South Bristol Voice September 2018 by South Bristol Voice

southbristolvoice September 2018 No. 40

www.southbristolvoice.co.uk

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Back on the skyline: Illuminated cross at Totterdown Methodist church MAYOR Marvin Rees has agreed to face councillors on the oversight and scrutiny board as he prepares to reveal his decision on whether an arena should be built at Temple Meads. The mayor is under mounting pressure as opposition councillors claim his apparent support for a rival arena plan at Filton could leave any decision he makes at risk of legal challenge. Former mayor George Ferguson called a Filton arena “a betrayal of the people of Bristol”. He said the mayor should step aside from the arena decision because he accepted “thousands of pounds” of hospitality from Malaysian firm YTL, the backer of the Filton plan. Marvin Rees has met YTL officials three times in the past year, twice in Kuala Lumpur at YTL’s expense. On one occasion

THE CROSS at Totterdown Methodist church in Bushy Park is lighting up the sky once more. Members of the church and the Totterdown community rallied to raise £1,500 to replace the cross after the first version, put up many years ago by volunteers, stopped working. The church is now asking for funds and willing hands to help decorate its hall and sand the floor. Email totterdownmethodist@gmail.com

Arena: ‘The mayor should step aside’ YTL paid for Mr Rees’s flights and accommodation; on another it paid for a meal and did not pay for the flights, said the council. No values have been given for the benefits, though Mr Rees told the BBC the accommodation was in a “£120 a night” hotel. Mr Ferguson says the flights alone will have cost thousands and the mayor’s office has “lost its moral compass” over the affair. “I think that this requires the mayor to disqualify himself from making a decision, and hand it to the full council,” he said. Cllr Gary Hopkins claimed

that not only the mayor, but his entire cabinet, should withdraw from the decision. The scrutiny board meets on September 3, the day before the cabinet debates the arena. Cllr Hopkins asked for the cabinet papers to be published early so the scrutiny board has time to consider them. Green party leader Eleanor Combley said a decision put the council at risk of legal challenge. The council says a legal opinion will be given to the cabinet on September 4. • STORY: Pages 4 and 5

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

Intro

ARENA CRUNCH TIME HAVE THE mayor and the council gone so far out on a limb in exploring building an arena at Filton that the city centre option no longer gets a fair hearing? That’s the allegation from the opposition parties, on the eve of the cabinet meeting which will hear Marvin Rees’ verdict on the city site. Mr Rees says the choice is not between an arena at Filton and one at Temple Meads. He says the immediate question is whether there is a better use for Arena Island (which has been renamed Temple Island). Trouble is, emails reveal the council has been working with YTL, owner of Filton airport, for

You can find South Bristol Voice on Facebook and Twitter facebook.com/ southbristolvoice Twitter: @sbristolvoice Next month’s deadline for editorial and advertising is September 19th more than a year, and appears to support its arena plan. But a Filton arena would be most unlikely to win permission if the city centre alternative hasn’t been ruled out first. This is just what Mr Rees appears poised to do. The mayor says he wants to take a decision based on the evidence. But it seems all the evidence he has cited this year is against a city centre arena. Now it emerges he’s met YTL three times in the last year while the city centre team say they can’t get to meet him. The Greens and Lib Dems say these factors endanger the validity of Mr Rees’s decision – and could leave it open to legal challenge. No one is accusing Mr Rees of personal corruption. But how did we arrive at such a damaging perception of bias?

September 2018

n OFFICIALS from Bristol city council are to monitor noise levels at Motion nightclub in St Philip’s after complaints from Totterdown residents, particularly in Bellevue Road. A planning application for a 3,000capacity open air music venue has been made by MJR, the same firm which owns Motion. The venue on Feeder Road, close to the Avon Street junction, would be open until midnight or 1am. tinyurl.com/feedervenue n THE LIBERAL Democrats have named Andrew Brown prospective parliamentary candidate for Bristol South. Andrew, who stood unsuccessfully as a councillor for

Windmill Hill ward, is secretary of LGBT+ Lib Dems. He works in financial services. n KARIN Smyth, the Labour MP for Bristol South, has been made frontbench shadow minister for Northern Ireland in addition to her role as shadow deputy leader of the House of Commons. n SADLY balloons were not much in evidence over South Bristol during the weatherafflicted Balloon Fiesta. But there are pictures of the fiesta and of the Upfest street art festival in our Bedminster edition, which you can view online from August 28 at issuu.com/ southbristolvoice n THE WINNER of a pair of tickets to Blood, Booze and Buccaneers, the pirate tour of the harbourside, is Craig Roe of Knowle. Winners of the cinema tickets to Cineworld Hengrove are Guy Pegden of Lower Knowle, and Naomi Rogalska of Knowle Park. And the winner of a breakfast at Eat Your Greens is Amanda Roe of Knowle.

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

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My councillor? Post: You can write to all councillors at Brunel House, St George’s Road, Bristol BS1 5UY Christopher Davies Lib Dem, Knowle 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 Council tax 0117 922 2900 Housing benefit 0117 922 2300 Social services 0117 922 2900

southbristolvoice

n NEWS

n BRIEFLY n BROADBURY Road police station – which serves most of South Bristol – will no longer be open to callers seven days a week. Hours at the inquiry desk are being cut to Monday-Friday, 10am-6pm. It was previously open 8am-8pm Monday-Sunday. Police said “significant cuts” were partly responsible, but more people were choosing to call 101 or report incidents online.

September 2018

Email: Cllr.Christopher.Davies@ bristol.gov.uk Gary Hopkins Lib Dem, Knowle (Lib Dem leader) Email: Cllr.Gary.Hopkins@bristol.gov.uk Phone: 07977 512159 Lucy Whittle Labour, Windmill Hill Phone: 07392 108805 Email: Cllr.Lucy.Whittle@bristol.gov.uk Jon Wellington Labour, Windmill Hill Phone: 07392 108804 Email: Cllr.Jon.Wellington@bristol.gov.uk Police Inquiries 101 Emergency 999 Fire Emergency 999 Inquiries 0117 926 2061 NEIGHBOURHOOD MEETINGS Knowle Community Meeting 7pm, September 12, The Park centre, Daventry Road, Knowle

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. We strive to conform to the NUJ Code of Conduct for journalists: • nuj.org.uk/about/nuj-code 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 (unless otherwise stated) 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

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

The past and future of St Philip’s Marsh on show THE PAST and the future of St Philip’s Marsh will be on show at an open day on September 30. The event will mark 55 years since the last member of the formerly bustling community was moved out, to make way for warehouses and industry that now dominate the area. Amazingly, the scattered St Philips community has remained active and has even come up with ideas for reviving the area – as detailed in a feature in the Voice in December 2016. Now the city council has a vision of its own for bringing homes back to the Marsh.

The open day, held at St Silas Royal British Legion in Meriton Street, will include the first public view of official proposals for the area – thought likely to include a major high-rise development to include thousands of homes, to rival Bedminster Green. On show will be ideas the Marsh residents have come up with over the years, including holding the Commonwealth Games at Avon Meads! New flood defences would be needed before any homes are built on the Marsh. The residents long ago came up with their own

River view: How Marsh residents hoped the area could be revived idea for damming the tidal River Avon at Bedminster, which would remove the mudbanks and make the riverside instantly more

Parking zone may be needed around Broadwalk Centre RESIDENTS in Knowle are to be consulted on whether they want a controlled parking zone once the Broadwalk Centre is redeveloped. A planning application for a £100 million project to knock down half the centre and rebuild it with 400 flats is expected to be submitted at the end of September. Parking spaces in the centre would increase slightly to 430 – though residents of the new flats would take some of these. Knowle councillors Gary Hopkins and Chris Davies are concerned that nearby residents will suffer if commuters who currently use the multi-storey as a “park and ride” on their way to work in the city centre are displaced onto the streets. Cllr Hopkins said a residents parking zone that extended to a limited number of roads near the centre might solve the problem. People living closest, in Broad Walk and Ryde Road, had shown “near unanimous” support for the idea, but there would have to be wider, and united, backing from other residents. The centre owner, Moorfields, may pay for setting up an RPZ. By the time the restrictions are needed, there may also be calls for RPZs to protect Windmill Hill and Totterdown from developments around Temple Meads.

New look: Plans for Broadwalk • A PETITION has been started in support of the snooker hall in the Broadwalk Centre. Snooker City is one of several businesses which will have to move if plans go ahead to demolish the car park, which has structural issues.

Wilko, the bingo hall and B&M will also be displaced for several years while the centre is rebuilt. Snooker City owner Tony Lamb told Bristol 24/7 he had no promise of any alternative premises, and in any case it could cost £100,000 to move and install new facilities. The club has 2,000 members and is one of Bristol’s most popular familyfriendly snooker facilities. A spokesman for Moorfields, the owner of the centre, said it was hoped the snooker hall could be found a temporary home elsewhere in the centre, followed by a permanent base once rebuilding is complete. • Your Councillors: Page 24

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attractive. Also on show during the open day will be photos and videos showing life on the Marsh from the 1920s to the 1960s. An open-topped bus will provide tours of the Marsh hourly, from the Legion club. Songs will be performed from the musical, Yesterday’s Island, which was created by the former residents in the 1980s and was performed several times before a sell-out run at the Bristol Hippodrome. Shows based on the musical have been revived several times since. Taking part in the event will be St Philip’s Marsh nursery school, which is 92 years old and was once a primary school. Organiser Brian Davies said: “We are looking forward to meeting as many ex pupils and families as possible.” To find out more, email briandavies17@btinternet.com. • Sadly, it will be the last opening for the St Silas RBL club – it has closed due to lack of support.

Helping you to avoid plastic HELLO! Thanks so much for bearing with us while we’ve been busy painting and building, we are ready for you! We have some beautiful new handcrafted shelves and are super-excited that our gravity dispensers have landed (above). You can now pick up a whole range of plasticfree goods in store! From rice and grains to loose camomile flowers, we hope we have something for you! Look out for a new face behind the counter as Dorothee joins us in September. We can’t wait to catch up and find out what you’ve all been up to this summer!

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

September 2018

southbristolvoice

n NEWS

• Rees has shown rival plan too much favour and should not take decision, say opposition • Misleading, noisy campaign is obscuring the facts, says the mayor MAYOR Marvin Rees has been accused of compromising himself so badly in the row over rival sites for Bristol’s arena that he should withdraw from making a decision on the venue, according to his opponents. Papers for a cabinet meeting to decide the fate of an arena at Temple Meads are about to be released, shortly after the Voice is published. The mayor says he wants to follow the evidence on whether the city centre plot is a suitable site – but at every turn he seems to voice reasons why the arena

THE ARENA SHOWDOWN

Mayor under fire as arena DECISION TIME IS NEAR

Last gasp? Mayor Marvin Rees has little in support of an arena near Temple Meads

HE CABINET meeting on September 4 will hear the mayor’s view on whether an arena should be built at the city centre site long reserved for it. Councillors do not get a vote – most decisions are taken by the mayor and the cabinet, which is now Labour-only. But a majority of councillors and many Labour members back the Temple Meads option. Back in March 2018, they voted by 34 to 12 (with 17 abstentions) in favour of a city centre arena. Most of South Bristol’s Labour councillors backed the Green party motion. Few Labour members supported

the mayor’s position, apart from cabinet members. But the vote was only advisory. The full council meeting on September 11 can be expected to hear a tide of objections if the Temple Meads option has been ruled out. Lib Dem deputy leader Gary Hopkins said: “There will be

every form of challenge we can muster.” The Greens and the Conservatives have both questioned whether the decision should be left to Mr Rees. Cllr Hopkins claimed that 70 per cent of the Bristol public, and the same proportion of councillors, back a city centre arena.

shouldn’t go there. His opponents allege that he has already made his mind up to back an alternative, larger arena at Filton funded by Malaysian firm YTL. Former mayor George Ferguson called the Filton option

“a lunatic plan”. YTL funded flights and a night’s hotel accommodation for Mr Rees in Malaysia in December, as a side-trip while he was in China trying to win investment for the city. He met YTL again at a

property conference in Cannes, France, in March, where the firm funded dinner, and for a third time when YTL paid for a lunch in Kuala Lumpur while he was on a trade mission to Singapore with West of England mayor Tim

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September 2018

n NEWS

southbristolvoice

THE ARENA SHOWDOWN

debate reaches point of no return THE SEQUENTIAL TEST – IS THIS THE VITAL QUESTION? ORMER mayor George Ferguson says several planning experts have told him that the plan by YTL for an arena at Filton Airport is unlikely to get planning permission. “It would be impossible for any self-respecting city planner to recommend approval for such a significant venue on the edge of the city when alternative sites exist in or near the centre, as they clearly do,” Mr Ferguson wrote in an open letter on August 8. “This is known as

the Sequential Planning Test, an excellent piece of planning legislation, which was introduced in 2014 to ensure the vitality of our town centres,” he added. This means that the planning system is supposed to support town and city centres, and only to approve out-of-town projects if no alternatives exist. Critics of Mr Rees say that his actions appear to be pointing towards ruling out a Temple Meads site for the arena. Only with that proviso would a Filton arena have any sign of success, they say. Green party leader Eleanor Combley points to emails disclosed in Bristol Live under Freedom of

Bowles. In contrast, the firm behind the city centre venue, Arena Island Ltd (AIL), claims it has been unable to meet the mayor since December. Mr Ferguson broke his relative silence in public life to tear into Mr Rees’s conduct, saying his acceptance of “thousands of pounds worth of hospitality” from Malaysian firm YTL “disqualifies the mayor from being involved with the arena decision, both legally and morally”. Meanwhile, Knowle councillor and deputy Lib Dem leader Gary Hopkins accused Mr Rees of effectively making his

mind up in favour of the YTL scheme as early as the beginning of last year. He called the affair “disgraceful – the worst decision making I have seen since I became a councillor.” Bristol Live has reported that the council was in talks with YTL about building an arena at Filton airport in April 2017 – six months earlier than previously disclosed. Council officers offered help with the YTL plans, and agreed to sign a statement of support for it in alliance with South Gloucestershire council. The council says it is normal to be in contact with a developer

THE MAYOR’S RESPONSE

Mr Rees says he is only looking for the best use for the Temple Meads site – which used to be called Arena Island, but which he has started calling Temple Island. A study by KPMG shows that a conference centre, five-star hotel and 400 homes on the site would bring 2,000 jobs and £900m in economic benefit – much more than an arena, which would bring 650 jobs and £350m of benefit. In his Mayor’s Blog on August 15, he said the Temple Meads arena was “yesterday’s plan”. Having 10,000 seats and 2,000 standing spaces is too small for today’s mega-tours, he says. Critics, including Bristol South MP Karin Smyth, say the KMPG report only produced the answers that were required. Live Nation and SMG, who would operate the arena, say the city site could be a success. The mayor’s blog: thebristolmayor.com

AYOR Marvin Rees has accused his critics of a “nonsense campaign” of “noise and attack” against his attempt to take a “sober look” at the viability of a city centre arena. In an interview with Emma Britton on BBC Radio Bristol, he denied his head had been turned by the hospitality he received from YTL in Malaysia. “It was a £120 a night hotel room and a breakfast,” he said. He rebuffed ex-mayor George Ferguson’s claim that he could have signed off the Temple Meads arena before he left office in May 2016. “This is so misleading, it was in no fit state,” said Mr Rees. “We would be building the most expensive arena in the UK.” A new contractor, Buckingham, has reduced the cost of a Temple Meads venue to £135m from a bill which Mr Rees said had ballooned under Mr Ferguson to £190m.

Information requests. She says these show the council is trying to overcome the sequential test by ruling out Temple Meads and thereby helping YTL. She quotes an email from a

council source, whose name has been redacted, on March 19, 2018, who “has been appointed by BCC to prepare a statement of support for the Brabazon Arena project proposed by YTL”. The council has no one working in the same way for the Temple Island scheme, she said. On April 26, another email states: “We agreed that BCC would work with us on the sequential test… (which) will require the TQ (Temple Quarter) option to have been eliminated.” This implies the council would be helping YTL to overcome the planning rule which stands in its way, said Ms Combley.

about a major scheme in this way. It says there have also been contacts between the council and Arena Island Ltd – but it did not say why the mayor has not met AIL recently, despite his multiple meetings with YTL.

