset. Here the Butlin legend truly began, when Billy found a way to make his one of the most popular stalls. Hoopla evolved from the ancient game of quoits – throwing a ring to land over a peg – which was so popular in medieval England it was banned at least twice because it distracted men from practising archery. The fairground game offers a reward – a toy, sweets or cash – to anyone who can throw a hoop so it lands flat around the block which holds the prize. Ever

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n HISTORY

since it was invented, cunning showmen have minimised their chances of giving away too many prizes by making the rings so small that they scarcely fit around the block – perhaps even too small to fit it at all. Famously, Butlins started his first day at Axbridge with blocks rather smaller than the rings he was giving out. His punters won more prizes than at his rivals’ stalls, and kept coming back. He ended the day with no prizes left, but the camaraderie of the fairground meant that he was soon loaned some more. At the close of the two-day fair he was £10 in profit – a tidy £340 at today’s values. Fairground lore has it that Billy deliberately cut off the corners of his blocks to give him an edge over other stallholders. He claimed it was somehow an accident, but whatever the reason, he quickly realised how profitable it could be to give the punters what they wanted. From then on he was always looking for an edge – for a new kind of prize, a better game, anything to attract attention and keep the public coming back. Billy took his hoopla stall onwards to fairs at Hereford, Ludlow, Leominster and further afield. It has been calculated that his punters had a one in five chance of winning with each hoop, against a one in three hope – at best – with his competitors. He was making less profit per customer, but more profit overall because he had more clients. He began stashing away the pounds and by May, his mother Bertha was on her way back across the Atlantic, her ticket paid for (it is thought) by her son. Bertha lodged with her sister Lottie, who was then living at 25 Nelson Parade, next to Bedminster bridge. Billy began to expand his operations, acquiring the right to a stall in Olympia, London, outside the Christmas Circus run by Bertram Mills. He took on an assistant, and gave him a smart white uniform with a B sewn on – though he is supposed to have stitched up the pockets so no small change could be pocketed. Seeking eye-catching prizes, he alighted on love birds, a kind of small parrot. He bought 100 birds for two shillings each (10p or £3.40 today) and called them “Lucky Little Love Birds”. Not a prize we would approve of today.

WEST COUNTRY SHOWMAN WHO REINVENTED HOLIDAYS

Raw recruit: Billy, 15, is more boy than soldier – he had lied about his age in order to enlist Then Billy overreached himself. If small birds were a draw, what about something bigger and more adorable? He started giving away puppies as prizes. At first Billy was proud when he saw the attention his winners got as they paraded their new pets around Olympia. Then the puppies began to do what puppies do, and the complaints stared coming in. The great Sir Bertram Mills himself sought Billy out to remonstrate. Suddenly, puppies were no longer the top prize.

illy was unabashed. He continued to innovate. Perhaps his methods were not always strictly business-like. The showground community was a tough one, and Billy was alleged to have carried a cutthroat razor in his top pocket – at least so his nephew Vernon Jenkins told the Daily Mirror in 2006. He was not above forming a gang to smash up his rivals’ stalls, it was claimed. Whatever the truth, he soon had a dozen men working for him. He left Bertha to look after the stall at Olympia while he took fairground rides on the road. In 1925 he opened his first permanent fairground at Barry Island, the seaside resort near Cardiff. Two years later, in 1927, he leased some land in Skegness, Lincolnshire, and opened one of the first amusement parks, with

hoopla, a huge slide, a haunted house and a scenic railway. But this wasn’t his biggest break – that came in 1928, when he paid the American inventor of the dodgem car £2,000 (£90,000 at today’s values) for the UK rights. It meant any other fairground owner who wanted them had to give him a cut. With the cash flowing in, Billy added parks in Mablethorpe in Lincolnshire, Hayling Island and Southsea in Hampshire, and Felixstowe in Suffolk. By 1930, Skegness had a zoo with lions and zebras and an “African village”. In 1932 he opened another amusement park in Bognor Regis, on the Sussex coast, adding polar bears, kangaroos and monkeys to the mix the following year. Billy Butlin was already a rich man by the time his mother died in Skegness in 1934. Billy’s success was due to the fact that he was always thinking about what his customers might want, but hadn’t yet thought of. Legend has it that Billy hit on his concept of holiday camps while staying at a bed-andbreakfast in Barry Island where the landlady turfed her guests out after breakfast, not to be re-admitted until teatime. This was a business set up to suit its proprietor more than its customers. Many B&Bs had a long list of rules of the kind caricatured by the cartoonist Giles, including the joyless injunction: “No Singing.” Billy Butlin surmised there would be a big market for holiday accommodation that let guests come and go as they pleased. Where they could have their own home from home, and everything they wanted for their holiday within a short walk: a funfair, an

IN HIS OWN WORDS On running a business:

