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southbristolvoice July 2016 No. 14
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Mosque: Four face the judge Page 3 Protest over Paintworks plan
Page 4
Green Capital: Cost of fog and whales
Page 5
Pet owners warned after deaths Page 9 Bristol Blitz: Boy who swatted bombs Pages 30-32
Lunar attraction at Balloon Fiesta
Page 39
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WIN! Tea with the Duchess
Such an honour to meet you, ma’am
A very special visitor graced the street party held in Lilymead Avenue, Knowle, to celebrate the Queen’s 90th birthday. Among the 100-plus residents enjoying lunch, games and music was Amelia Moore, 7. There was one casualty – Fr Chris Kinch of Holy Nativity church fell in the wheelie bin race and went to A&E with a badly bruised finger.
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Totterdown residents to get arena update TOTTERDOWN residents’ group Tresa is to host a presentation about progress on the arena plan at its AGM on July 20 at 7.30pm in the Star & Dove, St Luke’s Road. Residents will hope to hear news about consultation over likely parking zones and a timetable for the development. However, the constractor, Bougues UK, is not expected to deliver its assessment of the costs and timescale for the arena until the autumn, it has emerged. This update had been expected in the summer – signalling another possible delay to the project, which was initially expected to open at the end of 2017 but is now scheduled for summer 2018. Bougues has revealed how it will share out the arena construction work: 40 per cent of external expenditure will go to small and medium size firms; 65 per cent of the workforce will come from the region, and 30 per cent from Bristol. There will be at least 48 apprentices, 40 work placements, and 4,000 weeks of training. Council boss’s vision for arena: Page13
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Paul Breeden Editor and publisher
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Intro
THE PAINTWORKS site on Bath Road encapsulates many of the challenges facing South Bristol. Until recently home to the TV studio that makes Noel Edmonds’ Deal or No Deal, it’s a popular place to live and work, but suffers from a lack of parking and rising property prices. Its residents, neigbours and people who work there
are understandably anxious about plans for Phase 4, the final tranche of building work. The developer, Verve, says it wants to provide more jobs, and homes for people, not investors. Neighbours fear more disruption, less parking and worse to come as the arena and enterprise zone ramp up activity in the area. What follows will be a true test of community spirit. Communication between all parties involved will be vital – even when it’s difficult.
EDITOR’S NOTE: South Bristol Voice is independent. We cannot take responsibility for content or accuracy of adverts, and it is advertisers’ responsibility to conform to all relevant legislation. Feedback is welcomed: call editor Paul Breeden on 07811 766072 or email paul@southbristolvoice.co.uk. All stories and pictures are copyright of South Bristol Voice and may not be reproduced without permission in this or any other plane of the multiverse. South Bristol Voice Ltd | 18 Lilymead Avenue, Bristol BS4 2BX |
From Brislington to St Annes, Knowle to Totterdown ...
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How do I get in touch with ... My MP? Karin Smyth MP Labour. Email: karin.smyth.mp@parliament.uk Post: Karin Smyth MP, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA Phone: 0117 953 3575 In person: Surgeries on Friday July 8 and 22 at Knowle West Health Park, Downton Road BS4 1WH, 9.15-10.45am. Appointments on 0117 953 3575. My councillor? Christopher Davies Lib Dem, Knowle Post: Brunel House, St George’s Road, Bristol BS1 5UY Email: Cllr.christopher.davies@ bristol.gov.uk
Gary Hopkins Lib Dem, Knowle (Lib Dem leader) Email: Cllr.gary.hopkins@bristol. gov.uk Phone: 0117 985 1491 or 07977 512159 Lucy Whittle Labour, Windmill Hill Post: Brunel House, St George’s Road, Bristol BS1 5UY Email: Cllr.Lucy.Whittle@bristol. gov.uk Jon Wellington Labour, Windmill Hill Post: Brunel House, St George’s Road, Bristol BS1 5UY Email: Cllr.Jon.Wellington@bristol.gov.uk
USEFUL NUMBERS Bristol City Council www.bristol.gov.uk 0117 922 2000 Waste, roads 0117 922 2100 Pest control and dog wardens 0117 922 2500
NEIGHBOURHOOD FORUMS Windmill Hill September 7, 7-8.30pm, Victoria Park Bowls Club, Nutgrove Avenue, Windmill Hill BS3 4QF Knowle September 16, 7-8.30pm, Redcatch Community Centre, Redcatch Road, Knowle BS4 2EP Neighbourhood partnership September 21, 6-8pm, Knowle West Media Centre, Leinster Ave, BS4 1NL
Council tax
0117 922 2900
Housing benefit 0117 922 2300 Social services 0117 922 2900 Police Inquiries 101 Emergency 999 Fire
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Mosque attack men deny they are racist
‘I didn’t know that bacon is offensive to Muslims’ claims one defendant
ONE OF the men who admits a racially aggravated attack on Totterdown’s mosque has claimed in court that he didn’t know that bacon was offensive to Muslims. Mark Bennett, 48, claimed he was not a racist and did not take bacon to the mosque in Green Street on January 17, 2016, intending to cause offence. Instead, he said, he was trying to raise awareness about the plight of British armed forces veterans and homeless people who he felt deserved more attention. Bennett, of Spruce Way, Patchway, his wife Alison Bennett, 46, Kevin Crehan, 34, of Springleaze, Knowle, and Angelina Margaret Swales, 31, of West Town Avenue, Brislington, have all pleaded guilty to a racially aggravated public order offence at the Jamia mosque. Bristol crown court was told on June 17 that during the incident racial abuse was shouted at a Muslim man attending the mosque. Raw bacon was thrown and left hanging from the mosque’s railings and an English flag, the cross of St George, was
left on the steps with the legend “No mosques, no refugees”, the prosecution said. But the two men involved denied being racists, said there was no bacon thrown, and they did not hear any racial abuse. They claimed their protest was peaceful. Crehan said it was an attempt to get Muslims to “integrate”. “I grew up in Totterdown and I have got many, many Muslim friends,” he said. Bennett drew a parallel with charitable activities. “In my own time I go to the city centre and take coffee and bacon sandwiches to people who live on the streets,” he said. Judge Julian Lambert asked Bennett if he expected people at the mosque to eat his bacon sandwiches and be grateful for them. “Possibly,” Bennett replied. The court had heard that Bennett and his wife had bought the bacon and some bread in a £1 shop in Broadmead the same morning. The barrister for the prosecution, Ian Fenney, asked Bennett: “Did you expect people to eat raw bacon?” “No,” said Bennett. “Where was the bacon going to be cooked?” asked Mr Fenney. “It possibly could have been cooked in the mosque. I wouldn’t know, would I?” said Bennett. He added: “I didn’t know that it was offensive to take bacon to the mosque. If I had known I wouldn’t have taken it. Mr Fenney responded: “I suggest you knew exactly how much offence would be caused by
taking raw bacon and that’s why you did it. Why was bacon found on the door handles of the mosque? Because any Muslim entering the mosque would have to touch it.” Bennett told the court he didn’t know the meaning of the word “jihad”. The court was also told that in 2008 Crehan racially abused an Asian police officer at Broadbury Road police station, after he was arrested at his home during a domestic disturbance. Crehan said he was high on alcohol and drugs at the time but had since given both up. Bennett was presented with several Facebook pages, posted in April 2016, in the name Marc Bennet, which contained offensive statements about Muslims and references to a recent attack on a mosque. Bennett said the pages were not his and suggested they had been created to frame him by left-wing activists. He agreed that he had previously had another Facebook page in the name Mark English. The four will be sentenced at another hearing on July 22, when the two women will be crossexamined. The attack on January 17 resulted in an outpouring of support for the Jamia mosque, the oldest in Bristol. Hundreds of people attended an open afternoon the following weekend, and hundreds more pledged their support for the mosque being at the heart of the Totterdown community.
Opportuni-tree Tesco changes
Attack arrest
TWO trees to be felled in Redcatch Park, Knowle, could be replaced if residents can be found who are prepared to sponsor them. The trees are at either end of the park’s football pitch and will have to be removed for safety reasons. It is hoped the trunks could be cut up and used in the play area for seating. Sponsoring a new tree costs £295 and a plaque £25; details at bristol. gov.uk/treebristolsponsorship
A MAN has been arrested in connection with the street robbery in which a woman was injured and her handbag stolen in Hawthorne Street, Totterdown, on April 9. The woman suffered a severe cut to her thumb in the incident. A 34-year-old man who lives in Totterdown is on bail in connection with the incident. He must surrender himself to police on July 13.
TESCO is to install telescopic bollards outside its store at the corner of Redcatch Road and Axbridge Road in Knowle to try to keep pedestrians safer. Though the store has its own car park, some shoppers insist on parking on the pavement, making life more dangerous for pedestrians trying to use the zebra crossing. The new bollards will help prevent drivers parking in dangerous places.
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Are you missing out on some of your benefits? RESIDENTS can find out if they are missing out on welfare payments at a free event arranged by Bristol South MP Karin Smyth on Friday July 22. Research by the Labour MP shows that around £16 million a year in pension credit, and upwards of £20m in income support, goes unclaimed by Bristol residents each year. A similar event earlier in the year attracted nearly 100 people. and it is being repeated, at the City of Bristol College, South Bristol Skills Academy in Hengrove, from 10.3am-1.30pm. “It’s only fair that if you work hard and contribute to society, through taxes and other means, the system is there for you when you need it,” said Ms Smyth. Organisations including Age UK, The Royal British Legion, Care & Repair, Bristol Citizens Advice Bureau, South Bristol Advice Services, and the city council’s benefits team will be there to help. Buses 20, 36, 75, 76 and 90, stop outside the academy.
Ride on time for women who want to cycle WOMEN who fancy cycling but perhaps haven’t got their bike out for a while can join a new series of fun cycle sessions next month. The Breeze bike rides are also aimed at more regular cyclists who are looking for a social ride. No one gets left behind and the rides will end with a coffee stop. Three rides will leave from Arnos Vale on Saturday mornings on July 9, 16 and 23. The first ride will be almost 10 miles long, the second ride a little longer and the third ride over 15 miles. Organised and led by a British Cycling-trained Breeze champion, the free rides are on local, accessible routes and in small friendly groups. Riders need to register at breezebikerides.com by searching for “rides in Bristol” and looking for Breeze Around South Bristol rides.
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RESIDENTS and businesses in Arnos Vale held a public meeting last month to voice fears about increasing pressures on parking and infrastructure from several developments in the area. Neighbours fear disruption if Phase 4, the central part of Paintworks, is gven permission for 92 new homes in three new buildings of four to eight storeys. Some businesses say they will not be able to function during construction of the new homes, 1,769 sq m of workspace and 188 sq m of shops, food outlets or other businesses. There will be 142 parking spaces, mostly underground, said developer, Verve Properties. But as Phase 3 of Paintworks with 210 homes is being completed by Crest Nicholson, neighbours are worried that congestion and parking problems will only increase. Residents as far away as Wick Road in Brislington are already complaining on Facebook that parking is becoming impossible. Those living in Edward Road and Chatsworth Road, next to Paintworks, complain about contractors from the site parking there, although Crest Nicholson has a policy forbidding it. New homes are also thought possible near Arnos Manor hotel and the TV studios. An empty site behind Majestic Wines has outline permission for 47 flats. In addition the car wash next to Totterdown bridge is thought ripe for development, while the land between the bridge and Three Lamps is also earmarked for housing. Resident Debbie Laming said on Facebook: “We wanted to
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July 2016
New view: Phase 4 will demolish the old Endemol studio, home ot Deal or No Deal, but retain Victorian look
Neighbours list fears over Paintworks plan
Several other homes sites in Arnos Vale area
make it clear that nobody is opposed to developments but feel that the current infrastructure and facilities cannot cope with such growth so quickly.” Richard Jones, owner of publisher Tangent Books, based at Paintworks, called the Phase 4 proposals “a high-density, high-rise nightmare”. “We suspect a lot of the flats will be bought by Airbnb speculators [for rental as holiday homes] – there are three or four here already”, he said. Tangent will not be able to continue if the work goes ahead yet firms have not been consulted by Verve about compensation, he claimed. They include easily-disrupted firms working in film, making
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vinyl records and artwork. Brislington West Labour councillor Harriet Bradley said she shares many of the concerns. “Some of the businesses feel the work will make them unviable,” she said. “I’m worried about the volume of traffic. I’m not sure that access has been given enough attention, especially as it affects traffic flow on Bath Road. “In my view Bath Road and roads off it are the worst part of Bristol for traffic, and it’s increasingly difficult for residents to find anywhere to park.” Ashley Nicholson, director of Verve and the driving force behind Paintworks, said the firm tries hard to be a good neighbour. It is providing as many parking spaces as the council will allow, he said. He said Verve has offered one of the affected Paintworks companies alternative premises for nothing during the
construction, and would try to help others in the same situation. The Voice understands that the firm concerned does not feel it can function in the alternative site offered. Mr Nicholson added: “Most people have agreed that Phase 3 work has been surprisingly undisruptive, and Phase 4 is nothing like the same size and it’s a much simpler scheme to develop.” Verve is offering 16 affordable homes even though the council has indicated it would accept only 12, he said. He did not want to see any of the new homes sold for rental on Airbnb. Verve’s policy is not to sell homes to investors, only to people who want to live in them, he said. But this is hard to enforce when the homes are sold on. A planning committee is expected to debate the proposals either in July or September.