Green party leader Eleanor Combley said that any arena decision the mayor makes now “will be tainted in the eyes of the public” and she fears it could leave the council open to legal challenges.

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

September 2018

southbristolvoice

n NEWS Homegrown stars come out to shine

Kala Chng: Launching new EP at Knowle West Fest HOMEGROWN talent will be on show when the Knowle West Fest takes over Filwood community centre on Saturday September 22. Stars of the day include X-Factor star Daniel Quick, the young singer who works at Iceland in the Broadwalk Centre and won praise from hard-toplease Simon Cowell when he appeared on the show last year. An EP, Knowle West Girl, will be launched at the event by Kala Chng – one of Bristol’s best-known musical artists, formerly known as Makala Cheung, who is also the driving force behind the festival. Other musical acts include DJ Bunjy of Laid Blak, and DJs and rappers performing “a true Knowle West sound” from hip hop to drum and bass. “All the main acts and activities are from Knowle West, bringing people together to celebrate their neighbourhood,” said Kala. Activities from 1-10pm include an outdoor play zone, sports, arts and dance workshops, local film screenings and a market selling items made in Knowle West. Activities for older people include a singalong supported by Link Age. The full line-up is at Facebook: Knowle West Fest Tickets are only £1 from tinyurl.com/knowlewestfest

southbristolvoice

n NEWS

Get ready for charging zone to reduce traffic pollution

Call for museum to mark city’s role in ending slavery – twice

A CLEAN Air Zone which excludes Totterdown, Knowle and Windmill Hill, but includes most of Bedminster, is on the cards. Pollution has breached EU limits in many UK cities since 2010 but only now is the Government forcing councils to take action. Levels of the worst pollutant – nitrogen dioxide or NOx – are predicted to be illegal at Parson Street, Bedminster Down Road and West Street, Bedminster by 2021 if no action is taken. Limits are also broken along the M32 and at many places in the city centre. In South Bristol, other black spots include York Road, the Three Lamps junction, Bath Road, St John’s Lane and Bedminster Parade. Bath Road, Three Lamps and all the Bedminster locations are in the proposed Clean Air Zone (CAZ) but St John’s Lane isn’t. Cllr Jon Wellington, Labour member for Windmill Hill, told the Voice: “I get a lot of complaints about air quality on St John’s Lane.” He is disappointed the road is not included in the CAZ, and thinks there would be support to extend the zone throughout the Windmill Hill ward (which includes Totterdown). However, the CAZ starts at Parson Street, at one end of St John’s Lane – so drivers may be deterred from entering the area if they have to pass through the CAZ anyway. “My concern is that there will

CAMPAIGNERS are calling on Bristol city council to back a proposal to turn the last undeveloped buildings on the harbour into a memorial to the abolition of the slave trade. The idea is for two empty warehouses, known as O and M sheds on Welsh Back, to be renamed Abolition Shed, to commemorate the campaign to abolish the slave trade, which gained wide support in the city from the 18th century. The buildings are owned by the council, but campaigners fear they will be sold off to the highest bidder – probably to become another harbourside bar or restaurant. Campaigner Mark Steeds says the Welsh Back location is unique because it has been the scene of activity for and against slavery for more than 1,000 years. “Nowhere else in the world can offer this combination of history and locale,” he said. “Liverpool’s International Slavery Museum gets 500,000 visitors a year. We don’t want to replicate that, we want to concentrate on the banning of the trade – hence Abolition Shed.” Not only were Bristol campaigners instrumental in getting the West African slave trade banned in 1833, but the city was also crucial in the abolition of a less well-known market in slaves in Anglo-Saxon times. Enslaved people from all over England were shipped from

WHY IS ACTION NEEDED? Air pollution – especially NOx and particulates (soot and small particles) – damages health. About 300 people a year die early in Bristol from air pollution. That’s about nine per cent of all deaths in Bedminster and Windmill Hill, and eight per cent in Knowle.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN? It seems probable that: • Cameras will monitor all vehicles entering the charging zone; • Polluting vehicles will pay a fee.

HOW LONG WILL THE CHANGES TAKE? By law, they must be in place by 2021 – but Bristol councillors have voted to act by 2020. A plan will be presented to the council in the autumn. A decision will be taken in December.

Metrobus, which starts in January, will run on biogas; bus, rail and cycle use is rising – but traffic is still not reducing.

WHICH VEHICLES ARE AFFECTED? • Diesels not to Euro 6 standard (mainly those sold from 2016); • Petrol vehicles not to Euro 4 standard (mainly sold from 2005); The council has not decided if the CAZ charge will apply to cars or only to commercial vehicles. But as 40 per cent of Bristol NOx comes from diesel cars, they look likely to be charged.

WHERE CAN I FIND OUT MORE?

The city council is buying electric vehicles; the city’s bus fleet is being modernised; the M1

The council’s Clean Air website has a map of the proposed zone and FAQs, including: • How do I find out what Euro standard my vehicle is? • What are you doing to support businesses? • Will there be a discount for local residents? cleanairforbristol.org

be displacement of traffic, and people will get caught up [in hold-ups]” Cllr Wellington said. Highways officials appear to back a medium-sized CAZ extending to Bedminster. A smaller, city-centre zone would have less impact on pollution, while a larger, whole-city zone would take too long to implement and cost too much. The medium zone will cost about £60 million

– the main cost being for almost 1,100 cameras. Confusingly, St John’s Lane, and Wells Road up to the Airport Road junction, are in Bristol’s Air Quality Management Area. Within this area households can only burn smokeless fuel or must fit low-emission stoves. Vehicles, however, account for 80 per cent of local air pollution. • My Councillors: Page 25

WHAT ELSE IS BEING DONE?

into contact with ticks in woods and fields. The ticks climb up to the tips of grass and wait for a host (like your pet) to pass by so that they can attach themselves and burrow close into the skin. If you find that your pet has a tick, don’t panic! You can remove it using a tick remover, which you can get from your vet practice. Do not use tweezers as this can result in the tick’s legs being left behind. Slide the tick remover around the tick and turn it anticlockwise until the tick is no longer attached.

Most practices offer appointments with a veterinary nurse who can show you how it’s done. Ticks can carry bacteria or viruses; in the UK the most common one is Lyme’s disease and it is important to note that people can also become infected. For a tick to be able to infect your pet it needs to be attached for 36-48 hours. The risk is therefore minimal as long as you remove the tick as soon as you spot it. Ticks can be prevented using various products – tablets, spot-on

Empty: The council can’t say what its plans are for O and M sheds

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THERE’S fun for everyone at the Victoria Park Festival on Saturday September 15 from 126pm, with live music, children’s entertainment and a barbecue. The Shakespeare pub will be providing live bands and a beer tent, and there will be craft stalls, a dog show and a fun run. In a new activity this year, young people aged 7-12 are invited to join in with free singing and poetry workshops set up by the organisers of the Windmill Hill art trail, Art on the Hill (which is on October 6 and 7). The singing sessions are led by musician and choir leader Kate Fletcher, and poetry by poet Spikey Tim Vosper. There is no need to book, timings will be on information boards. For details, email juniornearlyunplugged@ virginmedia.com.

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Travels and Treasure Island. A petition calling for the council to support the idea states: “Abolition Shed will be a learning centre for children and adults, schools and universities, locals and visitors, acknowledging Bristol’s development and the actions of all its citizens.” The idea is supported by Cllr Cleo Lake, the current Lord Mayor, as well as Hotwells councilllor Mark Wright, and Cllr Paul Smith, who represents the central ward, which includes the harbour. The council was unable to state what its plans for the building are. It is sympathetic to the idea of a memorial to the slave trade, but it is unclear how it would be funded. The petition is at: tinyurl.com/abolitionshed

Bristol to Dublin, where they were traded to the Vikings. The trade was stopped in 1090 by the persuasive preaching of St Wulfstan, who saw the slaves lined up on the Bristol dockside and persuaded William the Conqueror to ban the trade. Mark said the Welsh Back sheds are ideally positioned, sitting on the path of the signposted Treasure Island Trail, which links Bristol’s maritime Bristol past withPILATES piracy and slaving (as does a new walking tour, Blood, fitness Booze and Buccaneers, by under Bedminster’s Show of Strength control SPORT CENTRE theatre company – see page 34). SOUTH BRISTOL The Abolition Shed museum could include displays about Mon 6.30 – 7.25 pm Men on mats slavery, its abolition, and links to Tues 9.15 – 10.00 am Over 60s art and literature such as Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver’s 50% OFF

fitness

ASK A VET: Help! My pet has a tick – what should I do?

ITH the tick season in full swing in this warm humid weather, it’s important that you check your pets daily for these nasty little critters. Ticks are wingless, bloodsucking insect-like creatures that feed on warm-blooded animals. They can be found anywhere on your pet’s body (usually where there is less fur – most commonly on the face and front part of the body or under the belly) and they appear like a big wart or beauty mark. Your pet is most likely to come

September 2018

SOUTH BRISTOL SPORT CENTRE

TOTTERDOWN BAPTIST CHURCH

VICTORIA PARK BAPTIST CHURCH Wed 10.00-10.50am Beginners Pilates Sat 8.45-9.40am Beginners Pilates

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TOTTERDOWN BAPTIST CHURCH Thurs 7.45-8.40pm Beginners Pilates

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September 2018

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n NEWS

Council insists weedkiller is safe despite US court ruling THE COUNCIL is not planning to phase out the use of glyphospate, the pesticide recently linked to cancer in a multi-million dollar US court case. Before he was elected, mayor Marvin Rees said he pledged “to work to ensure that we move towards a glyphosate free city and invest in alternatives”. However, the council says that since Mr Rees was elected in May 2016, its research has not found any alternatives to using the chemical. Debate was sparked on social media during August when council workers were seen spraying weeds with what is assumed to be glyphosate, on Totterdown streets. Several residents chimed in with objections, some upset that the chemical is being used at all, and some protesting that workers were spraying it carelessly and allowing the chemical to be blown about on the wind. “Spraying at all with the wind today and the last few days is irresponsible,” said one. Others were alarmed because

WHAT IS GLYPHOSATE AND IS IT SAFE?

ESPITE a California jury awarding a groundskeeper $289 million (£227m) because it was judged glyphosate has given him terminal cancer, there is still fierce argument over whether the pesticide is harmful to humans. Glyphosate is the world’s most widely-used weedkiller, and its maker, Monsanto, markets it as RoundUp. Part of the huge award by the US court was damages for Monsanto’s actions in hiding the possible dangers of its product.

‘Glyphosate is safe and we use the minimum amount’ they thought Bristol had already stopped using glyphosate. However, a trial in Cotham of an alternative method of weed control – spraying acetic acid, or vinegar – was unsuccessful. Weeds grew back more quickly and more spraying was needed, the council said. Using vinegar would cost 3.6 times more than glyphosate, the council said. Another alternative, spraying hot foam, would cost 6.5 times more. A council spokesperson said: “Glyphosate has been fully licensed for use in the UK and is therefore considered an approved, safe product. As with all chemicals, the council’s policy is to reduce use where it can and we would always use the minimum amount possible, applied in a safe way. The situation in America is very different as they use aerial Monsanto says it will appeal. It says its product is safe, and many experts agree. But the advice is to avoid contact – including for pets – until it has dried. The US court was told that the the World Health Organisation’s international agency for research on cancer (IARC) found glyphosate was “probably carcinogenic to humans” in 2015. But this finding has since been disputed by the European Chemicals Agency, which says it is safe if used responsibly. Objectors also protest that where the chemical is used repeatedly, plants and crops can develop resistance.

spraying on a mass scale. “In order to explore reducing the use of chemical weed control, the council carried out research into alternative solutions, and did not find any that were cost effective or did not have adverse environmental impacts. As a result, there are no current plans to use alternative methods.” A few UK councils have banned glyphosate, including Glastonbury, and Hammersmith & Fulham.

THE STREETS will abound with pirates, parrots and buried treasure this autumn, when Totterdown’s Front Room art trail takes on a nautical theme from November 23-25. Organisers are hoping for a record-breaking number of artists wanting to exhibit in venues ranging from front rooms to schools and cafes across Totterdown. There is still time for artists to register – details can be found at frontroom.org.uk or get in touch via social media at #frontroomarts2018

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September 2018

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n NEWS Share your joy with children WOULD you like to share your love of reading or maths with children? Two charities are asking for volunteers to help out in South Bristol schools. RSVP (Retired and Senior Volunteer Programme) offers training and references to people over 50 who can help pupils one-to-one with their reading. Email sue.andresen@rsvp-west. org.uk to find out more or visit rsvp-west.org.uk Another charity, Action Tutoring, works with schools including Parson Street, Hareclive, Perry Court and Oasis Connaught primaries and Bridge Learning Campus. It offers pupils help with English and maths. It’s looking for volunteers with an A-level at A or B grade in their chosen subject, and provides training and travel expenses. actiontutoring.org.uk

September 2018

n NEWS

southbristolvoice

Plastic attacks going global

Pay a visit somewhere new

SHOPPERS around the world will be encouraged to hand back unwanted plastic packaging at their supermarket on Saturday September 15, as part of a global movement which was nurtured in South Bristol. Activists from Pakistan to Belgium, Australia to the US, are joining forces to coordinate World Plastic Attack Day at hundreds of supermarkets. The idea has snowballed since it began with a few activists in South Bristol and Keynsham earlier in the year. Organisers are delighted with how receptive shoppers are to the message that single-use plastic packaging is damaging the planet, and is often unnecessary. “A few of us standing outside a supermarket, like we did at Lidl in Bedminster in July, can talk to around 200 shoppers in an hour, and we find that most of them support what we’re doing,” said

Open Doors offers 101 places to be explored

Personal Assistants/Carers wanted To help young independent disabled lady in the Whitchurch area with personal care, daily living including cooking, and transport. Interest in animals preferred Able to drive automatic car. Pay: £10.00 per hour, paid four weekly. Monday evening plus approx 8-hour shifts Saturday and Sunday. Some flexibility required. Call WECIL Ltd, 0117 947 9911, ref. BFW17785

PLASTIC ATTACKS IN SOUTH BRISTOL

Worldwide fame: A story on US news network CNN featuring one of the South Bristol plastic attacks and quoting Alex Morss

Saturday September 15 To find out which stores are being targeted by local members of One by One Conservation, Greenpeace and other groups, go to: Facebook: PlasticAttackGlobal Countries taking part include: Germany, Belgium, England, Portugal, Mozambique, Ireland, Brazil, US, Sweden, France, Corsica, Spain, Australia, Wales, Norway, Ukraine, Netherlands.

Plastic Attack co-founder Alex Morss, the Voice’s nature writer. “We always ask permission from the supermarkets we visit – we stand outside with a banner and a trolley, and we ask people leaving the store to give us the plastic wrapping they don’t need. “They are often angry at how much packaging supermarkets use, even on things that have their own natural protective covering, like coconuts! “Often single-use plastic could be replaced with reusable, sometimes with biodegradable, and often with no packaging.” It was Alex’s tweet of a plastic-wrapped coconut seen in Sainsbury’s that helped kickstart the movement. The tweet went viral and the issue was featured in every national newspaper and mainstream TV channel. Green councillor Martin Fodor, who has a petition calling for the council to play its part in

eliminating single-use plastics, said: “I was saddened by the mounds of rubbish on the streets following St Paul’s carnival and shocked to hear that much of the litter picked up after the event wasn’t even recycled. We need proper licensing to reduce waste at events, larger recycling points and more resources.” Some Bristol parks, including Perretts and Victoria parks, have recycling bins with a section for plastic. This waste is now recycled, the Voice understands – though until recently all the litter was mixed together and not sorted for recycling. The damage that plastic waste does to the environment has become a hot issue since Sir David Attenborough highlighted it on the Blue Planet II. Proposals by the Government for a possible plastic tax have drawn 160,000 comments from the public – a record.

