South Bristol Voice June 2017

southbristolvoice June 2017 No. 25

www.southbristolvoice.co.uk

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WHATEVER ELSE YOU DO ON JUNE 8, GET OUT AND USE YOUR VOTE

• Driver fights off van hijacker Page 4 • WIN Tea at the new fruit farm Page 6 • Costa puts in a new Knowle plan Page 15 Tucking in: Hearty breakfasts for Zoe, Juliet, Amy, and Bella, 7

Serving a hearty hunger Listen to the candidates: video interviews with all 6 contenders for Bristol South will be online at southbristolvoice.co.uk

General Election special: Pages 16-25

THE SOUND of rumbling tummies was quickly quietened when members of Victoria Park Baptist church held their first Big Brekkie.

Held to mark the 60th anniversary of Christian Aid, it saw dozens of people trooping through the doors of the Sylvia Avenue church to enjoy a choice of traditional breakfasts with sausages, bacon and eggs.

Much of the food was donated – fruit by Gaines grocers, sausages from The Little Butcher, bread and cakes from Park Bakery, eggs

from the Co-op and bacon from Bristol Meat Machine. “We are delighted by the support we’ve been given by traders,” said church secretary Jackie Knott.

Christian Aid began in 1957 when churches were still helping refugees following World War II. “We decided we wanted to help the charity, and that as we had these lovely premises [the spacious church hall was opened in 2015] we would open them up and hopefully raise some money,” Jackie said. The event raised £250.

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IN

June 2017

southbristolvoice

2 Paul Breeden Editor & publisher 07811 766072 paul@southbristolvoice.co.uk Ruth Drury Sales executive 07590 527664 sales@southbristolvoice.co.uk Editorial team: Beccy Golding, Alex Morss & The Wicked Witch.

Deliveries: Greg Champion

Intro JUST DO IT (vote, that is) THEY always say elections are important, don’t they? But this time it’s true, for Bristol South in particular.

Many people will be assuming that the General Election on June 8 will return another Labour MP for our constituency.

Well, not necessarily: the race is too tight to call, with the Conservatives tipped by some to take the seat.

Traditionally Bristol South has given a sizeable vote to all the main parties: the Conservatives, UKIP, Greens and Lib Dems all polled many thousands at the last election in 2015 – though Labour’s Karin

You can find South Bristol Voice on Facebook and Twitter facebook.com/ southbristolvoice Twitter: @sbristolvoice Co. no. 09522608 | VAT no. 211 0801 76

Next month’s deadline for editorial and advertising is June 14th

Smyth was way out in front.

This time it’s different. What happens here, in Labour’s safest seat in the South West, will be watched nationwide.

Does Bristol South want to vote for change, to back the Conservative goal of a more united nation?

Do we want to stick with Labour, who will argue that a vote for anyone else will let the Conservatives in?

Or do we want to show support for a broad range of parties, as before?

Turnout in Bristol South was the lowest in the city in 2015 (62 per cent, when Bristol North West managed 72 per cent).

Let’s change that, at least.

• ELECTION coverage has restricted the amount of space we give to other news this month.

n BRIEFLY n GAINES the grocer is not planning to close – even though the business is up for sale. The Voice reported last month that owner Jason Gaines wants to sell to return to his first love of playing and teaching music.

Jason reassured customers that his plan is to keep the shop in Wells Road, Totterdown, open until a buyer is found. n THE NEW FOUND OUT pub in Green Street, Totterdown, has new landlords: father and son Paul and Frank Sprackman.

The pair took on the Luckwell in Ashton earlier in the year: they also run another four pubs. n A GARAGE in Somerset Terrace, Windmill Hill, can be taken down to make way for a two-storey house. Planners have given the idea outline permission, but detailed permission will be needed before building can begin. n THE Town & Country Lodge on Bridgwater Road has been sold for more than the £1.6m asking price. Selling agent Christie & Co said the buyers,

brothers Andrew & Peter Churchill, will continue to run it as a hotel and family pubrestaurant and have plans to further develop the business. The 2.5 acre site has 36 bedrooms and large public areas, including a former nightclub. The Ashdown family, who owned it for 40 years, have sold it in order to retire. n A SOUTH Bristol pet store is to hold a sponsored dog walk after its first event last year was a huge success. Just for Pets at Imperial Park, Hartcliffe, is inviting all dog owners to join the Woof Walk, which starts from the store on July 29. Last year’s walk raised £2,600 for Guide Dogs for the Blind. Details: • Facebook: Bristol Woof Walk n THE DUCHESS of Totterdown, the Wells Road tearoom which closed at the end of March, is to re-open as a licensed tapas restaurant within weeks. Planners have allowed an extended outdoor seating area, but the canopy will be the same size as the existing one, and outdoor use will only be allowed until 10pm.

How do I get in touch with ...

My MP? There is no MP for Bristol South until the General Election on June 8.

COMMERCIAL

My councillor?

DOMESTIC

Christopher Davies Lib Dem, Knowle Post: Brunel House, St George’s Road, Bristol BS1 5UY Email: Cllr.Christopher.Davies@ bristol.gov.uk

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Gary Hopkins Lib Dem, Knowle (Lib Dem leader) Email: USEFUL NUMBERS Bristol City Council www.bristol.gov.uk 0117 922 2000 Waste, roads 0117 922 2100 Pest control and dog wardens 0117 922 2500 Council tax 0117 922 2900 Housing benefit 0117 922 2300 Social services 0117 922 2900

Cllr.Gary.Hopkins@bristol.gov.uk Phone: 0117 985 1491 or 07977 512159 L ucy Whittle Labour, Windmill Hill Post: Brunel House, St George’s Road, Bristol BS1 5UY Phone: 07392 108805 Email: Cllr.Lucy.Whittle@bristol.gov.uk Jon Wellington Labour, Windmill Hill Post: Brunel House, St George’s Road, Bristol BS1 5UY Phone: 07392 108804 Email: Cllr.Jon.Wellington@bristol.gov.uk Police Inquiries 101 Emergency 999 Fire

Emergency 999 Inquiries 0117 926 2061 NEIGHBOURHOOD FORUMS NOTE: These meetings are on hold due to council cutbacks.

EDITOR’S NOTE: South Bristol Voice is independent. We cannot take responsibility for content or accuracy of adverts, and it is advertisers’ responsibility to conform to all relevant legislation.

Feedback is welcomed: call editor Paul Breeden on 07811 766072 or email paul@southbristolvoice.co.uk.

All stories and pictures are copyright of South Bristol Voice and may not be reproduced without permission in this or any other plane of the multiverse.

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June 2017

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n NEWS Eating Room and Upfest among award winners SOUTH Bristol has several proud winners in the Bristol Life awards 2017.

Totterdown eatery The Eating Room took the café/coffee shop category, with the judges saying: “Great environment, great food and great service. A small team of two that have put their heart and soul into this, they deserve to win!”

And the arts category was won by BraveBold Drama, the Withywood-based team who

create plays for children as well as working with teenagers. The judges said: “Brave Bold Drama connects with its audience and has a great outreach. Doing something positive with teenagers, a very impressive organisation.”

The Old Bookshop in North Street, Bedminster, took the honours for best bar, with the comment: “A highly appealing hybrid of what a bar/café/

restaurant should be. It’s done a very good job of evolving and expanding with live music and gin bar.”

Best event was Bedminster’s annual street art festival, Upfest, which has now grown into a major attraction for overseas visitors every July. “This isn’t just an event, it is so much more and has a lasting impact. You don’t get much more Bristol than Upfest,” said the judges.

Shock as Star & Dove team says they’re closing doors THE STAR & DOVE in St Luke’s Road has shocked Totterdown by announcing that it’s to close its doors on May 28.

Landlords Leigh Pascoe, Timothy Denny and Matthew Duggan are leaving the pub and its upstairs restaurant, saying they “have decided to move on and pursue new adventures.”

The trio have run the pub since 2011, investing in a retro style and a quirky, Old English menu.

They have invited locals to “drink the bar dry” on Sunday May 28, offering reduced prices throughout the evening.

The news caused some consternation on social media, with many bemoaning the passing of the pub’s famous Scotch eggs, available at the bar.

Comments included, “Oh no!!

We love the Star & Dove. Good luck in your new endeavours,” and “Nooooo!!! The Star and Dove is a gem! My tummy is devastated!!!”

The Voice asked the pub’s

owner, Enterprise Inns, for comment but the firm was unable to say whether it has a new tenant lined up for the pub, or whether it will close.

Though most people reacting online were upset about the closure, one or two criticised the pub for poor service and high prices.

It has also been known to run out of beer on several occasions.

Reviews on Trip Advisor range from “worst place ever” to “unexpectedly fantastic” – but most rated it “excellent”, with a score of 4.5 out of 5. The

Jubilee silence

Open doors for school party

THERE is still no official word on whether Jubilee swimming pool is safe from closure.

The pool was threatened with the loss of its £60,000 council subsidy from September. The Voice understands that an outline deal has been reached with the pool operator, Parkwood Leisure, to run it without subsidy. But no statement is expected until June.

CLEVE House school is throwing open its doors to everyone who wants to help celebrate its 80th anniversary at a tea party from 2-3.30pm on Friday June 16.

Head teacher Craig Wardle said: “We would like to welcome everybody who has an association with the school, including past pupils and anyone who would like to come and meet

Closing unexpectedly: The Star & Dove in St Luke’s Road, Totterdown Historic Dining Room restaurant above the pub – which offered an adventurous menu of recipes from history – has already shut.

• Meanwhile, the new tenants of the Shakespeare in Henry Street, Totterdown – which was until last year also run by the Star & Dove team – are appealing to the public for help in making a display about the pub’s history and its characters. The pub reopened last month, managed by the owners of the Rose of Denmark at Hotwells.

• Facebook: The Shakespeare Totterdown

us.” The event starts with children showing visitors around the school in Wells Road, Knowle, followed by all 65 pupils gathering to sing the school song – written last year by children with the help of music teacher Mrs Pugh. Then there will be tea for everyone – outside if the weather is fine.

• clevehouseschool.co.uk

3

Iain’s on the run – for the next two years LOTS of people do charity runs, but Totterdown’s Iain MacDougall has taken things one stage further by committing himself to two years of running.

Iain has already completed his first challenge – a 5k run at Ashton Court at the end of April.

Now he’s training for bigger challenges – a 10k race, a half marathon and a full marathon, all of which he hopes to complete by the end of next year.

Iain wants to raise £10,000 to split between two places which helped his brother and his sister – HospisCare in Exeter and Derriford Hospital in Barnstaple.

Iain’s blog explains that he was devastated when 13 years ago his sister died in an accident, then he lost his brother to cancer.

Iain withdrew into himself and “hit the bottom”.

“The tragedy in my life has made me look at how I live mine.

I’m an average guy really and now I have decided to blog, vlog and make a difference to me, my family and for others,” he said.

There’s a longer version of this story on the South Bristol Voice website. If you’d like to support Iain in his quest, turn to his blog or his Justgiving page.

• Crowdfunding.justgiving. com/2yrsrunning

Outdoor club will not be an all-nighter TOTTERDOWN residents who are kept awake by revellers at the Motion nightclub in St Philip’s have been told it is not allowed to play music outdoors all night.

Motion – housed in a set of warehouses next to Totterdown lock – is advertising a new session, called the Yard, on Saturday August 26, with outdoor DJs and food stalls. However, outside activities are billed to end at 10pm.

Bristol city council said Motion is licensed for outdoor events until 10.30pm each night.

The indoor licence runs to 7am.

Motion is a major draw for clubbers: it was voted 19th Best Club in the World by DJ Mag in 2016.

Got a story or any other inquiry? Call Paul on 07811 766072 or email paul@southbristolvoice.co.uk

June 2017

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n NEWS

Driver hurt as van hijacked

Paul serves Tez and Charlotte

Slice of delight TWO MORE delighted winners of a South Bristol Voice competition tucked into their prize in May. Charlotte Owen of Lower Knowle and her partner Tez were at A Cappella in Wells Road, Totterdown, where owner Paul Stewart is celebrating 10 years as one of Bristol’s bestreviewed pizza restaurants.

“We had such a nice time,” said Charlotte.

• Turn to page 6 for another great Voice competition – which also involves a tasty prize.

POLICE are appealing for witnesses after a dramatic hijacking of a delivery van led to the vehicle smashing into the side of a newly-built house.

The driver of the van tried to wrestle back control of his vehicle from the hijacker – then struggled with the man when he made his getaway in a car. The driver was later seen with a bandaged arm.

The van driver, who works for UK Mail, was delivering a parcel to a property in Knowle Road at about 3pm on May 12 when he saw his van being driven away.