Shop thefts fall
Verge purge
SHOPLIFTING is on a downward trend in Knowle, according to police. PCSO Sam Delahay told a meeting of Knowle neighbourhood forum on May 24 that officers are getting shops in the Broadwalk centre to alert one another if they see suspicious behaviour. Security staff are also being encouraged to say hello to those known to have committed shoplifting in the past, to let them know they have been noticed. Shoplifting offences were down 13 per cent in the ward on the previous quarter.
THERE has been a dramatic decrease in the number of drivers parking on grass verges which line Broad Walk in Knowle. But a new bye-law which can penalise motorists is not yet in force, Knowle neighbourhood forum has been told. Chris Davies, Lib Dem councillor for Knowle, said letters have been put on offending cars asking owners to move them. Some residents have even laid tarmac on the verges, but this will have to be removed when the bye-law is enacted, he said.
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Accounts reveal the cost of year of fog and blue whales Invoices show how Green Cap cash was spent
THE GREEN Capital accounts have been published after months of controversy. Among 600 invoices, published on the orders of new mayor Marvin Rees, it’s been revealed that: • £49,200 was spent to create a cloud of fog around Pero’s Bridge on the harbour; • A dinner in the Royal Marriott hotel in October 2015 for 35 people cost £1,120; • 59 nights of accommodation at the Royal Marriott at £119 a night cost £7,021; • £320 was spent on floral table centrepieces in October 2015. The invoices were released by the council after Bristol 2015 Ltd, the private firm set up to spend £12 million of public money in the Green Capital year, declined to publish detailed acccounts. Among the payouts in South Bristol, £10,000 went to Knowle West Media Centre for an arts project which recycled old toys. Another £15,000 went to set up the South Bristol Skyline Walk, paying for maps, booklets and a website to show people how to enjoy some of the city’s best viewpoints. One of the most expensive
Labour of love: Making the Bristol Whales at Cod Steaks in St Philips projects to have originated in South Bristol also won lots of praise – including some from an unlikely source. The Bristol Whales were made out of wicker by Cod Steaks, an arts company based in Cole Road, St Philips. The accounts show they cost £84,000, but the whales have a fan in Jeremy Clarkson, the former Top Gear presenter and famous sceptic of most things environmental. He wrote in the Sunday Times on June 12 that the Bristol Whales were his favourite part of Green Capital year, and one of the reasons why he would vote to stay in the EU. Sue Lipscombe, founder of
Cod Steaks, said she and her staff had pulled out all the stops to create a sculpture that meant something to Bristolians. Two life-size sculptures of blue whales made of Somerset willow were sited last year in Millennium Square, surrounded by a sea of 70,000 recycled plastic bottles – a message about the damage that discarded plastic is doing to the oceans. “I think it’s the piece of work that we are most proud of,” Sue told the Voice. Her company is more used to making models and designs for TV, film, advertising and theme parks. A recent project was making a Magic Bus for a Shrek exhibition in London.
“Art is a hugely difficult subject to value,” said Sue, “but this took 14 weeks of work, or 350 labour days. They were intended to be temporary sculptures but because of the quality of the craftsmanship, and the overwhelming support they’ve received, have been permanently located in Bennetts Patch, near the Clifton Suspension Bridge, a wildlife and nature reserve. “We weren’t asked to do any public consultation, but we did – we brought in school children and asked them to give us their ideas, and they all took a sculpture away with them. “Jeremy Clarkson said in his article that the North has its Angel, and the South has its Bristol Whales.” Stephen Williams, the Lib Dem MP for Bristol West who led the calls for the accounts to be published, said the invoices showed “a real scandal” of “the trousering of tens of thousands of pounds by lots of consultants”. He said he was “outraged” at the cost to the Pero’s Bridge fog. “I’m glad Mayor Rees intends to appoint an independent body to review the year. We need to know the full story and there will be lessons for future big events,” Mr Williams wrote in his blog. • To see the invoices released by the council, go to bristol.gov.uk/ bristol-green-capital and then to Commonly asked questions.
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Lack of signs causes upset in bus lane
RESIDENTS made a plea for more signs to make it clear the hours when motorists are excluded from bus lanes in order to prevent road rage. A common trouble spot is the inbound bus lane on Wells Road, Knowle, next to the tennis courts, Knowle neighbourhood forum was told on May 24. The bus lane is open to all vehicles after 10am – but some drivers don’t realise this and become annoyed with motorists they think are cutting them up. It was claimed accidents are caused by drivers cutting in at the end of the bus lane because they do not expect to see other cars using it. “People think it’s a 24-hour bus lane,” Les Bowen told the forum. The same problem exists on the outbound stretch of Wells Road leading up to Broad Walk, which operates from 4.30-6.30pm.
Parks’ cash pot IDEAS for improvements to parks in Windmill Hill and Knowle are being invited thanks to a large pot of money from the sale of land for housing in Salcombe Road, Knowle. The sum available is thought to be around £200,000. Those who want to suggest a project can get a form from lloyd.allen@bristol. gov.uk Decisions will be made by the neighbourhood partnership – details of its meeting on page 2.
Ask the vet:
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July 2016
A bumper entry for June’s Voice competitions AS USUAL we had lots and lots of entries for our competitions last month – a double celebration to mark the first birthday of the South Bristol Voice. Drawn at random from the dozens of correct entries to the
Southside Bar & Kitchen competition was Pip Ivens. She correctly identified that the beef in Southside burgers is aged for 28 days. The winners of our Double Decker comedy competition are
Linda Palmer, Claire Baker, Emma Barber and Scott Dawes. Each will receive a pair of tickets to the Comedy Box in Southville in July to see a double bill of top comedians as they try out their shows for Edinburgh.
Pub is asked to be a better neighbour
Charlie’s Bar defends its ‘Grumpy Hour’
THE OWNERS of Charlie’s Bar in Wells Road, Knowle, have been asked to seek better behaviour from their customers after complaints to the area’s neighbourhood forum. Police visited the bar – previously the Talbot Inn – when a customer’s car was left in the bus lane, the meeting was told. Police moved the car to Marston Road, the meeting heard. Cllr Chris Davies said he had previously received complaints about customers from the pub smoking under their verandahs and talking loudly, though this was addressed by mediation. Customers have been advised not to take glasses outside, he said. Many residents had raised concerns with him about the
pub’s so-called Grumpy Hour, advertising cheap drinks from 1-4pm. Any further concerns will need to be dealt with by the licensing committee, he said. Residents complained about empty cans and bottles on Wells Road – though there is no proof these were left by customers. The Broadwalk area is an alcohol-free zone in which police can confiscate alcohol from people they see drinking in public. Melody Taylor, who owns and runs Charlie’s along with her husband Chris, said they try hard to keep customers’ behaviour under control. “I know it gets a bit rowdy outside sometimes. These things do happen intermittently, until we get them moved on,” she said. Most of the rubbish found outside is not from the pub, she added. “I pick a lot of it up and it’s not even stuff we sell,” she said. “I find Thatchers cans and other
brands we don’t sell. Also, I go out every morning and pick up takeaway wrappers which are floating around.” She pointed out that the pub has its own outside area for smokers, but it is hard for staff to stop people going elsewhere to smoke. The afternoons do not attract rowdy drinkers, she said. “We get no problems during the Grumpy Hour – the customers are often house-husbands and the odd OAP,” she said. People do not appreciate that the pub has also raised a lot of money for local causes through charity events, Melody said. • The law holds licensees responsible for customers’ behaviour inside and immediately outside a pub. The official Home Office guidance to the law states: “Beyond the immediate area surrounding the premises, these are matters for the personal responsibility of individuals under the law.”
What should I do if I find flystrike on my rabbit?
LYSTRIKE is a veterinary emergency and your rabbit should be seen straight away. Flystrike is an incredibly distressing and painful condition caused by flies laying eggs on your rabbit. If left undetected, the hatched maggots will literally eat your bunny alive. Rabbits that have flystrike are often initially lethargic and reluctant to move around and eat. If you find fly eggs (white clusters on the hair) or maggots on your rabbit, you
should contact your vet as soon as possible and make an emergency appointment. Do not wash your rabbit as this will make it very difficult for your vet to shave the area and could affect correct treatment. If left wet, it will also increase the risk of further infestations from the smell. Flystrike can, and often does, kill very quickly. We cannot stress enough how important it is to get your rabbit to a vet immediately if you notice any sign of infestation.
Flies lay hundreds of eggs at a time in smelly, moist areas such as your rabbit’s bottom and the warmer weather means that the eggs can hatch within 1-2 hours. As the skin is eaten by the maggots it gives off a smell that attracts more flies, leading to even more maggots. Be sure to check your rabbit a minimum of twice a day for any sign of flystrike. You should also use preventative treatments which are available from veterinary practices. Contact Highcroft Veterinary
Jenny Hamilton-ible MRCVS Veterinary Surgeon at Highcroft Veterinary Hospital, Whitchurch Hospital on 01275 832410 for more information about flystrike and what you can do to help prevent an infestation.
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Totterdown Music Festival
Young fans and the Dunbars on Sunday afternoon in Oxford Street Conor Hughes: Impassioned guitar
FOR friendliness, musical quality and community spirit the Totterdown Music Festival is hard to beat. Though reduced to a single venue, the Oxford Street stage, this year there was no drop in enthusiasm. As well as seasoned performers returning such as the Love Vultures, the Immigrant Swing: genre ‘riot swing’ Dunbars and Troy Ellis, some
of the impromptu acts proved to be highlights. Knowle teenager Mattie Reynolds won much applause for his soulful accapella. And young guitarist Conor Hughes and his band had organiser Jon Evans, landlord of the Oxford, predicting: “We’ll be saying in years to come that we heard him first at the Totterdown festival.”