AMAZE yourself by visiting somewhere in Bristol you’ve never been before – that’s the challenge for Bristol’s Open Straw home: The Filwood house Doors weekend, organised by Bristol Architecture Centre, built by a community. The “We in which 101 premises throw Can Make” home, built in themselves open to visitors. conjunction with Knowle West If you wonder what happens Media Centre, is clad in wood on to your rubbish once it goes in a frame of straw bales. The aim is the dustbin or recycling bin, a “that real people can become the tour of the Bristol Waste centre developers of their own in Albert Road will be of interest. affordable homes”. It’s open on Like many venues, it’s open on Sunday only, from 10am-4pm. In the Saturday and Sunday, but visits must be booked. Bristol’s (and possibly the SOUTH BRISTOL VENUES world’s) only Berry Maze is open Creative Workspace Queens to all over the weekend, from Road, Withywood. Community art 10am-4pm each day. centre, local history workshops The soft fruit maze, conceived and activities for all ages. and planted by volunteers, is at Arnos Vale cemetery Bath Road. the bottom of Novers Hill, where Tours and a new education centre. Parson Street meets Lynton Join the friendly team at our UWE independent family Film Studios Bower Ashton. Road. You can explore the maze Tour of animation and film facility. bakery! We are looking and try to identify the many for enthusiastic servers to fill Bottle Yard Studios Whitchurch different fruit bushes. There will a number of different hours across the week. Lane, Hengrove. Sunday We tours are of be refreshments and games for the home of Poldark, Wolf Hall and children.for people who are hard working, happy to looking the Crystal Maze. At Marwood Road in Filwood, Ashton Gatehouse Blackmoors get stuck in with cleaning and back of house jobs, you can visit a house that’s been

and can give warm and friendly customer service. Experience in food retail or hospitality is not essential but will be helpful to your application. The positions are permanent so please do not apply if you are looking for temporary work. Please apply by dropping your CV, how many hours you would ideally like to work, and any restrictions to your availability in to the shop or by emailing

Enter code when you book online for £10 oﬀ your order. Oﬀer valid until 1st October 2018 and only redeemable online.

Find out more by visiting us Juniors – 2 October / 10 November Seniors – 29 September / 16 October Sixth Form – 18 October / 21 November

contrast, the Create Centre in Smeaton Road looks unexceptional – just like the other harbourside warehouses. But it was the first building in Britain built of Coignet reinforced concrete, and it also houses one of the first 1990s eco-homes. One venue hasn’t even been built yet – the £300m new campus for Bristol university next to Temple Meads. A talk at 2pm on Saturday in the Engine Shed will examine the design and the social impact of the new campus, set to be a keystone of the Temple Quarter enterprise zone, one of Europe’s largest regeneration projects. bristolopendoors.org.uk Lane, Bower Ashton. Recentlyrestored 18th C gatehouse. Filwood Green Business Park Hengrove Way. Eco-friendly centre for small businesses. Light Vessel 55 Bathurst Basin. Board this 1855 wooden lightship. Paintworks Bath Road. A tour at 10am on Friday explains the site’s progress from paint factory to home and business venue. Robinson Building Norfolk Place, Bedminster. Former paper bag factory, now flats.

Remembering the first hospice charity shop Flashback: The first St Peter’s shop in Wells Road in 1981 VOLUNTEERS at the city’s first St Peter’s Hospice charity shop, set up in Totterdown in 1981, have been remembering its opening. Pam Wilson and Bernadette Baker were among the initial helpers – and are still helping out almost 40 years on. The shop was originally at 182 Wells Road, where Lynne Fernandes opticians is now, and was opened when the hospice was not far away on Redcatch Road, Knowle. “We used to sort clothes out in an old lean-to with a corrugated roof,” said Pam. “It was very cold and damp but we got through it. “When I look back at the shop it was like a jumble sale with lots of things in cardboard boxes which customers used to go through. We had no till in those days, just a drawer to keep the money in.”

Join the friendly team at our independent family bakery! We are looking for enthusiastic servers to fill a number of different hours across the week. We are looking for people who are hard working, happy to get stuck in with cleaning and back of house jobs, and who can give warm and friendly customer service. Experience in food retail or hospitality is helpful but not essential. The positions are permanent so please do not apply if you are looking for temporary work. Please apply by dropping your CV, how many hours you would ideally like to work, and any restrictions to your availability, in to the shop or email theparkbakery@gmail.com

NOW RECRUITING 94-96 St John’s Lane Bristol BS3 5AQ

0117 972 0510

It’s Piglets’ 1st anniversary!

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Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th September 11am-4pm Thank you for all your support over the past year

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

BRISTOL OPEN DOORS

2 St John’s Lane, BS3 5AA

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

September 2018

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n NEWS Recognition for robot pioneers A FRAMEWORK plan which will Nicola

BEDMINSTER GREEN

Plan for Green may be close

A TECH firm run by a family from Knowle has been listed by a national magazine as a pioneer in its field. GWS Robotics has been named as one of Business Leader Magazine’s top 32 South West tech businesses. The firm is a subsidiary of GWS Media, set Pepper: Can up by David talk to clients Graves and employing his father, Richard, and brother, Philip. GWS Robotics works to customise Pepper, a humanoid robot created by SoftBank Robotics, for use in businesses such as hotels and shops. Creative director David said: “Pepper attracts attention – keeping people informed and entertained. He can also capture customer details and build up leads, as well as cross-sell.”

show all five major building sites proposed at Bedminster Green may be close to being unveiled. Discussions between the council and the four developers hoping to build up to 1,500 homes are thought to be close to reaching an agreement which will mean that the plan can be seen by the public for the first time. Nicola Beech, the councillor who is the cabinet lead for city design, said the discussions with the developers are edging closer to a deal which people will be proud of when they look back in 10 years time. Change is scary, she said, but she encouraged traders at a meeting of Bedminster’s Town Team to take an objective view of what the scheme could do for East Street. She said the council is working hard with the developers to get the best possible deal: “It must be a good design,” she said.

Beech: Change is scary, but plans for the Green could bring real benefits to local traders, she says

She added that it won’t be easy to to provide the high density housing that is needed while making sure the different buildings fit together as a jigsaw, not as one block after another. It’s not clear whether the council has managed to negotiate down the size of some of the tower blocks proposed. Developer Firmstone wants to build a 22-storey tower at St Catherine’s Place while next door at Stafford Street, Dandara has shown sketches of an 18-storey

tower and two smaller blocks on what is known as Plot 4. Dandara is also talking to the council about building on the council-owned Plot 5, which includes Bedminster railway station. Its drawings appear to show a 14-storey tower. The NCP car park on Dalby Avenue, known as Plot 3, is owned by Deeley Freed, which has yet to reveal its plans. A planning application for 215 flats in up to eight storeys on Plot 1, between Malago Road and the railway, has been awaiting a decision for more than a year. Developer Rollo Homes has changed the Plot 1 plans several times but fears they may have to be altered again if the council decides to push for widening Malago Road to allow a Metrobus lane on each side. Traders in East Street are opposed – they want the bus routes to be kept in East Street to encourage shoppers.

Visit Oasis Academy Brislington

Open Evening Thursday September 27 5.30-8pm

Open Mornings Saturday September 29 11am-1pm October 2, 3 and 4 9.30am-11am By appointment (Call 0117 377 2055)

Tel: 0117 377 2055 | Hungerford Rd, Brislington, Bristol, BS4 5EY | oasisacademybrislington.org

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September 2018

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

It’s not just the posh shops that avoid plastic IN YOUR list of shops which offer plastic-free packaging, you only include the more expensive, high-end ethical/organic shops. This is all very well, but it could give the impression that reducing plastic is only for people with more money to spend. In fact there are plenty of greengrocers in BS4, for example Banana Boat, that don’t use plastic and have reasonable prices. It would be a shame if people think you have to be rich to be green. I think Banana Boat is a great, friendly, value local shop, that deserves to be included in a BS3 and 4 list of shops where you can get fruit and veg without packaging. They’re closed for holiday as I write this and I am really missing them! Katherine Jacob Arnos Street, Totterdown • Editor’s note: That’s an excellent point and one that we’ll remember next time we list plastic-avoiding businesses. There are also traditional greengrocers in Knowle, Southville and Bedminster and. Readers can let us know about other businesses that are doing their bit to cut down on single-use plastic.

We didn’t avoid Windmill Hill I’M SORRY that Di Weston thinks that front gardens in Windmill Hill and Victoria Park have been missed from this year’s Good Garden Awards – that isn’t the case. This year our longstanding volunteer coordinator for Windmill Hill stepped down but, thanks to lots of new volunteers, all of the Windmill Hill area rounds were covered by the middle of July when judging ended. The very warm weather this summer has made it challenging for our volunteer judges, but our thanks go to them all for giving their time to make sure we covered over 250 streets in just six weeks. We always try not to miss anyone out, and if Di or anyone else thinks they have been overlooked, if they get in touch with us (via Blooming Bedminster on Facebook or by

phoning the Southville Centre), we’ll be happy to send a judge to have another look. Perhaps Di would like to volunteer as a judge herself next year. In her letter last month, she mentioned disappointment at an award being given to someone with a paved front garden. Please remember that some houses are divided into flats. While one person might have sadly turned a garden into a driveway, the other occupant might be doing their bit with pots and hanging baskets. The Good Garden Awards are not a competition, but rather a thank-you for everyone who’s helping to brighten and green up our neighbourhood. Di felt that there were more awards in Southville, but not everyone who is given a certificate displays it. Matthew Symonds Front Garden Awards Volunteer Coordinator

Colston is a mass murderer THE LETTER “Colston move is divisive” made for fascinating reading in the August SBV. I can’t comprehend the case for celebrating Colston. I don’t care if he spent his money on altruistic endeavours or down the bookies. The money was raised through the forced trafficking of human beings, enslavement and the death of millions. Does that make Colston a mass murderer? I’d say so. Sam Meadley Windmill Hill

Witch is talking otter nonsense REGARDING the letter “Witches don’t like otters” in August’s SBV, can we please leave information on otter behaviour to the experts rather than the opinions of the Witches of Knowle? The return of otters is not encouraged because of their cuteness, but for the benefit of a healthy and balanced eco system and a richer environment for us all. Yes, they hunt and kill, they are top predetors in their habitat and, as with many animals, they display some behaviour that we may find hard to understand, but we should not anthropomorphise them and give them human characteristics such as being evil. R Buckley Bedminster

n NEWS

Sing along: There are no auditions for Out There, led by Tom Jones

Pop goes the community ANYONE who watches one of the choir competitions on TV and wonders whether they would enjoy it is invited to join a taster session for a South Bristol community choir. The Out There choir has no auditions and is for all abilities, and its music covers a wide spectrum of pop, from past legends like Queen, Bowie, Elton John and Prince to modern day heroes such as Bastille, Adele, Coldplay and Emeli Sandé. Out There is led by the talented but patient Tom Jones, well-known on the Bristol

musical scene (and leader of several other choirs). The South Bristol choir meets weekly and puts on two or more concerts each year, though participation in these events is optional. Out There is offering a glass of wine or fruit juice and nibbles at its taster session to launch the autumn season on September 19. It’s at 7.30pm in the Jarman hall on Sydenham Road, Totterdown. To find out more, email markcs238@gmail.com or call him on 07985 145837. outtheremusicbristol.co.uk

Taking a seat

centre. The Bristol Upholstery Collective has applied for planning permission to use the shop to sell and upholster chairs, and hold courses. The collective uses only traditional materials. bristolupholsterycollective.com

THE FORMER Craftisan café and art shop at 186 Wells Road, which shut in July, could become a furniture store and upholstery

www.doorexpresssouthwest.co.uk

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

September 2018

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n NEWS

September 2018

southbristolvoice

n MEET THE HEAD

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

An atmosphere where every child is treated as an individual “

Justin Humphreys

St Katherine’s School

T KATHERINE’S is a thriving, diverse school community that has educated pupils from all over Bristol for many years. Indeed, Year 7 pupils from over 50 primary schools are joining us this September. So why do so many parents and carers choose St Katherine’s for their child’s secondary education? I believe it’s because our approach is based on the belief that, as individuals, we all perform at our best when we feel confident, secure and valued. Along with my committed team, I am passionate about giving every pupil an environment where they feel safe and happy so they can achieve their full potential. We do this through our exceptional pastoral care and absolute commitment to wellbeing which makes St Katherine’s such a happy, thriving school. We also take full advantage of St Katherine’s size to create a friendly atmosphere where every child is well-known and cared for as an individual. Like our pupils, our staff are energetic, passionate and committed professionals, who stretch and challenge our young people both inside and outside of the classroom – we all learn

something new every day and it enriches and improves us all. Besides our track record of academic success – our GCSE, A level and vocational subject results have improved every year for the last six years – we offer a broad curriculum and extracurricular activities designed to develop our pupils into young adults equipped socially and academically to take on the opportunities and challenges of life. Above all, a St Katherine’s education is busy, inspiring, ambitious and great fun! Come along to our September open evening or one of our autumn open mornings (details below) to experience it for yourself. You and your child are guaranteed a warm welcome.”

‘We all perform at our best when we feel confident, secure and valued’

St Katherine’s School A dynamic aspirational school with excellent transport links

OPEN EVENING: Thursday 20 September, 6.00-9.00pm OPEN MORNINGS: 25 September, 2 October and 9 October, 9.00-11.00am St Katherine’s is a thriving, diverse school community where pupils enjoy an education that is busy, purposeful and ambitious but also great fun.

OFF ORDERS OVER £150

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We warmly invite you to visit, meet pupils and staff and experience our positive, engaging environment that helps every individual perform at their best.

“St Katherine’s brings my passions to life” (Year 7 pupil)

Book your place at ww.stkaths.org.uk or call 01275 373737.

St Katherine’s School, Ham Green, BS20 0HU www.stkaths.org.uk

Come and see us at The Tile Studio, 450 Wells Road, Bristol, BS14 9AF To advertise, contact sales@southbristolvoice.co.uk or Ruth on 07590 527664

PEOPLE

•

COMMUNITY

Buses run from all over Bristol to the school.

St Katherine’s School •

@stkathsschool

EXCELLENCE

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

September 2018

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Graham

KEMP CARPETS LIMITED Celebrating 40 Years in business 1978-2018

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It’s back to work; is it n NEW SEASON

Maybe it’s your home or yourself that deserves a bit of attention this September – one of our local enterprises will be happy to help Kemp Carpets

238 Wick Road, Brislington BS4 4HN 0117 977 7499 Facebook: kempcarpets F YOU want to transform your home with new carpets or vinyl floor coverings, you would have to go a long way to match the experience built up at Kemp Carpets. The family business is celebrating 40 years in South Bristol, with three generations now employed. Kemp Carpets started from Graham Kemp’s house in Crossways Road, Knowle Park, in August 1978. Graham had been employed as a carpet fitter since 1970 but reckoned he could do better working for himself. This was despite an early setback when he realised that customers were not always impressed when he turned up with their precious new carpet on the roof rack of his family saloon – so he invested in a van. In the early days, furniture in the family home was frequently moved aside to allow Graham to cut up 12ft rolls of carpet. Eventually he found a storage facility in Keynsham, which he

Emma Woods 07867 783911 slimmingworld.co.uk MMA Woods has been a Slimming World consultant for eight years this September and says she can’t imagine ever doing anything else. “The satisfaction I get from seeing people transform both physically and mentally is so rewarding – I absolutely love it!” she says. “I never thought I could eat so much delicious food and lose weight, so having reached my

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Tel/Fax: 0117 977 7499

Facebook: kempcarpets

soon turned into a showroom, and in 1993 the family opened a shop in Wick Road, Brislington. All three of Graham’s sons – Martin, Steven and Michael – have worked with the firms fitters and partners, while daughter Sally is still helping wife Tricia with the admin. Now two grandsons have joined: Sally’s son Jack, 21, who’s completed his apprenticeship and is helping to train Martin’s son Thomas. Along the way Graham has done more than lay carpets: his work ethic and attention to detail has led him to some prestigious locations. He laid carpet in a marquee for a visit by the former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, and he’s worked at major snooker tournaments at the Hexagon in Reading. He’s also worked for the Clic cancer charity at events, and Kemp Carpets also keeps charity closer to home – the firm sponsors a football team in Daventry Road and supports local church and sporting groups.