The driver leapt into his van as the thief drove off and turned down Winton Street, a narrow back road behind Wells Road.

The pair struggled as the van continued down the road until the thief lost control and the van ploughed through a telegram pole, demolishing it, and slammed into the wall of a house in Winton Lane. The thief leapt

Drama as thief and driver wrestle before crashing into house Aftermath: the scene in Winton Street, Totterdown out and got into a car, driven by an accomplice.

Undefeated, the van driver tried to pull the thief from the car but was dragged along as it sped off.

The car – a dark Ford Ka – turned into Bushy Park. Police said: “We have already spoken to a number of people in connection with the incident but are keen for

anyone else with information to contact us. We would particularly like to know which direction the Ford Ka took.” Anyone with information is asked to call 101 quoting 5217106082.

The house in Winton Lane – only finished this year – has a sizeable crack through the wall.

UK Mail declined to comment.

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n NEWS

Taking axe to tree budget risks council being sued COUNCILLORS and Bristol’s Tree Forum have slammed a cutback that they say makes no sense and could cost the council much more than it saves.

In a little-noticed move as part of plans to save £100m over the next five years, the budget for managing street trees is to be cut by nearly 78 per cent, from £240,000 to £53,000 a year.

This means street trees won’t be pollarded to keep their growth under control. Epicormic growth around the base of trees will also be left uncut – potentially blocking pavements.

The Tree Forum fears this could lead to street trees being felled if they start to decline.

The forum said: “Tree management will be limited to felling to address safety risks. As a result, Bristol’s street tree

population will rapidly fall into decline as they are steadily removed, never to be replaced.”

Trees allowed to grow unchecked will spread their roots and may cause buildings to shift or subside.

It’s believed that this is why the council pays tree surgeons to pollard mature trees on many South Bristol roads every year.

On Knowle roads such as Crowndale Road and Lilymead Avenue, several houses have suffered subsidence in the past.

If it happens in future because the trees are neglected, residents could choose to sue the council – wiping out any cost savings.

Forum members are also upset that no more trees will be planted – even if they’re paid for.

Currently anyone can pay £295 to sponsor a tree in a park or a

street, but that’s not enough to cover costs.

Developers who are forced by planning rules to plant trees are charged more – £765.

Cllr Charlie Bolton, Green councillor for Southville, backed the forum’s complaints and the party is opposing the cut – though it has little chance of reversing it if it continues to be backed by the council’s Labour majority.

“These decisions will threaten Bristol’s reputation as a green city,” said the forum.

The Voice asked the council for an explanation of how the cuts to the street tree budget were possible without leaving the authority liable to legal action if the trees caused damage to properties. No response was received as we went to press.

Acoustic sounds for summer day THERE’S a day of good music to come on Saturday June 17 when Totterdown Methodist Church presents The Charity Acoustic Event. It features musicians Dan Milton, Jake Ryall, Frazer Harris, Tia Psihogios, James Buckingham, Olly Impossible and Alexander O’Dowd.

Doors open at 11.30am and the music is from 12noon to 4pm.

Refreshments will be available.

Tickets are £6, with proceeds going to Bristol Children’s Hospital and church funds. Call Naomi on 07977 437620 for tickets (also sold on the door).

Jewel of a class FREE jewellery-making courses for young people over 16 are being offered by Knowle West Media Centre. They’re on Thursdays in June from 10am1pm. Details from 0117 403 2306 or thefactory@kwmc.org.uk

CLEVE HOUSE SCHOOL & LITTLE CLEVE NURSERY

For boys and girls aged 2-11 years www.clevehouseschool.co.uk

DID YOU GET YOUR FIRST CHOICE? MAKE THE BEST CHOICE! Come and see us at 254 Wells Road, Bristol BS4 2PN

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WATCH US GROW AT CLEVE HOUSE!

Got a story or any other inquiry? Call Paul on 07811 766072 or email paul@southbristolvoice.co.uk

June 2017

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n NEWS Gold award for school’s arty endeavours

Name the new fruit farm, get the chance to open it Plans are springing to life, writes Redcatch Community Garden’s Tina Badley

Drama: Variety is vital, says head VICTORIA Park primary school has been awarded the Artsmark Gold Award by the Arts Council for its enthusiastic approach to art throughout the school.

To achieve the award, the school had to demonstrate its commitment to providing a broad and rich curriculum, which includes music, dance, drama, art and poetry. The panel commended the “whole school commitment to the arts” and the way creativity was woven into the curriculum.

Jack Lacey, headteacher at Victoria Park, said “We are absolutely delighted to achieve Artsmark Gold status. At a time when schools are held to account for results in English and Maths alone, it’s more important than ever that children have opportunities to be creative in a range of subjects.

“At Victoria Park, we believe children learn best when they have opportunities to shine in areas across the curriculum and our recent results back this up.”

IF YOU’VE wandered through Redcatch Park in Knowle recently, you might have noticed there’s a burst of activity on the old bowling green. The area has been neglected for many years, but now exciting plans for a community garden are starting to take shape.

The project, which aims to provide learning and social opportunities for all, will see the space cultivated with a number of fruit and vegetable plots.

There will also be a sensory garden for children, the disabled and the elderly, a mini market

GREEN LIGHT FOR FARM PLANS for the proposed fruit farm have been approved by the city council despite one objection.

One resident raised concerns about increased traffic and noise, and asked if a fruit farm will be able to pay its way.

The garden should not be allowed to open up Redcatch’s secret garden, he said – a small strip of wooded land next to the proposed fruit farm. A report by a

WIN A VIP EXPERIENCE! THE NEW Redcatch café will be selling great coffee, fresh cups of tea and a healthy range of drinks for the kids, alongside some homemade treats. The only thing that’s missing is a name!

So get your thinking caps on and go to the Redcatch Community Garden Facebook

Going up: One of the polytunnels selling garden produce and a small café which will use fresh, seasonal produce straight from planning officer said separate permission would be needed to open up the secret garden, which is not proposed at the moment.

The new garden is not expected to bring more visitors or cause more noise than when it was a bowling green and later a croquet green, said the report.

The green will have two polytunnels and a shop styled like a garden shed, with an awning and an event space outside.

page by June 18 to add your suggestion for a suitable café name. If yours is the best one, you’ll be invited to cut the red ribbon when the café opens and see yourself featured in the next Voice. You’ll also receive a voucher for a tea or coffee and a slice of cake for two. Good luck!

• Facebook: Redcatch Community Garden the garden. A group of volunteers has already erected a super-sized poly-tunnel so Steve, the project gardener, can get a head start on this year’s crops.

Within a few months, it’s hoped that the whole community will be growing together and reaping the rewards in the form of healthy, nutritious food and a new connection with nature.

Help make it happen This community project has so far relied on donations and the hard work of volunteers, but to move it into the next phase, Redcatch Community Garden needs your help. This month sees the launch of a Crowdfunder appeal and it’s hoped that all money raised will be matchfunded by the Green Capital Better Bristol Fund.

There are some really great rewards for those who donate – you can find out more by searching for Redcatch Community Garden at crowdfunder.co.uk.

ASK A VET: How should I look after my rabbit’s teeth?

A

RABBIT’S teeth are open rooted, meaning they are constantly growing. If not worn down or treated regularly, this can cause some serious problems for your rabbit.

Diets high in fibre – that is, high in grass and hay, high-fibre forage and a pellet-based food – are best.

Diets that have inadequate hay, too much fruit, veg or muesli mixes will allow the overgrowth and eventual malocclusion (when the teeth do not meet properly).

Overgrown teeth can lead to spur formation (spikes on the teeth). These spurs dig in to the soft tissues of the mouth causing pain.

Maloccluded teeth apply abnormal pressures on each other which often leads to inflamed and sometimes elongated roots. These can be painful and can eventually lead to the formation of dental abscesses.

There are a number of telltale signs to look out for that might mean your rabbit has dental disease. These can include subtle symptoms such a change in eating habits, grinding of the teeth (bruxism) or bad breath. More obvious signs can include dribbling under chin and inside the front legs, runny eyes, runny nose, faecal clagging around back end, lumps

on the face due to dental abscesses and overgrown front teeth.

Once teeth are maloccluded and have spurs, a rabbit is unlikely to have normal teeth again. However, they can have a good quality of life if they receive regular dental treatment and pain relief. Dental treatment should be performed under general anaesthesia by an experienced, rabbit-savvy vet.

Dental disease in rabbits should never be ignored and regular check-ups are recommended to catch problems early.

If you notice these changes or see the above signs you should contact your rabbit-savvy vet as

Sonya Miles BVSc MRCVS Highcroft Veterinary Hospital, Whitchurch soon as possible. Book your rabbit in for a free health check during Rabbit Awareness Week from June 17-25. Call Highcroft Veterinary Hospital on 01275 832410.

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n NEWS

 



Chance to have your say on Bristol’s grotty quality of air AIR POLLUTION EVENTS WITH CLAIRCITY June 10-11 Festival of Nature, Millennium Square (UWE tent) 10am-5pm June 15 Hartcliffe Gatehouse Centre 10am-12noon June 21 Tresa, location tbc, Totterdown 7.30pm

the pollution from vehicles there is so bad. A similar planning condition was going to be imposed on a planned block of flats on the Parson Street gyratory, but that plan was refused for other reasons.

Dr Corra Boushel who is working on the ClairCity project at UWE said: “Shockingly, air pollution in Bristol is linked to the deaths of around 300 people every year due to heart attacks, strokes and cancer. The main cause of air pollution in Bristol is the traffic, and people inside cars can be exposed to as much – and sometimes more – air pollution than pedestrians or cyclists.”

      



The events will enable people to ask questions about the issue, as well as give their own views. A link to a survey is given below.

Alternatives such as electric vehicles and other less polluting forms of transport will be on the agenda.

“The project aims to draw up a policy package for politicians to identify the best options to really tackle this issue in a way that works for local people, and can make a difference,” Dr Boushel said.

ClairCity is working with Bristol city council and Weca, the new West of England authority.

Bristol is the pioneer leading the project – ClairCity also plans to work in five other European cities, including Amsterdam and Genova.

• Survey: bit.ly/bristolsurvey • claircity.eu

New floor: Plan for Hill Avenue

    

THE OWNERS of three houses facing Victoria Park are to be allowed to add an extra storey by raising the roof level of their terraced homes.

Planners have allowed residents at 3, 4 and 5 Hill Avenue to gain an extra floor but only provided they all carry out the work according to their plans.

Previous plans have suggested altering just one of the houses, which planners said would harm the appearance of the area.

One objector said the larger house would be overbearing, would cause overshadowing, overlooking and loss of light.

Planners said none of the effects would be significant.

    

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New West mayor is Tory CONSERVATIVE Tim Bowles was elected the first metro mayor for the West of England in the election held on May 4.

Labour’s Lesley Mansell was the runner-up – though she was a clear winner in Bristol (see below). The Lib Dem contender Stephen Williams was third.

Mr Bowles heads Weca, a new authority, working with the leaders of South Gloucestershire, Bristol and Bath & North East Somerset councils to plan housing, transport and training.

All the authority members are

Conservative, apart from Bristol’s Labour mayor, Marvin Rees.

Weca has a £30 million-a year investment fund. It will manage a Key Route Network of local roads, and has wide powers over bus and rail services.

It will also draw up a plan for housing across the region.

North Somerset council did not want to join the new authority. It is seen as a vital part of many discussions, though, such as improving transport to Bristol airport, and possible new homes in the Green Belt.

THE VOTING Across the region

Bristol First preference votes Lesley Mansell Labour 29,676 Stephen Williams Lib Dem 20,675 Tim Bowles Conservative 18,146 John Savage Independent 14,467 Darren Hall Green 13,857 Aaron Foot UKIP 3,354 Turnout Across the region 29.7% Bristol 31.1%

First preference votes Tim Bowles Conservative Lesley Mansell Labour Stephen Williams Lib Dem John Savage Independent Darren Hall Green Aaron Foot UKIP Second preference votes Tim Bowles Con Lesley Mansell Labour

53,796 43,627 39,794 29,500 22,054 8,182 70,300 65,923

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RESEARCHERS want to hear from people in South Bristol about how air pollution is affecting their lives.

A series of events in the south of the city will be held by ClairCity, a Europe-wide project that’s working with the University of the West of England to find out what people want to do to achieve a cleaner city.

A series of presentations in Hartcliffe and in the city centre will end with a presentation to community group Tresa in Totterdown on June 21.

It’s reckoned that 300 early deaths are caused by poor air quality in Bristol each year.

Roads in the city centre – such as Rupert Street – are the worst affected, but local hotspots include the Three Lamps junction, Parson Street, and Bedminster Parade.