Sundance: Saturday pleasers
Soul applause: Mattie Reynolds
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A CAT owner is warning people with pets to be vigilant after she believes her beloved cat Smouse was poisoned. Meanwhile dog owners are also being asked to be on the alert for stagnant water after three dogs are said to have died from eating poisonous bluegreen algae. Smouse was put down by a vet at the animal charity PDSA after owner Sarah Jade, who lives off St John’s Lane near Victoria Park, was told he had probably eaten rat poison. “I just want to earn people to look out for early warning signs,” she said. “Rat poison doesn’t take effect for a couple of weeks. A week before he went missing, Smouse was sick, and I didn’t think anything of it.” The cat was normally home-loving and would come inside when called, said Sarah. “He was missing for five days and when he came back he was really weak, dehydrated and foaming at the mouth. I tried to spoon him water and feed him chicken and fish but he was’t interested.” Sarah, who was short of money because her rent had just gone up, went to the PDSA on Bath Road where Smouse was treated for free. She is so grateful that she intends to hold a fundraising event for the charity. She fears the poisoning may have been deliberate: four cats belonging to the same family died nearby in Bedminster in 2013, victims of what was thought to be ham laced with anti-freeze. Vet Paul Vokes at the Avon Lodge veterinary practice in Wells Road, Knowle, said he had not heard of any pets being poisoned recently and said when it did happen, it was usually accidental, not malicious. “Poisoning is a thing that’s hard to prove,” he said. Toxicology tests are possible but expensive, and do not always identify a poison. Pets have been known to eat
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Cat and dog deaths: pet owners warned THREATS TO PETS
Sarah Jade with Smouse, who died after a vet said he’d been poisoned. Losing him was devastating, she said. She has now given a home to an elderly rescue cat. rat poison, slug pellets and anti-freeze, he said. Each has its own symptoms (see panel). Dog owners are being warned not to let their dogs jump into or drink from stagnant water this summer after three dogs died from eating blue-green algae. The deaths were reported to have taken place in South Bristol by The Vet practice at Hengrove, although the practice was unable to say where. The algae can kill a dog within 15 minutes, causing muscle tremors, vomiting, diarrhoea or seizures. Death from eating algae is very rare. “I don’t think I have ever treated a case, but it is a real issue,” said Mr Vokes. “It tends to happen in the late summer when there has been no rain and the water level drops. “It can happen very quickly – the bloom of the algae can form within a couple of days.” Still water can also present another fatal hazard, leptospirosis, although this can be prevented by vaccination. Dog owners are warned not to
let their dogs drink from stagnant or slow-moving water, especially if there is algae present.
Anti-freeze Causes kidney failure. Some brands now have a bitter additive to deter pets drinking it. Rat poison Causes bleeding but can take weeks to be fatal. Slug pellets Tend to cause fitting. Leptospirosis Bacterial infection which affects dogs much more than cats. Can induce fever and muscle tenderness, then vomiting, eventual kidney or liver failure. Vaccine effective against certain strains. Blue-green algae Causes muscle tremors, vomiting, diarrhoea or seizures. No vaccine.
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News
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New call to expand community hospital MP KARIN Smyth has stepped up her campaign to get more services provided at South Bristol hospital to help reduce the need for people to travel across the city for healthcare. In a community consultation she carried out during last autumn and winter, the Bristol South MP found nine out of 10 residents of the constituency who responded would like to see a wider range of treatments at the Hengrove community hospital. In a letter to managers at the University Hospital Bristol NHS foundation trust, Bristol Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), and the North Bristol NHS Trust, Ms Smyth says the need of local people for expansion of services is more pressing than ever. “Residents frequently talk to
me about the need for services at Hengrove to be expanded,” said the MP. Ms Smyth added: “Day in, day out, South Bristol people are having to trek across the city to Southmead and the BRI for services they feel could be more effectively delivered at their local hospital.” The MP’s survey showed that a large majority of people have experience of using the South Bristol hospital, and most are warm and positive about it. Nine out of 10 respondents think there should be more services there. Two thirds of them said they travel elsewhere in the city for some healthcare. Cancer screening, followed by seven-day GP care, are the most sought-after additional services.
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Exciting night at the cemetery with top artist
A spokesman for the Bristol CCG pointed to a new Rapid Access Care clinic for older people as an example of new offerings at the hospital. Starting two months ago, GPs have been able to send elderly patients to South Bristol hospital for a range of urgent checks in one visit, from blood tests to X-rays. The CCG is committed to building on the hospital’s services, he said. Already on offer are a children’s outpatients service, chemotherapy, and outpatient clinics including cardiology, diabetes care, a falls clinic, gastroenterology, and speech and language therapy as well as day surgery and endoscopy. There are also 60 inpatient beds used for rehabilitation, end of life care and stroke care.
ARNOS Vale cemetery has won a national competition to host a nighttime event in the autumn with acclaimed performance artist Marcus Coates. The cemetery will work with Coates in October on an audience-led ‘night of ritual’. His previous works included donning a badger’s head and offering to share his visions with shoppers in an Israeli shopping centre, and presenting himself as a shaman in a deer’s head to people on a condemned council estate in Liverpool. Arnos Vale won, by securing the most public votes in its category in the Museums at Night competition, beating the Laing art gallery in Newcastle and Sunderland museum. The project won £3,000 in funding from Arts Council England.
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Arena: I will look at the local impact, says the new boss Safety on Bath Road and dropoff zones among the concerns
PLANS for the Bristol arena and the Temple Quarter will have to be updated to take account of the concerns of people living nearby in Totterdown and Windmill Hill, according to the councillor with oversight of the project. Safety concerns over thousands of arena-goers spilling into Bath Road also have to be addressed, along with the areas for people dropping off and picking up people at the venue, said Helen Holland. Cllr Holland, appointed by new mayor Marvin Rees as his cabinet member for place, has special responsibility for the arena and Temple Quarter area. An ex-Totterdown resident, Cllr Holland supports the arena plan, but is well aware of how dangerous the narrow footways are along Bath Road. Current plans are for a wider entrance only from the Three Lamps side. Stewards will have to manage any surge of people out of the site. “It’s an accident waiting to happen. I’m not satisfied with the plan. I just don’t think what we have got at the moment is going to work,” Cllr Holland told the South Bristol Voice. She is also concerned at plans for drop-offs and pick-ups to take place in the Feeder Road area. “If there is a boy band on [at the arena] there are going to be 12,000 14-year-old girls, and their mums and dads are going to want to know that they are going to be able to pick them up somewhere safe,” she said. Marvin Rees’s new Labour administration is determined not to repeat the parking fiasco of Southmead hospital. Reopened two years ago, it led to chronic parking problems for residents; a new parking scheme was announced only in mid-June.
Totterdown Basin: Helen Holland hopes to ape success of King’s Cross “It’s no good finding two years later, as at Southmead, that we have a real problem,” said Cllr Holland. She was due to meet the two newly-elected Labour councillors for Windmill Hill, Lucy Whittle and Jon Wellington, to make sure local concerns are addressed. She is also concerned there is not enough scope in the arena plan for coach parking which, she said, “is hardly mentioned”. It will be crucial to give people confidence that public transport will be reliable. Cllr Holland
pointed to the revived King’s Cross area in London as an example of the environment she wants around the Temple Quarter. “It’s not just about the wine bar culture, it’s got to be childfriendly,” she said. “I went to King’s Cross recently and I thought it was out of this world. There were lots of families there there’s a new park, there’s a lido, and a wildlife area, all within 500 yards of King’s Cross station.” The 25-year framework plan for the Temple Quarter envisages
waterside cafés on a revamped Totterdown Basin with wildlife areas and public spaces. But the framework is so far only a vision. An ambitious Bath Promenade, a wide walkway and cycleway from Temple Meads to the arena, is supposed to be in place by 2020. But the Promenade will require two very expensive new bridges across the New Cut and the Plymouth railway line – and currently there are no detailed plans and no source of finance. The signs are more hopeful that the scheme will create jobs and skills for underprivileged areas of South Bristol. “We want more than just warm words,” said Cllr Holland. “To quote the deputy mayor, Estella Tincknell, when we say local jobs we are not just talking about people who will clean the arena or make the sandwiches.” She will urge the constructor, Bougues UK, to work with groups such as Hartcliffe’s Gatehouse centre. It used customised training to bring new skills to local people in the creation of Imperial retail park in Hartcliffe.
NO PUBLIC VOTE ON DEVO-DEAL THE PUBLIC will not get a vote on whether Bristol and its neighbouring councils get a “metro mayor”. Instead, councillors in Bristol, Bath & North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire were due to vote on June 29 whether to accept the Government’s devolution deal which could unite regional transport decisions under a new mayor. North Somerset council has rejected the plan, saying Bristol would grab too much of the cash. Helen Holland believes the Devo-deal could be good for South Bristol, helping to create better transport, housing, infrastructure and skills. £1 billion is on offer over 30 years, with the prospect of attracting more funds from investors. It will also bring extra powers, “not those that the Bristol mayor would be giving up, but powers that are currently held by the Government”, said Cllr Holland. If the three councils accept the Devo offer, the metro mayor would be elected by voters across the region next May. Bristol mayor Marvin Rees will not stand and the roles will not be combined. Bristol councillors asked for a referendum on whether voters wanted a metro mayor to be added to the EU referendum on June 23. But this was refused by the Government.
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Features
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July 2016
Can we make our streets A Windmill Hill project is signing up residents to find and help our prickly garden friends. Local ecologist and hedgehog champion, Alex Morss, explains
W
HERE are our hedgehogs? Back in the 70s and 80s, snuffling, prickly shadows often scurried around under the Ford Cortina and Tomahawk bikes in our garage. They always brought a thrill and a dash for the cat food in hopes of encouraging close encounters. Splatted spines on country lanes were another sad but regular sight. I often wonder why I don’t see them any more. Now the answer is clear from conservation charities, who say
HEDGEHOG FACTS • Hogs mainly eat slugs, beetles, caterpillars and worms. If food is scarce they will enjoy cat meat or dog food (not fish), unsalted peanuts, sunflower seeds or meal worms. Do not give them milk or bread. • A group of hedgehogs is called a prickle. • An adult hedgehog has more than 6,000 spines. They become erect when the animal rolls into a tight ball as a defence. • Hedgehogs feed at night, and sleep by day in vegetation, underground dens or piles of plant material, wood or litter. hedgehogs have suffered a drastic decline in the last two decades. New results from surveys over the past two years suggest that decline is continuing – by as much as a third in urban areas and a half in rural areas. Avon
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• A hedgehog’s temperature drops to 2 degrees C (36F) when it hibernates. • Females have litters of 3-6 young and can live for 7 years in the wild. • Their main predators are badgers, but sometimes owls, ferrets, cats and dogs. • Population declines are mostly due to predation, habitat loss, farm and garden chemicals and traffic. • There are 17 species of hedgehog, but only one is native to the UK. • They are related to shrews, not hogs or porcupines.
Wildlife Trust says Bristol’s gardens offer huge potential to help our hedgehog friends. Habitat loss has made gardens more important than ever, and research shows small city gardens are a female hedgehog’s
HEDGEHOG TIPS •Try to avoid wood preservers, slug pellets, pesticides and herbicides - let hedgehogs do your pest control. • Make sure garden ponds have a gentle sloping escape route. • Leave compost, wood piles and garden cuttings, for insect food and shelter. • Check for hogs before you fork or burn garden waste. • Tidy away netting or wire that can tangle up and injure hedgehogs.
favoured habitat, with rich invertebrate food, shelter for her hoglets and fewer wild predators. But there is a big problem with a lack of information about local populations, especially as most of their activity is after midnight. That’s why thousands of residents in Bedminster, Windmill Hill and Victoria Park are being invited to sign up to look for hedgehogs. If you live in this neighbourhood, you can join Avon Wildlife Trust’s My Wild City Project, focusing on these charismatic mammals in South Bristol this spring and summer. The aim is to help create a network of hedgehog-friendly streets. Matt Collis, My Wild City Project Officer, said: “We are inviting people to take part in our research – find out if you have hedgehogs in your garden, connect your garden with
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July 2016
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Features
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15
more hedgehog-friendly?