Tuesday 5.30pm & 7.30pm Wicklea Academy, Wick Road Wednesday 5.30pm & 7.30pm St Christopher’s Church, Hampstead Rd Thursday 5.30pm & 7.30pm Broomhill Junior Sch, Allison Rd

Call 07867 783911 or just turn up

slimmingworld.co.uk slimmingworld.co.uk

0344 897 8000 0344 897 8000

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

September 2018

southbristolvoice

time to make a few changes?

n NEW SEASON

target weight I wanted to share food optimising with the world!” She holds classes every week at three locations in Brislington – see advert (below) for details.

Sadie Cording

Blossom Decluttering 07740 090169 sadiecording@gmail.com ADIE CORDING runs Blossom, the new decluttering service that aims not only to free up space in your home, but help you feel better about living there. What is decluttering? Sadie says: “You may or may not know that every aspect of our lives are anchored energetically in all our living space. So by clearing our clutter we can instantly transform our lives. “Living in a clutter-free space not only gives us more room space but also happier head space.” How can Blossom Decluttering help you? The service starts with a free

Before and after: Sadie gets to work on decluttering consultation; Sadie comes to you in your home and you discuss your needs and the areas you want to target. It could be your kitchen cupboards, or wardrobes, or toy boxes bursting at the seams, or maybe you’re moving home and just need help getting things started and sorted. “The more clutter you clear, the easier it becomes, leading to more space in your home and a sense of wellbeing,” said Sadie. “A lot of my clients have found things they thought they had lost forever!”

The School of Food

Weston College, St Katherine’s School and Ashton Gate stadium school-of-food.co.uk HE SCHOOL of Food is a collaboration between Michelini-starred chef Josh Eggleton and Adrian Kirikmaa. Both are giants of the Bristol food scene – Josh is chef patron of the Michelin-starred pony and Trap at Chew Magna as well as founder of Bristol restaurants such as Root at Wapping Wharf. Adrian was curriculum manager at City of Bristol College for 18 years, helping train many of

17 ADVERTISING FEATURE Bristol’s top chefs. Together with Weston College they have helped create a new way of learning for young chefs, one which they hope will provide secure careers for life for hundreds of young people. The School of Food uses venues including the state-ofthe-art kitchens at Ashton Gate stadium and the acclaimed Leaf resturant at St Katherine’s school in Pill to give young people access to high-quality kitchens, industry experts and invaluable insights. The commis chef apprenticeship contains all the training needed to step into a career in food. Importantly, the School of Food will also help to find each student an employer who will provide them with an income and a team in which to learn for the majority of their training. Students spend one day a week in one of the school’s centres learning the essentials of being a chef. A bonus element of the apprenticeship is masterclasses from producers and artisans including expert guest bakers, butchers and fishmongers.

Do you need MORE SPACE?

• Want to get on top of the clutter? • Just don’t know where to start? Blossom work with you to power through areas of clutter, whether it’s a room or a whole house, helping you to a feeling of wellbeing

Contact Sadie to discuss your needs sadiecording@gmail.com | 07740 090169

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

n DOG SPECIAL

September 2018

southbristolvoice

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

Keeping our dogs happy, safe and well-trained Bristol Dog School

Dogs Trust Classes in Bedminster, Bishopsworth, St George and Westbury-on-Trym 07393 140406 or 07393 141746 dogstrust.org.uk/help-advice/ dog-school HOW many dogs do you see that won’t come when they are called, whose owners can’t control them? Badly-trained and misbehaving dogs are a frustration to their owners and an annoyance to people and other dogs they meet. But there is a solution: modern methods of dog training use kind, fair and effective means to reward good behaviour, and avoid punishment – which doesn’t work. The Dogs Trust runs classes in South Bristol and elsewhere to help owners to form a better relationship with their dog. All the coaches are fully qualified members of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers.

5 Tips For Dog Training

Kind, fair effective: Learn the best way to encourage good behaviour

Willow’s Secure Walks

Highbury Farm Business Park, Harts Lane, Hallatrow BS39 6EH 07375 415173 WillowsSecureWalks.co.uk SOME dogs just aren’t happy with a walk in the park. Often it’s because they are not happy meeting other dogs – perhaps because they have previously been attacked or mistreated, or

they react badly to noise. Some dogs have poor recall and some are just stubborn! Others have a strong drive to chase prey which is difficult to overcome. Whatever the reason, many dogs will benefit from being let loose in Willow’s Secure Walks, a secure field just outside Bristol where there will be none of the usual distractions to cause them distress. Willow’s is also suitable for puppies in training, and for senior dogs. If you cut out the Voice advert below, you can get £2 off any one session.

WIN A FREE SESSION AT WILLOW’S SECURE WALKS WOULD you like to take your dog to the secure field at Willows for free? Willows will give one free session for up to two dogs from the same family to a Voice reader. Just answer this: • In which village is Willows located? Answers to paul@south bristolvoice.co.uk or 18 Lilymead Avenue, BS4 2BX, by September 14.

From the Dogs Trust • Relationships built on trust are a solid foundation for a happy life with your dog; • Become a body language expert so you can understand what your dog is telling you; • Always reward behaviours you want to see more of; • Misbehaving? Think about the reasons why, instead of reacting to what she or he does – getting annoyed never helps! • Consistency, patience and positivity are key.

Barkers of Bristol

bristol-barkers.co.uk WONDERING where you can walk your dog where they can enjoy a paddle? Want a long country walk with a dog-friendly pub at the end? Bristol Barkers is a community website, not a business, stress its founders, Adam and Amelia Ward. They set it up after they gave a home to Bella, a sprocker cross German shepherd two years ago, and started looking for information on the best places to walk her. They couldn’t find anything suitable – so they set up their own website. Barkers of Bristol has heaps of information about parks in and out of Bristol, places to walk in the country, and destinations from woods to waterfalls that most of us have never heard of. It’s been a labour of love for Adam, a web developer, and Amelia, a graphic designer, but it’s been worth it. “The reaction has been amazing,” said Adam.

Willow’s Secure Walks

Dog Training Classes

A safe haven for dogs and their owners

in Headley Park BS13

£2 OFF

any one session with code SBV 2018

Find us at

and across Bristol www.dogstrustdogschool.org.uk bristoldogschool@dogstrust.org.uk

07393 141746

bristol_dogschool

fb.com/dogstrustdogschool

dogstrustdogschool

Willow’s Secure Walks is a secure field that’s ideal if any of these apply to your dog:

Aggression Nervousness Noise phobic High prey drive

Puppy in training Poor recall A senior dog Or just stubborn!

Harts Lane, Hallotrow, Bristol BS39 6EH

September 2018

n THE PROPERTY PAGE

Mews home available with Help to Buy scheme A NEW show home opens in September offering South Bristol home buyers the chance to buy a mews home with assistance from the Government’s Help to Buy scheme. Bankside off Coronation Road in Southville is offering eight three-bedroom mews houses starting at £394,950. Each one has a garage, private third-floor terrace and a “Masterclass” kitchen (does it help you to cook better?) with quartz worktops. Help to Buy is open to all buyers seeking a new-build home. You must be able to provide a five per cent deposit, and get a mortgage from a

southbristolvoice

commercial lender for 75 per cent of the home price. The remaining 20 per cent is covered by a Help to Buy loan. You can’t use the scheme to buy a home to rent out, or for a second home. As an example, on the asking price at Bankside of £394,950, a five per cent deposit would be £19,747.50; the 20 per cent Help to Buy loan would be £78,990;

Selling with integrity Here’s a little of what you can expect when you deal with Urban Lighthouse: - One point of contact throughout - Experience, the kind that comes with 20+ years in the business

NEWS ABOUT SOUTH BRISTOL HOMES

BS3 is one of the hottest spots for homes under offer

THE BS3 postcode is one of the hottest in England and Wales for home sales, according to property forecaster PropCast. It says 69 per cent of homes for sale in BS3 were under offer in August – a figure equalled by High living: BS5, the Easton and Barton Hill the fourarea. storey houses They are not far behind the hottest postcodes for selling – BH17 in Dorset, which registers and a 75 per cent mortgage 74 per cent, with three would be £296,212.50. You could Birmingham postcodes, B25 (72 expect to pay about £981 in per cent), B67 (70 per cent) and monthly payments on the B42 (69 per cent) following on. mortgage. The BS4 postcode is also After the fifth year, interest is performing well, at 64 per cent. payable on the Help to Buy loan. The coldest spots according to You can find out more about PropCast are in London: in NW8, Bankside from estate agents only seven per cent of homes are Ocean on 0117 946 9838 or Right at Home is oneRio under offer. Savills on 0117 910 0360. trusted care compan tru team of friendly, relia te Right at Home is one of the UK’s most Ri specialiseOur in assisting spp trusted care companies. local tru at Home is one of the UK’s most need a helping handte new team of friendly, reliable CareGiver’s Right at Home is one of the UK’s most Quality care and Right trusted care companies. Our local tasks in their own hom ta specialise in assisting people who may team of friendly, trusted reliable CareGiver’s care companies. Our local sp Companionship specialise in assisting people who may need aofhelping with day-to-day team friendly,hand reliable CareGiver’s ne need a helping hand with day-to-day Our services include O in the comfort of tasks in their own specialise home. tasks in their own home. in assisting people who dement may ta Specialist Our services include: your own home need a helpinginclude: hand with day-to-day Companionship Ourcare services Specialist dementia tasks in their own home.Transportation O Companionship an Specialist dementia care Transportation and errands Help with washing, Companionship Ourdressing services include:Help with washin and personal care personal care Transportation andand errands Light Housekeeping Specialist dementia care Housekeepi Meal preparation Companionship Help with washing,Light dressing Medication reminders Meal preparation and personal care Transportation and errands Post-operative support Holiday and respite cover Light with Housekeeping Help washing,Medication dressing remin and much more... Mealpersonal preparation and care Post-operative su To find out how we can help care for you or your family, call Holiday and respi Medication reminders Light Housekeeping and much more Post-operative support 01793 602502 Meal preparation Or visit www.rightathomeuk.com/swindon Holiday andreminders respite cover Medication Registered with the Care Quality Commission. Each Right at Home office is independently ownedTo and operated find out how we Right one is ofone theof UK’s most Right atRight Home is one of the UK’s and much more... Post-operative support at Home themost UK’s most trusted care companies. Our local trustedtrusted care companies. Our local Holiday and respite cover care companies. Our local

Quality care andcare and Quality Companionship Companionship Quality care and Quality care and in theand comfort in theof comfort of Companionship Quality care Companionship your own home your home in the comfort of in Companionship theown comfort of your home in theown comfort of your own home your own home

Right at Home is one of the UK’s most trusted care companies. Our local team of friendly, reliable CareGiver’s specialise in assisting people who maywith the Care Quality Registered Commission. R Registered with Each the Ca need a helping hand with day-to-day tasks in their own home.

If you would like to sell, want genuine value for money, and a refreshingly different approach, please get in touch.

homes@urbanlighthouse.co.uk

07576 648422

withinclude: the Care Quality Commission. Each Right at Home office indep Our services dementia Registered care your ownSpecialist home Registered withisthe Ca Specialist dementia care Companionship Companionship Or visit www.rightathomeuk.com Companionship Transportation and errands Transportation and errands

Transportation andQuality errandsCommission. Each Right at Home office is indep Registered with the Care

Helpwashing, with washing, dressing Help with dressing Help with washing, dressing and personal and personal care care and personal care Light Housekeeping Light Housekeeping Light Housekeeping Meal preparation Meal preparation Meal preparation Medication reminders Medication reminders Medication reminders Post-operative support Post-operative support Post-operative support Holiday and respite cover and respite HolidayHoliday and respite cover cover

and much more... and much more...

WillowsSecureWalks

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

Quality carecare andand Quality team of friendly, friendly, reliable reliable CareGiver’s CareGivers To find out how we can help care for team of team of friendly, reliable CareGiver’s and much more... 01793 Companionship Laurence Irvine Quality care and specialise in people who who may Companionship specialise in assisting assisting people specialise in assisting peoplemay who may - No kickbacks for referrals need helping hand with with day-to-day day-to-day Owner, Urban Or visit www.rightat Or visi need aaneed helping hand a helping hand with day-to-day To find out how we can help care for their own home. in the comfort of Companionship 01793 602502 in the comfort oftasks Lighthouse tasks in intasks their inown theirhome. own home. - A long-term local resident with a in the comfort of Our services include: Or visit www.rightathomeuk.co Our services include: youryour ownown home home Or visi genuine interest in the local community 01793 602502 Specialist dementia care

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and much more...

To find out how we can help care for you or your family, call

To find out how we can help care for you or your family, call To find out how we can help care for you or your family, call

Urban Lighthouse are proud sponsors of Help Bristol’s Homeless helpbristolshomeless.co.uk

0117 370 1710 01793 602502

Or www.rightathomeuk.com/bristol 01793 602502 Orvisit visit www.rightathomeuk.com/swindon 01793 602502 Or visit www.rightathomeuk.com/swindon

Registered with the Care Quality Commission. Each Right at Home office is independently owned and operated

Or visit Registered withwww.rightathomeuk.com/swindon the Care Quality Commission. Each Right at Home office is independently owned and operated

Registered with the Care Quality Commission. Each Right at Home office is independently owned and operated

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

n FEATURES

September 2018

southbristolvoice

PROFILE: ANDY HAMILTON, URBAN FORAGER

Stilton vodka, anyone? Beccy Golding meets a man who wants to broaden our taste

NDY Hamilton is a forager and author. At least that’s how the world sees him. If you ask him to describe himself it’s more complicated. “It changes quite a lot,” he says. “My Twitter profile has a photo of me drinking gin from the bottle – which I don’t do! I play with that character who’s quite drunk – it’s quite useful, so you keep your real self for family and friends. But I’m becoming more me. My new website – the Wild Gentleman – fits in with who I am as a person. “At the moment I say I’ve got a book coming out, I do foraging walks and wild cocktails. I’m an author that does other things to survive.” How did you learn about plants and foraging? “During my childhood in Northampton my Nan and Grandad lived across the road. They knew about plants, we used to go blackberry and strawberry picking. In the days when you could just jump on a bike and go to the park, me and my twin Dave used to play in this swampy wood area – now it seems tiny, back then it was another world. “I was a scout and liked being outdoors. In my early 20s I sought out every opportunity to learn. I was inspired by books including Food for Free by Richard Mabey, the Bush Tucker Man and Ray Mears. Also Fergus Drennan aka Fergus the Forager – who became a friend of mine. “I wanted to get out of Northampton – I felt like I wasn’t going to achieve anything there. So I went to Nottingham. It was a bit overwhelming and big – I felt like a fish out of water. “I moved to Bath as it seemed like the polar opposite. “I met my partner Emma in Bath. She got a job in Bristol and we were ready for a change. We moved to Barton Hill. We were down the road from Beeses tea rooms – it was an escape, really lovely. Anyone that reads my book Booze for Free will see that all the plants can be found within a two-mile radius of Barton Hill! “Our website Self Sufficientish

Come hither: Andy in Arnos Vale, good for foraging PHOTO: Beccy Golding

Andy’s foraged a career out of wild ideas about flavour stared mine and Dave’s career. We created it in 2004, as an urban guide to being self-sufficient. The internet was quite small then, we were top of the searches for wild food, foraging, and so on. “By December 2005 we had a book deal, for the Self Sufficientish Bible. One day, hungover, I sent a badly constructed email to a literary

