Skimmity Hitchers (AKA Quiffey’s new band)
Day: Tuesday 9th November
Time: 8:30ish
Venue: The Seven Stars, Thomas Lane, BS1 6JG
Cost: Your soul

There was a time when the naughty little Quiffey boy was in a band called Who’s A’feared. Well they are no more but the quiff would not lie flat and so a new band the Skimmity Hitchers  have been formed to continue the Dorset toss.  Or as the Quiffmiester himself puts it:

Back at last to one of Bristol’s finest and most historical boozers, we hope to emulate the many rip-roaring gigs we’ve played here before.

Current landlord Paul is proud of the pub’s history, and also a firm believer in quality ale and cider. The pub recently won CAMRA’s best Bristol boozer for the second year in a row. Top hole fellas!

For those who don’t know already now, the Seven Stars has a proud place in the slavery abolition movement: http://www.brh.org.uk/plaque/index.html

This Autumn sees three new pamphlets added to the Bristol Radical Pamphleteer series as well as two 2nd editions.

They are:

#1 Cry Freedom, Cry Seven Stars: Thomas Clarkson In Bristol, 1787 – 2nd Edition by Mark Steeds. This is a major re-working of the pamphlet that was published to help raise money for the Seven Stars Plaque. Now re-published it celebrates the unveiling of the plaque and launches a new challenge – to make the Seven Stars the first ever pub with UNESCO World Heritage status.

#6 The Life And Times Of Warren James – Free Miner Of The Forest Of Dean – 2nd edition by Ian Wright. Ian has revised and slightly expanded his pamphlet, it now also boasts a new cover by the famous anarchist artist Clifford Harper.

#14 Anarchism in Bristol and the West Country to 1950 by Steve Hunt. A new pamphlet by the the author of Pamphleteer #8 Yesterday’s To-morrow – Bristol’s Garden Suburbs.

# 15  Votes For Ladies – The Suffrage Movement 1867 – 1918 by Sheila McNeil. Another new pamphlet, this time asking how ‘radical’ were the Suffragettes and how far did they believe in ‘universal suffrage’.

#16 Anglo-Saxon Democracy by Tony Dyer. Tony gave us a talk on the same subject as part of the BRHG Election Special events earlier this year and has now written it up as the third of our new pamphlets.

A longer version of The Seven Stars Plaque unveiling video has been added to the archive.

Audio from the Hillsborough: What Really Happened has also been added to the archive.

The Thomas Clarkson Plaque was unveiled on the Seven Stars pub yesterday in front of a crowed of about 70 people. After a few short speeches Richard Hart cut the string and the curtains fell away to reveal the plaque in all its glory.

There is a small story about the plaque on the BBC website and one on thisisbristol.

Richard Hart unveiling the plaque.

The Thomas Clarkson plaque on the Seven Stars pub in Thomas Lane, Redcliffe, Bristol.

Artist Mike Baker points out some of the finer details of his Thomas Clarkson plaque.

The Seven Stars Plaque will be unveiled on Friday 1st May at 12:30pm. There is also an series of events in the evening to ‘wet the plaque’s head’.

Find out more about the plaque and these events.