Small gardens are a hedgehog’s favourite habitat, but they are killed by rat poison and slug bait Picture: © SAM HOBSON
General Plumbing
neighbours’ gardens, then GET INVOLVED re-survey for hedgehogs to Sign up to Avon Wildlife Trust’s measure change.” Windmill Hill Hedgehog Project The Trust is lending residents at: https://wildlifetrusts.wufoo. mammal survey tunnels, an idea com/forms/z1o08fbs1w14sug/ developed by the People’s Trust Email your queries to: for Endangered Species (PTES) &•WindmillHillHedgehogs@ and the British Hedgehog outlook.com Preservation Society. Pupils at St •Find out about Hedgehog Mary Redcliffe and Victoria Park Rescue at: www. primaries have already been hedgehogrescue.co.uk testing these tunnels, baited with food and ink, checking them each day for inky footprint trails and summer Yvonne brought recording who has visited. orphaned baby hedgehogs to The PTES says the hedgehog’s Victoria Park for the bioblitz and decline is due to a mix of was mobbed by a mass of problems, one being an increase enthusiastic people, so she knows in garden security fencing that local people are keen to help. divides hedgehog populations “I definitely think hedgehogs and reduces their habitat. As are the nation’s favourite garden hedgehogs love gardens, all it animal,” said Yvonne. “I have 16 takes is a brick-sized hole in a hedgehogs here at present. I took wall or fence to bring them back. 228 in 2015, generally from dog But they need lots of gardens in a attacks, strimmer injuries or neighbourhood to provide found during the day, for enough linked habitat to forage example with a heavy worm Design and find shelter – they roam a Construction burden, or problems with mile per night hunting for food Tiling netting, poisoning from slug Plumbing and a mate. pellets and rat bait.” Decorating Electrical Yvonne Cox, co-founder of Hedgehog Rescue always Bristol’s Hedgehog Rescue welcomes support, of cash, charity, does 20-30 visits a year towels, newspapers, spare cages to the area, to give talks and and hutches, cat and dog food – rescue injured hogs. On May 23 meat not fish – and volunteer she visited school children at hedgehog couriers (details in Victoria Park primary. Last panel, above).
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News Jeremy knows his guests from his goats
A COMMUNITY centre in South Bristol became one of the most talked-about places in Britain last month when the nation’s most listened-to lunchtime DJ, Jeremy Vine, brought his radio show to Knowle West. The Radio 2 presenter appeared completely unruffled as he masterminded the show (audience: 7.6 million) from a small table beside the café in the Park Centre as a dizzying array of guests passed before him.
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Jeremy Vine tackles an interview on the EU, live from the Park centre Vine hosted several minidebates on the EU referendum, welcomed Bristol’s new mayor Marvin Rees, learned about Bristol’s association with slavery, and still found time to venture into the car park for a live lesson
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in cycling. He appeared completely unfazed when staff from the Park Centre’s farm led in two extra guests – a pair of goats, who thankfully did not disgrace themselves in the makeshift studio. And he led wild applause when poet Miles Chambers performed his Bristol Poem, an impassioned piece written for Marvin Rees, which celebrates the city and its diversity while taking account of its historic inequalities. “Really, that was special,” said Vine after letting the poet read his epic work uninterrupted over several minutes. Earlier he quizzed historian Madge Dresser, of the University of the West of England, on how Bristol is facing up to its legacy as a hub of the slave trade. He asked her about modern views of Edward Colston, long
July 2016
seen as a generous 18th C benefactor to Bristol but now also known as one of those who made a fortune from slavery. Ms Dresser said she understood why some acts refuse to perform at the Colston Hall, named after him, and pointed out that while his statute still stands in the city, there is no public reference to his links with slavery. Marvin Rees spoke about the challenge of growing up in Bristol with a multiracial heritage, and how he had been asked as a youth how he would choose “which side to be on”. Multiculturalism had worked pretty well for him, said Mr Rees, declaring, “I’m strong in my sense of blackness and my sense of whiteness.” Later the talk turned back to Europe, and Jeremy Vine learned from Bedminster’s hot air balloon pioneer Don Cameron that he favoured leaving Europe. EU rules had made life more difficult in the balloon-making business, Mr Cameron said, with many more regulations to deal with. Debating with him was Tristan Hogg, co-founder of Bristol pie empire Pieminister, who said allowing EU nationals in to work in Bristol had made filling jobs much easier. “Before Poland opened up we were having very, very few British people wanting to work in manufacturing jobs,” he said. Sally Booley, a co-ordinator for Vote Leave in Bristol, said she didn’t find an earlier live debate on the merits of Brexit too daunting. The seasoned Mr Vine “put me at my ease and let us put our arguments across,” she said.
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Marvin Rees Every part of the city could share if we were Capital of Culture
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UMMER is here and there is nowhere I’d rather be than spending it right here in Bristol. Our city is full of life at the best of times but it is at this time of year when the streets become alive with sound, music and colour. Whether you’re soaking up the sun in Victoria Park, enjoying the shade in St Andrew’s or having a wander around the Blaise Castle estate, there are lots of ways to make the most of the warmer temperatures without breaking the bank. Alongside the great green spaces that we have in the city we also have some of the best
southbristolvoice
The Mayor’s view Marvin Rees tells us his vision following his election as Bristol mayor local urban festivals in the country. First up, we have the fantastic Bristol Pride festival. Now in its sixth consecutive year, people travel from across the country to join in this celebration of love and pride in
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the LGBT community. After the horrific recent events in Orlando, let’s show the world that hate and bigotry will never win. Following Pride we have the ever-popular Bristol Harbour Festival, the world-famous Balloon Fiesta and possibly Bristol’s biggest ever sporting event, as the Tour of Britain spends a full day in the heart of our city in September. All of these will be open for Bristolians around the city to get involved in, mostly for free. When you put this alongside our challenging art galleries and museums, vibrant art scene and busy night life, this all makes a strong case for Bristol to be a future European Capital of Culture. I want every part of Bristol to feel the benefit if we’re successful in a bid. It can showcase the diverse and exciting place that I know Bristol to be, while also demonstrating what culture can really mean to all of our city and its communities. I want this bid to be about preserving and developing the cultural heritage of our city, including the whole city in telling a true and credible story about all we have to offer. I know from many early conversations that there’s real support for Bristol as a future European Capital of Culture. Together we can make it happen and make it truly matter.
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Protect us from home investors
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IT’S WELCOME news that the new mayor intends to build 2,000 homes a year in Bristol to rent or buy. But I fear for many first-time home buyers the dream of owning their own home will never materialise in today’s skewed, unfair property market conditions. Over the past years I have noticed a growing trend on newbuild home developments within Bristol where, following the sale of the homes, you see For Sale or To Let estate agent boards appearing – which indicates that many of these new homes were purchased by investors, leaving first-time buyers facing increasing competition to buy a home – not only from normal market forces, but from very wealthy investors with deep pockets, often from the Far East and not even resident in the UK, who see the UK residential property market as a safe and profitable investment, resulting in many local buyers being at the end of the home buyers queue. There is no easy solution to problems faced by first-time home buyers, but one thing a determined government or indeed the Bristol mayor could do to help home buyers faced with, in my view, unfair competition from foreign investors in the UK residential market, would be to slap a 100 per cent property tax on properties purchased purely as a investment, which is what some governments abroad have done.
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It would be interesting to know what powers the new mayor has to safeguard first-time home buyers within the domestic market in Bristol from competition from overseas land and property investors who have no interest in living in the properties they buy? Gerald Gannaway Broad Walk, Knowle
Drivers who are above law WE ALL know that some drivers think the law doesn’t apply to them. I assume that’s why they think it’s OK to drive through the one-way restrictions we have in Totterdown and Knowle – on Stanley Hill, for example, and Cambridge Street, and Bayham Road by Perretts Park. What amazes me though is that these drivers think they will make a dangerous manoeuvre safer by accelerating through the forbidden zone. I fear there is going to be a nasty accident one day on Bayham Road because some idiot shooting through the chicane is going to collide with someone
Orchard invite from Quakers
Roll up to the circus art trail
THE Quaker Meeting House in Wedmore Vale is holding an open day to show off the recently refurbished building. The Quakers have been in Wedmore Vale since 1954 though many local people will never have been inside or seen its orchard and wildlife area. Visitors are welcome from 2-5 pm on Saturday July 16. Home-made cake and teas will be available and members will be on hand to show visitors around and answer questions. The Meeting House is near the junction with Marksbury Road. Details via email from barneysmith47@ gmail.com
TOTTERDOWN’s Front Room Art Trail, which runs from November 19-20, has announced more of the attractions in this year’s circus-themed event. Clowns from the Rag and Bone Circus will be among the performers on stage and street. A “Circus of Food” tent will include Dorset oysters and champagne as well as Totterdown’s own Sausagenius. Children will be kept amused by arts and craft activities from ColourfulMinds.co.uk There will also be an app to guide visitors to the 200-odd artists. Details from enquiries@ frontroom.org.uk
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Have you got strong views about what’s happening in South Bristol? Email paul@ southbristolvoice.co.uk, post to Letters, South Bristol Voice, 18 Lilymead Avenue, Bristol BS4 2BX or call us on 07811 766072. Please keep letters short. We may edit your letter. turning out of Brecknock Road – who will, quite rightly, be looking to their right for traffic approaching from the legal direction. NP, Knowle
Too few police I THINK it’s understandable for the police to say that if certain crimes don’t get reported to them, they can’t investigate (Report car crime or we can’t help: police, June issue). But the police need to understand that we see officers on patrol so rarely that it’s also understandable if people feel it’s not worth lifting the phone. Concerned, Windmill Hill
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Keep Angers Road open
I AM a resident of County Street on the Three Lamps estate and use Angers Road as a route home from work. In my opinion it is far quicker to avoid city centre traffic via A4320, Albert Road, Totterdown Bridge and onto A4 briefly. To then queue to go round the corner in the rush hour to use the A37 entrance, would be insufferable. Having the entire estate forced to use the A37 Wells Road entrance cannot be of any help to our current traffic chaos. I understand that there has already been a local resident survey conducted on this issue, which sadly did not include myself, and I suspect others in my community. Before any further decisions are made, I would hope that due consideration would be given to those who share my concerns. I would appreciate being updated on the situation as it progresses. A concerned constituent County Street, Totterdown
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Features
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July 2016
Above, Knowle House, which stood at the corner of Priory Road and Talbot Road until demolished in 1953. “Drawn from memory,” said Garth Garth’s first car: An Austin Seven Ruby, bought for £30 in 1956 from a Mr Sinigar of Hengrove. “No parking meters or traffic wardens. Happy motoring? Most definitely.”
What a memory: Garth England’s recollection of shops on Wells Road next to Gr
Garth brought in a visual mem Walk the 2-mile short route or 7-mile long route to enjoy:
Surprising parks and places
Breath-taking views
Seasonal flowers and wildlife
Scan to watch the official walk video:
For maps, booklet and updates, visit http://bssw.org.uk
W
ELCOME to the bygone world of an author who is, sadly, no more with us. Garth England lived all his life in South Bristol – in Knowle West, Knowle, Hengrove, Totterdown and Bedminster. He spent his life as a milkman, soldier, railway man and more, but unknown to almost anyone he was accumulating almost photographic impressions of the people – and especially the places – he had known. Garth died two years ago in 2014, aged 79, when he was living at Hengrove Lodge retirement home – but not before revealing his extraordinary collections of drawings and writings, which have been made into a book, called Murdered With Straight Lines, after a comment made to Garth by his art teacher when at school. “He didn’t like the way I always used a ruler,” he said. Like the famous Northern artist LS Lowry, Garth brings his pictures alive with sparselysketched detail. Working with coloured pencils, A4 sheets of paper and – most importantly – a ruler –
Milk float: Garth records social changes, su he recalled with incredible accuracy dozens of street scenes and buildings he had known. The Tozer’s dairy in Jubilee Road, Knowle, for example, and the electric milk float are lovingly remembered, often with a reminiscence (above). A house on Hillside Terrace, Totterdown, was home of “Bible Punching Bessie”, a customer whose refrain was: “I’m a sick woman.” Another page is of “Garth’s firsts”, from his first
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long the c at fir cigar Know recor H frien repro terra next head hous D
July 2016
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reenleaze, 1940s. At the Red Lion garage (now Moto-Elite) four gallons of petrol cost under £1
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Features
Family life: A sweepstake wins Garth some pocket money
his past back to life moir of South Bristol
uch as the 1950 switch from cardboard milk bottle tops to foil ones
trousers in 1949 – “It was custom then to be made fun rst by other boys” to his first r – at home, 15 Springleaze, wle Park. “I went green,” he rds. Houses inhabited by family, nds and even his teachers are oduced, from grandmother’s ace in Monmouth Street, to Victoria Park, to his dmaster “Whacker” Taylor’s se in Imperial Road. Drawings are supplemented
with memories. To a sketch of the 137th St Gerard’s scout troop is added: “A scout smiles and whistles cheerfully through all difficulties. We did too, or else.” And one day, on a paper round in 1949: “‘We don’t pay no paper bills on a Sunday, my boy.’ Slam. 329 Airport Road.” Often he is recording social change – better houses with bathrooms, the first televisions, his treasured first car. Throughout there’s the
impression that after the war, life got better. Family was close around, the welfare state looked after people; South Bristol had shops and cinemas aplenty on the doorstep. Garth’s last full-time job was for British Rail. When he retired in 1993 he took a paper round again, this time for Mr M Slade at 30 St John’s Lane, working until 2001, by which time he was in the retirement home. At Hengove Lodge, Garth’s drawings caught the eye of Jo Plimmer, a curator for an art project for Hengrove called Future Perfect. She suggested his work could be made into a book, and Garth gave his blessing to the project, but sadly he died before it could be published. An exhibition of Garth’s work is planned for 2017. Until then, his book is a vivid recollection of a South Bristol which is slowly fading away – of prefab houses, outside toilets and Austin Sevens; of teachers called Whacker and milk delivered from the churn. • Murdered By Straight Lines: Drawings of Bristol by Garth England. Redcliffe Press, £8.