WIN The Perfect Pint book

NDY’S currently working on an updated edition of Brewing Britain – called The Perfect Pint. “It’s easier to navigate, with a separate brewers guide and drinkers guide – there’s more beers, and contributions from beer journalists – including the first female beer sommelier in the UK, Sophie Atherton, and Nick Moyle, the Independent’s beer reviewer.” Everyone is welcome to the book launch on October 2, where people can get a signed copy.

agent. I had an A-Z of agents and had got as far as AM Heath, George Orwell’s agent! We got a £100,000 advance – after splitting it between me and my brother, taxes and agents fees etc, I got £36,000. It confirmed to me – OK, you can write. “We came to South Bristol in 2011 – we wanted to buy a house and it was the most affordable Andy has chosen all the beers at the Drapers Arms, Gloucester Road, for the whole week. To win a copy of Andy’s new book, tell us: How long did Andy manage to go without drinking the same beer twice? Answers to paul@ southbristolvoice.co.uk or 18 Lilymead Avenue, Bristol BS4 2BX by September 14.

place – but Arnos Vale cemetery – the green space – is what keeps me here. “I started working on the next book in 2011 – after I’d spent the money! Booze for Free is about turning wild food into booze. I like drinking, and enjoyed finding out I could make something I liked to drink. Brewing taught me the complexities of spirits and ales, and taught me to have a palate. “The next book was Brewing Britain, in 2012. The book’s for someone who likes beer, to learn to taste and appreciate a decent pint, and to get to know the process of brewing. You can go from beer fan to beer nerd! “It came from an apocalyptic idea. I like the idea that at the end of civilisation someone finds my book and brews some beer – it would be good for society! “I’ve always been that person who wanted something different – I’d drink Newquay Steam beer or Campari. On trips to Germany and Prague I discovered how great lager could be. It became an obsession. When Brewing Britain came out I didn’t have the same beer twice for two years – and that was with two beers a night! My first child came along – I was brewing, drinking, writing, fathering – quite a feat!” Andy’s websites have details of his cheese and cocktail matching evenings (I’ve been to one of these – recommended) and gin safaris, where you gather wild ingredients to create gin. “It’s me sharing what I do in the kitchen, getting people to drink something they wouldn’t normally, and surprise them – like Japanese Knotweed tequila margueritas, stilton vodka, or a beer that’s brewed without hops.” You’ll find his videos online: “they’re an avenue for me to share what I’ve learnt”. They vary from the very personal, to comedy, to a character called Nigel Forage (he’s xenophobic against plants not grown in England), to how-to videos and booze hacks (including opening a bottle with a tea towel, and turning a £5.50 bottle of supermarket merlot into something that tastes like Châteauneuf-du-Pape). What’s the best thing about living in South Bristol? “Arnos Vale cemetery.” He’s not saying any more: “I don’t want anyone else to come here!” theotherandyhamilton.com thewildgentleman.com selfsufficientish.com

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

September 2018

southbristolvoice

n THE MAYOR

MARVIN REES Mayor of Bristol

We recognise that the holidays are not the easiest time for every family

’M SURE most of us were ready for a well-earned summer break, hopefully making the most of the weather and Bristol’s busy cultural calendar. In particular College Green was a great place for family fun with games and activities when we hosted the 16th annual Playday at the start of August. The green space outside City Hall and Bristol Cathedral was alive with the sounds of play and excitement as the biggest free play event of the summer saw hundreds of excited families join in. This year’s event also featured the unveiling of the new Bristol Children’s Charter. The Charter, a set of 10 pledges that

align with the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, sets out the city’s aspirations for all children without discrimination. The Playday’s central theme was Every Child’s Right to Play, highlighting the importance play has on the lives of all

children and families But we know that for some families, filling their days with activities can be a challenge. Even more concerning is the critical need to address the issue of holiday hunger. Many of our children in Bristol receive a free school meal Monday to Friday during term time, but there is currently no such provision over holidays, meaning that our children and young people are at risk of holiday hunger. My cabinet lead for education, Cllr Anna Keen, has been leading on work which attempts to address this through holiday clubs. Feeding Bristol is a collaborative charity which strives for a city where no-one goes hungry. It works on a range of projects, from cooking and nutrition, to growing local food, and even raising awareness towards key political issues surrounding food poverty. There are a number of initiatives happening across Bristol to provide free activities for children and we have ensured that food is provided as part of this offer. These include Fit and Fed, which operates in parks across Bristol; Unique Voice, which runs creative courses over the summer; and Break Free, a programme run by Youth Moves in secondary schools across South Bristol, which reaches some of our most deprived communities.

FREE FIRST CONSULT FOR NEW CLIENTS* When you register with Highcroft Veterinary Hospital and Surgery

Come and meet our friendly vet team! Highcroft Veterinary Hospital and Surgery 01275 832410 615 Wells Road, Whitchurch Bristol BS14 9BE

Open 7 days a week

Book your appointment with us today!

Highcroft Veterinary Hospital and Surgery is a trading name of CVS (UK) Limited: a company registered in England and Wales. Registered number: 03777473. Registered office: CVS House, Owen Road, Diss, Norfolk IP22 4ER Terms and conditions* Please present this advert to reception on arrival. One pet per consultation. This offer applies to the consultation fee only. This offer does not include any other services, any medication prescribed or products purchased which are chargeable and must be paid in full. The offer has no other monetary value. No cash alternative. This offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or scheme, including The Healthy Pet Club. SA027 18

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

September 2018

southbristolvoice

n COLUMNS In witch I venture to the dark side (Cribbs Causeway)

RECEIVED a recall letter from Honda; they needed to fiddle with my airbags (behave!) I put this letter to the side and forgot about it. A few weeks later my Dad requested that I be his driver for the day, taking him to his old army boys reunion far, far away. Visions of accidents filled my head: those airbags must be fixed. I gave Honda a call; the work would take a couple of hours, said A Voice. No worries, I could have a wander around the shops. “Yes”, agreed the Voice, “the shops near here are amazing, only a 10-minute walk.” At that point I thought The Voice was delusional, the shops on

Who is the Wicked Witch? She’s the one trying to find the satnav on her broomstick

THE WICKED WITCH OF KNOWLE

Bath Road? “What’s your address,” asked The Voice. I am just up the road, I said. She paused and said: “We are at Cribbs Causeway!” What? The Bath Road garage had shut a while ago, how had I not noticed? So she was not crazy after all. I made the trip to Cribbs. Not been there for ages, to be honest I am not keen; it is claustrophobic, with a large dash of clinical middle class and an overwhelming feeling of entrapment – I can never find my way out! I walked purposefully towards John Lewis and found myself purchasing an armful of

n NEWS

dresses. I never wear dresses, but I was feeling reckless. All the staff at John Lewis have been sent on a ‘be super nice to the customer’ course which I found very disconcerting. In every aisle I was asked if I was OK and needed any help. Every aisle! I went to pay and the chirpy assistant noticed I had several different sized dresses. “Do you realise this is a size mahoosive and the others are smaller?” she asked, holding up the dress for the rest of the queue to judge. Shushing her I whispered, “Yes thank you very much indeedy, if you must know I am going to wear that one now and then save the others for when I am super thin!” She smirked. I was glad to leave, although driving back from Cribbs is tricky. I made my way to the M5, tightly gripping the wheel, searching for signs back to Bristol and the M32.

Down on the Farm News from Windmill Hill City Farm with Beccy Golding

There are none. It is rubbish. Do I head for London on the M4? Do I stay on the M5 and end up in Birmingham? Or should I tootle over to Wales? It can’t just be me. Suffice to say, I made it to the safety of South Bristol, vowing never to venture to the dark side again. The next day I wore the mahoosive dress. “What the hell is that?” asked Evil. “The new me,” I responded tartly. I saw various familiars that day, all of whom said nothing about my new look, despite me swishing the skirt in a coquettish way. I must look ridiculous. This is where doggie walker friends come to your rescue. I emerged into the park swinging my hips when I saw one approaching me. “Oh my”, she gushed, “I love your dress”. I embraced her in a tight bear hug, muttering ‘Thank you, thank you’ into her neck as her dog growled softly by her side.

southbristolvoice

Wanted: 10 young people who seek an arts career

INVITATION

windmillhillcityfarm.org.uk

Do us a flavour

Natural affinity: School groups can learn a lot at the farm

ARM Flavours is a handson food experience for under-5s. Little ones get to pick vegetables grown on the farm, prepare them, play with them, and then eat them! This month the farm is holding special sessions for children going into reception this school year, on September 13 and 20, from 10-11.30am. Preschool and toddler sessions continue on September 27, and on October 4, 11, 18 and 25. It’s £2 per session – the first child must be over 2 years, maximum two children per family. Booking is essential – contact Nicky Orr on 0117 947 1180 or email pgo@windmillhillcityfarm.org.uk

September 2018

PHOTO: Beccy Golding

Autumn fair THE AUTUMN Fair on 29 September is one of the farm’s big events of the year. There will be live music from a great line-up of local bands and musicians, food, of course – with the farm team running a barbecue and bar – plus a host of outdoor activities and family fun, and a market selling local products. All money

raised at this event goes to support the work the farm does for the local community. There are still stalls available for local producers: email info@ windmillhillcityfarm.org.uk for more information.

Savings for schools THE FARM’S education team are experts in supporting teachers through their experiential learning sessions. Farm and Garden Explorers is an interactive farm tour, schools without a pond or nature area can enjoy Mini Beast Madness, while Pick It, Cook It, Eat It sessions are opportunities for food discovery. A year-long seasonal programme allows schools to visit four times over the academic year - children witness the changing seasons and produce, embed their learning, and really get to know and understand the farm. The farm is offering a 10 per cent discount for visits booked this month. For more information email julie.thorpe@ windmillhillcityfarm.org.uk or call 0117 963 3252.

Friendly society FANCY supporting the farm, meeting like-minded folk and having your say? For £10 a year you can become a Farm Friend, entitling you to attend quarterly meetings – usually held in the outdoor kitchen, with free farmmade pizza and cake – meet other Friends and share your views with the chief executive, staff, trustees and volunteers. Other benefits include a 10 per cent discount in the café and on room bookings (including the football pitch and outdoor kitchen), a quarterly newsletter and reservations for farm meat. The next Farm Friends meeting is on Tuesday September 18, 5.30-6.30pm. You can sign up as a Friend on the day.

Sign of the times THERE is still time to sign up for this autumn’s WEA courses, including the new accredited BSL Sign language course. Other courses include art, stained glass, yoga, jewellery making and poetry. Details on the website, and in What’s On.

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

CJ Hole Southville invite you to accept our offer of a free sales or lettings valuation. To arrange an appointment, please telephone the office or call in personally. If you have instructed another agent on a sole agency and/or sole selling rights basis, the terms of those instructions must be considered to avoid a possible liability to pay two commissions.

MEDIUM SOUTH WEST

268 North Street, Southville, Bristol BS3 1JA

t: 0117 963 4373 southville@cjhole.co.uk With 17 offices covering Bristol, Gloucester and Somerset

OPENING HOURS Monday - Friday 9am - 7pm Saturday 9am - 5pm

SOUTH WEST

MEDIUM AGENCY ESTATE AGENCY YEAR 2011

The Multi Award Winning Agent

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

n YOUR COUNCILLORS

September 2018

southbristolvoice

KNOW my colleague Chris has written about the huge welcome that the Broadwalk plans have had and I Gary want to point out Hopkins some of the detailed Lib Dem work that will make Knowle this a reality. I have attended two meetings with groups of near neighbours who, while welcoming the plans, needed to have their concerns addressed regarding overlooking and so on. Changes have been agreed and further meetings will happen before the plans go in. Probably the biggest issues will come during construction, which will be done in stages starting with the demolition of the old library, the garage and the ugly car park. There will not be any piledriving or excavation, but keeping the businesses running while work progresses will need delicate handling. A temporary entrance will be built for the roof car park and during

Knowle

the construction phase some will not be happy. Snooker City have a lease which runs out in the not-toodistant future and while they are being offered a future permanent home on the site, staff and members will be concerned. Just to scotch some wild rumours, Redcatch Park will not be touched, apart from the planned restricted access from the café piazza, but money will be provided to the Friends of Redcatch Park for their projects. The trickiest area, though, is parking. A huge effort is going in to reducing the number of cars that the new flats will generate, and there is a significant increase in parking in the plan, but one group will be displaced. These are the commuters that use the car park as an unofficial park and ride. A lot of these people already use neighbouring roads. Demand for a resident parking scheme has been growing but with a developer prepared to contribute cash we are now conducting consultation in the neighbouring roads.

How to contact your councillor: p2

HE owners and developers for Broadwalk shopping centre were amazed by the turnout Chris of interested Davies local people for Lib Dem their exhibition Knowle a few weeks ago. Around 500 people turned up on the Saturday morning to view the draft plans.This was in addition to the one-to one and small meetings that the developers have been having with shopkeepers and near neighbours.There were 350 feedback forms completed and 90 per cent were favourable. Let’s face it, although two million people visit the centre every year, it has gaps in the retail range and it is certainly not the prettiest building in Bristol. The plans will cost £100 millionplus to deliver and are a huge vote of confidence in our area. The main feature is almost 400 flats, which will complement our

good local stock of 3+ bedroom houses, and are aimed at first time buyers and the retirement market. There will be shared equity and key worker housing. As an aside, Bristol Civic Society were positively purring when they saw the plans and were glad to see some real quality going in to South Bristol. The plan is to broaden the range of shops with independents and also to create a piazza at the rear adjoining the park. Most of the flats will overlook Redcatch park and clearly the premium prices that will be charged for some of these will pay for the affordable housing and the other investments. A planning application is expected this month after adjustments have been made to accommodate the wishes of near neighbours. Gary and I will continue to act as the bridge between the community and the owners. On the shopping front, the secret is going to be to keep the value retail, but to expand the range and variety to satisfy all local residents.

September 2018

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n YOUR COUNCILLORS

AST month councillors were updated on the proposals that are being taken forward for Jon consultation on a Wellington Clean Air Zone for Labour Bristol, which will Windmill Hill then form part of a bid for government grants. This is a convoluted process, and as ever there is too little government money available for all the cities that need cash to implement their plans. However, given the extent of the air quality problem in Bristol, and, judging from the emails of support for doing something about air quality that I receive, I would hope we could be in a strong position for funding. The proposal is (among other things) to introduce a charging zone for polluting vehicles. The details are not yet finalised but it is likely that most diesel cars made before 2016, and most petrol cars made before 2005, would be subject to

Windmill Hill

charges, as well as the more obvious polluting vehicles such as HGVs. The size of the zone is also under consideration. The council’s project team have ruled out a city-wide scheme as too expensive and risky. So, two options are being considered: a city centre zone, and a mediumsized zone that would take in a wider area that would cover Bedminster, but not Totterdown, Knowle or Windmill Hill. I am a bit disappointed by this as I receive a lot of complaints about the air quality on Wells Road, Bath Road and St John’s Lane. I have been told that as these roads all lead into the proposed charging zone, it will discourage people with polluting vehicles from using these roads. This may be the case. That said, I am concerned that a zone that does not include Totterdown may lead to people using local roads to avoid the charging zone, adversely affecting air quality and congestion. Find out more at: cleanairforbristol.org

How to contact your councillor: p2

AM PROUD to be part of a Labour council that has committed to phasing out the use of private debt collection Lucy firms which use Whittle intimidating Labour bailiffs, and Windmill Hill instead pursue a more ethically-aware approach to debt collection. Although this is a trial, I know the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham has stopped using bailiffs, and taking people to court, after a successful ‘ethical debt collection’ scheme. Bristol city council will now become the second English local authority to stop hiring bailiffs to reclaim some of the £15m we lose every year in unpaid council tax. I have supported several constituents who have got into arrears with the council, through no fault of their own, but who have ended up with hugelyincreased debt because of the costs slapped on by private debt collection firms. I have been able

to have these fines written off, but the stress and upset for the families is unnecessary and unfair. So I am delighted to hear that deputy mayor Craig Cheney has said the council will only use bailiffs in the “bare minimum” of cases. “We are looking at ways in which we can support those who have these troubles by signposting them to advice and information services early. We ... have seen our levels of debt collection rise while our use of enforcement agents has decreased,” he said. A report from the Commons treasury committee revealed that many councils are “overzealously” pursuing debt from struggling families with routine usage of bailiffs: “ ... the current approach risks driving them into further difficulty,” its MPs said. I would like to thank Cllr Goggin (Hartcliffe & Withywood) for his hard work researching Hammersmith’s approach and exploring how it could work in Bristol. His tenacity has ensured that residents across the city will benefit from this new approach.