“One business philosophy I have always practised is – after deciding general policy – to personally look after the little things. You can pay people to attend to major matters, but the little things which make all the differences can so easily be overlooked or ignored.”

entertainment hall, sports facilities, a bar and somewhere to eat – and no need to worry about the weather. To be fair, he was far from the first to think of the holiday camp. Another famous brand, Warners, preceded him – and Billy was drawing on ideas he had seen in holiday resorts in Canada. But he was the first in the UK to make the camps appeal to a broad mass of people, the working and the middle classes, drawn by the guarantee that a stay at Butlins would give them all they wanted for a holiday, all in one place. And, of course, all the profits would go to Billy.

he first Butlins camp opened in Skegness at Easter 1936. Ever the showman, Billy spent plenty of money on grabbing the public’s attention. He hired Amy Johnson, the first woman to fly solo from Britain to Australia, to open it. He placed huge adverts in the Daily Express at a cost of £500, (£25,000 at today’s prices). It worked: Butlins received 10,000 inquiries from that first advert. Butlins offered “a week’s holiday for a week’s wages”. Though prices for full board varied from 35 shillings a week (£1.75 or £86 today) to £3 (£150 today) that wasn’t far off what a working family might earn: a standard factory or farm wage was about 31 shillings a week. But not everything went as Billy intended. He had hoped that people would take advantage of all the activities he had laid on, mingle with each other and have a good time. But he noticed that many, with true British reticence, were keeping to themselves and even looked bored. They needed cheering up. Billy press-ganged Norman Bradford, who was one of the engineers helping to build the camp, to break the ice with a few jokes and some patter. It worked: people started talking and there was a real buzz to the place. Billy resolved that night to hire a whole team of entertainers to lift the spirits of his guests and encourage them to try new activities. These were to become the famous Redcoats. To those still living in city terraces without bathrooms, the Skegness camp was simply splendid, a combination of grand Continued overleaf

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February 2019

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n HISTORY

WEST COUNTRY SHOWMAN WHO REINVENTED HOLIDAYS

Continued from page 31 art deco styling with the promise of your own little hideaway. “You have a wonderfully cosy Elizabethan Chalet with a wide verandah,” read the Skegness brochure in 1936. “Chalets are equipped with running water, electric light … snowy white sheets and fleecy warm blankets. Floors are carpeted and wardrobes provided – a delightfully healthy and happy home.” We shouldn’t scoff: to most people, this was luxury. No matter that the chalets were made of thin wood, had a cold tap only, and a single 40-watt bulb. And the food was hardly haute cuisine, more like pork chops and sausages, but the quantity … as the brochure explained: “The tariff provides for four good meals a day – cooked by experienced chefs … You are specially invited to inspect the kitchens and the culinary arrangements which you will find are so clean, hygienic and modern, that the women will be quite envious.” And here was another part of the appeal – in the 1930s, still set in traditional gender roles, the men would look forward to a drink at the bar, while for many women the biggest luxury was not having to cook or wash up. The 1940s would have been the golden age of British holidays if war hadn’t intervened. Car ownership was growing and in 1938 the Holidays with Pay Act gave workers the right to at least a week’s paid holiday each year. Billy had opened another camp in Clacton, Essex, in 1938. He had plans for more camps in Ayr, Scotland, and Filey, Yorkshire, but war broke out in 1939, before they were complete. Both Clacton and Skegness were turned into military training camps, and astute Billy did a deal to buy them back at the end of the war. He also agreed to finish building Filey and Ayr, and hand them to the armed services too. During World War II he showed more of his acute sense of what made people happy. He was called in to find out why morale was low at a camp set up to build munitions at Chorley in Lancashire. He quickly divined that the workers were depressed by the barbed wire and dank huts which made them feel as if they were in a prison camp. He introduced film shows, whist drives and other

You’ll have fun at the Holiday Camp, promised the poster for one of the most popular British films of 1947 – filmed in Butlins Filey and featuring its famous Redcoats. The picture gives a hint at the kind of fun that Billy Butlin wanted his punters to think they could find at his camps

Above: A Knobbly Knees contest in the Skegness camp, 1956 entertainment, with such success that he was appointed the unpaid Director General of Hostels. Recognising that even in wartime people needed something to look forward to, in 1943 he encouraged people to take their holidays, but to stay at home, and he organised travelling fairs to visit one town after another. He was later awarded an MBE for his wartime services. Come peacetime in 1945, Billy was back in business, buying back his camps on the cheap, and fixing up the fairground equipment he had bought – also very cheaply – during the war. The holiday camp was the very image of the egalitarian image Britain had of itself in the late 1940s, when the Labour government of Clement Attlee founded the NHS and attempted to overturn the class-bound