Working man: Garth was a telegram boy for the Post Office, where ‘bunking off’ was an art
Wartime: Garth was evacuated to Glastonbury at the age of six
Got a story or any other inquiry? Call Paul on 07811 766072 or email paul@southbristolvoice.co.uk
The very best in retirement living
Why not come along to our next open day on Tuesday 12 July? Call 0117 949 4004 for details.
The St Monica Trust holds regular open days at our unique Monica Wills House retirement community where you will be escorted on a guided tour by one of our residents. Offering all the advantages of independent living, but with a strong feeling of community spirit, these well-appointed 1 and 2 bedroom apartments are situated in the heart of Bedminster and provide social activities when you want them, and access to care and support when you need it.
Located just off West Street, Monica Wills House has a fully licensed restaurant, gym/pool, a roof terrace with panoramic view of the Bristol skyline and a host of other facilities. Why not come along and find out more? To book your place, or to join our re-sales mailing list, call 0117 949 4004.
0117 949 4004 to find out more. www.stmonicatrust.org.uk | info@stmonicatrust.org.uk
Delivering well-being Registered Charity 202151
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July 2016
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Bristol Dogs & Cats Home From concrete to a colourful jungle
B
RISTOL Dogs & Cats Home started off in 1887 as six kennels in Old Market, but Bristol’s need to house stray animals was much greater than this. Our founder, Edward T Parker, relocated the home to its current site in St Philips, which now has capacity to care for 200 animals. Our dogs receive regular walks every day, mostly travelling the picturesque path along the River Avon, some even going far enough to visit the beautiful Arnos Vale cemetery. But the home has always been a concrete jungle, favouring more kennel space for animals over large garden areas. This year we felt a change was in order and we decided to bring colour and the great outdoors into the home. We achieved this
We’re transforming the animals’ home to make it a brighter and better place for humans and pets
with the help of local street artist Ollie Gage, whose designs are already helping to brighten up areas of Bristol. He has worked his magic and added some beautiful paintings around the home, some big, some small, and some hiding in plain sight! The positive impact they’ve had is incredible. Staff are brightened up whenever they walk past a painting, and this happiness is transferred to the
Police update
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ELLO! This is my first column in the South Bristol Voice as I take up the reins of Neighbourhood Sergeant covering Windmill Hill, Totterdown and Knowle. I am really looking forward to getting to know the community and hearing what issues matter to you. In his column last month, David mentioned that the summer months can lead to a spike in burglaries as people forget to shut and lock their doors and windows. Unfortunately we are already seeing examples of this, with a recent series of ‘creeper’ style burglaries in South Bristol, where the burglar has gained access to the property and stolen easily accessible items while people are asleep upstairs. In one of these incidents, the thief came in through an unlocked back door, and in another, a stub handle-style door had not been locked with a key, which meant the burglar was easily able to gain entry. Please, please, please remember to lock all windows
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animals they care for. Our supporters who visit us are blown away by the beautiful murals that greet them when they walk through our doors. We hope that more supporters and potential adopters will visit us and feel positive, ultimately resulting in more animals being adopted and finding their forever homes faster. Please come down
With Sgt Caroline Crane, Broadbury Road police station
and doors before you go out and before you go to bed. If you do have a paddle or stub handle then you need to lock it with a key. Simply pulling up the handle until it clicks is not enough. It’s also worth noting that in these incidents, the thieves were tidy. They didn’t rifle through drawers, they just took things which were obvious and in sight – handbags, wallets, purses and tablets. So it’s worth keeping these things in drawers, out of sight.
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Bright start: Art by Ollie Gage is adorning the RSPCA centre
n a separate note, road safety is an issue we take very seriously as a force, which is why we are running our See Me campaign, encouraging drivers to see the person behind each vehicle in a bid to reduce collisions on the road, starting with the issue of drink and drugdriving. Last year, 436 people were convicted for drink-drive related offences. There are real people behind steering wheels, handlebars and on foot, and we shouldn’t choose to do things that put their lives at
risk. We need to learn to see the person and not the vehicle. If we do that, we will drive more safely and courteously, and we can reduce death and serious injury on our roads, which shatters lives and families. I am looking forward to getting to know the communities of Windmill Hill, Totterdown and Knowle. If you have any concerns or worries in your local area, then please do contact a member of my team by calling 101 or via our website: avonandsomerset. police.uk/your-area Until next time, Sergeant Caroline Crane
and visit us to see these amazing paintings (see if you can spot them all!) and watch as the home transforms from concrete into colourful jungle. Our opening times are Tuesday-Sunday, 10am-12pm and 1-4pm. For more information and pictures visit rspca-bristol.org. uk or call 0117 977 6043.
Smyth’s tribute to murdered colleague KARIN Smyth MP has paid tribute to her friend and Labour colleague Jo Fox, who was murdered in her Yorkshire constituency on June 15. Ms Smyth who, like Jo Fox, was elected to Parliament for the first time in 2015, said: “After her shocking murder, many people will pay tribute to Jo’s qualities as a politician, and so they should, for she was one of the brightest, but I feel the raw, personal loss of a colleague and friend. “The 2015 intake is a close group, spending time together in Parliament and outside, and we were together only this week at a social gathering, belatedly marking our first year together in the Commons. “Following this devastating tragedy I know the thoughts of people across Bristol and the whole world are with Jo’s husband, Brendan, and her two lovely young children.” Ms Smyth declined to say whether she would be changing her security arrangements.
Got a story or any other inquiry? Call Paul on 07811 766072 or email paul@southbristolvoice.co.uk
Retirement living coming soon to the former Cadbury’s factory in Keynsham Enquiries 0117 949 4004
Registered Charity 202151
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News Secrets of the city revealed in new book
T
HE HIDDEN stories of our city have been uncovered and collected together in a new book by a Bedminster author, James McVeigh. In Secret Bristol he admits that he’s not Bristol-born – but as someone who has lived here for several decades, he reckons he has picked up on some stories that locals have grown up with and not noticed. He uncovers little-known sights such as the local prison cells, known as Charley Boxes, which were used by night-watchmen to lock up drunks before taking them to the magistrates the next morning. These existed all over the city and can still be found in Picton Street and Westbury Hill. Locally the Ostrich pub at Bathurst Basin has its own historic lock-up. The watchmen were known as Charleys and they were the main means of keeping order until Bristol became one of the first British cities to set up its own police force in 1836. Bedminster led the way – its purpose-built police station was one of the original four opened in the city. Now awaiting renovation, it retains its tiled cells and until recently was an Italian restaurant. It was also the first Bedminster building to have a flushing toilet. The story of Secret Bristol begins in the area’s Palaeolithic past when the Bristol Channel
southbristolvoice
was a plain inhabited by bands of hunter gatherers, who lived by hunting hares, hyenas, and woolly rhino. In the Iron Age the area became settled by the Dubunni, a tribe which stretched from Somerset to Worcestershire. Settlements are known in Blaise Castle and Kings Weston – both later taken over by the Romans – but also in Filwood. The Romans did not found the city, but made the port of Sea Mills and left several great houses – one still partly visible at Long Cross Road, Kings Weston, and one under what is now Winchester Road in Brislington. In early medieval times Bristol was still little more than a settlement around its bridge – while across the river Bedminster was already an established town, possibly founded on the site of an Iron Age village around West Street and East Street. Mills were built on the sides of the Malago river, which could be dammed to make it flow faster, and also made it the site of early Christian Baptisms. “The ancient word for baptism, beydd, may be the origin of Bedminster’s name, while the name Malago also has its roots in pre-Roman Britain, since melis meant mill and agos meant place in the Celtic language of the ancient Britons,” writes James. By 1373, though, Bedminster was little more than a suburb of Bristol and was absorbed into the city along with Redcliffe. Much of Secret Bristol, of course, is taken up with happenings on the north side of the river – but South Bristolians will still find plenty to fascinate in this book. • Secret Bristol, Amberley Books, £14.99
Top cycle event passes through THE TOUR of Britain – the nation’s largest cycling event – is coming to Bristol and residents in the south of the city will have some of the best views. The world’s top cyclists will be competing in the city on
September 10, and the route includes Cumberland Road, which will be closed. Roads around the Downs, the Avon Gorge and Cumberland Basin will also be shut. • bristol.gov.uk/tourofbritain
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Forgotten: The Malago river was once dammed for Christian baptisms
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Planning applications 278 Wells Road Knowle BS4 2PU Approved details in relation to condition 8 (Cycle provision) of permission 10/02536/R Renewal of Planning (07/02966/F) for demolition of rear of building and replace with two storey extensions to form four maisonettes. Granted subject to conditions 2 Withleigh Road BS4 2LQ Single storey rear extension to extend beyond the rear wall by 4.1m, of maximum height 3.8m and eaves 2.7m. Granted 40 Calcott Road BS4 2HD Ground floor extension and loft conversion with dormer window to rear. Granted 362 St John’s Lane BS3 5BA Retention and completion of timber raised decking area with opaque perspex/trellis privacy screens and steps to rear of property. Refused 72 Somerset Road BS4 2HY Loft conversion with rear dormer and front rooflight. Granted subject to conditions 34 Summer Hill BS4 3BE Window replacement. Granted subject to conditions 12 Almorah Road BS3 4QQ Single storey rear extension. Granted subject to conditions 297 Redcatch Road BS3 5EE Two storey side extension, single storey rear extension and dropped kerb driveway. Granted subject to conditions
11 Maesknoll Road BS4 2HF Erection of a ground floor, rear extension. Pending decision 15 Broad Walk BS4 2RA Change of use from vacant retail unit (Class A1) to a hot food takeaway (Class A5); extraction/ ventilation equipment and other external alterations. Granted subject to conditions Open space at Firfield Street, Wells Road, Totterdown Two metal tree sculptures (a matching pair) by the entrance to Zone A green space. Granted subject to conditions 3, 4, & 5 Hill Avenue BS3 4SF Raising of roof height to allow conversion of loft to living space. Withdrawn 47 Jubilee Road, Knowle BS4 2LR Conversion of house (Use Class C3) into two 1-bedroom, self-contained flats (Use Class C3). Withdrawn 436 Wells Road, Knowle BS14 9AF Creation of access to classified road, parking area and provision of bin store, hand rail to rear and proposed steps from one level to another. Refused 20 Beaconsfield Road, Knowle Loft conversion with rear dormer. Granted subject to conditions 89 Hawthorne Street BS4 3DA Single storey rear extension to extend beyond the rear wall by 5.4m, have a maximum height of 3.45m and eaves 2.65m. Pending decision
Police in tower block drugs find
Turned off: Drug-growing lighting
POLICE discovered a cannabis factory in Holroyd House, one of the two tower blocks on Windmill Hill, on June 15. The announcement was made by South Bristol’s neighbourhood team on Twitter: “Another cannabis factory, found and dismantled by the South Bristol team at Holroyd House.” A photo showed lights and equipment used for growing cannabis. The neighbouring councilowned block of flats, Polden House, was made a policing priority in May after reports of anti-social behaviour and drug-taking.