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September 2018

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BRISTOL ARC UPDATE

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n HISTORY Pirate tales: What’s behind the racy stories of adventure on the high seas?

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September 2018

HAT does a pirate read below decks? No, it’s not a pirate joke, it’s a serious question. Like a lot of things related to piracy, the answer leads back to Bristol. From the fictional Long John Silver to the real Blackbeard, from the real-life island castaway Alexander Selkirk to the storybook Robinson Crusoe, from the high officials who were sent to stamp out piracy, to countless pirates and privateers – many began or ended their voyages in Bristol. This feature was inspired by a walk around the harbourside on a guided tour called Blood, Booze and Buccaneers, an exploration of places associated with piracy (see review, page 34). The tour is devised by Sheila Hannon of South Bristol’s innovative theatre company Show of Strength, and presented with aplomb by either Gerard Cooke or Kirris Riviere, with interjections from Ted, a parrot with a sceptical view of the taller pirate tales. We’re not trying to duplicate this excellent tour – if you want to learn more of the many Bristol places with a part in the pirate story, there’s no substitute. The questions we ask here are: where does the truth lie between the children’s book adventures of Long John Silver and the terrifying image of the real Blackbeard, with smoke pouring from his hair? What’s the connection between pirates and slavery? And should we laugh about pirates, or think of them as murderous criminals?

O what does a pirate like to read? Stories about piracy, that’s what. Early in 2018, the 300th anniversary of the death of Blackbeard, the most famous real pirate of them all, a surprising secret emerged from beneath the waves. The wreck of the ship thought

We’re close to the 300th anniversary of the death of the most famous pirate of all, Bristol-born Blackbeard. But were pirates rogues or heroes? And what was their relationship to slavery? to be Blackbeard’s, the Queen Anne’s Revenge, was discovered by private researchers a mile off Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, USA, in 1996. It was close to where the infamous pirate was known to have run the vessel aground – supposedly by misfortune but, according to some of his own crew, in reality to scatter his pirate band and leave himself a greater share of the treasure. It wasn’t until 2011, though, that the ship was officially recognised by the state of North Carolina as the Queen Anne’s Revenge. The proofs were small but they mounted up. The discoveries included a brass coin of Queen Anne’s reign, which ended in 1714, and part of a wine glass embellished with small crowns, made when King George I was crowned in 1714. There was also part of a French sword, dated around 1715, and a syringe used to treat venereal disease, thought to have been made in Paris between 1707 and 1715. And there were several cannon – more than would be

PIRATES, BRISTOL AND SLAVERY

Your guide: Gerard Cooke is one of the leaders of Blood, Booze and Buccaneers, a new tour of sites around Bristol harbour with links to piracy. Ted, the parrot, is sceptical about some of the taller tales expected on a naval ship of this size. Of an estimated 44 cannon, 18 have been found, some of them loaded as if ready for use, and of different sizes, made in different countries – England, Sweden and possibly France. All these factors point towards a pirate ship. But it is what was revealed in January 2018, found inside one of the cannons that was most surprising. Preserved for 300 years, stuffed as wadding in one of the gun barrels, were 16 scraps of paper, the largest of them an inch across. The marine archeologists found only a few words they could read: “South of San,” “fathom” and “Hilo”. Hilo was a city in Peru. Eventually, after a year’s research in libraries, the scraps were identified as being from the book A Voyage to the South Seas and Round the World, by Captain Edward Cooke. This was a best-selling account of the real voyage of two ships, the Duke and the Dutchess, which sailed from Bristol in 1708. It was headed by Captain Woodes Rogers, who lived in Queen Square (where his old house today bears a blue plaque).

Woodes Rogers was a respectable figure; yet he had also been a kind of pirate, an officiallysanctioned privateer – and a slave trader. Why was Blackbeard, or a member of his crew, reading about Woodes Rogers? Perhaps for the thrill of his real-life adventure in the little-known South Seas – and perhaps to find a few tips for high-seas robbery. Rogers’ expedition had made him famous, partly for the plunder he stole from Spanish ships. As a privateer, he had the backing of the Crown, as long as he only robbed England’s enemies. Rogers was the first British commander to return from a circumnavigation of the world with both his ships intact, and most of his crew. But by the time the Queen Anne’s Revenge was wrecked, Rogers was no privateer. He had been sent to the Bahamas as governor of the new British territory, with a brief to clear the seas of pirates. And who would the main beneficiary be if the pirates were defeated? The slave traders. It’s well known that in the 17th and 18th centuries Bristol Continued overleaf

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

n HISTORY Continued from page 35 was one of the main centres of the transatlantic slave trade. Between 1698 and 1807 about 2,100 ships sailed from Bristol to pick up men, women and children from Africa and transport them into forced labour on the sugar plantations in the Caribbean. Recently the debate has focused on Edward Colston, the most prominent of the Bristol traders, who made a fortune from transporting about 80,000 slaves across the Atlantic. But Colston was one among hundreds of Bristolians who invested in the slave trade. Many more benefited from the wealth that slavery, and the sugar plantations, brought to the city. When we tweeted about the tour Blood Booze, and Buccaneers, this question came in: “My housemate told me pirates used to free slaves & kill/ capture those holding them on slave ships (not saying pirates are a Good Thing). Hope it’s true.” So what was the relationship between pirates and slave traders? Were pirates freedom fighters who only wanted to set slaves free? Or did they view them like any other kind of cargo on the ships they boarded, as a commodity to be used or sold? The truth, as Blackbeard’s own story shows, is complicated.

BLACKBEARD AND THE GOLDEN AGE OF PIRACY

September 2018

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OR THE most famous real pirate of all time, surprisingly little is known for certain about Blackbeard. He’s thought to have been born in 1680 in Bristol, but there is no record of his birth. Local legend has it that the family lived in Guinea Street, Redcliffe, looking down on the bustling harbour. It’s likely that a seafaring life appealed to the young Teach – though even the surname isn’t certain and many historians think he may have been called Thatch, or something similar. He seems to have been an intelligent, educated man, and the Guinea Street address suggests some wealth, so he may have changed his name to avoid shame falling on his family. One story says that he fled to the docks after a disagreement with his stepfather turned into a fight. He’s thought to have served on the transatlantic trade, which

PIRATES, BRISTOL AND SLAVERY

makes it likely he joined a slaver. If so, he experienced a working life of incredible challenges, facing the harsh seas in a wind-tossed ship, at risk of malaria and dysentery from the bad food and insanitary conditions. As many as one in five crew members could die on slaving ships – though this was much better than the conditions suffered by those enslaved. They were chained head to toe on the cramped lower decks, confined in hideous conditions. Sometimes half would die on a single voyage. Would Teach, or Thatch, have found a natural sympathy for the plight of the slaves? Might he have felt that he wasn’t treated that much better himself? Perhaps. What is known that it was quite common for pirates to invite the crew of any ship they captured to join them. Sometimes this included people who had been enslaved, but presumably only if they could show the ability to learn seamanship, and to fight. Was Teach on a ship that was

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n HISTORY

PIRATES, BRISTOL AND SLAVERY

appearing on each Side of his Face, his Eyes naturally looking fierce and wild, made him altogether such a Figure, that Imagination cannot form an Idea of a Fury from Hell to look more frightful.”

BLACKBEARD’S FEARSOME REPUTATION LACKBEARD wanted to be seen as terrifying, with his overlong beard and slow-burning fuses in his hair that made his head appear to smoke. Yet there is no eyewitness account that he ever killed anyone by his own hand. He caused death, certainly, and his treatment of women was appalling: he is said to have forced his teenage wife into bed with members of his crew. But he kept his word when he said he would release hostages. Did he calculate that it was far more effective to inspire fear than to waste energy in violence? Did he, in effect, spread fake news about himself? Here is one of his exploits, as related in A General History of the Pyrates by Captain Charles Johnson: “Come, says he, let us make a Hell of our own, and try how long we can bear it; accordingly he, with two or three others, went down into the Hold, and closing up all the Hatches, filled several Pots full of Brimstone, and other combustible Matter, and set it on Fire, and so continued till they were almost suffocated, when some of the Men cried out for Air; at length he opened the Hatches, not a little pleased that he held out the longest.”

September 2018

Dressed to kill: Blackbeard lit fuses in his hair to look as fearsome as possible PICTURE: Engraving from the 1726 edition of A General History of Pyrates In another incident Johnson relates, Blackbeard was in his cabin with his assistant Israel Hands, drinking, when, for no reason, he drew two pistols and fired them under the table. Hands was hit in the knee and maimed.

“Being asked the meaning of this, he only answered, by damning them, that if he did not now and then kill one of them, they would forget who he was.” Yet Blackbeard had deliberately shot low, where any injury would

raided, and decide to join the other side? Or did he serve on one of many privateers, the state-sanctioned raiders that helped the English cause in the War of the Spanish Succession? This conflict pitched England against Spain and France from 1701-1714. After the war, some of the privateers turned to freelance piracy – and by 1716, that is certainly what Teach was doing. Parts of the Caribbean were almost lawless. There were British colonies in Virginia and Carolina but the Royal Navy had only a handful of ships there. When the war ended in 1714 some of the privateers, like Woodes Rogers, returned to England and respectability. Others, including Teach, made a base on the island of New Providence. Here they founded the Pirate Republic of Nassau – a lawless place where they traded their booty and spent much of it on booze and prostitutes. Much of the legend of Blackbeard came from one book – A General

History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates, written by “Captain Charles Johnson” and published in 1724. The name Johnson was a pseudonym – some say it was the writer Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe, although several historians dispute this. The book drew on accounts of mariners and others who encountered Blackbeard and other pirates – though some of the conversations must be at least partly embellished. The description of Blackbeard in the General History made him the book’s most memorable figure: “This Beard was black, which he suffered to grow of an extravagant Length; as to Breadth, it came up to his Eyes; he was accustomed to twist it with Ribbons, in small Tails … and turn them about his Ears. In Time of Action, he wore a Sling over his Shoulders, with three brace of Pistols, hanging in Holsters; and stuck lighted Matches under his Hat, which

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UR FIRST knowledge of Teach as the pirate Blackbeard is in 1716, when he was given command of a sloop and about 80 men, taken as a prize by Captain Benjamin Hornigold. Hornigold was one of the ex-privateers who took over the ruined town of Nassau in 1713. At first a few dozen renegades lived in a tent city of outlaws, which soon was home to hundreds. Hornigold – possibly with Teach as one of his lieutenants – used three large sailing canoes to raid Spanish ships on the nearby Florida coast. In just eight months they stole a haul worth a reputed £13,175 – a staggering fortune, equal to £1.8million at today’s values, when a sailor made £12 a year (£1,700 today). Soon they graduated to larger sloops, stolen from the Spanish, and ranged as far north as New England. Merchants of all the trading nations began to fear the pirates, who were in league with dubious English business figures to fence their plunder. Hornigold and Teach prowled the Caribbean in two ships, seizing cargoes. Then in August 1717, Blackbeard acquired a formidable fighting vessel, the Revenge. It wasn’t stolen, but had been built to order by the eccentric Stede Bonnet, a wealthy plantation owner who decided to try his hand at piracy. According to Johnson’s General History, Bonnet wanted to get away from his nagging wife, but was ill acquainted with the sea, or piracy. For one thing, he paid wages to his 126 crew, when the other captains preferred to give their men a share of the spoils – making them more eager to fight. Bonnet’s crew were far from happy after he launched a raid on a Spanish warship which fired back, killing a third of the pirates and severely injuring Bonnet. Teach suggested himself as a more able captain of the Revenge. The crew agreed, and Bonnet, swathed in an expensive dressing gown in his book-lined cabin, gave way. Meanwhile Hornigold left the

The final battle: Blackbeard prepares to strike Lt Maynard before he is overcome PICTURE: Capture of the Pirate Blackbeard by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris Caribbean to ask for the King’s pardon. He had never attacked British ships, not wanting to face trial for piracy, but this caused tensions with his crew, who voted to replace him with Captain ‘Black Jack’ Bellamy. Teach now mounted raids from the Caribbean up to New York. In one three-week period, he captured 15 vessels and Blackbeard became the most feared name on the seas. Ship captains began to arrive in Philadelphia and New York telling how they had been left in their ransacked ships, run aground without sails; and how entire cargoes were ether stolen or tossed overboard. Not only were enslaved people stolen, and sometimes accepted into the pirate crew, but also indentured workers and seamen, who saw piracy as a better option than a life of toil. One merchant in Philadelphia wrote to a friend in London, describing the chaos caused by Blackbeard and his friends: “Pirates ... now Swarm in America and increase their numbers by almost every Vessel they take. If speedy care be not taken they will become formidable … and [they] know our govt. can

make no defence.” On November 17, 1717, near the Windward Islands, Blackbeard came upon his greatest prize. This was the Concorde de Nantes – a large frigate of 250 tons, big enough to mount 40 guns. But most of its cannon had been taken out to make room for a cargo of more than 560 slaves, being transported from French West Africa to the Caribbean island of Martinique. As often happened, the French ship’s master, Capitaine Dosset, gave up without a fight. Blackbeard’s reputation may have been enough, but the laden Concorde could not outrun its pursuers. Plus, it had lost 16 crewmen on the journey, and the rest were weak with scurvy and the “bloody flux”. Those enslaved, of course, had suffered worse: more than 100 had died, leaving 455 survivors. Almost 400 were given back to Capitaine Dosset, along with a sloop to take them back to Martinique to be sold. So much for pirates as liberators – except for the 61 ex-slaves who it seems stayed with Blackbeard and joined his lawless gang. Slaving ships were ideal for

the raiders – they were large, fast, and could mount many guns. They had room not only for plunder but for the large crew needed to hijack a vessel. The ship was renamed Queen Anne’s Revenge and it made Blackbeard’s fleet – now three vessels and 150 men – able to take on any naval frigate. Some believe the Concorde had actually been made in Bristol – which would make it the first Concorde to cross the Atlantic as a French and English endeavour! The two years of Blackbeard’s rampage across the Caribbean were the high point of the so-called Golden Age of Piracy, which lasted from the antiSpanish buccaneers of the 1650s to the pacification of the Caribbean in the 1720s. Next, Blackbeard raided and burned a town on the island of Guadeloupe, set a merchant fleet ablaze under the noses of the British fort on St Kitts, and scared the governor of the Leeward Islands into sailing away, even though he was protected by a naval frigate. Blackbeard continued to St Croix, where they set fire to an English sloop. Then, shortly after learning that King George I had announced a pardon for all piracy committed before January 1718, Blackbeard went missing. He was thought to be lying low, but recently-found papers of a naval captain show that Blackbeard was hunting a big prize – the Royal Prince, carrying treasure from the South Seas. Captain Thomas Jacob of HMS Diamond, whose job was to guard the Royal Prince, wrote that Blackbeard had good intelligence: he knew that Diamond’s crew was stricken by disease, and that another navy ship was easy prey because she was undermanned. By chance alone, Blackbeard didn’t find his prey. Brazenly, he then blockaded Charleston, Carolina. When he found nothing of value on the ships leaving the port, he kidnapped the merchants on board and ransomed them. One of his demands was for medicine. The dissolute life of the pirates meant that many had venereal disease, mainly syphilis – though the current treatment with mercury was often more dangerous than the disease. (As Continued overleaf

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

September 2018

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n HISTORY Continued from page 37 we have seen, a syringe used for treating venereal disease was found in the wreck of the Queen Anne’s Revenge.) Perhaps Blackbeard’s now 400-strong crew was not such a formidable force any longer. It may not have mattered – most of the time they had no need to fight. The threat of a broadside from 40 cannon and Blackbeard’s reputation were enough to make most merchant ships surrender. In any event, Blackbeard’s next action was to reduce his fleet dramatically. Seeking a hiding place in North Carolina in June 1718, he steered Queen Anne’s Revenge into the creek of Topsail Inlet. The big ship ran aground under full sail. Blackbeard got his sloops to try to pull her off, but this only managed to sink one of the ships. Blackbeard took all the loot and 100 men – 60 said to be black – and sailed off in the surviving sloop, Adventurer. The rest of his men were left on a sandbank. Hardly honour among thieves, some of them

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n HISTORY

PIRATES, BRISTOL AND SLAVERY

THE REAL CASTAWAY: Alexander Selkirk

Vile trade: This plan shows how people were crammed in to slave ships PICTURE: Bristol Archives PicBox/5/Doc/56a said, believing that Blackbeard had run aground deliberately to reduce his crew and avoid sharing the plunder. Marine expert Mike Daniel, who found the wreck in 1996, believed it was a genuine accident. “He hit the sandbar at the shallowest part as you enter. She was just too big to get in there,” he told Smithsonian.com. Yet the result may have suited

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Blackbeard just fine. He knew that Woodes Rogers was about to reach Nassau to reclaim it for the Crown. The Royal Pardon for pirates would expire in September. Blackbeard had asked the foppish pirate Stede Bonnet to test the water by seeking a pardon from Charles Eden, the governor of North Carolina. Bonnet was returning with his pardon when he found the Queen Anne’s Revenge abandoned. Furious and betrayed, he set off to find Blackbeard, though he never did. Bonnet began pirating again, and was caught and hanged by December 1718. Meanwhile Blackbeard also obtained a pardon from Governor Eden, who seems to have been taking bribes from the pirates. Blackbeard set up home in the tiny state capital of Bath but also kept a base on Ocracoke Island. This was a handy offshore sandbank where he could sort his loot, and hold raucous parties. The pirates carried on marauding in a quieter way. They even convinced Eden – probably for a share of the loot – that a French ship they raided had been found abandoned. But just to be sure, Blackbeard set fire to the vessel, to remove the evidence. In fact, Blackbeard had caught the Rose Emelye and another vessel far out to sea. The crew were dumped on the other ship and told to head to France.