IT’S A TOUGH JOB

eing a Butlins Redcoat means being cheerful and keeping people entertained, on and off stage, all day long, for little money. It’s a tough gig, so no surprise that among the Redcoats graduates are these TV faces: Benny Hill Stephen Mulhern Dave Allen Jimmy Tarbuck Ian H Watkins and Lisa Scott of Steps Michael Barrymore Rod Hull

society of the prewar years. A hit film, called simply Holiday Camp, summed up the whole idea. Released in 1947 and filmed at Butlins in Filey, it centred on the Huggetts, a family from London exploring their new freedoms in a postwar world. The film starred Jack Warner – later famous as TV constable Dixon of Dock Green – and a host of celebrities, from Cheerful Charlie Chester to Flora Robson.

he poster for Holiday Camp gives away another key ingredient in Billy’s formula: sex. There was little chance of hanky-panky in the seaside boarding houses run by strict landladies. But in camps full of unsupervised chalets, who was keeping watch on who bunked with whom? That was what Billy wanted the punters to think, anyway. As usual, Billy was drawing on his own experience. He was married three times and is supposed to have declared that a man should have four drives in life: “women, money, ambition and power”. He stayed married to Dolly, his first wife, because she wouldn’t divorce him, but he was already living with her niece, Norah. He is also supposed to have slept with all or most of Dolly’s nine sisters. He can’t have been easy to be married to. Both Dolly and Norah took to drink; though Sheila, his final wife, defended

his reputation after his death, pointing out that he gave away millions to charities. A rare Butlins failure was a $5m (£40m today) investment in a camp in the Bahamas in 1949. The Americans – the target audience – didn’t take to the camp concept and Billy rapidly sold his hotel leases at a big loss. Back home, though, the 1950s and 60s were good times. Billy kept innovating, with chairlifts, monorails and on-site hotels. He hired the biggest stars and came up with new ideas – Laurel and Hardy, for example, were judges of the Knobbly Knees contest, a harmless but wacky form of entertainment that could only take root in Britain. In 1964 Billy met the film star Marlene Dietrich and was surprised to find she was a grandmother. On his return, Butlin started weekly Glamorous Granny competitions. It was a formula he kept adapting until he retired in 1969 to his palatial homes – at first in London (Hampstead and then Grosvenor Square) and then to tax exile in Jersey. Britons’ enthusiasm for regimented holidays has waned since the 1960s – though the advent of cheap air travel to sunnier climes was a bigger challenge. But Butlins still has its fans in their millions. The Minehead centre – opened in 1962 at a cost of £2m (£30m today) is now referred to as a holiday park. It has lakeside chalets in pastel shades. A vast pavilion called the Skyline hosts dining, crafts and indoor climbing while all the fun of Splash Waterworld and a vast funfair are included in the price. A quick look at the website shows that many weeks even in winter are completely sold out. Billy Butlin died in Jersey in 1980. His gravestone is shaped like a double bed: we can make up our own minds what to think about that, but he was without doubt a showman to the last. Sources • The Billy Butlin Story: “A Showman to the End” Billy Butlin • The Dark Side of Billy Butlin Damien Fletcher, Daily Mirror, April 18, 2006 • Holiday camp king Eddie Holt, Irish Times, November 29, 1997 • Vaughan Collection, Bristol Archives • butlins.com/get-to-know-us

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n WHAT’S ON Friday February 1 n Katey Brooks Arnos Vale cemetery, Bath Road. Katey Brooks mixes soul with Americana and country in a style that’s been likened to “emotional exorcism”. Her intensity comes from growing up inside a cult. She’s recorded with Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones and Paloma Faith. £15, 7.30-10.30pm, bar open from 6.30pm. arnosvale.org.uk/events n Ahir Shah: Duffer Comedy Box at the Hen & Chicken Studio, North Street. Ahir Shah – twice nominated for best show at the Edinburgh Fringe – returns with a new show about life, death and Bohemian Rhapsody. £13, 8pm. thecomedybox.co.uk Your event could be highlighted like this for just £5. Email sales@southbristolvoice.co.uk Saturday February 2 n Afro Boogie Special Fiddlers Club, Willway Street, Bedminster. Worm Disco Club and DJs bring tropical warmth to Fiddlers with live music from Arp Frique & Family, from Amsterdam. £10/£12/£15, 10pm-4am. fiddlers.co.uk Sunday February 3 n Zone A work party Zone A, junction of Wells Road and Firfield Street, Totterdown. Community group Tresa welcomes volunteers to help tidy up the public open space, from 11am. Bring hand tools and gardening gloves if you have them. tresa.org.uk Wednesday February 6-Friday 8 n Mark Thomas: Check Up – Our NHS at 70 Comedy Box at the Tobacco Factory, North