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6 Tyning Road BS3 5DE Remove staircase to rear, replace with balcony and staircase. Pending decision 4 Greenmore Road BS4 2LA Single storey rear extension to extend 4.5m, with max height of 3.2m and eaves 2.6m. Granted Flat B, 350 St John’s Lane BS3 5BA Proposed rear roof extension. Pending decision 1 Selworthy Road BS4 2LF Single storey rear extension. Granted subj. to conditions 5 Leighton Road, Knowle BS4 2LL Single storey rear extension and raised decking Granted subj. to conditions 112 Ketch Road BS3 5DQ Decking extended and steps repositioned to the rear. Pending decision Unit C, Malago Vale Trading Estate, St John’s Lane BS3 5BQ Change of use to workshop
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and MOT Test Station (Use Class B2). Pending decision 12 Lilymead Avenue BS4 2BX Single storey rear extension of 3.5m, max height of 3.3m and eaves 3.0m. Pending decision
402 Wells Road Knowle BS14 9AA Change of use from bed & breakfast (Use class C1) to a single dwellinghouse (Use class C3). Granted subject to conditions 294-296 Wells Road, Knowle BS4 2QG Change of use of ground floor unit from Use Class A2 to tanning studio with staff accommodation. Granted subject to conditions 43 Rookery Road BS4 2DX Lawful development certificate for a proposed loft conversion. Pending decision • The status of these applications may have changed since we went to press. Check for updates at planning online.bristol.gov.uk
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southbristolvoice www.southbristolvoice.co.uk Reports from your councillors – Knowle
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T: 07811 766072
UE to print deadlines I am writing this article before two major events that will affect Gary us greatly but you Hopkins, will be reading this Lib-Dem, with the benefit of Knowle hindsight. The first of course is the EU referendum. Both campaigns at a national level have put out statistics and claims that could kindly be called questionable, but in a number of cases are actually downright lies. Scare stories from both sides are rampant. At a Bristol level I was happy to do a joint photo with the leaders of the Green and Labour parties in Bristol to help promote some of the positive benefits of EU membership but those I think were lost in the shouting of claims and counter claims on immigration and finances from the national “leaders”. The chaos over the referendum is matched by the
“devolution” deal that was set to be debated by local councils on June 29. Just days after Bath and North East Somerset residents voted by 77% to 23% against having an elected mayor, George Osborne announced that the four councils in and around Bristol would be forming a combined council under a metro mayor and that this “Avon” council would have responsibility for strategic issues such as transport. A figure of £1 billion was announced (over 30 years) but no details yet as to what grants this will be replacing. North Somerset have already said no to the deal and BANES will not accept a metro mayor. South Glos will not come into a two-party deal with Bristol. The views of Bristol councillors are only advisory as the mayor has the power to say yes or no. All parties locally have written to the Government to say that they believe that the public need to have a vote before a step of this magnitude is taken, but have not even had a reply.
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OLUNTEER youth leader Dave Wherrett is owed a huge debt of gratitude for his outstanding Chris community work Davies, over many years. Lib-Dem, The awardKnowle winning Key Projects (Knowle East Youth and community work) in the Redcatch Park area is closing at the end of September. Dave started Key Projects 10 years ago with a group of young people who were concerned about anti-social behaviour and decided to do something about it by forming a new youth club. The ethos of unlocking the potential of the community was central to its success and it has supported many people through youth work and other courses up to degree level. Many of those have gone on to do full-time youth work or other paid work. Two open-access youth clubs in the park pavilion serve young
July 2016
How to get in touch with your councillors – page 2
people aged 13-19, and 8-13. Later it opened the Key Teas snack bar serving park users. This helped to sustain the youth work with independent funding, while providing a social hub. Over its 10 years the club won over £130,000 of funding to improve facilities for young people in the park. This included funding the community shelter, turning the basketball court into a modern multi-use games area and partnering other groups in the refurbishment of the tennis courts, which, due to the project’s insistence, were made free to use. These features helped Redcatch Park become an award-winning park in its own right. Due to many of the volunteers changing their life directions, for various reasons, the project is closing. However, the volunteers are working with other groups who are ready and willing to take over. More volunteers are always needed! My personal thanks, Dave, for the difference you have made to the lives of many people in Knowle.
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www.southbristolvoice.co.uk southbristolvoice Reports from your councillors – Windmill Hill July 2016
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E: paul@southbristolvoice.co.uk
Y FIRST month as your councillor has been a fascinating experience and Jon I am pleased to Wellington have already met Labour, so many people Windmill Hill either through community groups that have invited us to their meetings, or individuals who have sought our assistance with council services. We are keen to attend community activities and events and get to know as many of our neighbours as possible, and please do get in touch if there is anything with which you think we can help. The first month of the new mayor of Bristol’s time in office has also seen announcements that will affect our ward. The mayor announced at his first council meeting that decisions related to the introduction or removal of resident’s parking zones will be
delegated to councillors through the neighbourhood partnerships. For parts of our ward, parking will become a major issue with the construction of the arena and Temple Quarter developments, and traffic congestion, which is already a problem, is likely to worsen. We will be conducting surveys and meeting residents in the coming months, but please do get in touch in the meantime if you have a view on what you believe would work in your area. A review of 20mph limits was also part of the mayor’s manifesto and this issue will also be delegated to neighbourhood partnerships. While we accept that there are areas in Bristol where 20mph limits may be unsuitable, we believe that in our densely-populated ward, removing the 20mph limits would be a regressive move. However, we want to hear from you if you disagree, so please let us know what you think and we can ensure your views are considered in the consultation.
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UR FIRST month as Windmill Hill’s councillors has coincided with the onset of summer Lucy and some great Whittle, weather. We are Labour, lucky to have some Windmill fantastic parks and Hill green spaces in our ward and it’s good to see them being well-used. I have received a lot of correspondence about rubbish accumulation and litter in the parks following hot days and I share your concerns and have raised these as appropriate. We would suggest that you report any problems, however small, to the council, and let us know so that we can follow up. We are also working with local residents’ groups and park action groups to ensure our parks are clean and safe places for children and adults to enjoy. You may also have heard through the last edition of the South Bristol Voice about
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additional funding becoming available through the neighbourhood partnership for green spaces and parks. The deadline for applications and expressions of interest is likely to be the first week of August, so please get in touch with Jon or me if you would like more information about this. We would like to see applications from a wide range of groups and projects from across the ward, so please pass this information on to friends and neighbours who might be interested. As promised, Jon and I will be holding a monthly surgery on the first Friday of every month at Victoria Park Baptist church on Sylvia Avenue, beginning on July 1. This is for individuals to come and discuss any issues they have with council services or to seek advice and assistance. We will also hold ad hoc advice surgeries and make ourselves available for advice around the ward throughout the year, and of course you can always contact us via email or telephone any time.
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July 2016
The teenage volunteer who
I
N THE field of unsung war heroes, Ken Gwyther is surely near the head of the queue. His only recognition is in the memories of his family members – and, thankfully, in an Evening Post article of 1941 which documented his exploits. For this teenager probably saved the lives of quite a few Knowle folk during the Bristol Blitz, not to mention many of their houses. But in the chaos of war his exploits, like those of many others, were not properly recorded. And Ken wasn’t a member of a regiment whose commanding officer could put him forward for a military medal – he was a humble bicycle messenger. The Voice is indebted for Ken’s story to his younger brother Alan, now 83 and living in Maxse Road, Knowle. When the Blitz began in 1940 the Gwythers were living in Andover Road, Knowle. Alan was just six years old when the war broke and his brother was 15. But – as we all know from the exploits of Private Pike in Dad’s Army – teenagers were a vital part of the war effort. Young Ken was a messenger boy working for the Post Office, and he quickly found a role doing the same job for the ARP – the Air Raid Precautions organisation. The ARP is also famous from Dad’s Army, in which the officious Warden Hodges patrols the streets shouting “Put that light out!” at any home where a chink of light is showing. This role was no joke during the Blitz – all homes were supposed to be fitted with blackout curtains so there was no light to guide the bombers. But the ARP wardens – all volunteers with day jobs – did much more. They kept a watch for where bombs fell, they tackled fires and they frequently entered ruined buildings to rescue the injured. The messenger’s job was just as vital. During a raid, telephone lines might be cut and direct communication was vital. And of course this work was most important when it was most
Too young for military service – but that didn’t stop Ken saving lives by taking a swat at deadly incendiary bombs falling Bristol Blitzed Recollections of Bristol under fire in the 75th anniversary year of the worst bombing raids on the city
dangerous – when the bombs were falling. So Ken, aged 16 and 17, was spending his days ferrying messages for the Post Office and his evenings doing the same for the ARP in Knowle, whose base was in Redcatch Park – which was also the site of the area’s biggest air raid shelter (see panel on page 32). Younger brother Alan had no idea at the time about what Ken was facing night after night. “He never said much when he came home. He would just say ‘It’s been a bad night.’ “He never said that he was putting out those bombs, and I don’t know how the Evening Post got hold of the story,” Alan said. For Ken had discovered a knack for dealing with incendiaries – the small bombs which Luftwaffe planes dropped
Deadly: One of the incendiaries
My brother: Alan Gwyther of Knowle shows the Evening Post clipping of 1941, detailing sibling Ken’s unusual and brave bomb disposals by the hundred. They did not cause great explosions but were designed to start fires which could bring enormous destruction. In our March issue we showed the incendiary bomb kept by Knowle Park resident Cecil Forster. Less than a foot long, they were made of a magnesium body with a steel nose, and filled with a fast-burning petrol mixture. A single Heinkel He-111 bomber could carry 1,152 of these bombs. It’s hard to imagine what a thousand bombs raining down on our streets would look like. Each one was designed to punch through a fragile structure like a roof and then start to burn. Once the magnesium was alight, it made an intense flame which was hard to put out. If these bombs were unseen – burning away in a roof space
– they could destroy the whole building. But if they were caught early, the flames could be put out, sometimes just by covering them with a metal dustbin lid. And this was young Ken’s speciality: as the Evening Post put it, “he swats incendiaries like one kills flies.” To say that this took a cool nerve must be an understatement. Any of those incendiaries could have been the death of him; yet Ken was credited with extinguishing more than 100 of them. Some of the bombs dropped on homes whose occupants were blissfully unaware of the danger they were in before Ken stopped any fire taking hold. The Post reporter, who signed as “W.E.P”, spoke to Ken’s supervisor, Redcatch Road Post
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swats bombs with a bin lid
Warden Sam Long, “who told me that Ken just waits for the bobs like a cat would for a mouse, and gives them chance to develop. “Only the other night”, said Mr Long, “he put out an incendiary that had dropped a few feet from the entrance to the post before the wardens inside had realised what had happened. He must surely smell them.” W.E.P. went on to report, with slightly heavy humour, how some Knowle residents were now missing their dustbin lids owing to Ken’s energetic use of anything to hand to put out the bombs. “They were ‘borrowed’ by young Kenneth who, after having successfully done his bombfighting job, returned them, but not always to the rightful owners. So at the present time the lid or bin covers are just a little mixed, but the owners are not making complaints.” The report went on: “On one occasion no ash can cover, sand, or water was available, so Ken promptly and successfully brought into action his steel helmet. Needles to say, it was no good to him afterwards. But was he downhearted? No. He just seized a bucket that was near him and placed it on his head! “At the time pieces of shrapnel were falling almost like hail, so with the aid of his new headgear he was able to carry on with his good work.” The Post reporter does not quote Ken directly, relying on the testimony of Mr Long. He adds that Ken had also helped in demolishing damaged buildings, and in a rescue where “he displayed great courage and daring in entering a house to aid in evacuating a party.” The modern reader cries out for more detail, and for Ken’s own views on his actions. But we’ve heard his brother say he didn’t want to talk about it at home, and he probably wouldn’t have wanted to be seen boasting about his exploits in a newspaper either. But he is allowed one regret by W.E.P. – that he didn’t look after his bicycle better. “Recently he left his cycle outside headquarters. A bomb fell within a few yards, and that was his
a party dress, changed to shorts, and then to slacks.” That’s a lot of costume changes in half an hour – once again the modern reader wants to know more. But of course the Press in World War 2 was not free to report everything. Early reports of the Bristol Blitz in the Evening Post did not even name Bristol as the target, referring only to “a West town”, such was the fear of giving any useful information to the enemy. Soon this rather daft fiction was dropped as it became clear the Luftwaffe could find Bristol pretty easily by following the Severn and the Avon. But many acts of wartime bravery, and the damage caused by bombing, were not reported, and many stories have been lost to history. Ken’s tale, presumably, was thought an inspiration to fellow Bristolians, and so escaped the censor.