THE FINAL BATTLE

OVERNOR Eden may have been bought off – North Carolina was a powerless, impoverished state. But to the north, Governor Alexander Spotswood of Virginia had been hearing complaints for months about Blackbeard, who had been arrogantly stopping

ships and picking out liquor and supplies as he pleased. The theft of the Rose Emelye was a step too far for Spotswood. He had no authority in North Carolina, but he didn’t let that stop him. He summoned the crews of two navy frigates and sent them to Ocracoke. Blackbeard and other pirates had often escaped the navy by hiding in shallow inlets where warships could not follow. But Lieutenant Maynard and his force of 57, on the small sloops Jane and Ranger, found the Adventurer upstream in Ocracoke, where Blackbeard and 20 crew had spent the night of November 21 drinking. Maynard would have caught Blackbeard unawares if the Ranger hadn’t run aground and alerted the pirates. Blackbeard set sail and fired a broadside at the sloop, killing several of its officers and crew. The Adventurer had almost escaped to the sea when a lucky shot from the Navy men cut one of its sails loose. The Ranger got alongside, only to receive a broadside from the pirates. More than 20 of the Ranger’s crew were hit. Seeing no resistance, Blackbeard and his men boarded the Ranger. But Maynard had hidden beneath deck with 12 men, who rushed up and caught the pirates by surprise. Maynard and Blackbeard each fired a flintlock pistol at the other, but with no effect. Blackbeard swung his cutlass and broke the lieutenant’s sword, but it was his last blow. Surrounded, a sailor slashed him across his neck and he was assailed by swords and bullets. When he fell he was found to have five gun wounds, and 20 cuts to his body. The Jane arrived to restrain

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HEN Woodes Rogers, the Bristol sea captain, set off from the city’s harbour in 1708 on his privateering expedition (mentioned on page 35) he had with him one William Dampier as navigator. Dampier had convinced Rogers to sail the ships Duke and Dutchess to the South Seas in search of Spanish gold. The expedition was backed by wealthy Bristol merchants, including the prominent Quaker Thomas Goldney, to the tune of £11,695 (equal to £23m at today’s values). Dampier was famous as a writer of books about his expeditions to the South Sea, both as pirate and privateer. What he didn’t tell Rogers was that his last trip, in 1703, had been a disaster. He hadn’t protected either of his two vessels against the tropical worms which ate shi timbers. He also failed as a commander, accused by his crew of cowardice, drunkenness and indecision. The rows had got so bad that the two ships separated. While Dampier’s vessel was fumbling an attack on a Spanish galleon, the other was moored at Juan Fernandez, a remote uninhabited island 600 miles from Chile. Alexander Selkirk, an outspoken but competent seaman, fell out

the remaining pirates: 14 were caught, nine white and five black. Edward Teach, or Thatch, the infamous Blackbeard, had his head cut off. Governor Spotswood stuck it on a pole at Hampton Roads, at what is now called Blackbeard’s Point. Three hundred years after he died, Blackbeard is celebrated far more in the US than he is in his home city of Bristol – Google “Blackbeard 300” and you will find that almost every article is American.

FREE TO EXPAND THE SLAVE TRADE

IRACY did not die with Blackbeard. But the anarchy that afflicted the Atlantic shipping lanes did not last long. Despite a threat of rebellion, Woodes Rogers repaired the defences of Nassau and captured and hanged several more pirates. He did not catch the Welshman Black Bart, born Bartholemew Roberts – the most successful of all pirates,

Fending for themselves: Contemporary illustrations of Alexander Selkirk, left, and Robinson Crusoe, right with his captain over the state of his ship, which he said was too worm-ridden to be safe. His reward was to be abandoned with a few belongings on the island, which he shared with rats, cats and goats. Selkirk was resourceful. He made himself clothes from goat skins and a raft to catch fish from. He also did unspeakable things to the goats. He escaped an attack by Spanish sailors, and survived more than four years, until February 1709, when who should turn up but Dampier and Rogers?

Selkirk might not have chosen to be rescued if Dampier had been the master of the Duke and Dutchess expedition, but as Rogers was in charge, he got on board. Selkirk spent several years as a privateer before returning to England in 1711. His castaway years were made famous in two books, one by Rogers, and one by crew member Edward Cooke, A Voyage to the South Sea and Round the World. This was the book found this year in fragments stuffed in a cannon from

Blackbeard’s ship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge. Most famously, Selkirk is believed to be the model for the fictional Robinson Crusoe in Daniel Defoe’s novel of 1719. Bristol legend says Defoe met Selkirk to talk about his adventures in the Llandoger Trow, the harbourside inn. There’s no proof of this, but it does seem that Bristol was a place were Selkirk once again lost his temper: he was accused in September 1713 of attacking a shipwright in the city, and he may have been jailed here for two years.

who captured 400 ships. More ruthless than Blackbeard, he was finally killed in a broadside from HMS Swallow off Cape Lopez in West Africa in February 1722. Anyone who thinks pirates were always friends to slaves should study Black Bart’s career. He once found 11 ships at anchor laden with enslaved people. Ten of them lowered their flags to surrender. Black Bart was so enraged at the sole vessel to defy him that he had the ship set on fire. There were about 80 slaves on board; it’s thought all of them died, some by shark attack after they jumped overboard. Yet the decline in piracy after 1722 was the slave traders’ biggest boon. There were about 2,000 pirates at large in 1722; two years later, it’s estimated there were only about 500. By 1726 there were none left. The slave ships were free to sail. In 1720 almost 25,000 slaves were transported across the Atlantic. Five years later, the figure had doubled. In the period

1750-1775, the average number of slaves carried was 66,000. Sources • Selkirk’s Island Diana Souhami, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2001 • Blackbeard: Dastardly Sea-Devil or Kind Pirate? Pat Kinsella m.historyrevealed.com/ article/people-history/legend-

blackbeard • Last Days of Blackbeard Colin Woodard smithsonianmag. com/history/last-daysblackbeard-180949440/ • Pirates and the Middle Passage Richard Sanders, Times Higher Education Supplement, 2007 timeshighereducation.com

FROM A NEW PORCH TO A NEW HOUSE

CLEVERLEY BUILDERS • AS SEEN ON TV WITH HELP BRISTOL’S HOMELESS – C4’s BANG ON BUDGET and BBC1’S DIY SOS! • 5-STAR CUSTOMER RATING ON FACEBOOK e e e e e

01179 780 350

Leigh House, Whitchurch Lane BS13 7TA

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Project1_Layout 1 13/08/2018 10:05 Page 1

44 Queens Road, Knowle BS4 2LT Two storey side extension and single storey rear extension with terrace. 4 and 6 Maxse Road BS4 2JG Ground floor rear extension to 6 Maxse Road. Extension to roof of 4 and 6 Maxse Road. Knowle ward: Decided 412 Wells Road, Knowle BS14 9AF Non-material amendment to 17/ 05102/F: Change of use from commercial (Use class A1)

22 Rookery Road BS4 2DS Two storey side extension to form an annex. Granted subject to conditions Windmill Hill ward: Awaiting decision 299 Redcatch Road BS3 5EE Single storey rear extension to extend beyond the rear by 3.75m, of maximum height 3.64m and eaves of 2.54m. Granted

29 Weymouth Road BS3 5HH Single storey rear extension.

12 Tennis Road BS4 2HG Demolition of lean-to and erection of single storey rear extension. Granted subject to conditions 186 Wells Road, Totterdown BS4 2AL Change of use of part ground floor from café and leisure (Use classes A3/D2) to use for the upholstery, training and retailing of furniture. 13 Haverstock Road BS4 2DA Rear roof extension. 163 Wells Road, Totterdown BS4 2BU Vehicular access and off-street parking bay, involving engineering to front garden.

97 Kingshill Road BS4 2SW Single storey rear extension. Granted subj. to conditions

3 Haverstock Road BS4 2DA Enforcement appeal for the retention of rear roof extension.

12 Tennis Road BS4 2HG Loft conversion. Granted

29 Weymouth Road BS3 5HH Single storey rear extension. 12 Haverstock Road BS4 2BZ Single storey wraparound rear extension following demolition of existing extension.

Windmill Hill ward: Decided Victoria Park, Nutgrove Avenue Details of condition 8 (Samples) of 17/03958/FB, for improvements to walking and cycling route. Granted 41 St John’s Crescent BS3 5EL Three bedroom, detached house. Withdrawn 33 Dunford Road BS3 4PN Single storey rear extension to extend beyond the rear by 3.7m, of maximum height 3.9m with eaves of 2.9m. Granted 4 Stanbury Road BS3 4QG Two single storey rear extensions to extend beyond the rear by 3.55 and 3.05m, of heights of 3.5 and 3.25m, with both eaves a maximum of 3m high. Granted Land and garage on northeast side of Monmouth Street. Demolition of garage and erection of one-bedroom semidetached house with integrated waste/recycling store and small courtyard garden. Withdrawn

1 Cotswold Road North BS3 4NL Alterations and extension; change of use from joinery workshop to residential unit.

25 Paultow Road BS3 4PS Hip to gable roof extension, rear dormer window and second floor rear extension above outrigger. Refused

12 Haverstock Road BS4 2BZ Rear roof extension and insertion of two rooflights to front.

44 Brecknock Road BS4 2DD Rear dormer roof extension. Granted

13 Montgomery Street BS3 4SE Demolition of lean-to and erection of single storey rear extension.

• The status of these applications may have changed since we went to press. Check for updates at planningonline.bristol.gov.uk

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This month: Battles

Can you find 57 famous battles vertically, horizontally or diagonally?

V L Z M A L T A V N A S E B Y O C B D

D I E P P E G Q R S B W E V E R D U N

C G T T O B R U K M C O O L E R N M N

P A T T R A V E N N A R Y C B K L C Y

L J S U O B B B G B N D Y N I Y S I W

A V H S S R N E D U N B A R E U C R N

S R K P I O I C T M A C K A S O M M E

S A R A T O G A G W E B S S U R A T T

TXT PERT

E B G B H K F L G Q A C A N L V R N O

Y N J U T L A N D L A D I N U S S V U

T O U R S Y L O A L O N D O N C T M L

C B S M F N K K O W E I P M D A O A O

O A Z A Y I L N A V T L S J I L N R N

R S K N N A A C A M D E N E R V M N I

U T R A V Y N H V T Y J U N O I O E M

N I W A I P D H B U L G E A D M O D P

H A H P B R S M O H A C S W A T R G V

A L A M O E W V F Z D F A H A T T I N

B L I T Z S F P A T A Y A N Z I O E E

This month: Cooking

Down 1 743 (3) 2 8463 (4) 3 2328 (4) 4 929 (3) 7 74733 (5) 8 6836 (4) 9 92837 (5) 10 645 (3)

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

6 is M, N or O 7 is P, Q, R or S 8 is T, U or V 9 is W, X, Y or Z

HAVE YOU GOT A PROBLEM WASP NEST? ‘I called Adam in a panic for a pest problem and he was out in a few hours. Other companies couldn’t come out until the next day plus they were more expensive.’

WHICH DOG HAS A DOUBLE? Two of these dog pictures are identical – but which ones?

The numbers point you to the letters on a phone keypad

Across 1 748 (3) 3 2695 (4) 5 423 (3) 6 73786 (5) 10 68374328 (8) 11 5273 (4)

PUZZLES

SUDOKU

EASY for children

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

1 3

SOLUTIONS

3 2

Project1_Layout 1 13/08/2018 10:05 Page 1 WE ALSO DEAL WITH Rats • Mice • Squirrels • Moles • Pigeons • Gulls • Ants • Fleas • Bed-bugs • Flies • Moths

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WHICH DOG?

Arnos Vale cemetery, Bath Road BS4 3EW Creation of a new area for use as a community garden.

Arnos Vale cemetery, Bath Road BS4 3EW Hawthorn: Fell, 5-day notice. Granted

231 Redcatch Road BS4 2HQ Loft conversion with construction of dormer to rear. Granted

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20 Stoneleigh Road BS4 2RJ Rear roof extension, insertion of front roof light and external alterations to single storey extension.

Knowle, Totterdown, Windmill Hill

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41 Norton Road BS4 2EZ Single storey rear extension.

to residential, two flats (Use class C3), with alterations to Wells Road elevation; now proposed relocation of flat entrance to Wells Road and enlarged kitchen to ground floor flat. Refused; planning application required.

September 2018

Across 1 Pit, 3 Bowl, 5 Ice, 6 Pesto, 10 Overheat, 11 Lard. Down 1 Pie, 2 Time, 3 Beat, 4 Wax, 7 Shred, 8 Oven, 9 Water, 10 Oil.