Silent puppets tell an eloquent story of war n Review Taking a Holiday Otherstory, Bedminster Library THERSTORY makes puppet shows with a conscience, telling the histories of outsiders. Tonight’s show, to a small audience of 20 or so at Bedminster library, has an introduction from Professor Lois Bibbings of the University of Bristol, who has researched conscientious objectors – men who refused to be conscripted during World War I. A large number of men from South Bristol said no, for moral, political and religious reasons (covered in last month’s Voice history feature). And a network of people in South Bristol hid them from the authorities and helped them escape, sometimes by ship. This beautiful puppet show tells the story of George Barker , who had a bicycle shop on Cannon Street, Bedminster, and excavated a secret chamber in his back yard to hide men who were on the run. The show is narrated, with live music and sound effects, by Paul

Walker – a trowel in a bucket of rocks depicts the digging of the underground tunnel. Puppeteers Emma Byron and Trevor Houghton devised the show and made the puppets. Dressed in black, they say nothing – the story is told with the gentle eloquence of the puppets. The precision of a puppet climbing every rung of a ladder, hand over hand; the silent conversations between characters – the tilt of a head and a hand on a shoulder show support being offered, a forearm pushed against a chest depicts conflict. The scenery opens to show the cavern below the bike shop, or the boiler room in the depths of a ship. Taking a Holiday was a euphemism for men going on the

Street. If Mark Thomas makes it to 84, the NHS will be 100 – what will they both look like? Based on interviews with NHS experts. £17/£13, 8pm. tobaccofactorytheatres.com Thursday February 7 n Laser Cut Valentine’s Day Gifts KWMC: The Factory, Unit 24 Filwood Green Business

Park, off Hengrove Way BS4 1ET. Design and make laser-cut cards and gifts for Valentine’s Day, 6-8.30pm. Ages 16+. For details e-mail thefactory@kwmc.org.uk or call 0117 403 2306. kwmc.org.uk/events n Something Spectacular Tobacco Factory bar, North Street. A carnival of curiosity with live and

All a dream

the newlyweds. It’s the opportunity of their lives, if only Bottom would stop acting like an ass. Vengeful fairies, warring lovers, amateur actors, mind-altering herbs and dangerous desires collide in Shakespeare’s riotous comedy of mad, bad romance. Tickets from £12 (limited availability). Shows 7.30pm; matinées 2pm Thursday and Saturday. • Inside A Midsummer Night’s Dream Saturday March 9, 10am-1pm. Discussions, lectures, workshops and Q&A sessions including director Mike Tweddle. • Post-show talk Saturday March 9, after 7.30pm performance. Free.

Acting the ass in a mad night of romance n A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare February 20-April 6 HE SECOND season of the Tobacco Factory theatre’s own acting company begins with Shakespeare’s wildest fantasy. Artistic director Mike Tweddle presents a new interpretation of the comedy that explores how the course of true love can run this way and that in the wild abandonment of a summer night.

Puppets: Wordless conversations

PHOTO: Joe Roberts

Lysander loves Hermia but to be together they’ll have to run away. Demetrius loves Hermia too, but she hates him. Unlike Helena, who loves him like mad. Meanwhile, it’s just days until the wedding of the century. Bottom and pals have been picked – from thousands – to perform for

run from conscription. George gives one of the fugitives a bicycle to take him to his next destination. We feel his fear of capture, as well as his sense of liberation as the puppeteer brings him out before the audience – he glides through the landscape, before an arduous chase up hill and down dale by a policeman. This is a story of joy and solidarity, as well as a clever depiction of war, told with a range of puppetry styles – from a pale, shell-shocked young soldier puppet, to stand-up photographs of old-fashioned coppers, to a swirling silhouette wheel of marching soldiers. At one point members of the front row wave anti-war placards. At the end the audience is invited to talk to the cast and admire the puppets – there is a lot to admire. AND THERE’S MORE Otherstory is creating a Bedminster history walk with puppets, uncovering more stories of local people who resisted in World War I. Research workshop January 26, 2-4pm, Bedminster Library. Puppetry workshops February 10 and 24, March 10 and 24, 2-4pm, Windmill Hill City Farm. Book online at otherstory.org/hiding-placesand-hidden-histories interactive art, performances, costumes, prints and more. In support of the third year UWE Illustration degree show. tobaccofactory.com/whats-on Friday February 8 n Gin & Cheese Night The George, Wells Road, Knowle. Sample a gin liqueur and a mini cheese plate. Tickets £5 – must be booked in advance. 8pm. Facebook: @thegeorgepubknowle n The History of Parnalls Knowle and Totterdown Local Continued overleaf