A
lan remembers that even during the Blitz, Ken’s Post Office boss insisted that all boys had to keep their Continued on page 32
How did Freddy, 14, die in the Blitz?
Good story: Much news of the Blitz was censored, but the Evening Post probably thought that Ken’s heroic story would boost morale bike! He has not been able to get it repaired,” said the Post’s reporter. Almost more extraordinary is a footnote to the article which mentions another young volunteer, 16-year-old Barbara Hone. Where she lived is not clear; “the same district”,
the Post says, but she was “mainly responsible for putting out eight bombs in just over half an hour. “Her smart work prevented a fire spreading in a chemist’s shop,” applauds the Post, adding that Barbara “started her work in
HOW many more Kens were there? The Voice has been intrigued by a tombstone in Arnos Vale cemetery which records the death of another teenager, aged just 14, who died to save others, according to the inscription made by his parents. “In loving memory of our only son Alfred Frank Thomas (Freddy), Killed by enemy action at Wick Road, Brislington, December 6th 1940. He died to save others”, reads the gravestone. Do any readers know more about Freddy? It may be that he was a messenger too, or someone like Ken who was doing more than his duty.
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Boys kept their uniform clean
Continued from page 31 uniforms and cycles smart and clean. “I can remember that he had to clean everything, and he got inspected in the mornings, and if it wasn’t all clean they would send you home!” said Alan. And messenger boys bearing telegrams were not a welcome sight to any family with a relative in the forces – because a telegram usually meant that they had been killed. “The people used to hate seeing them coming to their house with a telegram. They would say to Ken, ‘No, no, it can’t be for us’,” said Alan. The terrors that Ken saw were hidden from Alan, nine years younger. Alan remembers that as soon as the siren sounded, his brother was gone from the house. In 1941 Alan’s parents decided Bristol was too dangerous for their younger children and Alan, his sister and cousin were evacuated to Exeter. It turned out not to be so safe: soon after they arrived came the Good Friday raid of 1941 with the children as close to the bombs falling on the centre of Exeter as they had been in Bristol. Like many evacuees, Alan remembers his surrogate family warmly. Uncle Bill and Auntie Mag, as they became known, had no children of their own but took the young Bristolians to their hearts. With his new uncle, Alan said, “we would go fishing in the river for eels, and I learned how to kill
TAKE SHELTER IN 1940 the Evening Post printed lists of air raid shelters in each area and the number of spaces in each. “You are advised to cut out and keep them,” it said. “It is as well to know where they are, in case you do happen to be caught in a raid when you are out.” TOTTERDOWN Cheapside Street junction Oxford St 50 Bushy Park junct Wells Rd 50 Clyde Road junct Wells Rd 50 KNOWLE Adjoining 425 Wells Rd opp Red Lion Hotel (now demolished, opp Greenleaze) 100 Maxse Road (both ends) 100
Perretts Park 200 Queensdale Road junct Wells Rd, adjoining Knowle Methodist church (A mistake? The church adjoins Redcatch Rd) 100 Broad Walk (Wells Rd end) 150 TRENCH SHELTERS Melvin Square 400 Wedmore Vale junction Marksbury Road 300 Redcatch Park opposite Bayham Road 950 Broad Walk Square, junction Salcombe Rd 257
a rabbit with ferrets. We didn’t starve! It was an education.” Bill liked his cider, Alan recalls, and there was a pub nearby where he would trade the rabbits he had caught for a draught. Alan also made a macabre mistake. Bombs fell on an Exeter cemetery, throwing bones from the graves. Alan picked one up,
CELLARS St Luke’s church York St 100 Holy Nativity Wells Road 200 • Thanks to Margaret Scott for the Post clipping not thinking what it might be, and took it home. “Look, Auntie Mag, I’ve brought a bone for the dog!” he said. Auntie Mag’s response was unrepeatable, he said – and she made him take the bone back where it belonged. Back to Ken’s war. “I have never seen anyone so keen on his work as Ken,” ARP Warden Long
July 2016
said. “He simply puts his heart and soul into it. He has set a wonderful example to others.” His devotion to duty won Ken a place in the Royal Marines – one of the toughest regiments in the British forces. He saw action in the D-Day landings and was one of the many wounded in the attack on Sword Beach in Normandy. After recuperating in Britain he was sent to the Far East, where he met up with a neighbour from Andover Road, George Vincent, who was serving with the Royal Artillery in India. Ken went on to fight the Japanese – and came back with a souvenir. “I can see him walking down the road with his kitbag, and he said, ‘Here you are, Dad,’ and pulled a Japanese soldier’s cap from his bag,” said Alan.
A
lan and Ken’s father had fought in the trenches of World War I with the Gloucestershire regiment, and lost a brother in the Somme. With one son having served in the Marines, all eyes were on Alan when he was called up for National Service in 1952. Alan asked to serve in either the Gloucesters or the Marines. But military logic has its own way, and he was posted to Devizes to the Royal Army Pay Corps. “My dad said, ‘What a disgrace to the Gwyther family’,” said Alan. But he served 18 months in Egypt – before the Suez crisis but with tensions high, so that even the Pay Corps worked with their rifles at the ready. “I enjoyed it, it was good for you,” said Alan of his national service. “I was glad I was evacuated, and that I went in the
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SLEDGING ROUND THE SHELTERS WHEN war broke out, Bristol was unprepared. It should have had 200 ambulances; there were 50. And there should have been shelters for 25,000; in reality they could fit 2,500. But work progressed quickly and Anderson and Morrison shelters were provided for many homes, and public shelters were built all over the city. Alan Gwyther remembers the big trench shelter at Redcatch Park, where the ARP wardens were based – by far the largest in the area, it held 950 people. He also remembers using the shelter at the end of Broad Walk and Salcombe Road, and the two shelters in Perretts Park. Perretts, with its steep slopes, has always been a favourite for winter sledging, and it became even more fun in the Blitz. A bomb dropped a little way down the hill, leaving army – and that I went to France in 2000 to see my uncle’s grave.” On this family trip to the Somme, Alan went with Ken and with his nephew Charlie – who shares a name with his great-uncle who died in the great battle of 1916. Charlie was much affected by seeing the grave of his unknown relative with his name on it. Alan thinks it is a good thing that the young are taught about the reality of the world wars. “We were lucky in Andover Road,” he said. “I think there were only two killed – Bert Fairchild was on HMS Bramble when she was sunk.” The minesweeper was sunk on an Arctic convoy on December 31, 1942 – a website (www. hms-bramble-crew.talktalk.net) commemorates the crew and has a tribute to Able Seaman Fairchild, only son of Henry and Elsie Fairchild, who died aged 21. The other resident of Andover Road who was killed was Eddie Gray, a soldier who died in Italy when he stepped on a landmine. Luckier was Ernie Jones, who became a paratrooper and survived the landings at Arnhem but was wounded in the foot and spent the rest of the war in a German prison camp. Other neighbours who served in the forces and survived included George Vincent,
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Left, Perretts Park in an RAF aerial shot from 1946. Bayham Road is top right. The two long shelters are in the middle of the picture. To their left is a smaller building – possibly a hut for the barrage balloon sited in the park. Is there also a third shelter on the Sylvia Avenue side?
PICTURE: maps.bristol.gov.uk/ knowyourplace Historic England RAF Photography
a big crater. Alan used to hang on to his big brother as they sledged right through it. “I used (mentioned earlier) Ray Smart, who joined the navy, and Den Kay, who was in the army. Ken is no longer alive to tell his story: he died of cancer 10 years ago. He later had a career in social services, assessing who was entitled to benefits – he always tried even harder to be fair to ex-services claimants. He lived in Whitchurch and his two sons now work in social services and the law. Alan worked for SWEB, the former electricity board, married Maureen, who also hails from Knowle, and had a son, Andrew, and daughter Helen. He’s managed to do his bit for keeping wartime memories alive in his own street, Maxse Road. Near his house is the former Wells Road Boys School, now flats, which contained a memorial to ex-pupils killed in the First War. When the flats were built, the memorial was moved outside to the corner of Maxse Road and Greenmore Road. But the developer hadn’t thought that exposed to the elements, the stone would deteriorate, and Alan led a campaign to get it restored. The developer couldn’t be found, but the campaign was successful, and a stonemason enhanced the memorial so it will be legible for future generations. As so many memorials say, Lest We Forget.
to hang on to him as we went went through the crater and out the other side. But then you had
to jump off before you hit the air raid shelter further down!” The panel opposite shows that the biggest shelters were in Upper Knowle where there was more land – trench shelters were dug in Redcatch Road, Melvin Square, Wedmore Vale and Broad Walk. Together these held 1,900 people, whereas Totterdown shelters held only 650. Also used was the cellar of St Luke’s Church, listed as York Street, today called York Road – it stood on the corner of Spring Street until demolition in 1970.