In Bedminster Parade, some of the new flats being built in the former tobacco offices near Asda will have their windows fixed shut on the street side because

Homeowners can raise roof

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June 2017

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n NEWS Cycleway plans to be unveiled to public NEW plans for a cycleway through Victoria Park will be explained at a public meeting at St Michael’s church, Windmill Hill, at 7.15pm on June 19.

Members of Forward Together, the pressure group set up in the wake of a controversial plan for a “cycle superhighway”, are hoping their concerns have been taken on board by the city council’s Cycling Ambition Fund team.

The council’s application for a 4.7m wide cycle lane in the park was withdrawn in January after hundreds of objections from local people, and many letters of support from cyclists.

The new plan is expected to include most of the requests made by Forward Together.

The path will be shared, and will be just 3m wide. It will follow mainly existing paths from the corner of Hill Avenue and Nutgrove Avenue to go through the centre of the park and past the adventure play area, with some new sections to avoid trees.

It will not be lit except for the section alongside the railway, between St Luke’s Road and Windmill Close. Barriers will be kept at the entrances, altered to make access easier for cyclists and disabled people.

Consultation on the plan starts on June 12. A planning application is expected in July. All work on the £2.3 million Filwood Quietway, of which the park route is a part, has to be finished

by March 2018 or government funding will be lost.

City Farm votes for nursery, not footie WINDMILL Hill City Farm looks likely to pursue a plan to build a new nursery on part of its land – providing 32 childcare places and securing the financial future of the community farm.

If it happens, the 13 teams who use the farm’s five-a-side pitch will have to find somewhere else to play.

The farm’s trustees delayed a decision last month to consider the arguments put forward by the teams, and consult the farm’s membership. Members voted 15-2 in favour of the nursery plan, with two abstentions.

Farm chief executive Steve Sayer told the Voice there would now be a feasibility study. A planning application is likely to be submitted to the council in the next few weeks. In order to get government funding, the nursery needs to open in the autumn.

The project offers the farm the prospect of a steady income of £300,000 a year which could secure its future. The pitch earns about £7,000 a year.

“Changing the use from a pitch to a nursery will be a difficult decision for the trustees,” said Mr Sayer.

“However, at 13 years old, the pitch is beyond its expected lifespan. If the project goes ahead the farm will work with the teams and the council towards finding alternative provision.

“There are more than 400 families on the waiting list for the existing popular nursery at the

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Now five-a-side players say they’ll object if planning application follows farm. In a world where grants are getting harder to win, the farm needs to generate more of its own income to ensure it is still here for future generations to enjoy.”

Many of the football players, however, are not happy.

Nikki Tillett, who has been playing on the pitch as part of a women’s team, Windmill Hill Dynamos, for more than 25 years, believes the farm isn’t looking hard enough at other places to put the nursery.

“I feel the farm have been put in a very difficult position,” she said. “There is no time for them to make sensible choices.”

Other places considered for the pitch are the new garden space at the farm entrance; one of the paddocks; and an outside play area. Mr Sayer told the Voice none of them were suitable.

Nikki said the farm has only paid “lip service” to the alternatives. She warned that if a planning application is made, it will be opposed not only by the players but by Sport England and the Football Foundation.

So far neither the farm nor the council has been able to suggest another pitch which the teams could use in the vicinity.

Are you game for a bike ride?

HENGROVE’S Family Cycling Centre is asking Are you Game? As part of Bristol’s year as a European City of Sport, it’s offering free sessions on Wednesdays (1-2.30pm) or Fridays (1-3pm). The centre will provide bikes and helmets and lots of encouragement to help people regain their cycling confidence or build up their fitness on a bike.

The centre in Bamfield is also hosting a free community fun day to help South Bristol Community Hospital celebrate its five-year anniversary.

On Saturday June 10 from 10am to 4pm there will be cycling taster sessions using the centre’s two-wheelers, all-abilities bikes and bike trailers and tag-alongs; Nordic walking sessions; bike rides organised by Life Cycle; sales of refurbished bikes, swaps of children’s bikes and more.

• betterbybike.info/ familycyclingcentre

New name for the Big Lunch TOTTERDOWN’S Big Lunch will this year be called the Great Get Together. That’s because it’s being held on Sunday June 18, when events will be held up and down the country in honour of Jo Cox, the MP who was murdered one year ago. As usual the event will be in Park Street, near the community orchard, with an outdoor meal, music and games including turnip rolling.

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southbristolvoice

n NEWS Objections roll in to Rollo plan for Malago energy centre

SO FAR 67 objections have been made to the plan for an energy centre by Rollo Hoomes next to its proposed 10-storey block of 217 flats on Malago Road.

Neighbours voiced worries about possible noise and pollution, and several asked that the plan be considered together

9

with the flats, as they will bring more traffic and further harm air quality.

WHaM, the Windmill Hill planning group, said the plans were not clear enough: they do not show the gas-powered plant’s 32m-high chimney in relation to the proposed flats. The chimney

is lower than the flats, and lower than parts of Windmill Hill, meaning that both could be affected by exhaust from the plant, said WHaM. The group questioned the viability of the plant: rival developer Urbis is also drawing up plans for an energy centre.

Mum cuts out shopping to help pay for care for son, 3 A SOUTH Bristol mum is trying to avoid buying anything new for a year – apart from food, of course.

Ildi Green wants to see if she can last 12 months without buying any clothes or consumer goods that aren’t essential for her and her son Benjamin, 3.

She’s doing it partly to avoid waste but mainly to save money to pay for care for Benjamin, who has a rare genetic condition.

Her son has a rare chromosomal abnormality, 49XXXXY, which limits his motor skills and means he’s been slow to develop.

Ildi said Benjamin has not yet started to talk. He has been waiting for an NHS speech assessment for 10 months.

“We have been waiting for appointments for a long, long time and I just cannot wait any longer,” Ildi said, “so I have paid for a private assessment.”

In August she will take Benjamin to Taunton where the brain injury charity Brainwaves will assess him over two days.

The assessment normally costs £500, though Ildi has been

given a discount to £200. She’s also eager to raise money for Brainwaves (see below).

She is also paying for weekly therapy in Bristol to help improve Benjamin’s motor skills.

He is very sensitive in his hands and feet, so he is being introduced to a range of sensations, and helped with things he finds difficult, like his balance.

Ildi is also paying for lessons in Makaton, a sign language designed for children with learning difficulties.

She hasn’t found it too hard to avoid spending money, and reckons she has saved about £200 in the first two months.

“I’m not buying alcohol, I’m not going out for meals. I used to go out for coffee a lot but now I make my coffee in a flask and take it to the park.

“I needed a table, but my neighbour had one she didn’t need and she gave it to me.”

She has realised how wasteful Western lifestyles are: “I think most people could go for a year without buying clothes, for example,” she said. “We are

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going to sink this planet the way we are going.”

Ildi, who lives in St Anne’s, works part-time, so money is short. She is determined not only to pay the bills, but to buy healthy food for her and her son.

Beyond that, she thinks we could all get by on a lot less.

“In any case there’s so much stuff you can find in charity shops or on Facebook!” she said.

• Totterdown estate agent Greenwoods has generously said

Ildi and her son Benjamin, 3 it will kickstart Ildi’s appeal for Brainwaves with a donation of £200. If you’d like to help, go to: • justgiving.com/fundraising/ Ildi-Green

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June 2017

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n NEWS

Potted fun: Planting wildflowers in Victoria Park are these children from Victoria Park primary school, left, and St Mary Redcliffe primary, right

Growing excitement for young planters

SCHOOLS across the BS3 postcode are invited to support My Wild Bedminster, a project to encourage everyone in the area to improve habitats for wildlife.

Children are being invited to submit artwork for an exhibition in the autumn. Adults can enter the South Bristol Voice monthly BS3 wildlife photo competition with a £10 prize. We’ve had lots of entries including several foxes.

Sadly there’s no room to print the pictures this month, because we’ve had to give so much space to the election coverage, but you can see them online at • southbristolvoice.co.uk

CHILDREN from two primary schools have been growing their own flowers and planting them out in Victoria Park, as part of a big drive to make the park friendly to bees and butterflies.

No fewer than 60 Year 1 children from St Mary Redcliffe primary and the same number of Year 5 children from Victoria Park primary have been working with the park’s Wildlife Group and charity Butterfly Conservation.

Alex Morss, a member of the wildlife group and the Voice’s wildlife expert, explained: “We have run workshops with them where they learned about why

pollinators are important and why they need our help, and how we can create nectar-rich areas in the city to help them find food.

“This has been a wonderful project to be involved with. There is so much enthusiasm from the children. They can all name lots of different pollinators and wild flowers. We look forward to a riot of colour this summer thanks to all their brilliant efforts!”

The species planted include poppy, corncockle, corn chamomile and knapweed.

The wildlife group has created four native wild flower areas for pollinators in Victoria Park.

Protest over school funding

Flytippers won’t halt clean-up

SCHOOLS in Bristol could lose around 1,000 teachers, parents and teachers heard on May 18 at a meeting at Parson Street primary school to discuss education cuts.

Conservative plans aim to even out school funding across the country. Bristol is set to be one of the biggest losers, with school budgets cut by £33 million by 2020.

The Conservatives say no school will face a budget cut, but opponents say funds per pupil will decrease.

VOLUNTEERS are appealing for help to carry on the clean-up at Malago Greenway – undaunted by the fact that fly-tippers are continuing to dump mattresses and other rubbish.

An event on Saturday June 10 will mark a year since the residents started to transform Brixham Road and Marksbury Road open spaces.

The volunteers will tackle the last bits of heavy rubbish from the river bank and move into Marksbury Road open space.

Just a few days after the last

Several hundred people including residents, community groups and both primary schools have been involved over the last two years in digging, sowing and growing.

This year’s work was funded by a Postcode Lottery Grant given to Victoria Park Action Group, with support from Avon Wildlife Trust and Butterfly Conservation.

There is also a fifth bed, with colourful exotics, not natives, which provides another butterfly garden in the park, created by Windmill Hill resident and park volunteer Luke Keen, with seeds donated by local people and businesses.

MY WILD EXCITEMENT

clean up in March, a fridgefreezer was abandoned in the river. A few days later, a couple of mattresses and bags were thrown onto the recently-cleaned banks.

Sara Worth, one of the volunteers, said: “It is maddening.

Most [people] really appreciate what the volunteers do, though.”

The volunteers will also go from door to door to speak to people living around the parks, trying to understand where the problems stem from and what solutions can be suggested in

conjunction with Bristol Waste.

The energetic Greenway team have already raised the £3,500 needed to plant a Berry Maze of soft fruit, starting in the autumn.

Backers of that project include developer Redrow, which is building homes on Bedminster Road, and Good Gym, a group of keep-fit fanatics who jog from one community project to another.

Businesses giving free food for the volunteers include East Street Fruit & Veg and Greggs.

Get more details by emailing malagocommunity@gmail.com

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June 2017

southbristolvoice

n NEWS THE SENIOR council officer was forced to apply for Council boss who built a large loft extension permission for the wooden-clad without planning permission has extension at 3 Haverstock Road put in a second application – the when neighbours complained. tries again to same size as it is now.

The plan was refused, and in Richard Fear, the council’s December he lost an appeal. His make loft legal property investment manager, new plan suggests covering the

11 bright cedar walls in render.

The new floor will stay the same size, but the eaves will be built out so it looks as if the extension is set back. No comments had been made on the plans as the Voice went to press.

Our street is for playing THE LATEST road to shut out traffic and get on with the serious business of fun held its first Playing Out session on May 18.

Led by Sarah Armstrong, parents and neighbours in Lilymead Avenue, Knowle got together to apply for a licence to close the road for two hours.

For the road’s many children, it created a zone of unfettered fun, though adults were seen joining in the cake-eating activities.

“It was great to see the kids playing without the intervention of adults and also not to have any cars for a few hours,” said one Lilymeader. Monthly sessions are planned until September.

No way we’ll stop our play: Children in Lilymead Avenue show what they think of Playing Out

Playing Out is an idea born in Bristol which has been tried by 150 streets across the city and has spread to 40 towns and cities.

Its small team are about to move from 148 North Street, Bedminster, to Bankspace, a former bank on East Street.

A spokesperson said: “We’ve been working with residents in high-rise estates and supporting children in Hartcliffe to make a film about the impact of speeding traffic on their lives. We’re also working with others to make Bristol a Child Friendly City.”

If you’d like help setting up a Playing Out session or want to find out more, call 0117 953 7176 or email hello@playingout.net.