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n Review John Myers: Looking at the Overlooked Martin Parr Foundation, Paintworks ARTIN Parr is renowned internationally as one of the most significant documentary photographers of post-war Britain. His gallery and photo collection is tucked away in the newest part of the Paintworks development, off Bath Road. This minimalist modern space also hosts talks by other acclaimed

photographers – like this slide show presentation by John Myers. John Myers is the sort of chap you could walk past in the street, ordinary, unassuming, no clue to the respect he commands – other than he’ll probably be carrying his wood and brass Gandolfi camera with him. The large audience, with a strong contingent of art students and older bohemian types, shows that those in the know, know this event is worth attending. John is here to talk about his book, Looking at the Overlooked. The photos were taken in the 1970s, before photography became ubiquitous. You’ll not see a

person in any of these images; these are landscapes without incident – flat, deadpan scenes of lifts, garages, TV sets and electricity substations, all within walking distance of Myers’ home in Stourbridge. Rather like the man himself – deadpan and straightforward until you look a little deeper and find humour, wit

and deep reflections. The book is a serious piece of art – just 1,000 copies, reproduced to the highest standard, 780 already sold, all signed and numbered, it’ll set you back £75. But an £8 ticket to this event gave us a unique glimpse into the mind of the man that created it. In the Q&A, someone said they saw so much more once John had explained his technique, his influences, his point of view. I felt that too – it was a pleasure to be let into his thinking. The more you looked, the more these black and white photos showed their true colours. Beccy Golding

Continued from page 33 History Society, Redcatch Community Centre, Redcatch Road, Knowle. The story of the Parnalls aircraft factory in Yate, told by David Hardill. £1.50/£3. knowleandtotterdownhistory.org.uk n Small + Balanca The Thunderbolt, Bath Road, Totterdown. Small reckon they’re Bristol’s top covers band, playing Clash to Velvet Underground and even Elvis. Balanca are a Bristol duo playing acoustic indie folk. 7.45pm, £4 on the door. thethunderbolt.net Saturday February 9-Monday 11 n LiberationArts Paintworks, Bath Road. A vegan film festival and animal rights event. Vegan films on Saturday and Monday. Sunday sees art, workshops, talks, performances, stalls and food. Free entry. paintworksbristol.co.uk Tuesday February 12-Weds 13 n Antony and Cleopatra Loco Klub, Temple Meads. The Scullions set Shakespeare’s famous tragedy in the corruption

of 1920s Prohibition America with the caverns of the Loco Club an eery backdrop. £12, 7pm. locobristol.com/shows Wednesday February 13-Sat 16 n The Jamie Wood Trilogy Spielman theatre, Tobacco Factory, North Street. International art clown Jamie Wood in three anarchic shows: O No! on February 13 and 14 is a “wonky homage” to Yoko Ono, the woman damned for destroying The Beatles; I Am A Tree on February 15 is about learning to “face the shadows that growl inside you”; Beating McEnroe, on February 16, harks back to the 1970s tennis icon. Tickets from £12, shows at 8pm. Jamie also leads clowning workshops from February 1-3. tobaccofactorytheatres.com Thursday February 14 n Los Clandestinos El Rincon, North Street. Valentine’s Night special from the house duo, Jon Baggott on piano with Pete Judge on trumpet, playing a loved-up selection of classic jazz standards

and JB originals. Free. elrinconbar.com/music Thursday February 14-Sunday 17 n Alternative Wedding Showcase Arnos Vale cemetery, Bath Road. “If you feel like doing Valentines Day 2019 differently – come to Arnos Vale!” Independent wedding suppliers take over the Speilman Centre, which will be decorated with inspiration from Tim Burton’s classic film Corpse Bride. Open 10am-2pm each day. Screenings of Corpse Bride are at 7pm on February 14 and 15, £10, bar open from 6pm. Book in advance. arnosvale.org.uk/events Friday February 15 n Davey Woodward & the Winter Orphans The Thunderbolt, Bath Road, Totterdown. Davey Woodward fronted Bristol indie band The Brilliant Corners. His songs have been covered by Pinkie, Soda Stream and Sophie Ellis Bextor. 7.30pm, £3 on the door. thethunderbolt.net n Dorian Concept

(Brainfeeder) + Jameszoo Colston Hall Presents at Fiddlers, Willway Street, Bedminster. Austrian producer Oliver Johnson, aka Dorian Concept, brings his synthesised jazz funk to Fiddlers with fellow Brainfeeder records artist Jameszoo. £15.26, 8pm. colstonhall.org/shows n From Bessie Smith to Billie Holiday Zion, Bishopsworth Road. An event celebrating Bessie Smith and Billie Holliday, the first commercial Blues singers to become household names. A multimedia, live music and spoken word presentation, with Natalie Davis on vocals and Dave Merrick on guitar. Pre-order pie, mash and gravy; show 8pm.Bar, over 18s, £10/£18.50. zionbristol.co.uk Saturday February 16 n Circus Cabaret Zion, Bishopsworth Road. Prepare to be dazzled by acts including Moses, an African acrobat and handstand artist, Hobbit, a hula