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Arts project brings Jews and Muslims together A SOUTH Bristol art gallery is playing host to what may be the only exhibition in Britain to bring together the work of Jewish and Muslim artists. The Grant Bradley gallery in Bedminster Parade has opened its doors to the Shared Spaces exhibition, which opened on June 2 and runs until July 4. It was organised by Bristol group Salaam Shalom, which fosters good relations between the Muslim and Jewish communities. Artists have been chosen from all over the UK but several are from Bristol and the exhibition includes a unique collaboration between Jewish artist Tom Berry and Bristol-based Muslim poet, Shagufta Iqbal, combining a poem by Shagufta with a
Together: Martin Vegoda next to work by Tom Berry and Shagufta Iqbal beautiful woodcut by Tom. Much of the art is abstract, recognising the sensitivity surrounding the use of images in some Islamic and Jewish
traditions. The exhibition combines a diverse range of influences and styles including geometric design, calligraphy, paper cuts, ceramics and mixed
media works from artists including Louise Block, Maryam Golubeva, Josh Baum and Vaseen Mohamed. Martin Vegoda, Salaam Shalom chair, told scores of people who crammed the gallery on the opening night that the strength of the group lay “in bringing about dialogue, by a range of events in which people participate and then discuss.” The event, which won backing from the Arts Council, is part of a series which includes live music and poetry performances, a historical archive of Bristol’s Muslim and Jewish communities, art workshops, talks, dialogue events and film screenings. Salaam Shalom project manager Rebecca Bellamy said: “This extraordinary exhibition celebrates some of the positive contributions Muslims and Jews are making to British culture. Our range of events accompanying the exhibition, and the exhibition itself, are spaces for conversation and collaboration between all communities.” • sharedspacesfestival.co.uk
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Karin Smyth We must hear the voice of local business
W
HEN monthly unemployment figures are published, people are sometimes surprised that Bristol South ranks around the middle of the UK league tables. Many expect local jobless figures to be worse. We’re home to some of the country’s most economically deprived wards, and hardly any very large businesses are located here. But many hundreds of small and medium-sized South Bristol businesses are doing a terrific job creating opportunities for local people to find work. It’s important to help ensure those firms have the right conditions that enable them to thrive and grow. They need to be able to help their employees – the constituents I represent in Parliament – further develop their skills, their careers and their earning potential. The House of Commons public accounts
The MP’s view Each month Bristol South Labour MP Karin Smyth gives her perspective committee, of which I’m a member, recently published a report which found smaller business voices aren’t being heard by central government. I know firms don’t sit around waiting for help, but proactive support can play a major part in their development. So I’m keen for local business people to contact me so I can take up any concerns for
July 2016
them. I’m especially keen to explore issues around skills, training and apprenticeships. The Government has set an ambitious target of creating three million new apprenticeships by 2020. I support this aim and I’m determined South Bristol gets its fair share. And the fact there are so few large businesses here can’t be a reason for us to be left behind. I’ve quizzed ministers about the issue and will be staying on top of it. From conversations I have with local business people I know many want to help improve skills and apprenticeship opportunities, but too many obstacles get in the way. I want to properly understand what currently stops some firms getting involved in expanding opportunities to our young people. I’ve begun circulating a short business survey and will be feeding back the findings to government ministers. You can call my office on 0117 953 3575 to obtain a hard copy, and it can be completed online at karinsmyth.com/askbusiness As ever, you can get in touch by emailing karin.smyth.mp@parliament.uk or writing to Karin Smyth MP, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA. The life chances we offer our young people can make or break their futures. We all have a part to play, and I’m determined that local businesses have a voice.
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What’s on
Wednesday June 29 Into The West Tobacco Factory theatre. “Beginning in the tower blocks on the outskirts of Dublin, where two Traveller children are living with their widowed father, the play tells the story of the magical white horse that appears in their lives, brought to them by their Grandpa who still travels the land and follows the old ways.” The Travelling Light theatre company mark 20 years of this acclaimed production for children. Until July 17. 6.30pm, 7.30pm, and 1.30pm. There will be a sign-language performance and a relaxed performance suitable for those with special needs – call for details. Tickets from £28 family to £9 concessions. • tobaccofactorytheatres.com The Underdog Bristol’s battle of the bands competition with a top prize of £1,000 cash has heats at the Thunderbolt, Bath Road, Totterdown, until late July. Heats also on June 30, July 6, 7, 13, 15, 20, 21, 22, 27 and 28. • thethunderbolt.net Friday July 1 Spark the Sail + THC Dreams + Idlside + Fabrics + Summoned By Ash Thunderbolt, Bath Road, Totterdown. Spark the Sail are tipped to become festival favourites with spiky rhythms and dual vocals. 7.30pm, £5. • thethunderbolt.net Saturday July 2 Big Park Draw Victoria Park, 12-5pm. The aim is to encourage people, young and old, who visit the park, to discover or rediscover the joy that can be had by drawing. Materials provided at gazebo near Mrs Brown’s café. • bigparkdraw.org
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Reimagined: The Bard’s plays recast for women
PICTURE: Issy Howell
Barded Ladies reverse roles in open-air Shakespeare at the Farm ONE OF Shakespeare’s least performed plays, Henry VI Part III, gets an airing at Windmill Hill City Farm. From July 21, the Barded Ladies will revive the play with a twist, as part of the Bristol Shakespeare Festival 2016. Shakespeare’s infamous Queen Margaret is re-imagined as King Margaret, and her adversaries Richard of York and Richard of Gloucester turned View from the Pen Short drama about Windmill Hill City Farm and its animals, written by local people and performed by professional actors with the help
COME AND CELEBRATE OUR 4th BIRTHDAY! Free cream teas for 60 people on Saturday July 16* *You must apply for a ticket to paul@southbristolvoice.co.uk
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into bloodthirsty women. With a bedrock of Cold War-like tension, this production is an examination of the roles gender can play in martial politics and war. Tickets are £12 for adults, £8 concessions and £5 for children. Performances are on Thursday July 21 at 7pm, July 22 and 23 at 2pm and 7pm, and July 24 at 6pm. • windmillhillcityfarm.org.uk of Bedminster’s Show of Strength theatre company. Performances every 20 minutes from 10.30am to 4.30pm on July 2 and July 3 as part of the farm’s 40th
July 2016
birthday celebrations. No need to book. Suitable for all ages. • windmillhillcityfarm.org.uk Singaround evening at the Saltcellar Folk Club. Folk music evenings at 7.30pm on the first Saturday of each month in the basement (or salt cellar) of Totterdown Baptist Church, Wells Road, Bristol, BS4 2AX. All are welcome to come along. Admission £5. • saltcellarfolk.org.uk Monday July 4 Meeting of VPAG, the Victoria Park Action Group, volunteers who help look after the park. Meeat at the Bowling Club, 7.30pm, everyone welcome. • vpag.org.uk Tuesday July 5 The Henhouse Prowlers The Tunnels, Temple Meads. “Surprisingly popular in Saudi Arabia, and well known throughout Africa for their cover of Nigerian hop hop classic Chop My Money, it’s fair to say that HenHouse Prowlers are no runof-the-mill progressive bluegrass band.” 7.30pm, £10. • thetunnelsbristol.co.uk Friday July 8 Alonely Exploring the voices of isolated older people at the Tobacco Factory theatre, from a project by Southville Community Development Association and the University of Bristol. 12.30pm. Performance lasts 45 minutes and is free, followed by a 15-minute Q&A session. • tobaccofactorytheatres.com Voodoo Room Tribute to Jimi Hendrix and Cream at The Tunnels, Temple Meads. Formed in 2011, London-based classic rock trio pay homage to the 60s superstars. 7.30pm. £10. • thetunnelsbristol.co.uk
Free tea with Duchess THE DUCHESS tearoom is a Totterdown institution – one of the first of the new crop of businesses to help brighten Wells Road and fill the empty shops. Soon the Duchess will be four years old – and owner Leo is inviting Voice readers to help her celebrate. She is offering free cream teas* to a lucky 60 people. Yes, 60 people – but to prevent a crush, you must apply for a ticket. Leo said: “Running the Duchess has been an awful lot of fun over the last four years, and
long may it continue. I want to thank everyone who has supported us, both as a daytime café and a restaurant on weekend evenings.” If you’d like to take tea with the Duchess, there are two sessions, from 2-3pm and 3-4pm, on Saturday 16th July. For the chance of a ticket, email paul@ southbristolvoice.co.uk (or write to us at the address on page 19) and state which session you’d prefer. Winners will be notified on Friday July 8. * The free tea is tea and a scone; other options must be paid for.
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the performance through sound, breath and vibrations of the body in Verity Standen’s critically acclaimed production. Suitable for the visually impaired. Call the box office before booking for young people on 0117 902 0344. Shows are at 6.30pm, 7.15pm, 8pm and 8.45pm. Tickets £7. • tobaccofactorytheatres.com Wednesday July 20 What Would Beyoncé Do? “Luisa Omielan is a comedian
who lives by one rule and one rule only: What Would Beyoncé Do? She has written a book detailing how following that one mantra changed her life.” Strong language. Tickets £14.50, £25.50 with a copy of the book included. • tobaccofactorytheatres.com Thursday July 21 South Bristol Wellbeing Choir Summer Concert. 7.30pm, St Michael & All Angels Church, Vivian Street, Windmill Hill. “Always a lovely night of great music.” Refreshments. Donations welcome. • facebook.com/SouthBristol WellbeingChoiroldpage Friday July 22 Picnic in the Park Victoria Park. Just turn up at any time in the afternoon and meet other families enjoying a picnic on the last day of term. • vpag.org.uk Wednesday July 27 Animal comic workshop Windmill Hill City Farm, 10am to 3pm. Illustrator Rosie Faragher will lead a day of drawing, inventing characters and making comic books. Meet the animals of the farm and make up stories before drawing your own comic. Cost: £24. For 8-12 year-olds. • windmillhillcityfarm.org.uk Double Deckers: Lloyd Langford & Jimmy McGhie The Tobacco Factory theatre hosts the first of four nights of double bills featuring top-rate stand-ups previewing their shows for the Edinburgh Fringe. Tickets £10. July 28: Sam Simmons & Carey Marx; July 29 Mitch Benn & Ellie Taylor; July 30 Zoe Lyons & Geoff Norcott. • tobaccofactorytheatres.com Friday July 29 Trip The Switch The Tunnels, Temple Meads. “An actionpacked night headed by Bristol soul/pop band Trip The Switch, giving rise to some of Bristol’s youngest up-and-coming bands.” 7.30pm. £6. • thetunnelsbristol.co.uk
Joe Peng discusses his youth work in Bristol and the trials of growing up as a mixed-race
gypsy, Ed Gillespie talks sustainability and the story of our future, Guardian writer Lucy Mangan explores the curse of female guilt and the mercurial Professor Jerry Brotton reveals the incredible Elizabethan alliance with the Islamic world. Tickets £15 and £12. 7.30pm. • tobaccofactorytheatres.com
The moon is quite literally a balloon
ARTIST Luke Jerram may have made his most eyecatching exhibit yet, for the Balloon Fiesta from August 11-14. Called the Museum of the Moon, it’s a 7m recreation of the moon, made by Bedminster’s Cameron Balloons. Floating above the fiesta, it will also feature in the nightglows. Luke said: “Like the moon, this artwork acts as a cultural mirror that allows us to contemplate cultural differences around the world. As it tours, new stories and meanings will be collected and compared.” Bristol-based Luke installed a giant waterslide in Park Street in 2014 and last year put fishing boats in Leigh Woods for European Green Capital year. Saturday July 9 Bench mending in Victoria Park. Volunteers meet to refurbish one or two of the park’s benches. Meet at 10am at Mrs Brown’s café, near the Somerset Terrace entrance. • vpag.org.uk Summer Garden Fete from 2pm, St Martin’s Community Hall and church grounds, St Martin’s Road, Knowle. Afternoon teas and cakes, games, bric-a-brac, toys and plants. The Big ’Uns Saturday night music with DJ Barry the Bull, tonight featuring hits from the 60s and 70s, at Windmill Hill community centre. Second Saturday of each month. 8pm, with music, quiz and food. • whca.org.uk Thursday July 14 Quiz Night at Zion Test your brain power at the infamous quiz at Zion Bristol, Bishopsworth
All lit up: The Museum of the Moon is created from NASA imagery Road BS13 7LW. £5 per team (max. six), no under 18s, bar and snacks. 7-10pm. • zionbristol.co.uk Saturday July 16 Spoon carving at Windmill Hill City Farm. Two-day course from 10am to 3pm, continues on July 17. Learn how to use edge tools to make spoons, and the craft of green woodwork. Cost: £110 • windmillhillcityfarm.org.uk Sunday July 17 Browns to Browns walk A 3.5 mile circular walk starting and ending at Mrs Brown’s café in Victoria Park, and taking in some of South Bristol’s best views from the Northern Slopes. • vpag.org.uk Monday July 18 The Hug Tobacco Factory until July 21. In this “choral sound bath”, each audience member is blindfolded and hugged by a singer. Participants experience
The Hug: A choral sound bath
Why Margot is a role model ANOTHER varied line up takes to the Tobacco Factory stage on Monday July 11 for the latest of the popular 5x15 series in which five speakers get 15 minutes each to expound on one of their passions. Comedian Viv
Groskop explains why Margot from The Good Life is the ultimate female role model, MC
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Got a story or any other inquiry? Call Paul on 07811 766072 or email paul@southbristolvoice.co.uk
T: 07811 766072
southbristolvoice
www.southbristolvoice.co.uk
July 2016
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