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n FEATURES

Freelance mums aim to boost their businesses while the kids get crafty

F

AYE Dicker is a South Bristol girl through and through, proud to have grown up in Whitchurch. “I was born in Keynsham hospital on Boxing Day, 1975. My family didn’t have a car so my dad came to visit the hospital on his tandem! That tandem was a big part of my life - we used to cycle up to Dundry and all round Whitchurch on it.” And now Faye has a cargo bike (where the kids sit in an upfronttrailer), replicating those happy memories with her two children, Jemima, 5, and Suki, 3. “On Saturday mornings we’d be up the allotment in Whitchurch, playing in the wheelbarrow – it was an idyllic childhood. I went to Bridge Farm primary school – the same school my daughter goes to now.”

Faye was “always into drama.

I went to the HTV Drama Workshop,” in the building which is now Bath Road Studios, “and at 18 I went to Dartington College of Arts to do a degree in theatre.” She returned to Bristol in her mid-20s, working at BBC Radio Bristol, later adding freelance voiceover work too.

“I was living in the Dings when I met my husband. We were trying to decide where to live and a house came up in Whitchurch village. When we went to see it I thought ‘I played in this house as a child! I know this house!’ It turned out it was

NEXT EVENTS AT FREELANCE MUM St Paul’s Church Tuesday June 13, 10am-12noon This Mum Runs founder, Mel Bounds, shares her incredible story of how she set up a community of running mums all over the country, encouraging them to get happier and healthier, while juggling her family in South Bristol.

Faye’s big idea was to bring work and childcare together, finds Beccy Golding the house which used to be occupied by the curate of St Augustine’s church when Faye was a child, and she’d been to play there frequently. They bought it – and later got married in the new church (rebuilt after the old one became dangerous).

Faye has always worked in broadcasting. “I was balancing working on the early morning breakfast show with voiceover work.” But when she had her first child she realised “the 4am starts are not going to fit any more!”

Continuing as a voiceover artist she felt “something was missing – the connections, the outlet that a workplace offers. I thought ‘I can’t be the only freelance mum’.” So she set up a blog, with podcasts offering advice on freelancing for parents.

“And, born off this, networking events – and these have really flown!”

Faye’s first Freelance Mum event was in 2013. Now she runs monthly sessions at two venues in South Bristol – St Paul’s Church on Coronation Road, on the second Tuesday of the month, and, new this year, Windmill Hill City Farm on the Windmill Hill City Farm Friday June 23, 10am-12noon Getting energy from what you eat and how to ditch the baby brain (even though they’re now toddlers!)

Nutritionist Claire Stone suggests realistic ways you can give yourself more energy, to make up for the fact you’re running after other people and never have time for yourself! “A nutritionist, not food dictator, with a love of chocolate.”

Work and play: Faye and friends talk shop and juggle their offspring fourth Friday of the month (and there’s a possible third venue on the cards). That’s every month except August (holidays) and March, when Faye runs an event, Brave, Bold & Bonkers, to mark International Women’s Day. Each monthly event sees 20-40 mums (or dads – welcome too), plus their children, attend; sessions begin with a walk – a ‘netwalk’ – followed by a speaker, rounded off with tea or coffee and a brownie for everyone, and networking, of course.

Previous speakers include Andy Day and Katy Ashworth, both from CBeebies, Rob Lowe (MD of children’s suitcase maker Trunki) and Tristan Hogg, co-founder of Pie Minister.

Freelance Mum sessions are an affordable £7.50 plus booking fee, including your drink and brownie.

Starting with a walk “is key – fresh air brings fresh thinking.

Mums can talk while the kids are scooting, or walking with them.”

Afterwards mums can concentrate on the speaker while for the kids there’s always a craft activity available (though it’s not childcare – everyone is still responsible for their own offspring). It all happens in the same room.

“It’s a slightly bonkers space, juggling business around babies, but it just works,” says Faye, “It’s effortless and child-friendly.

No-one minds if you’re breastfeeding or have to change a nappy. And people do business.

“I’ve made friends with people who live round the corner, who I didn’t know until I met them at an event. My own kids sometimes join me – they love it and they always want to come. There’s a whole network of kids who’ve met at Freelance Mum!” Now that’s next level networking.

• freelancemum.co.uk

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June 2017

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15

n NEWS

Everyone’s a dancer inside A STORY of triumph over adversity made a resounding success for the annual show by Dance Voice – a group based in Wedmore Vale.

Titled Dare to be Different: Asha’s Story, it was performed by people who attend groups at the charity, using dance and movement to create a colourful, professional-level show in the theatre at City Academy Bristol in Redfield.

“It is so moving to see people expressing their potential and to see how they have blossomed since the last show. I love the fact that each group does a piece on stage and everyone is included. It was very colourful and I was

singing along!” said one audience member.

Dance Voice has spaces for adults with learning difference s to join sessions at the Quaker Meeting House in Wedmore Vale on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 10am-12noon. The group also works with people with mental health issues and recovering from addictions.

“We use movement, dance, colourful props and wonderful music with our sensitive therapists to help people grow and change,” said a spokesperson.

“We cater for people of all abilities. Inclusiveness and appreciation of the individual is our policy. People develop better

All stars: Members of the Dance Voice group at their annual show self esteem, relationships and behaviour when they join Dance Voice groups. Families, friends and the clients notice the changes and improved quality of life.”

Costa: We’ll deliver at night to avoid making disruption COSTA is trying again to open a coffee shop in the former Co-op bank opposite the Broadwalk shopping centre, saying it can arrange deliveries so that they will not obstruct traffic.

The café chain was refused permission for a 50-seat outlet in March. Planners said the location at 316-318 Wells Road was too close to the busy traffic lights at the Broad Walk junction.

Deliveries and waste collection would not be safe because the road markings there forbid loading or unloading.

The former bank – empty since early 2014 – has no rear

access. Now Costa has put in the same plan, but with one addition – a proposal that deliveries take place each day at 3am.

Delivery vehicles will agree to stop only in the parking bay at the end of Broad Walk. Drivers will be told to use the pedestrian crossing with daily deliveries of food, milk and coffee beans.

Waste will also be picked up daily, though at varying times.

Waste drivers will be only be allowed to use the Broad Walk bay, and they too will be expected to use the pedestrian crossing.

Costa said it had the backing of the council’s transport

department for the new way of working. However, planning officials are yet to have their say.

Many residents have said Costa would help to bring life to the Broadwalk area. Others bemoaned the arrival of a huge high street chain – Costa has more than 2,000 branches.

To find out more, search Facebook for dancevoice, email admin@dancevoice.org.uk, call 0117 953 2055, or visit the website.

• Dancevoice.org.uk

Homes halted

A PLANNING application to replace a bungalow at 235 Wells Road, Knowle, with eight homes has been withdrawn.

The owners proposed two semi-detached houses and eight flats but halted the plan after 29 residents wrote to oppose it, including 21 from Belluton Road.

Two residents of Calcott Road wrote in support of the idea.

The Coal Authority also objected, saying its records showed a historic mine shaft entrance within 20m of the site.

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June 2017

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16

n GENERAL ELECTION A great debate, but with only 4 of the 6 candidates Karin Smyth accuses Tory of ‘running scared’; he says he got too little notice

L

ABOUR’s candidate for Bristol South accused her Conservative rival of running scared when he did not take part in the only scheduled debate between the constituency’s candidates before the General Election.

The hustings, on May 18, held

by Bristol Women’s Voice (BWV) at The Park Centre in Daventry Road, Knowle, featured only four of the six candidates – Labour’s Karin Smyth, Tony Dyer for the Greens, Ben Nutland of the Liberal Democrats and UKIP’s Ian Kealey.

Conservative Mark Weston did not appear, citing a prior

engagement. And John Langley, an independent, was excluded from the meeting, apparently over concern about his former career as a porn star.

Ms Smyth, Labour’s MP for Bristol South from 2015 until the election was called, told the meeting she was very disappointed she couldn’t debate with Mark Weston, the Conservative candidate who is her main rival.

“It’s hugely disrespectful to the people of Bristol South that the Tory candidate has not turned up. It would have made for a wider debate,” she said.

Tony Dyer, Green party: Praise for Bristol’s work against FGM

Ian Kealey, UKIP: ‘Why are all the best schools full of posh kids?’

She tweeted: “Shame the Tory was too scared, or perhaps embarrassed by his Gov’t, to show up and debate.”

BWV told the Voice they had informed Bristol Conservatives of the date several weeks previously, before Mr Weston was chosen as the candidate.

Mr Weston told the Voice he learned of the hustings only four days before, when he had already committed to attend an event in Bishopsworth the same evening.

The hustings was the only one organised in the constituency and it’s unlikely there will be another opportunity for the

public to meet the candidates together before the election on June 8.

The four candidates present were questioned on issues including foreign aid, support for working mothers, the pay gap between men and women, help for refugees, and air pollution.

The meeting was open to men, though few were present, and the questions were focused on women – though as the organisers pointed out, most political issues affect both sexes.

Unsurprisingly, all the candidates declared themselves against air pollution, which Mr

Vote

Tony Dyer

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Vote Green in Birstol South

June 2017

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17

n GENERAL ELECTION

John Langley, Ind: Excluded, he made a silent protest outside

Ben Nutland, Lib Dem: ‘Teachers shouldn’t have to buy pupils pens’

Karin Smyth, Labour: Tory’s noshow was ‘hugely disrespectful’

Mark Weston, Conservative: ‘It was simply a case of short notice’

Dyer said kills 400 people a year in Bristol. The Greens had got all parties in Bristol to start a study into a Clean Air Zone, he said.

All wanted action to clean up Bristol’s air. Ms Smyth accused the Government of offloading responsibility for the problem on an already overburdened council.

Mr Nutland gave a passionate plea for a Clean Air Zone for the city: “We should address this, and address it now,” he said, to a flash of green cards from the audience – the evening’s way of showing approval.

Mr Kealey said he had long been against “disgusting, filthy, diesels,” but admitted it was unlikely to be a top issue in his party’s manifesto.

Mr Weston told the Voice he wants air pollution tackled by scrapping older diesels and the dirtiest buses and taxis, but not by penalising private motorists – like himself – who bought diesel cars thinking they were more sustainable.

Mr Kealey faced heckling and red cards from the beginning, accused by one woman of issuing bigoted tweets. (After the Westminster terror attack in March, he tweeted “Hard to believe @Karin Smyth MP is on Westminster Bridge still not getting it. #multicultural is bad”.)

Only 15 minutes in, Mr Kealey got up and said he was leaving due to “the hostile nature of certain questions.”

But he was persuaded to stay by members of the audience and

by Ms Smyth, who said: “I commend you for coming, and I think you should stay.”

And it was a member of the audience who later walked out, disgusted by Mr Kealey’s accusation that too little was being done for women who were at risk of genital mutilation (FGM) or not allowed to leave their homes or vote. “Bristol is at

the centre of the fight against FGM. You cannot say that,” retorted a woman in the audience. Another accused him of being insulting.

The other candidates all said Bristol’s communities were working together to heal divisions.

Ms Smyth warned of further divisions in society, and said the Conservatives were becoming more right wing. “My commitment if I’m re-elected is to continue the healing process in our constituency and our city,” she said.

Mr Dyer also praised Bristol’s pioneering work against FGM, and said,”If you don’t know about it, I suspect it’s because you don’t want to know.”

On refugees, too, there was a a split between UKIP and other parties. Ms Smyth said the problem was massive cuts affecting the city’s ability to help people, while Mr Nutland said there was a complete lack of interest in the issue from the Government.

Mr Kealey said “economic migrants” were not refugees – “It’s not their fault, I would do the same,” he said.

Ms Smyth said she was “not massively in favour” of new laws to boost equality of pay between men and women. But Labour is committed to tackling the pay gap, and to extending the rights of full-time workers to part-timers.

Mr Nutland and Mr Dyer both said legislation would help solve the problem, while Mr Kealey said “naming and shaming” of employers was a better way.

Asked what they would do to support women victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence, Mr

Dyer said there needed to be much more investment, and compulsory education for boys and girls on acceptable behaviour.

Mr Kealey blamed the absence of “proper male role models” for young men.

Ms Smyth said her surgeries were “dominated” by young women trying to find help dealing with domestic violence, especially somewhere they can stay close to their families.

Mr Nutland took issue with Mr Kealey, saying he saw no difference between his friends who had grown up with one parent or two.

“I’m disappointed that the Tory candidate couldn’t come here tonight to say how cuts in support services will benefit women who are faced with abuse and violence,” he added.

Mr Weston later told the Voice that the Tories had pushed the council to ensure that women fleeing domestic violence are given the highest priority on the council’s housing list.

The candidates were mostly alarmed at the prospect of deep cuts to the amount schools receive per pupil. This could mean 283 teachers’ jobs lost in Bristol, said Mr Dyer. The Greens are committed to reverse those cuts, and tackle the admin pressures on teachers, he said.

