In the 1990s my sports club the Easton Cowboys (now Easton Cowfolk) often hosted delegations of young trade unionists from Germany and Portugal through the SW TUC education programme. They would stay with us, sampling the delights of football and parties in the Plough, as well as attending workshops on sport, music and culture, before heading off to Glastonbury festival to work for the Workers Beer Company.
Someone had the idea of asking Living Easton, the local history group, to do a history walk around the area for the visitors. This was when we got to know Jim McNeil and Mike Baker, stalwarts of the group who did a brilliant job in outlining hidden histories, from Eastonite and founder of the Transport and General Workers Union, Ben Tillett to the locations of Easton colliery and Eastville Workhouse. Jim was an excellent orator, from explaining the complexities of the economics of slavery and its relation to Easton, to getting us to all cheer ‘For the Republic’, when describing the English revolution of the 1640s-50s.
The fantastic Easton time-signs trail, a series of beautiful plaques fashioned by historian, artist and craftsman Mike Baker, illuminated the history walks. In the Plough afterwards, Mike explained to me that Living Easton were celebrating working class people (‘those who weren’t born with a silver spoon in their mouth’) from opera singers like Ruby Helder to footballer Eddie Hapgood who played for Arsenal and England.
Living Easton did a whole lot more than just walks. They educated the nascent BRHG about how to do a lot of things, including how to make history walks inspiring and fun. We follow their path to this very day.