Knowle ward: Awaiting decision

September 2018

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September 2018

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Thursday August 30 -Friday August 31 n The Renegade Fabulon Loco Klub, Temple Meads The Invisible Circus presents a bedazzling circus show with live musical score. The Renegade Fabulon tells the gritty urban tale of our time, where communities are forgotten and profit is king. The show embraces urban mythology, new rituals, circus, dance, and song. £15/£12, 6,30pm, bar and garden open till midnight. locobristol.com Saturday September 1 n Mile Roses Saltcellar Folk Club, Totterdown Baptist church, entrance off Cemetery Road. Contemporary British folk music with a nod to Nashville from Mile Roses with original songs and close harmonies. 7pm, £5, or £3 for floor singers. Refreshments available or BYO alcohol. saltcellarfolk.org.uk Monday September 3 n SouthBank Film Club SouthBank centre, Dean Lane, Southville. A different film shown every Monday for all over-55s. This week: The Little Shop of Horrors. 2pm, tickets £2, includes tea or coffee. Facebook: Southbankbristol Thursday September 6 n Murderers, Mafia Hitmen & US Prison Arnos Vale cemetery, Bath Road. A second outing for this no-holds-barred talk about life in a maximumsecurity Arizona prison – the first event in July sold out. Shaun Attwood tells how he survived a six-year sentence for drug

Tall pirate tales kept in check by the parrot n Blood, Blackbeard and Buccaneers walking tour Bristol harbourside

HAT could be better than a piratey pub crawl through the history and fiction of Bristol on a balmy summer’s evening? Show of Strength have done it again – a marvellous interactive experience with laughs and learning. As we arrive at the Golden Guinea in Redcliffe we’re greeted by Gerard Cooke (his real name but suitably piratey) dressed in full costume – brocade frock coat, breeches and buckled shoes, tricorn hat and, of course, a parrot on his shoulder. The parrot, called Ted, is clever – he calls the narrator out when a fact might be ‘possibly’ or

dealing, protected by Two Tonys, a mass murderer. A Funzing talk; £12, 7pm. Bar from 6.30pm. arnosvale.co.uk/events n Locust The Thunderbolt, Bath Road, Totterdown. Locust are an alt-rock project of Bristol musicians Sion Rain, Arthur Cauty and Heather Taylor and Isle of Wight musician Pete Starr. A concept album of love, loss and civilisation over 3,000 years is due later in 2018. £5, 7.30pm. thethunderbolt.net Friday September 7 n Oasiz The Tunnels, Temple Meads.Oasiz aim to recreate the complete Oasis live gig

A history play for our times n Henry V Tobacco Factory theatre September 12-October 6 HAKESPEARE at the Tobacco Factory, the nationallyacclaimed theatre company, return to their home venue with Shakespeare’s greatest history play. Henry V portrays a divided nation. An ambitious young prince emerges from his wild youth with a sense of purpose and adventure, waging war on France with devastating efficiency. But at what cost? How can he be a good leader

Pirate guides: Gerard and Ted ‘probably’ rather than for sure. There’s a lot of research gone into this story of Blackbeard – Edward Teach (or was it Thatch?) - and his Bristol connections. Gerard weaves together the fact and fiction of history, Treasure Island and more – tells us when one has influenced the other, and back again, and when fact is stranger and more unlikely than fiction – and Ted lets us know experience. As well as the biggest hits, they play forgotten gems. £8.50, 7.30pm. thetunnelsbristol.co.uk n Bridget Christie: What Now? Comedy Box at the Tobacco Factory, North Street. “Brexit. Trump. Nuclear apocalypse. Environmental catastrophe. Is rolling news affecting your ability to enjoy the simple things? Like baking, gardening and autoerotic asphyxiation?” Bridget’s last show was the Guardian’s No 1 Comedy of 2016. Also on September 8. 7.30pm, £19. thecomedybox.co.uk Henry V: The myth of heroism PHOTO: Craig Fuller

and a good man? What compromises must be made in the name of victory? “Shakespeare’s play is a thrilling examination of the nature of power. It explores the burden of leadership and explodes the myth of heroism. It depicts the powerful and the powerless fighting side by

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n WHAT’S ON

n WHAT’S ON Your event could be highlighted like this for just £5. Email sales@ southbristolvoice.co.uk

September 2018

side. With characters drawn from across the United Kingdom, the play is a democratic portrayal of the ruler and the ruled,” says the Tobacco Factory. This production was first performed at Bath Theatre Royal earlier this year. From now on, Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory performs in Bristol every autumn. Tickets from £12 (limited number). Shows at 7.30pm (7pm on September 18). Matinees on September 27 and October 4 at 2.30pm. No show on Sundays. tobaccofactorytheatres.com

when the lines get blurred. From the Golden Guinea we stop to survey the marvellous vista of the harbour from up high on Redcliffe Parade, then go for an amble – an opportunity to share some pirate jokes – we all join in and there are plenty of groans – before arriving at the Hole in the Wall to stop again for drinks and a tale or two – and inspect the spyhole from which the pub earned its name. The tour would usually include the Llandoger Trow. However, as Gerard tells us, it’s been open for 300 years but tonight it’s shut. No matter, we are welcomed by Graze (the old post office) for our next stop, then across to the Merchants Almshouses before our final call at the bar and a wrapping up of tall tales, and true, at the Volley (Naval Volunteer) where Ted the parrot calls bull**** for one last time. Beccy Golding • Tours at 7pm Wednesdays and 3pm Saturdays; £10 (advance bookings only), buy your own drinks. Lasts 2-2.5 hours. showofstrength.org.uk Saturday September 8 n Ceremonial Way Tour Arnos Vale cemetery, Bath Road. This guided tour is accessible for all – it’s on the flat and has rest points on the way. Explore the architecture, graves and stories of Bristol’s past and people. £5, 10.30am-12 noon. arnosvale.co.uk/events Sunday September 9 Open Day, Bristol Indoor Bowls Club South Liberty Lane (access from South Bristol Link road), 10am-4pm. Try bowls for free at this indoor centre where you can enjoy bowling throughout the winter. All equipment provided. A warm, friendly environment, meals from the Hungry Bowler and drinks from the bar. For details email bristolbowls@btconnect. com or call 0117 963 3460. bristolindoorbowls.org.uk Monday September 10 n Young Theatre Makers Tobacco Factory Spielman theatre, North Street. Learn all the skills that go into putting on a stage show. Sessions for 11-13 year-olds on Mondays from 6-7.30pm, and for 14-19 year-olds on Tuesdays 6-8pm. Sessions for 7-10 year-olds are from 4.30-5.45pm on Tuesdays. All age groups will help devise a

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show to share with friends and family in November. Cost £75 per term (email bryony@ tobaccofactorytheatres.com if you would like help with the fee). tobaccofactorytheatres.com Wednesday September 12 n Mr Gotalots Pop-Up Shop Zion, Bishopsworth Road. Interactive storytelling adventures for 2-5 year-olds with Mr Gotalot, who needs some help at his shop. With puppets, games, singing and dancing from Monkey Trousers Theatre. 11am-12noon. zion.bristol.co.uk Thursday September 13 n Bat walk Arnos Vale cemetery. With licensed bat expert Dan Flew. Sold out, but check website for other dates. Aided by specialist bat detection equipment, Dan guides you to the best bat-spotting locations in the cemetery as a variety of bat species come out to feed at dusk. 7.45pm, £12. arnosvale.co.uk/events Friday September 14 n Yes Man JellyfishThe Thunderbolt, Bath Road, Totterdown. Powerful grooves of house, garage, and drum and bass are fused with uplifting piano, dynamic guitar, vibrant synths and soulful vocals. £5, 7.30pm. n History of Arnos Vale cemetery Knowle and Totterdown Local History Society. The Great and the Not So Good: a talk by Alan Bambury on some of the less well-known burials of Arnos Vale. Redcatch community centre, Redccath Road, Knowle, 7.30pm, £3 non-members, £1.50 members. knowleandtotterdownhistory.org.uk Saturday September 15 n Our Tools Our Senses Knowle West Media Centre, Leinster Avenue. Artist Hannah Perner-Wilson explains how we could attach tools to ourselves to experience the world with new

CAN WE RESCUE YOU?

Saturday 15 September, Portishead Quays In aid of Bristol Animal Rescue Centre – let a 14-stone gentle giant Newfoundland dog ‘rescue’ you from the water! For 8yrs+, 10am-4pm, £30 registration & £100 sponsorship. 0117 980 3901 ) fundraising@bristolarc.org.uk

senses. From 10.30am-4.30pm. Explore how digital sensors can add to activities such as cooking, woodwork or writing. Details from Martha on 0117 903 0444 or e-mail martha.king@kwmc.org. uk. £5 suggested donation. kwmc.org.uk Sunday September 16 n Jazz night with Mark Randall Six Windmill Hill Community Centre, Vivian Street. Live jazz on the third Sunday of every month, 8.30-10.30pm. whca.org.uk Monday September 17 Cultivating Emotional Balance Totterdown Centre, 142 Wells Road BS4 2AG Four Monday sessions on September 17 and 24, October 1 and 8, 7-9pm. Cost £60.

A secular course inspired by the Dalai Lama and created with Western psychologists. Includes emotional skills training and meditations to use every day. ) erikauridge@hotmail.co.uk 07487 647990 cultivatingemotionalbalance.org Wednesday September 19 n The Science of Consciousness Arnos Vale cemetery. A Funzing talk with University of Cambridge neuroscientist Daniel Bor. Philosophers have argued over whether our minds are separate from our bodies, or if we are just a kind of computer. Daniel Bor argues that science is starting to unlock this important mystery. 7.30pm, £12. arnosvale.co.uk/events n Pamper Night Zion, Bishopsworth Road. Sample treatments such as reiki, Indian head massage, reflexology, feet and nail treatments, and more, from £5 per session. Early entry advisable. Women only. 6.30-9.30pm, £3 entry fee includes a glass of bubbly. zionbristol.co.uk Friday September 21 n DragonBird: Theatre for 0-5s Tobacco Factory theatre, North Street. A new show every month this autumn from DragonBird Theatre, aiming to instil in the very young a love for theatre, play and imagined worlds. £3.50, shows at 10.30am and 1pm. Also on October 19 and November 13. tobaccofactorytheatres.com Continued overleaf

Kala Chng by Marcus Way

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September 2018

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Noisy and demanding: The Young Vic company make a stand as they insist on the audience’s attention

n Make More Noise Bristol Old Vic Young Company

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n THE CITY PAGE

n WHAT’S ON Look at us: furious and inspirational

September 2018

HE CAST of over a dozen girls and women arrive on stage in swimwear. “Look at us,” they demand. And for the next hour or so they continue to demand our attention. They are furious, and optimistic, and tender, inspired by the women of history and today who have fought for equality and justice for all. The cast have clearly bonded as an ensemble and unite in dance

sequences and set pieces, including a powerful stylised moment depicting the forcefeeding of suffragettes in prison, which gave me goose bumps. Each person has a vignette of their own: Frida Carlo is strong and articulate, John is a cartoon macho

man, younger members relay stories of harassment to strong effect. A joke about period dramas falls perfectly, and the lyrics of a particularly disrespectful gangsta rap are sweetly sung with angelic harmonies – my favourite part of the show. The whole thing,

Continued from page 43 Friday 21 September n Jamali Maddix: Vape Lord Comedy Box at the Hen & Chicken Studio, North Street. The critically-acclaimed host of Viceland’s Hate Thy Neighbour, Maddix brings personal tales from his travels around the world of hate and moral confrontation. 7.30pm, £14. thecomedybox.co.uk n SMäLL Zion, Bishopsworth Road. SMäLL are “the cassette compilation of your younger days”. Expect anything from Siouxsie and the Banshees to Velvet Underground to the Breeders to the Violent Femmes, sometimes all at the same time. Bar, DJ, over 18s only. £6 on the door, 7.30pm. zionbristol.co.uk Saturday September 22 n Pin Puppet Workshop Zion, Bishopsworth Road. Two hours of pin puppet making with Dixon Does Doodles. Children doodle part of a giant humananimal-monster-robot hybrid and then help make it into a puppet. Then there’s a chance to make their own puppet. £10, 10.30am-12.30pm. zionbristol.co.uk Monday September 24 n Yoga for All Windmill Hill City Farm, Philip Street, Bedminster. Have you ever been put off trying yoga by thinking you are not flexible enough or good enough? Gentle yoga in a relaxed and fun environment with Georgia. Every Monday, 6-7.30pm. Cost: £55 (may be reduced for those on an income-related benefit). Call

0300 303 3464 to enrol, or 0117 916 6500 for more information. windmillhillcityfarm.org.uk Tuesday September 25 n Pattern making and sewing Windmill Hill City Farm, Philip Street, Bedminster. Learn how to design patterns, cut out fabrics and sew a range of items from clothing to craft objects, by hand and machine. 10-week course on Tuesdays: beginners 10am-12 noon, intermediates 12.30-2.30pm. Cost: £74 (may be reduced). Other details as for September 24. windmillhillcityfarm.org.uk Wednesday September 26 n Art for All Windmill Hill City Farm, Philip Street, Bedminster. Start of a 10-week course guiding you through a series of simple colour-mixing exercises and experiments with acrylic painting techniques, providing you with tools to unlock the magic of colour. Every Wednesday, 10am12.30pm. Cost: £91.50 (may be reduced). Other details as for September 24 course. windmillhillcityfarm.org.uk n Bill Boler – Angry Black Yank Zion, Bishopsworth Road. In June 2018, a jury awarded $4 in damages to a Florida family for a wrongful death, in which a policeman shot a father of three through a door. The jury found that the police were only one per cent liable and the victim 99 per cent responsible. Bill Boler, New York community activist and now a UK advocate for regeneration, asks, how did we get to this? “Come listen to the rant of an Angry Black Yank.” Free entry. zionbristol.co.uk

Thursday September 27 n Frequency Cowboy The Thunderbolt, Bath Road, Totterdown. Frequency Cowboy is the pseudonym for Somersetbased multi-instrumentalist and singer Sam Hurt. A classically trained pianist, his sound is based around his Wurlitzer piano. Influences include Beck, Talking Heads and The Police, to Sir Was, Sonic Youth and Northern Soul. £5, 7.30pm. thethunderbolt.net Friday September 28 n Bedminster Winter Lanterns fundraiser St Paul’s Church, Coronation Road, Southville. The Troy Ellis Band featuring the Lantern Parade’s very own Mr Alan May on sax, with support from the Brass Disciples. Doors 7pm, pay bar. Tickets £10 in advance from Eventbrite or £12 on the night. n The Atomic Rays with Fay Ray The Tunnels, Temple Meads. The Atomic Rays have been one of the most popular acts on the Bristol circuit for over a decade. Expect a curious selection of covers with flamboyance, theatre and energy, from Bowie and the Stones to the Temptations and Glen Campbell. £8, 7.30pm. thetunnelsbristol.co.uk Saturday September 29 n Autumn Fair Windmill Hill City Farm, Philip Street, Bedminster. Enjoy an autumn day out at the farm with something for everyone to enjoy! There will be a great line-up of local bands and musicians, a barbecue and bar, outdoor activities and family fun

PHOTO: Jana Rumley

performed by members of Bristol Old Vic young company and adult company, is a rallying cry for feminism and an inspiration for younger and older members of the audience and cast alike. The only drawback was the sound levels – sometimes dialogue was lost due to the over-loud background music. It’s a pleasure to be in Bristol Old Vic again, I haven’t been for years, though it was a small challenge to get in – hoardings at the front weren’t quite clear enough but we found the backstage door – the temporary entrance – in the end. Building work is due to be completed this autumn. Beccy Golding bristololdvic.org.uk – plus a market selling local products. Email info@ windmillhillcityfarm.org.uk if you would like a stall at the fair. windmillhillcityfarm.org.uk n BS3 Repair Café United Reformed Church Hall, West Street, Bedminster. First birthday for the Repair Café with jewellery and bike repairs. From trouser zips to kettles, standard lamps, musical instruments, toys, ornaments and more, volunteer repairers will have a go at mending anything! Plus face painting and craft activities for children. From 1.30-4.30pm. Facebook: BS3RepairCafe

Regular events

To advertise your event here from just £5 per month, contact Ruth at sales@southbristolvoice.co.uk n Fitness Pilates with Lucy A dynamic core stability workout for the healthy adult. Tuesdays 7-7.45am Pilates Intervals; Thursdays 7-7.45am Morning Flow. At Brave Move, 51 St Luke’s Road BS3 4RX. Drop in, £7, mats provided. To book, email lucyeyrefitness@gmail.com. n Danceblast “Bristol’s most exciting dance school.” Every Saturday and Sunday at St Francis Church Hall, North Street, Southville. Saturday: juniors, 3-4 years 10-11am, 5-6 years 11am-12 noon, 7-9 years 12 noon-1.30pm, 10-11 years 1.303pm, 12-13 years 2.15-4.15pm. Sunday: seniors 14-18 years 1.304.30pm, Tobacco Factory studio. Call Anne on 07984 069485. danceblast.co.uk

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

BRISTOL CITY ROUND-UP