Mr Nutland said he had seen teachers buying books and pens for their pupils from their own pockets, which he did not think was defensible in one of the richest countries in the world which is giving “huge tax breaks to the wealthy”.

Ms Smyth said Labour (like the Lib Dems) would also reverse the schools cuts. When in government, Labour investment had raised school attainment in Bristol South. Her work as part of the Commons’ public accounts

committee had found that recruitment and retention of teachers was now “a bit of a mess,” she said. “We must encourage people back into the profession.”

Mr Kealey, a former teacher, asked: “Why is it that all the best schools are full of posh kids?”

UKIP is the only party to give everybody the right stream of education, whether that is training, the possibility of private schooling, or higher education, he said.

Mr Weston told the Voice he supported the idea that the school funding formula should be fairer, but he had lobbied the Government against cuts to Bristol schools. He said he welcomed a commitment to increase school funding by £4bn in real terms by 2022, and to make sure no school has its budget cut.

• The other candidate who was not at the Bristol Women’s Voice hustings was John Langley, an independent, ex-Lib-Dem and ex-UKIP member, also known as porn filmmaker Johnny Rockard.

Mr Langley told the Voice that attending hustings was not a priority for him anyway: “The people I want to work with are not the kind of people who go to hustings,” he said.

He said he didn’t think his career in adult films would hinder his campaign, except with people who are “very closeminded”. It showed people that he was only human and he had his faults, he said.

SEE THEM TALK Video interviews with all six candidates: online from May 27 • southbristolvoice.co.uk

ELECTION FOCUS We talk to the candidates Pages 19-25 Their messages to you Pages 19-25 What the bookies say Page 19 The poll predicted Page 24

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June 2017

n WEDDING GUIDE Advertisement feature Re-elect Karin Smyth

as your great local MP

Here in Bristol South it’s a straight choice between me - a communityfocused Labour candidate with a great track record of hard work - or a Tory, pushing NHS and school funding cuts... and a hard Brexit.

@KarinSmythforBristolSouth @KarinSmyth 0117 902 0290

P P P P

A strong active local campaigning Labour MP fighting your corner, focusing on your community every step of the way.

Fighting to improve access to GPs & pharmacies, and services at South Bristol Community Hospital. Labour promises an additional £30 billion for our NHS. Securing the best Brexit deal possible, with access to trade and good quality job opportunities. Day 1 protection for EU citizens here & UK nationals abroad.

A commitment to reversing Tory cuts to our schools and free lifelong education enabling everyone to upskill or retrain at any point in life.

Thursday 8 June

FOR THE MANY NOT THE FEW To advertise, contact sales@southbristolvoice.co.uk or Ruth on 07590 527664 Promoted by Robert Massey on behalf of Karin Smyth both at 74 Chessel Street, Bristol, BS3 3DN

June 2017

southbristolvoice

n GENERAL ELECTION In alphabetical order of party

Green: Tony Dyer

‘Whether it’s teachers, council workers or junior doctors, people are being pushed to the edge of what they are capable of delivering’

F

OR the Green party, candidate Tony Dyer wants to get into Parliament so he can free councils to build homes again. “Local authorities are not allowed to invest in social housing”, he said, and private developers cannot be relied upon. Bedminster Green, he said, has highlighted the tendency for some developers to push up land prices to a level they know will not allow them to build any affordable homes.

The Green group on the city council has forced a rule change that means developers will have to show their figures in future if they claim that social housing is not affordable in a certain development. The next step Tony Dyer, Green Age: 50. Married with a daughter IT training professional. mayoral candidate for Bristol, 2016

which Mr Dyer would like to see is to set a fair value for the land which would allow affordable homes to be built and still allow the developer to make a profit.

More widely, he warns of the scale of cuts to hit Bristol’s schools and public services in the name of cutting the national deficit. Former chancellor George Osborne added more to the national debt than all other post-war chancellors combined, while pushing austerity: “This approach is not working,” said Mr Dyer.

The way funding is allocated to councils must change, he said.

South Bristol’s schools will lose around £10m from their budgets.

“Any cut is bad enough but in Bristol South the average cut in primary schools is 50 per cent higher than the national average, and in secondary schools it’s double the average. Why is South Bristol being penalised? This is going to have a massive impact.

“Whether it’s teachers, council workers or junior doctors, people are being pushed to the edge of what they are capable of delivering,” he warned. “It’s ruining their quality of life and at some point it’s The candidate’s pitch

T

HE SON of a Bedminsterborn postman and a Knowle West housewife, Tony is very proud of his Bristol heritage. His political views have been shaped to a large degree by his family roots among the Bedminster coalminers and Bristol dock workers, and in particular by the experiences of his grandfather who grew up in slum conditions in the Old Market area.

Tony says: “Year after year, decade after decade, Bristol South misses out on major investment as funding goes elsewhere. We have some of the worst levels of deprivation in the country despite living in one of its most successful cities. Bristol South needs an MP willing to stand up and demand to know why that is so - regardless of whether that might be uncomfortable for Labour or Tory party leaders alike. Bristol South needs an MP willing to stand up for them, not just their

party. This election isn’t about the next five years. It’s about the next 50 years.

“The Green Party is offering real opposition to this Government’s extreme Brexit.

Only the Green Party has the vision to deliver an alternative future for our country, and our place in the world. And only the Green Party offers a different kind of politics.

“Every Green vote on June 8 will help make that vision a reality.

“To shape an economy for everyone while preserving a safe environment. To build affordable homes and provide properly funded public services.

And to put power back in your hands through a citizens’ democracy.”

• tonydyerforbristolsouth.org.uk

19

We talk to the candidates going to impact on the quality of the service they can deliver to us.

I have a friend who works a a porter in the NHS doing 14 hours days. It’s ridiculous.”

“There is an element of anger [among people] but it’s more despair. There’s a feeling that the safety net [of the Welfare State] no longer applies.

“I have a couple of cousins who are sofa-surfing at the moment. If it wasn’t for the fact that we have a large family, they would probably be among the people sleeping in tents in South Bristol.”

He understands why politicians are viewed with cynicism by people who think they don’t change anything; the MPs’ expenses scandal didn’t help. But he says Green policies could help change the landscape in South Bristol.

On paper, the constituency has quite a high rate of employment – 74 per cent – but many of those jobs are elsewhere.

Major investment in affordable, well-insulated homes in South Bristol, and in sustainable energy, would not only create jobs and skills locally, but provide new homes, and cut Ian Kealey, UKIP Age: 58 Former teacher and nuclear engineer, now runs a guest house in Somerset.

THE BOOKIE’S ODDS

Bristol South, General Election June 8 2017 Labour Karin Smyth

8/13

Conservative Mark Weston 6/5 Green Tony Dyer

100/1

Lib Dem Ben Nutfield

100/1

UKIP Ian Kealey

100/1

Independent John Langley 200/1 Source: Ladbrokes, May 22 the fuel bills of the people who live in them, he says As Mr Dyer knows very well, having grown up in Hartcliffe, there are two South Bristols – the relatively affluent Victorian streets, and the council estates of Filwood, Hartcliffe and Withywood. Here as many as 25,000 jobs were lost, including the supply chain, when the Wills cigarette factory closed in 1990.

It was in these areas that the vote for Brexit was highest.”I think there was an element of ‘we don’t trust politicians’,” he said.

But he strongly believes that Continued overleaf The candidate’s pitch

M

Y CAMPAIGN puts Bristol South families first and foremost.

Take education for instance.

For decades, schools in Britain and in much of Bristol have achieved results below those of countries poorer than us.

Too many families in Bristol South have been held back for generation after generation because of a glass ceiling that stops them getting their children into university. I want local families to get a leg up in life with government-funded places in grammar schools, like I had all those years ago.

Ever wonder why so many families work hard but can’t afford good holidays? It is a fact: wages have been crushed by easy access to cheap labour from abroad. None of the other parties take immigration seriously! We don’t blame the immigrants seeking a better life (so lefties, don’t try the racist

card on us), we blame the lazy self-serving politicians. Only UKIP will ensure sensible levels of immigration – and ethnic minorities agree with us!

To people tempted to vote Labour, consider what a disaster that would be. Their leader refused to sing the national anthem, he makes friends with terrorists, he wants to disarm the nuclear submarines. Above all, Labour has taken Bristol families for granted for decades.

To people tempted to vote Conservative, remember, Theresa May is a Remainer! She campaigned to stay in. That is why we must get at least a few UKIP MPs in, to keep up the pressure. Only UKIP will ensure hard-working Bristol families reap the full benefit of Brexit.

• ukip-bristolsouth.uk

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June 2017

southbristolvoice

20

General Election 8 June 2017

Mark

WESTON

THE STRONG VOICE FOR BRISTOL SOUTH

THERESA MAY BACKS MARK

Mark Weston is standing with me to secure strong and stable leadership for our country, and the best Brexit deal possible for you and your constituency of Bristol South.

Mark Weston will be a strong voice for your community in my Government, and together we will always stand up for you and your interests.

It’s important to remember that a vote for anyone other than Mark Weston here risks Jeremy Corbyn becoming Prime Minister of a shambolic coalition government.

So back me with a vote for Mark Weston here in Bristol South on 8th June, and together we can get on with the job of making life in Britain better for everyone.

Theresa May, Prime Minister

FIGHTING FOR BRISTOL SOUTH

STICKING UP FOR LOCAL PEOPLE - Labour has taken the area for granted for over 80 years, it’s time for a change.

GETTING BRISTOL SOUTH MOVING - fighting for new rail investment, opposing unneeded 20mph zones and sticky-out bus stops.

PROTECTING OUR ENVIRONMENT - cleaner streets, 'green lungs' and delivering the Hartcliffe Way Recycling Centre.

FIGHTING TO PROTECT LOCAL SERVICES - campaigning to protect vital local services such as the Jubilee Pool.

BUILDING NEW AFFORDABLE HOUSING - new powers and grants to Bristol City Council to build the next generation of council houses.

MARK WESTON and THERESA MAY STANDING UP FOR BRITAIN Promoted by Kris Murphy, on behalf of Mark Weston, both of 5 Westfield Park, Bristol, BS6 6LT.

To advertise, contact sales@southbristolvoice.co.uk or Ruth on 07590 527664

June 2017

southbristolvoice

n GENERAL ELECTION Continued from page 19 “leaving the EU is going to be bad for Bristol South.”

Mr Dyer would wait for an exit treaty to be offered to Britain, and then give the people a chance to vote on it.

“People need to have the option to say yes, or to say no, that’s not going to work for me and my family.”

‘I want good trade terms with the EU but I don’t want to be run by them. We trade perfectly well with countries like the US without a trade deal’ Conservative: Mark Weston

M

ARK Weston is in with a good chance of winning Bristol South for the Conservatives for the first time in 82 years, according to the pollsters. But he is not taking anything for granted.

“My position is that it’s going to be a hard fight and we’ll give it everything we have got,” said the Brentry resident and leader of the Tories on Bristol city council.

He presents the battle as one between a Labour party with a weak leader and a confused position on Brexit, and the Conservatives with a clear Brexit message and a strong leader.

“I still have no idea what Labour’s European policy is,” he said. He believes that though a majority of people in Bristol South voted to remain in the EU, now the process has begun, most want to see it through.

As well as the 47 per cent who voted for Leave in the Brexit poll last year in Bristol South, he believes another quarter of voters “just want us to get on with it.”

He “completely rejects” the idea that the country will want a second referendum when people see the terms offered for Brexit.

“Would we have voted to be in the EU 42 years ago , knowing what we know now?” he said.

“I want good trade terms with the EU but I don’t want to be run by them. We trade perfectly well with countries like the US without a trade deal.”

Asked about the fear some European citizens in South Bristol have felt since the Brexit vote,

and the hate attacks on some of them, he said: “There is no excuse for hate crime and no excuse for racism. I would say to European citizens here that the British government wants you to stay, and we have been trying to hold discussions with the EU on this.

“We are not going to stop foreign students coming here, and we’re not going to stop companies like Imperial Tobacco and Airbus from recruiting the brightest and the best staff.”

A keen fan of railways, he is eager to make improvements on local lines despite the huge rise in the cost of the Portishead line.

On the roads, “we shouldn’t be pretending that if we make it worse for the motorist they will get out of their cars.” He wants a review of bus lanes, 20mph zones on main roads, built-out bus stops and junction changes that restrict traffic.

He is part of Bristol mayor Marvin Rees’s congestion task force, but says he would walk out if the group tries to recommend a congestion charge for Bristol.