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n WHAT’S ON

n WHAT’S ON Deadpan view reveals a lot

February 2019

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hoop performer and clown, Robin Dale, ping pong and balancing expert, and your host Marky Jay, one of the UK’s top comedy jugglers. Doors 7.30pm, bar, over 18s only. £10. zionbristol.co.uk Monday February 18-Sat 23 n Me and My Bee Spielman Theatre, Tobacco Factory, North Street. A show for all ages from 5+. Multi award-winning theatre company ThisEgg invites you to save the world – one bee at a time. Find out how to join the Bee Party before it’s too late. £10, 11am and 2.30pm. tobaccofactorytheatres.com Tuesday February 19 n Sew a Love Monster Creative Workspace, Queens Road, Withywood. Work with Laura from Colourful Minds to make a felt love monster as part of the Global Kids Sewing Party, which encourages children to sew for others. 11am-3pm. £2.50 – book online. creativeworkspacebristol.co.uk n Guess how much I love you: Stomping Story Arnos Vale cemetery, Bath Road. Outdoor storytelling with the Nut Brown Hares. Discover the ways hares explain how much they love each other. Collect Easter egg clues and then decorate an egg to take home. £5. Sessions at 10.30am, 11.30am and 1pm. arnosvale.org.uk/events Tuesday February 19-Weds 20 n Jump Into … Sound Knowle West Media Centre, Leinster Avenue. Half term fun for 10-16 year-olds, making music. Sessions are free, from 10am-3pm. Please bring a packed lunch. Details from Mike on mike@kwmc.org. uk or call 0117 903 0444. kwmc.org.uk/events Wednesday February 20 n Winter Forest Fun Arnos Vale cemetery, Bath Road. Play in the woods for 3-7 yearolds. Make bird feeders, splash in the puddles, dig in the mud. £8, 10-11.30am. arnosvale.org.uk/events Thursday February 21 n Wild Outdoors Club Windmill hill City Farm, Philip Street, Bedminster. Leave your computer behind and have fun living the gaming experience around the farm. 10am-12 noon, £10, 6 to 9 year olds. Also mini pizza-making in the Barn Kitchen, 1-3pm. £2, under 8s must be accompanied. windmillhillcityfarm.org.uk

Punderful Tim finds use for a Herring aid* n Review Tim Vine’s Top Comedy Moments Bristol Slapstick Festival, Bristol Old Vic HERE was a bit of a furore in the lobby of the Old Vic when my son and I arrived. The Goodies – all three of them – Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie were sitting there, having just finished their on-stage conversation with Slapstick Festival guest curator Richard Herring. Every episode of The Goodies has just been released on DVD – a chance to revisit the TV comedy must-see for some of us, a chance to understand the nonsense your parents were brought up with if you’re my son’s age (born in the 1990s). Richard Herring was famously part of double act Lee & Herring with cult-comedian Stewart Lee

Saturday February 23 n Film workshop Windmill Hill City Farm, Philip Street, Bedminster. Explore storytelling for the screen and work with actors and award-winning writerdirector Rachel Tillotson. For all abilities. £55, 10am-4.30pm. windmillhillcityfarm.org.uk n Stand Up For The Weekend with Carl Donnelly & Co Comedy Box at the Hen & Chicken Studio, North Street. Carl Donnelly, a regular on TV and UK comedy clubs, takes mundane stories of everyday life and turns them into stretches of self-deprecating silliness. £12, 8.30pm. Plus guests. thecomedybox.co.uk n Join the Circus! Creative Workspace, Queens Road, Withywood. A drop-off day for children aged 8+ to learn a range of circus skills from professional circus performers. 10.30am-3.30pm, £5, booking essential. creativeworkspacebristol.co.uk Tuesday February 26 n We Have Overcome Acta theatre, Gladstone Street, Bedminster. The Malcolm X Elders revive a 2012 show, retelling their stories of moving to England in a celebration of the Windrush Generation. Also on March 4. 7pm, £3. acta-bristol.com

(their Fist of Fun is often re-run on Radio 4Xtra), and is more recently known as king of comedy podcasts. These are the kind of people keen to be part of Bristol’s Slapstick Festival, created by South Bristolians (as featured in last month’s Voice). The programme this year was tremendous. We went to see Tim Vine’s Top Comedy Moments. This guy’s a family favourite for me and my son – a laugh-a-minute, quick-witted, pun-slinging stand-up. Tim’s also well known as the co-star, with Lee Mack, of sitcom Not Going Out. Richard Herring interviews Tim

Vine – they talk about his style and influences. Richard confesses one of his top comedy moments by Tim is the Pen Behind the Ear sketch – we agree – if you haven’t seen it find it on Google. It’s fun to watch these two comedians discussing their craft, with Tim sneaking in puns when he can. The pair clearly like and respect each other and their relaxed conversation is funny and enlightening. Tim shares a selection of his top comedy moments – the pair discuss the stars and the context, then we watch a clip on the big screen. We see Laurel and Hardy (of course), Kenny Everett and Larry Grayson. There are clips from The Sketch Show (on from 2001 to 2004) including a wrestling skit between Lee Mack and Tim. The final clip is bittersweet – from Tim’s 2008 stand- up show, where he brings his father on stage to tell his favourite joke – poignant, because Tim’s funny dad sadly died last year. Beccy Golding * Apologies to readers. Ed.

