Events Archive - Page 3 of 60 - Bristol Radical History Group

Red Notes Choir

Catch Bristol’s wonderful Red Notes Choir, who will support the Bristol Radical History Festival by performing at 11:20am. They’ll be singing in the Ground Floor Foyer by the M Shed main entrance. The Red Notes Choir is a Bristol-based socialist choir. They have a repertoire of songs from around the world on historical, union, peace, green and human rights themes. We use the streets of Bristol and further afield to spread our message of fighting for the rights of working people, those who are […]

Copper, Coal and Colonizers: The Welsh in the West Country and their impact on Bristol’s past

Exploring the Welsh people and places that helped shape the city’s history, from colonists to Chartists, enslavers to abolitionists – with the odd pirate and colonial governor thrown in for good measure. A two hour walk from M Shed to the Colston stump via Welsh Back and the Llandoger Trow. Meet outside the front of M Shed.

Putting Welsh history on TV

This talk with video extracts, will look at attempts to turn the complexities of Welsh history into accessible television. It will include clips from Horrible Histories, Huw Edwards’s The Story of Wales and the ground-breaking and much-loved series, The Dragon Has Two Tongues in which Wynford Vaughan Thomas and Professor Gwyn Alf Williams offered two very different versions of Welsh history. The latter series, produced and directed by Colin Thomas in 1985, was recently described by […]

The General Strike in Bristol: an introduction

In May 2026 we mark the centenary of the General Strike. This talk will cover the events of those nine days in Bristol and put them in their national context. We will also look at the miners' lock-out which began before and lasted longer than the General Strike.

War on Democracy: Loyalist Propaganda in Britain after the French Revolution

When groups advocating democratic reform in Britain grew and prospered after revolution in France in the 1790s, William Pitt’s government responded with a ruthless programme of repression. Centred on prosecutions for seditious language and High Treason, the loyalist offensive was nourished throughout by anti-gallican, anti-republican propaganda. Tom Paine was burnt in effigy the length and breadth of the country, reformers beaten up by gangs of loyalist thugs, conservative tracts widely […]

Woman Magic 2026

Ecofeminist posters from women artists weaving between Bristol, Wales & Sweden (1968-1983)

‘Moving from politics to magick we were still radical in our thinking’, in the words of artists Beverley Skinner, Anne Berg, Marika Tell and Monica Sjöö The works include radical visionary symbolism that mitigates against ecological crisis and social justice, openly campaigning for marginalised groups. The group of women artists that formed initially Woman Power then Woman Magic in Bristol in the 70s were advocates for a collaborative society that valued this form of interconnectivity, holistic […]

Documenting Bristol communities in the 1980s

A selection of social documentary photographs of community life in Bristol in the 1980s by Carrie Hitchcock. Featuring Barton Hill Youth Club, Lockleaze and St Werburghs in the 1980s and 1990s.

A brief history of Bristol street art and graffiti

Richard Jones from Tangent Books plots the history of Bristol Street Art and Graffiti from the early Eighties through a series of fascinating images featuring the pioneers of street art in the city.

Aspirations of Women

Reflections from those who were schoolgirls in the South West in the early 1980s

This new exhibition uncovers valuable life stories as women from working class backgrounds reflect upon their experiences within a large comprehensive school. These marginalised voices give personal accounts which expose overarching themes and experiences, including gender discrimination and a rigid educational establishment. They also consider how the expectations imposed upon them during these years, to a degree, shaped their early adult lives. Many tell how later in life they went on to […]

False Narratives

When dubious images set the political agenda

Over a 30-year period Bristol-based journalism ethics charity The MediaWise Trust challenged national newspapers over inaccurate, intrusive and unethical coverage. One method was to investigate and expose stories that distorted facts in a bid to set political agendas. The examples in this exhibition reflect just a few of the topics the Trust took on. Its Refugees Asylum-Seekers & the Media (RAM) Project (1999-2005) and the video On the Receiving End featuring exiled journalists had a […]