He would like to see more competition on Bristol’s buses, letting firms like Abus and Wessex have the chance to run more routes against the dominant First Group.

He backed Marvin Rees on rejecting a deal to build the arena, and hopes a new contractor can be found. “I think Bristol wants an arena, but I don’t think we can have it at any cost.” If previous mayor George Ferguson had pursued more car parking this could have helped fund the project, he said.

He wants to see more housing in South Bristol but says he is not sure about the high-rise blocks proposed for Bedminster Green and Bath Road – or about the expanded housing plan for Hengrove Park, now upped from 1,000 to 1,500 homes.

Asked about his party’s record on austerity, at a time when many South Bristol citizens are suffering from benefits cuts or delays, demand at food banks is at record levels and some people are reduced to sleeping in tents, he said: “We cannot keep spending more than we earn – you can’t in your home, and we cannot as a country.”

He pointed to increases in the minimum wage and cuts to tax thresholds as measures which help ordinary people.

“We have done what we can to

21

We talk to the candidates try to help. [The other parties] tell you what’s wrong; they are not offering a solution.”

On the NHS, he says “The Conservative government has increased funding on the NHS every year since 2010. We have provided an additional £10bn to the NHS, and since 2010 there are now 11,000 more doctors and more than 12,000 additional nurses. This stands in stark contrast to the Labour-run NHS in Wales where spending has been cut by 8 per cent (it’s risen by 9 per cent in England).”

‘People have to feel that they are being included, and not just when the MP holds a surgery every month.

Let’s try it my way and see if it works’ Independent: John Langley

I

T’S THE issue of housing that made John Langley decide to stand for election to Parliament. He says he wants to John Langley, Independent Age: ‘irrelvant’; one son Political campaigner; former Lib Dem branch chair, former vice-chair Bristol UKIP, adult film actor and producer

T

HE main reason for me standing is due to the Tory austerity cuts Marvin Rees and his Labour MP colleagues have imposed city-wide, and in particular in Bristol South.

The mayor buckled under Tory pressure when the going got tough, instead of showing leadership and telling the Government exactly where to go with their austerity measures.

In my estimation the sale of City Hall would have raised somewhere between £150m -£200m and Bristol would have been a more prosperous city with no cuts. I have long said that City Hall is well past its useby date, and Temple Street at least does go some way towards presenting the council as more modernistic in its outlook. It may not be the most attractive of buildings, but at least it looks corporate in 2017 and not

reach out to the mass of people who are almost disengaged from any contact with politics – but who are the ones who needs their politicians the most.

He stood in the 2016 election for mayor of Bristol, a process which drove home to him the level of deprivation in places like Filwood and Hartcliffe – on some measures the worst in England and even Europe.

It was the huge need to combat this deprivation that made him chose to fight Bristol South, though he lives just outside the constituency in Brislington. Labour mayor Marvin Rees has not kept his pledge to build 2,000 homes a year, he says, and as a member of the same party, former MP Karin Smyth should be held to account too.

He has a simple answer to the council’s funding crisis: he would sell City Hall on College Green. (formerly the Council House). “If they sold it for £150 million or whatever it’s worth, perhaps as a hotel, that money could be invested and the services wouldn’t have to be cut.”

He also believes Labour, and Continued overleaf The candidate’s pitch

entrenched in the past. Instead of which the poorest and most vulnerable have seen valuable services they rely on either cut to the bone or closed entirely, with children, the elderly and vulnerable adults left in limbo.

Manifestos can never, ever be trusted. The personal manifesto of Marvin Rees pledged the building of 2,000 new homes a year, which turns out to be nothing more than a vote-catching Labour scam.

In his campaign the mayor stated the following: “I see a party that is about standing beside people who have been left out by the establishment.”

Funnily enough, so do the people of Bristol South. Which is why they will turn away from Labour on June 8.

• thinkdifference.co.uk

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southbristolvoice

22

n HISTORY

June 2017

The first Bristol airport

Billions more for the NHS after we leave the EU Higher wages for hard-working Bristol families when immigration is controlled Ban the burkha. Stamp out oppression of girls and women in Sharia courts

ukip.org

Access to grammar or private schools for children in Bristol South, not just for rich families in other parts of the city

Bristol South residents have been led along by Labour for too long.

UKIP is the only party to understand.

We will ban the abuse of workers with zero hours contracts We will ensure care visits at home are of meaningful duration and by properly paid staff (paid for travel time as well as the visit) UKIP will halt cuts to services like Symes House in Hartcliffe Only UKIP cares about the tragedy of deprivation in Bristol South.

Under Labour and Tories social mobility in the UK is at a 50 year low.

For generations some Bristol families have failed to break through the ‘glass ceiling’ and access ‘middle class’ jobs, higher education, and healthy rewarding lifestyles. We will assist these families, not just pay lip-service like other parties.

We will ensure that all children have access to free, appropriately streamed relevant education. We will relieve the poverty of local families that comes from wage compression; we are the only party that accepts local families lose out when we have mass un-skilled immigration.

We are the only party to have a measured, controlled, colour-blind sensible policy on immigration. While other parties hide from the truth, UKIP helps.

UKIP candidate Ian Kealey asks for your vote in Bristol South

Other policies include: Reform the House of Lords - Fund 20,000 nurses and 8,000 doctors -Scrap hospital parking fees - Recruit 20,000 police - Honour our war veterans - One legal system for all - Defend hard-won equality

Vote UKIP on 8th June

For more info on how you can help UKIP in Bristol South ring 07881 381309 email office@ukip-bristolsouth.uk or visit www.ukip-bristolsouth.uk

To advertise, contact sales@southbristolvoice.co.uk or Ruth on 07590 527664

June 2017

southbristolvoice

n GENERAL ELECTION Continued from page 21 Mr Rees, should refuse to implement Tory cuts. “He caved in when he needn’t have done,” said Mr Langley. “Labour has made the city worse rather than better.”

He reels off a list of cuts he believes are damaging the services most needed by the poorest, like the sudden closure of the Symes Avenue council service point in Hartcliffe, and cuts to local sexual health services, which he says could lead to teenage pregnancy rates, which have been falling, going up again.

This is an area with the lowest internet use in the UK, meaning people can’t so easily get help with things like paying their council tax.” How many people are going to get county court judgements against them, he asked.

Mr Langley believes he would be failing people if he was elected as MP and then spent most of his time in Westminster. “I don’t believe that you can do anything for an area that’s going down and down if you are working remotely,” he said.

He would set up a local base with a community worker to listen to people’s concerns and then set priorities for dealing with the areas’s social issues, “to give people hope and aspiration, looking at skills, how to engage with employers.”

He wants to see older people who have skills pass them on to the young: retired carpenters, for example, “and what about the boy racers who might want something from really excellent mechanics?”

He would employ someone in Westminster but would only go to Parliament if it was essential.

If, after 18 months, people felt he wasn’t succeeding, he would hold a referendum which could call for him to resign.

“The crime rate is going up.

It’s not a pretty picture for South Bristol,” he said.

“The kind of people I want to work with are those who are worried about how they are going to pay their electricity bill and how they will feed their families.

It’s about engaging with people who are hardest to engage with.

“People have to feel that they are being included, and not just when the MP holds a surgery every month.

“Because I’m not from a

political party, it’s the community who are my bosses, my employers.”

He has no manifesto: he believes they create only a list of promises that won’t be kept.

Instead he pledges to listen to people to find out what their problems are, and to be judged on how he acts.

“Let’s try it my way and see if it works; if not I will resign.”

‘Theresa May wants Bristol South to have a Tory MP so that she can do whatever the hell she wants’ Labour: Karin Smyth

K

ARIN Smyth has a message she wants to get across: vote for me, or you’ll elect a Conservative MP. “The Conservatives have always been the main challenger here,” she said. But she believes many voters don’t understand this, or that there is a sizeable UKIP vote in Bristol South too.

“There are pockets of the patch that think the Tories aren’t the opposition.”

So the (unspoken) message is clear: if you’re a Labour voter tempted to make a protest vote, perhaps about Brexit, you won’t be helping the Lib Dems or the Greens, you will be helping to elect a Conservative.

She doesn’t mention her party leader. Even here, in Labour’s strongest seat in the whole South West, Jeremy Corbyn is political Marmite. It’s clear she won’t be inviting him on the campaign trail: “I wanted a different leader.

I lost that vote, I rolled up my sleeves and got on with it.

“I told people I would work hard on apprenticeships and housing, and my own passionate expertise, health – the first thing I did was to get a campaign going for South Bristol Hospital, which I think is so important for the area.”

She’s aware that some of her natural supporters are upset that she voted to trigger Article 50 to leave the EU. “I have been very clear. I have campaigned for the EU in every election since 1988. I wanted to stay, I lost that vote, I rolled up my sleeves and got on

23

We talk to the candidates with it, the same as I did with the [party] leader.”

Karin is parliamentary private asecretary to shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer, and is proud of the work they have done to hold the Conservatives to account. “I want to get across to those very passionate remain voters who feel that I haven’t done my job, I have heard that anger.”

The Government has said we will get the same deal as we have now on trade terms from Europe after Brexit, she said. “In Labour we have set our six tests for a deal. If they are not met then we cannot vote for it.”

But this isn’t the same as the Lib Dems’ promise of a second referendum, which she calls “nonsensical”.

“Theresa May wants Bristol South to have a Tory MP so that she can do whatever the hell she wants. She said she wants the exact same benefits, so let’s have them, and see what it looks like.

“Our job is to bring her back and scrutinise her time and time again. I’m not stopping the PM negotiating, I’m making sure the PM gets the best deal for the people of Bristol South. I will be Ben Nutfield, Liberal Democrat Age: 25 MD of food company, UNICEF UK Children’s Champion

welcoming Kier Starmer to Bristol South to talk to people about that.”

She condemns Theresa May for calling an opportunistic General Election with the aim of greater unity at Westminster: “It’s quite shocking. It’s arrogance to assume that she needs a united Westminster. That’s not my job – it’s my job to speak up for the people of Bristol South.

“It’s a divided constituency, socially and economically, and one of my tasks is to represent everybody and bring them together.”

As evidence of this, she cites the first South Bristol jobs and apprenticeships fair, which she organised; her efforts to boost services at South Bristol hospital; and her Money Entitlement events to help people claim what they are due.

Karin was not keen for Bristol to have an elected mayor, seeing it as an extra layer of bureaucracy, and she thinks the new role of West of England mayor is even worse: “People don’t want it, they don’t understand it.”

She welcomes developments Continued overleaf The candidate’s pitch

B

EN is a committed campaigner, working hard to represent the people of Bristol South. He was inspired to join the Liberal Democrats by Charles Kennedy and his opposition to the Iraq War – since then he has been a passionate advocate for local people, working hard to make sure their voices are heard at the local and parliamentary level.

As a UNICEF Children’s champion in the South West, Ben is working hard to ensure the Government understands the plight of the people of Syria.

On a national level, Ben is working with the US Embassy in London as a member of its Young Leaders UK initiative, helping to foster stronger relations between our countries.

The programme has involved President Barack Obama, US Secretary of State John Kerry and the Rev Jesse Jackson.

Ben was born in Bristol and moved to the nearby village of

Chipping Sodbury at a young age. Since leaving school, he has worked in the food industry and is now managing director of a locally-based international export company. When he is not knocking on doors, Ben enjoys spending time with his family in the Cotswold countryside.

In Bristol South, Ben wants to see more affordable housing and action on rising rent and house prices; our treasured parks looked after and protected; improved transport links and investment in sustainable transport; a clean air zone in Bristol to cut dangerous air pollution; and jobs and housing placed at Hengrove Park in a way that leaves enough parkland for local people to enjoy.

• bristollibdems.org

Got a story or any other inquiry? Call Paul on 07811 766072 or email paul@southbristolvoice.co.uk

n GENERAL ELECTION A PREDICTION FROM ELECTORAL CALCULUS • electoralcalculus.co.uk

PREDICTED VOTE

SHARE JUNE 2017 LABOUR 37.4% CONSERVATIVE 38.5% UKIP 6.3% GREEN 7.7% LIB 9.4% OTHER 0.7% Majority

June 2017

southbristolvoice

24

CHANCE OF WINNING, JUNE 2017 LABOUR 41% CONSERVATIVE 50% UKIP 1% GREEN 2% LIBERAL DEMOCRAT 7% INDEPENDENT 0%

Cons 1.1% Electoral Calculus claims to be the longest-running predictor of UK general elections. It uses poll data and survey information about the strength of support among a party’s voter base. It claims to be more often right than wrong but like all predictions this one is, at best, an educated guess.