Wednesday February 27-Saturday March 9 n No Kids Spielman theatre, Tobacco Factory, North Street. Energetic, hilarious and thoughtprovoking, this is the quandary of George and Nir, a real-life same-sex couple asking if children are for them. Awardwinning Bristol company Ad Infinitum cover every issue from adoption to surrogacy. Tickets from £12, 8pm. tobaccofactorytheatres.com Wednesday February 27 n Planting & Potting Knowle West Media Centre, Leinster Avenue. The second of KWMC’s

monthly Living, Working, Making Together workshops is a planting and potting hour inspired by the residency of artist Myah Calista. 12-1pm. All materials provided. kwmc.org.uk/events Thursday February 28-March 3 n Life, Death (and the Rest) Arnos Vale cemetery, Bath Road. The cemetery’s annual festival of talks, walks, theatre and film that supports a growing social movement talking about death, and how we remember our loved ones. Email adela.straughan@ arnosvale.org.uk. arnosvale.org.uk/events

Tim Vine

PHOTO: David Betteridge

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n CHURCH NEWS

HERE are two little words in the English language that I struggle with more than any others. Sometimes I say the one when I really ought to say the other: ‘Yes’ and ‘no’. When I was eight, a friend invited me to come with his family to a baseball game. About three innings in, my friend’s dad asked us, “Do you want a hot dog or some popcorn? Maybe a drink?” My friend was eager – he said yes

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Yes, and No

to all three! But I was shy and said the first thing that popped into my mind: “No, thank you.” For the next six innings I watched my friend devour his snacks. He had me wishing I’d had the confidence to say “Yes, please!” A life of ‘Yes’ may overfill our

Bedminster Church of Christ

298 St John’s Lane BS3 5AY Minister: Jason Snethen 07795 560990 churchofchristbristol.org Sunday 10am Bible Hour for all ages; 11am Worship; 5pm Worship; Tuesday 7.30pm Bible study; Thursday 10am Coffee morning; Friday 3.45-5pm After-school; 7-9.30pm Youth group.

Thought for the month:

Bedminster Quaker Meeting House Wedmore Vale BS3 5HX

Clerk: Chrissie Williams 0117 923 0020 bristolquakers.org.uk Sunday Worship 10.45am; 2nd & 4th Sunday Children’s meeting; 2nd Sunday Shared lunch.

With Jason Snethen, Bedminster Church of Christ

Church of the Nazarene

Broad Walk, Knowle BS4 2RD Pastor: Matthew Norris 07967 199995 bristolnazarene.com Sunday 10.30am Sunday Service; Wednesday 6pm Kids Klub; Thursday 7pm Youth club.

Holy Nativity Church Wells

Road, Knowle BS4 2AG Fr Steve Hawkins 07834 462054 Facebook: Holy Nativity Knowle Sunday 10am Parish Mass; Friday 10am Weekday Mass.

calendar and bring stress, even impossible pressures. A life of ‘No’ may leave us lonely, limited in experience and even dissatisfied. But what is even worse is when our mouths say one and our actions another! We say “Yes, I’ll be there to help!” Then we slide in at the last second and leave at the first opportunity. Honest people are those who say what they mean! As Jesus put it, “Let your yes be yes, and your

no, no.” Anything beyond that can make you a liar. Sometimes we need diplomacy to stay honest and to stay friends at the same time (“Do I look good in this?”) but honesty wins. So next time I need a yes or no, I’ll pause, take a breath, and then speak the one I can best live with. My diary will remain reasonable, my blood pressure won’t rise, and my integrity will remain intact.

Church (Minnows for pre-school children).

Totterdown Baptist Church

Totterdown Methodist Church

Victoria Park Baptist Church

St Martin’s Wells Road, Knowle BS4

2NG Rev Becky Waring 0117 977 6275 Facebook: stmartinschurchknowle Sunday 8.30am Holy Communion; 1st, 3rd and 5th Sundays 10.30am Holy Communion; 2nd Sunday 9.30am Rise and Shine: informal service, breakfast; 6pm Holy Communion; 4th Sunday 10.30am Family Communion.

Bushy Park, Totterdown BS4 2AD Rev Andrew Orton Facebook: SBMCT Sunday Family Worship 10.30am; 1st Sunday Sunday School.

