News Feed - Bristol Radical History Group

They inspired us #3 – Living Easton

By Roger

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 […]

Bristol men and women who were involved in the General Strike

By Rob Whitfield

Tens of thousands of workers in Bristol were involved in the miners’ lock-out and the General Strike. Here is a brief selection of the names of people who were involved. We would welcome additional information, and especially photographs, regarding these workers, and any other workers involved. Please send them to brh@brh.org.uk. The trade union leaders Each of the unions involved were national organisations with their own national leaders. At local level there were union organisers and the […]

Vampires of Avonmouth

Tim Kindberg's history of the West of England in the late twenty-first century

By Tim Kindberg

Front cover of Vampires of Avonmouth novel featuring hand clutching beads

What is lurking near the end of the grand pier with its wisht presence? Anyone who has taken a cursory glance at a field guide to the natural history of the vampire will know that there are vampires of blood, and other species hungry to feed upon the psyche. Those that inhabit the irresistibly titled Vampires of Avonmouth are the latter. Set in the late twenty-first century West Country and Ghana, the novel follows the efforts of the chief protagonists, rogue ID cop, David, tracking “renegades”, […]

Garden suburbs of Bristol

Steve Hunt, author of Bristol Radical History Group book, Yesterday’s To-morrow: Bristol’s Garden Suburbs, will discuss the principles and practical impact of the garden-city movement in our city at April’s North Bristol History Society meeting. The 1918 Tudor Walters Report came with the well-known aspiration to build “homes fit for heroes” after the First World War. The interwar council housing boom that followed shaped much of the development of Bristol as we know it today. It aimed to create […]

Two new titles from Breviary Stuff

By Roger

Two new interesting titles from the 'independent publisher of radical history, working-class history, history from below', Breviary Stuff who have done a great job in making classics of social and political history accessible and publishing lots of new material. The latest two titles, bring us a case study of Victorian policing in Huddersfield Beats, Backstreets and Brothels by David Taylor and Persisting in the Truth by Andrew Shields, a biographical study of Irish activist journalist Peter […]

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.

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 […]

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 […]

Fighting Women: Interviews with veterans of the Spanish Civil War

Isabella Lorusso author of Fighting Women: Interviews with veterans of the Spanish Civil War will be speaking about her collection of interviews from the 1990s with women veterans of the fight against fascism in Spain in the 1930s. Fighting women is a choral book, a set of interviews conducted with Spanish women who took part in the civil war. Some took up arms and fought on the front, others joined the POUM, Free Women or different anarchist groups. They all fought against Francoism and for the […]

2026 International Women’s Day Celebration

BRHG will be running their book stall in the Main Hall all day and..... Lord Mayor's Reception | Workshops 14:00 – 14:45 | In Search of Her Stories: using archival records to research women’s history The Bristol Radical History Group explores how to undertake women’s history using a range of resources. The talk draws on group member Judie’s current research into Bristol’s Magdalene Homes and the control of working class women’s lives and bodies in the 19th century. If you would like pre-book any […]