BRISTOL SOUTH RESULTS, GENERAL ELECTION 2015 Votes Share LABOUR Karin Smyth 19,505 38.4% CONSERVATIVE Isobel Grant 12,377 24.3% UKIP Steve Wood 8,381 16.5% GREEN Tony Dyer 5,861 11.5% LIBERAL DEMOCRAT Mark Wright 4,416 8.7% TUSC Tom Baldwin 302 0.6% LABOUR majority

Karin Smyth, Labour Age: 52, married, three sons NHS manager, MP for Bristol South 2015-2017

7,128

14.0%

The candidate’s pitch

“W

hen I was elected in 2015 I promised to work hard for local communities, focusing on my priorities of health & social care; jobs and skills; and housing. And I promised to listen hard to local people, representing your interests in Bristol and in Westminster.

I’ve been working hard to honour my promises: • Organised the first South Bristol Jobs and Apprenticeships Fair: over 400 people got career and skills support; • Campaigned to improve services at South Bristol Community Hospital, Hengrove; • Worked with Bristol mayor Marvin Rees to start building more housing for local people; • Arranged popular Money Entitlement events, to help residents get their financial entitlements; • Campaigned in Parliament to improve safety of towed trailers and air rifles after

We talk to the candidates Continued from page 23 in South Bristol, particularly around Temple Meads and Bedminster Green, partly because she sees the need for new homes as the biggest priority “by a country mile”.

She says it is up to the council to decide whether the buildings are high-rise or not. But she is concerned to ensure that community benefits, such as doctors’ surgeries, are planned from the beginning.

“At Bedminster Green there’s a concern about how it’s approached –its a very important area for the whole consituency.

“I would like the council to have someone in charge to look at the entire area, in totality, not have these little pockets [considered individually].

She hopes Bristol gets its long-awaited arena, but she wants residents’ concerns listened to about parking, congestion and pollution.

‘There’s a whole new generation of young people who are committed to public service because they want to make a change’ Liberal Democrat: Ben Nutland

residents who’d experienced tragedies asked me for help.

I’ve been using my position as your MP to make progress on all these things and more.

And because I’ve held regular advice surgeries, and frequently listen to residents’ views on their doorsteps, I know there’s so much more to do.

I want to carry on fighting for local people. I can only continue to do this if you re-elect me to carry on this vital work.

In Bristol South it’s a straight choice between me – a Bristolfocused Labour candidate with a great track record of hard work – or a Tory candidate, pushing a hard Brexit. I’m asking you to please use your vote on June 8 for Labour so I can carry on making our area better.

• karinsmyth.com/election-2017

B

EN Nutland believes he is one of a new breed: a generation of young people who are entering politics out of commitment to public service.

At 25, he’s the youngest of the candidates standing for Bristol South by a long way. Already the managing director of his own company (Britannia Foods, which exports British food brands to ex-pats around the world) he decided to enter politics because he believes Britain must change.

Like so many of his generation, he’s working hard but still lives at home with his parents (in Yate). He said: ”There’s a whole new generation of young people who are committed to public service because they want to make a change.

“We are the most educated generation in history yet we cannot afford our own houses.

“We have seen university

graduates come out with the best degrees they could get and they cannot get a job.

“I belong to a generation which I believe will change the direction of this country.”

But despite being an idealist, he hasn’t turned to extremes of left or right.

“I think the Lib Dems are the only really sensible party out there.

“The Green party aren’t strong enough. The Tories have lurched far to the right – they are not One Nation Tories any more, while Labour have gone to the left of Michael Foot.”

He claims decades of Labour MPs have let down Bristol South, which still suffers deprivation, poor educational attainment, and a lack of local jobs. It is set to be hit even harder by massive cuts to school funding and an NHS “at breaking point”.

He believes a hard exit from the EU will make matters even worse for South Bristolians.

He rejects criticism that the Lib Dem’s promise of a referendum on the eventual Brexit deal is trying to replay a decision that has already been decided by the British people.

“It’s not a second vote, it’s our first vote on a deal,” he said. “I think we are heading for a hard Brexit, and that will affect families, working class and middle class people in Bristol South. It’s got to be signed off by the British people, not by Theresa May.” The irony for the Lib Dems is that the people in Bristol South who voted decisively for Brexit were those in the more deprived areas – the people the Lib Dems say will suffer most from its consequences.

“There is a big campaign to cast the EU as the evil empire.

But when I start to talk to people in Bristol South about how it [Brexit] might affect their lives, they are really worried. The trouble is the Government haven’t told people how they will be able to cope with rising food prices and rising fuel prices, and how we will be able to trade with other countries.

“When you explain the consequences to them, they say they might have done something different,” he claims.

He’s realistic about his chances of winning this time, though he points to last month’s West of England mayoral

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June 2017

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n GENERAL ELECTION election, in which the Lib Dems came second in Bristol South.

If he did become MP, he says he will get straight on with forging alliances in the traditional Lib Dem away and work with councillors, the mayor and with business. He wants to bring actions on housing, protect the area’s parks, invest in sustainable transport, bring in a clean air zone in Bristol, and build at Hengrove Park in a way that leaves enough green space for people to enjoy.

‘If I can get South Bristol families to stop and think what the Tories and Labour have achieved for them, I think they will look at UKIP in a more favourable light’ UKIP: Ian Kealey

I

AN Kealey is keen to tackle the perception that his party is a prejudiced one, or that it tolerates racism. “UKIP’s policies are clear – as far as racism is concerned, we are the least racist party. We are the only party which has a points based policy for immigration, which is colourblind. That’s better than the current system – at the moment the door gets slammed in the face of people from India, for example, in favour of people from Estonia or another part of Europe.

“There was the I word – immigration – which we were warned we weren’t allowed to discuss, we were slapped down as racists for even mentioning it.

But it affects people’s lives.

“Now the ‘I’ word is integration. We want the UK to be a tolerant nation and make sure everyone shares that and

NO CANDIDATE FROM THE TUSC THERE will be no candidate for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) in Bristol South this year.

This time, the TUSC is backing Labour candidates in an attempt to get Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister.

Tom Baldwin, former TUSC Bristol mayoral and Bristol

works together with a clear set of values. Racism in the party is not tolerated, he said. “What can you do about it? When we find out we kick them out. You have nasty people who are in the Tories and in the Labour party and when they mouth off they don’t get the publicity that our cuckoos do. I think people were confused 10 years ago what UKIP stood for, there were problems, but I don’t think we have that problem now.”

Ian was a member of the Conservative Party when he lived in Bishopston, but joined UKIP in 2010, frustrated at Conservative and Labour policies on Europe.

“The EU is doomed because it raises two fingers at people and at democracy. It ignores what people want. It has a terrible record on holding referendums on various issues and ignoring the result and carrying on.

There’s been virtually no public referendum that voted for the EU. The UK referendum in 1975 was not for a political union.

“Democracy works best through national governments,” he said. “It’s so frustrating when people say that UKIP’s work is finished. It’s really gratifying that so much of our policy has been adopted, and if anyone wants to know what the Labour or Tory policies will be in five years time they only have to look to us!

“If I can get South Bristol families to stop and think what the Tories and Labour have achieved for them, I think they will look at UKIP in a more favourable light.”

His favoured topic is education: he was a mathematics teacher from 1995 to 2003. He taught in Hartcliffe briefly, in Bishopston, Fishponds, Badminton and elsewhere, at state and private schools.

“The best schools around the country are packed with the children of the wealthiest South parliamentary candidate said: “I’ve stood for TUSC in Bristol South at the last two general elections but I won’t be putting myself forward this time.

“This is the first election I‘ve been able to vote in where there is a chance of electing a prime minister who will actually look to change the direction the country’s going in and put forward policies to help ordinary people.”

25

We talk to the candidates families, you look at the legal profession and even our Olympic medal winners and you see they were dominated by private school people.

“It’s because families like those in South Bristol have been kept back, there’s no one helping them.

“They need access to private or grammar schools. We have Sidcot down the road. We would look at what grammar provision we could have in every city. I had a very good grammar-type education at a direct grant school and I think that should be available for hard-working families in Bristol South.

“I won’t be lectured to by the Tories or Labour about education. You have to stream the kids to succeed at education, and put the appropriate material in front of them at every level.

“I admire our local UKIP people who are very switched on to local concerns.

“My own survey on traffic on my website found that people voted two to one for reducing congestion and getting the roads moving, against the view that cars are a menace. I’m not against cycleways as long as they don’t forget the private motorist.”

Mark Weston, Conservative Age: 36, married, two children.

Conservative leader at Bristol city council

PREVIOUS ELECTIONS IN BRISTOL SOUTH THE constituency of Bristol South has been a Labour seat since 1935, but not always by a large majority.

Karin Smyth’s margin of victory in 2015 was more than 7,000 votes over the Conservatives.

Her predecessor, Labour Cabinet minister Dawn Primarolo, won by just under 5,000 votes in 2010, beating the second-placed Lib Dems.

In 2005 Ms Primarolo had a margin of more than 11,000 over the Lib Dems.

Before that, in every poll back to 1935, Labour beat the Tories into second place.

The narrowest margin of victory was in 1987, when Ms Primarolo first won Bristol South, taking 1,400 more votes than the Conservative contender.

The Tories won the seat just once in the 20th century – in 1931, when Noel Ker Lindsay won 9,500 more votes than Labour’s Alexander Walkden.

Before that, the Liberals won all six elections back to 1906.

The candidate’s pitch

I

BELIEVE that Bristol South has been let down by Labour and needs a new voice at Westminster.

Locally I will be campaigning to expand our public transport network and improve traffic flow in our communities. I will be opposing the over-development of Hengrove Park, fighting to protect local amenities (like Jubilee Pool), seeking to deliver the Hartcliffe Way Recycling Centre and securing investment to improve our local shopping centres like Filwood Broadway.

This election, more than any other I think in my lifetime, matters because of the international ramifications and I think that before casting their vote residents in South Bristol have a series of questions to ask themselves about who they want to be Prime Minister: • Who do you trust with our national security? Jeremy Corbyn, a man who described terrorist groups as ‘friends’, or

Theresa May who has already proven her mettle as Home Secretary?

• Who do you trust to run the economy? Jeremy Corybn, a leader who praises Marxist economics or Theresa May, who as part of the Government has grown the economy?

• Who do you trust to be in charge of Brexit negotiations?

Jeremy Corbyn, who has no clear direction and a divided party, or Theresa May, who has a clear strategy and has the grit and drive to get a good deal?

A vote for me is a vote for Theresa May, a vote for anyone else makes it more likely that we could have Jeremy Corbyn in Downing Street with dubious friends, outdated economics and no plan for Brexit Britain.

• markweston.org.uk

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26

June 2017

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n FEATURES

Dogs & Cats Home

E

VERYONE in Bristol has heard of the Dogs and Cats Home – but few know how much goes on inside it.

Now celebrating its 130th year, the home is part of the RSPCA but is also firmly a part of Bristol. It’s run to the exacting standards set by the national charity, but the home, and its veterinary clinic, is run by a trust of local people and is an independent charity.

That’s partly why it has had a special place in Bristolians’ hearts ever since it opened in the winter of 1887, after businessman Edward Parker saw a puppy following him along the road.

Realising there was nowhere in the city that would care for the dog, he resolved to set up a charity to look after abandoned and uncared for animals.

Now, 130 years on, the charity he founded is still often known as simply “The Dogs Home” but, as the Voice found out, it’s much more than that.

The charity now has a superb medical clinic that’s open around the clock throughout the year. It cares for animals when owners can’t afford vet’s fees, or in an emergency when their vet is shut.

The clinic also cares for the hundreds of animals which pass through the home each year, checking each one over to see they’re fit to be rehomed. Since a successful appeal last year, it’s also got a state-of-the-art ITU, or intensive care unit.

With so many animals seen each year, the RSPCA vets and other staff have the experience to care for all kinds of creatures

HOW YOU CAN HELP THOUSANDS of Bristolians help the Dogs and Cats Home in one way or another every year – in fact there’s a waiting list for volunteer dog walkers.

It costs £1.7 million to run the home for a year and people who are willing to help organise events are always needed.

From a coffee morning to a sponsored run, every event helps.

Some help attract valuable publicity. Annie, a staffie who was the longest-staying resident a couple of years ago, went on a tour of all the Gromit statues in the city, and the attention helped

Our RSPCA home is about to celebrate 130 years helping the city’s animals

from dogs to cats, rabbits, ferrets and birds. There’s also an exotic pet section, currently home to a bearded dragon, Trevor, which was found in a sorry state by an RSPCA inspector in September.

It wasn’t being kept in the right kind of enclosure or being fed the correct food, but with help from his carer Joe, a reptile expert, he’s been brought back to full health.