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n THE CITY PAGE Sponsored by CLEVERLEY BUILDERS

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February 2019

Chelsea can afford to spend £56m on a player they don’t need yet. Their surplus teammates are City’s gain, says MARTIN POWELL

HERE is a distinct shade of blue in the Bristol City side at the moment and few fans are likely to complain. Chelsea midfielder Kasey Palmer arrived on loan in the transfer window, joining fellow Blues Tomas Kalas and Jay Dasilva. All three were on the field as City fought back from 1-0 down against Bolton to win 2-1, with Palmer scoring. The Reds are forming a fascinating partnership with the Blues – let’s call them The Pensioners so as not to confuse them with any other team in that particular colour. Kalas has been a big part of City being harder to beat this season; Dasilva is keeping our own young prospect Lloyd Kelly on his toes, pushing for his place, and Palmer in his first few games looks a superb

MARTIN’S SHORTS n Bristol Bears rugby team have been asking fans to choose the match day music. Apparently a Seventies vibe is popular. With rugby players I guess something by Mud would be good.

acquisition. City’s relationship with Chelsea was cemented in the 2016-17 season when Tammy Abraham came on a season-long loan, scoring 26 goals in 46 appearances – keeping the side in the Championship, winning Player of the Year and going back to Chelsea with his value enhanced. Sadly he is now going backwards in his career, on loan at Aston Villa, who are below City in the league, although still knocking the goals in! A great measure of our success this season will be if City finish above Aston Villa with all its big spending and “star” players. For those who believe City’s rightful place is in the Premier League, it is interesting to look at the Chelsea players out on loan. Astonishingly there are 41 Chelsea players currently playing for other sides. One of them, Christian Pulisic, they bought for £56 million in January but have allowed him to stay at Borussia Dortmund until the end of the season. Yes, they paid £56m for a player they don’t need yet! Clearly Bristol City have a long way to go before they are in that financial bracket. It is

Winner: Chelsea import Kasey Palmer at Bolton not surprising, then, that there are quality championship players to be borrowed from them, and in Kalas, Dasilva and Palmer we have three of them. Palmer, although only 22, has already experienced promotion from the Championship while at Huddersfield and played for them in the Premier League. Dasilva won Player of the Year during a spell at Charlton, and Kalas has already helped Middlesbrough and Fulham escape from the Championship at the top end and has European football and playing against Liverpool at Anfield in the Premier League on his CV. These are not players who are coming to Bristol City to learn their trade. They are established

PHOTO: JMPUK/BCFC

top-level professionals who need games at a high level so that they are ready to perform for Chelsea in the future. Of course all City fans will hope that a change of regime at Chelsea might mean a few of these players stay at the club – and promotion to the Premier League might persuade them to stay and get regular football outside of London. City in turn are sending their own players out on loan, with Antoine Semenyo and Tyreeq Bakinson catching the eye for Newport by knocking recent Premier League winners Leicester City out of the FA Cup in front of TV cameras. Maybe the club is gaining something from following the Chelsea way.

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February 2019

southbristolvoice

n YOUR MP

KARIN SMYTH Labour MP for Bristol South

We must keep on fighting this educational inequality

DUCATIONAL inequality in Bristol South has once again come under the spotlight, as UCAS releases its latest set of figures which show the percentage of 18-year-olds from Bristol South going to university has dropped even further. The latest figures revealed that just over 16 per cent of school leavers in Bristol South went on to university in 2017. That figure dropped to just below 16 per cent for 2018. Nationally, the average is 31.4 per cent. (Bristol South is no longer the worst-performing constituency in the country – that place has been taken by Barrow-in-Furness.) Higher education is a key driver of social mobility and I believe all young people in Bristol South deserve the opportunity of a decent career. There is more than one way to

achieve this and apprenticeships – some of which lead to a degree – have a crucial role. Conversations I’ve had with pupils and their parents reveal many barriers to higher education – including the financial cost. The scrapping of the Educational Maintenance Allowance in England, combined with rising costs of living, including transport, has impacted pupils from lower income families. I’ve spoken to the headteachers of all South Bristol secondary schools as well as college principals and it’s clear that they are under great pressure to deliver a quality education without the resources to do so – with the

n LOCAL SERVICES

AERIALS

further education sector squeezed much more than other areas of schooling. This has led to a reduced offer of subjects and qualifications, pastoral staff and careers provision. I asked the Government whether it deemed further education funding to be adequate considering that young people must now remain in education or training until they are 18. The minister for apprenticeships and skills said they were aware of the challenges facing further education but offered little in way of a plan to address this. Locally, I was pleased to see Bristol city council launch a strategy and a dedicated board to work on post-16 education as part of the Learning City Partnership and I am following developments closely. I’ve also been working with businesses and training providers to boost the number of quality apprenticeships in Bristol South. My annual South Bristol Jobs & Apprenticeships Fair helps link people to these opportunities, and the next one is at the South Bristol Skills Academy in Hengrove from 11am-3pm on Thursday February 28. It’s free to attend. I will continue to push for action in Parliament and work with local schools and colleges and others to tackle this entrenched educational inequality and ensure that university is a viable option for more young people in Bristol South.

February 2019

southbristolvoice

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February 2019