In a tribute to the community theatre group acta based in Gladstone Street, Bedminster and their 2014 play Gas Girls, Christine Townsend examines the exposure of a piece of lost Bristolian history that has international repercussions to this day. Acta's research helped to publicise the top secret production of mustard gas in Avonmouth factories during World War 1, and the lives of the women who carried out this dangerous work. Come and hear about the brilliant research conducted by Acta and the […]
During the summer of 1946, thousands of British families took the law into their own hands to temporarily solve their housing problems by “requisitioning” empty military camps. This mass-squatting movement was rapid, spontaneous and entirely working-class in character. While it was often driven at ground level by women, the movement soon developed a formal leadership structure dominated by ex-servicemen who had served as NCOs and warrant officers. Bristol, with particularly acute housing […]
Many of those who crowd the streets of Bedminster during Upfest or for the Winter Lantern Parade are probably oblivious that they are actually deep in mining country. For many residents, the idea that this was once an area where several coalmines existed and men emerging from pits covered in coaldust was a feature of the working day, has long been forgotten. Above ground, there are no surviving reminders of that history except a single noticeboard in Dame Emily Park. But below the nearby […]
In collaboration with radical historians from south of the river, Bristol Radical History Group (BRHG) are putting on a series of events over the autumn of 2022 looking at the hidden histories of their neighbourhoods. The first set of events is the Bedminster-Southville history festival in September and early October which features events on the history of tobacco and the experiences of those who worked in the Wills and Churchmans factories as well as talks and films on mining, squatting the […]
Not A BRHG Event
BRHG will be taking it's Book Stall to Trinity Centre on bank holiday Sunday, 28 August, 11am to 4pm, for the all new Bristol Alternative Market. The Market is described on it's FB event as: A Wonderful new event for Bristol's Alternative community! An inclusive space for everyone. 80 booked traders set in a gorgeous Gothic community owned venue. The stalls will cover a diverse range, including: Clothes - new, pre-loved, reworked, vintage Books - radical, gothic, vintage, alternative health, […]
The amazing story of the secret beneath a Bedminster bike shop. A tale of struggle in wartime – full of intrigue, escapes, comradeship…and bikes. What does it mean to be a refugee and on the run in your own country? Who will give you a bed for the night, a job… or a means of escape? Puppetry, documentary material and songs combine in a narrative based on the true stories of Bristolians during 1914-1917, and the hidden history of resistance to the war machine. Following the screening the makers […]
In 1855 rumours of murder and a cover up were circulating in the small north Somerset village of Walton-in-Gordano. An epileptic destitute country girl, Hannah Wiltshire, had died in the Bedminster Union Workhouse at Flax Bourton. The Board of Guardians were suspected of concealing the true magnitude of neglect at the workhouse, leading to accusations of medical negligence. Wiltshire's death caused public outrage after letters were written to the local newspapers. This talk illustrates […]
This talk is based on a community oral history project, that in 2014, explored the lived history of local people who worked in the tobacco factories in Bedminster and Ashton. It offers an understanding of the social fabric of the Bedminster area, and the economic forces which have shaped our community. Helen will provide an overview of the manufacturing processes and how they changed over time; and an insight into what it was like for the workers: recruitment, working conditions, […]
I entered the shop floor of the small Bristol tobacco factory, Churchmans, in 1972. I wanted see, hear and smell the work and to talk to women manual workers about their work, their lives and their views. They were called ‘semi-skilled’ workers. What they did, weighing and cutting and rolling tobacco awed me with its speed and skill. Yet they could talk above the overwhelming rattle of machinery. Amazingly, I could interview them too. I had approached several larger factories in Bristol to do […]
This is a hugely ambitious book, setting out to provide an integration of the work of both archaeologists and of anthropologists. The extent of their ambition is spelt out on page 24 “we will not only be presenting a new history of humankind, but inviting the reader into a new science of history, one that restores our ancestors to their full humanity.” I accepted that invitation but confess that I sometimes found it hard going, as demanding an intellectual workout as some choose to subject […]