Bristol is proud that it was one of the first RSPCA branches to pay attention to the needs of exotic pets, which often need specialist knowledge to look after them properly, said fundraising assistant Cordelia Lodge.

Some animals get sent to other RSPCA centres – at West Hatch near Taunton, for example, they have special facilities for seabirds and for seals.

Many of the animals at the home have, sadly, been mistreated.

“Lots of animals have not find her a home.

Future projects for which funds are needed include a sensory garden near the kennels, planted with camomile and lavender, which according to behaviourists has a calming effect. It will be decorated with flags, which provide movement and interest for animals which inevitably have to be confined a lot of the time.

This year another long-stayer, Rex, a mastiff, is being taken on a grand tour of Bristol; Rex’s Treks, which will total 130 miles – one for every year of the centre – with volunteer Robin. So far Rex and Robin have covered 86 miles.

• rspca-bristol.org.uk

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27

RSPCA BIRTHDAY APPEAL

is pride of Bristol and it needs our help Help me find a home: Labrador cross Hunny has been in the Dogs Home since before Christmas

been properly socialised and may be very scared of people. They may have been lost, straying for a few days or even weeks,” said Cordelia. But the RSPCA employs behaviour specialists who rebuild the animals’ trust in human beings, and train them so

VOICE ADVERTISERS ARE STEPPING IN TOO THIS month many of the South Bristol Voice’s generous advertisers are showing the way. No fewer than 12 have paid to sponsor an animal at the RSPCA that needs a new home. The Voice will donate 10 per cent of the advertising costs to the home.

they’ll be happy to move in with a new owner.

Take Ava, an enormous American bulldog who should be full of confidence. She was found neglected with sores on her feet and, when the Voice visited, she cowered at the back of her pen, Advertiser E.L.M. Legal, a long-term supporter of the RSPCA, has gone further. Managing director Jim Emsley is donating £1,000 towards the home’s latest big project – a £6,000 cover for the outdoor exercise area, making it more useable in the winter. E.L.M. Legal is also sponsoring a dog that needs rehoming – and there are plenty more overleaf.

E.L.M. Legal is sponsoring... NALA Nala is very sweet with a gentle nature. She is very affectionate once she gets to know you, but can be pushy for attention. Nala will need her confidence building with new people.

If you are interested in rehoming Nala, please call 0117 977 6043.

Nala: German shepherd cross, female, 3 years

E.L.M. Legal Services Will Writing & Estate Planning Gas Lane, Bristol BS2 0QL | 0800 019 4557

unwilling to come and say hello.

But she’s gaining confidence and once she gets to know someone,

she’s a soppy and affectionate dog, say the staff.

Another dog that’s learning how to cope with life’s difficulties is Isla, a staffie who’s missing one of her back legs. But from certain angles you’d never know it as she doesn’t let it bother her and she seems to get around just fine.

Cats are luckier than dogs – they seem to find new homes more quickly. The checks volunteers have to make before a cat is rehomed are less stringent than for a dog, said Cordelia, and they’re easier to care for.

Some dogs are in the home for months or even a year before they find a home, and sometimes it’s hard to see why.

Some people come looking for a puppy or a young dog when really their lifestyle means that a more mature dog would suit Continued overleaf

Will Writing & Estate Planning

A Will lets you protect your family’s inheritance and decide how your assets are shared out –

if you don’t make a Will, the law says who gets what.

We have a Bristol-based team of trained will writing consultants who provide a home visiting service and can take your instructions in the comfort of your own home.

Please feel free to call us during office hours on 0800 019 4557 or email us at info@elm-online. co.uk

Standard single or pair of mirrored Wills £99

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28

n FEATURES

RSPCA BIRTHDAY APPEAL

‘A gentleman came in and said he wanted to see the Continued from page 27 them better, said Marcella Pinto, the home’s communications officer. “An older dog may have come from an older owner who’s no longer able to care for them,” said Marcella, but the dog will be well trained and demand much

less effort than a puppy.

“A gentleman came in and said he wanted to see the oldest dog in the place. We showed him Bruno, a staffie who was 10, and a really gentle dog.” The pair were well matched, said Marcella. If an animal is still at

Arnos Vale Cemetery is sponsoring... ZIGGY Ziggy is a high energy dog who loves to go out and explore. He is generally very polite, but he can be excitable around other dogs.

Ziggy needs an active home with experience of his breed.

If you are interested in rehoming Ziggy, please call 0117 977 6043.

Ziggy: Male husky, 3 years

Arnos Vale Cemetery | 0117 971 9117 Bath Road, Bristol BS4 3EW

the home after six months they are considered a long stayer. At that point staff look at whether there’s a good reason why they haven’t been rehomed – often there isn’t, and staff make an extra push on social media to get them more attention.

Occasionally animals stay more than a year, but it’s very rare.

The most common breed is still the staffie, which, despite their aggressive reputation, will usually make docile and loving pets. But fashion plays a part in making people buy breeds they think look cute – for a time the home had more chihuahuas than any other breed.

A vital part of the centre is the shop, where there are treats for humans as well as pets. And there’s good advice as well.

As Becky Vickers, shop manager and volunteer care co-ordinator explained, it’s important to get the right lead for a dog. That means the RSPCA

Becky shows off the blankets made by volunteers at home don’t recommend extendable leads, which don’t make it easy to feel what a dog is doing, or keep good control. Sometimes they break, allowing a dog to run into danger.

Becky and the staff can advise anyone looking to rehome an animal on buying the best bedding, harness or toys – all of which make a little profit to keep

Avon Lodge vets is sponsoring... REX

Avon Lodge vets is sponsoring... TIGGER

Rex is a young dog that will require some extra training.

He is very affectionate and enjoys tummy rubs. He knows sit, paw and down.

Rex doesn’t know his own strength so will need an experienced home.

Tigger is a middle-aged cat who likes to come to you for attention. He likes to sit on your lap and enjoys relaxing in the sun. He would benefit from a quiet home, preferably with no children or other animals.

If you are interested in rehoming Rex, please call 0117 977 6043.

Rex: Male mastiff cross, 1-3 years old

Avon Lodge | 0117 977 3230 283 Wells Road, Bristol BS4 2PP

If you are interested in rehoming Tigger, please call 0117 977 6043.

Avon Lodge | 0117 977 3230 283 Wells Road, Bristol BS4 2PP

ER&B Print is sponsoring...

HENRY

The Eating Room is sponsoring Evangeline

Henry is a soppy, loveable lad who loves belly rubs and attention. He would make a fantastic companion to someone who understands that sometimes Henry finds the world a bit worrying.

Evangeline came to us as a stray. She is very friendly, but can be a little wary of strangers until she gets to know you. Evangeline would prefer a home with children over 10 years old.

If you are interested in rehoming Henry, please call 0117 977 6043.

If you are interested in rehoming Evangeline, please call 0117 977 6043.

ER&B Print | 0117 971 3338 23 Broad Walk, Knowle BS4 2RA

Tigger: Male, 7 years old

Henry: Staffordshire bull terrier, 3-6 years

Evangeline: Female, 1-3 years

The Eating Room | 07397 790433 156-158 Wells Road, Bristol BS4 2AG

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June 2017

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n FEATURES

oldest dog in the place’ the home going. “We hope they will have a positive experience and they will feel they are getting good advice – such as not buying things that aren’t necessary!” said Becky.

On one side of the shop are shelves full of home-knitted

blankets, donated by supporters.

It’s a way that people can help even if they can’t volunteer in other ways. Not only do the blankets get snapped up by people taking animals home, but they raise a little more money for the centre.

29

RSPCA BIRTHDAY APPEAL

DOGS & CATS HOME – FACTS AND FIGURES

• Unusual creatures include four degu – rather like guinea pigs. All brothers, they look cute but, like rabbits, they need space and stimulation, or they get bored; • Exotic visitors include snakes, lizards, a bearded dragon called Trevor, and an African grey parrot.

• 60 people work for Bristol RSPCA, 25 of them in the Dogs Home.

• The Dogs and Cats Home has 100 kennels for dogs; • It has 12 pens for cats, and seven more in an isolation unit; • Small animals usually being cared for include rabbits, guinea pigs and ferrets;

Flowers Galore is sponsoring... PATCH

Gardenology is sponsoring... TWINKLE

Patch is a sweet boy whose favourite pasttime is playing fetch. Sometimes Patch lacks a little confidence so would benefit from a new owner who has the patience to help him with this.

Twinkle arrived with a large growth on her leg. Now it has healed, Twinkle is a new dog! She can now run and play and is an affectionate girl. Twinkle is finding kennel life difficult.

If you are interested in rehoming Patch, please call 0117 977 6043.

If you are interested in rehoming Twinkle, please call 0117 977 6043.

Patch: Male collie cross lurcher, 7 years

Twinkle: Female Staffordshire bull terrier, 6 years

Flowers Galore | 0117 972 3366 302b Wells Road, Knowle BS4 2QG

Gardenology | 0117 949 2929 23 Buller Road, Bristol BS4 2LN

Greenwoods is sponsoring... WILMA

Just For Pets is sponsoring... ISLA

Wilma is a very friendly little terrier who will find any way possible to sit on your lap! She is very motivated by the prospect of food and enjoys earning food rewards whilst training.

Isla only has three legs.

However this doesn’t slow her down – her favourite thing is to play fetch with her ball and go for walks.

Isla has a lot of energy and will need an experienced home.

If you are interested in rehoming Wilma, please call 0117 977 6043.

Wilma: Female Jack Russell, 3-6 years

If you are interested in rehoming Isla, please call 0117 977 6043.

Isla: Staffordshire bull terrier, female, three years old

Greenwoods estate agents | 0117 977 3238 148 Wells Road, Totterdown BS4 2AG

Just for Pets | 0117 964 7822 Imperial Retail Park, Hartcliffe Way BS13 7TJ

Matthews is sponsoring...

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MARLEY

Marley is a happy-go-lucky dog who loves people and other dogs. He could do with a little more obedience training, as sometimes he forgets his size and can be a bit bouncy!

If you are interested in rehoming Marley, please call 0117 977 6043.

CHESTER

Chester is an active young dog who can be anxious with new people, but becomes affectionate with patience. He would happily play fetch all day so would like an active home.

Marley: Male lurcher, 1-2 years old

Matthews estate agents | 0117 971 1417 298 Wells Road, Knowle BS4 2QG

If you are interested in rehoming Chester, please call 0117 977 6043.

Chester: Male springer spaniel cross Patterdale, 10 months

Ocean estate agents | 0117 977 3238 321 Wells Road, Bristol BS4 2QB

Got a story or any other inquiry? Call Paul on 07811 766072 or email paul@southbristolvoice.co.uk

June 2017

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30

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LETTERS Memories of the old airport I MOVED to Salcombe Road in about 1950, so Whitchurch Airport was still active (Bristol’s first airport, South Bristol Voice, May 2017). I remember cycling along the perimeter road (now Bamfield) and watching aircraft coming into land, almost clipping the houses in Walsh Avenue.

At that time the main service was provided by Cambrian DC3-s, but also Aer Lingus De Havilland Doves, Herons and Dragon Rapides. Sometimes Bristol Freighters came in. The most exciting thing was to watch a DC3 revving up at the end of the runway and then roaring over seemingly a few feet up!

I passed the Happy Landings many times over the years, but sadly never thought to take any photos of the sign. I remember, though, that the Brabazon featured for some years (probably in the 1950s), then the Britannia (possibly in the 1960s/70s).

I never got to fly from Whitchurch, but did fly to Jersey

Send letters to paul@southbristolvoice.co.uk or to 18 Lilymead Ave, BS4 2BX in 1964/5 from Lulsgate, in Cambrian DC3s (or as the airline called them Pionairs).

My late father worked at the north side on engine repairs from about 1950 to closure.

This was probably the reason for our move to Knowle.

Dad worked on the Bristol Hercules engines used mainly on transport aircraft such as the Bristol Freighter and Beverley.

The Freighters at Whitchurch were operated by Silver City.

Malcolm Williams, Knowle

Memory trail ST GEORGE’S Bristol was a church for over 160 years until 1984. Now it is a concert hall, and, as foundations are laid for the venue’s two-storey extension, staff are keen to know more about the building’s past. If you attended St George’s Brandon Hill and have an interesting story to share, please get in touch with me on 0117 929 4929, or email doreen.pastor@stgeorgesbristol. co.uk Doreen Pastor St George’s Bristol

Cyclists need a wider path

In the interests of the children

YESTERDAY I cycled home through Victoria Park. I always go at a slow speed in the park. I rang my bell to alert a jogger up ahead, but they had earphones on and obviously didn’t hear because as I passed they swerved and almost hit me.

Had we collided, that would have been their fault.

Then a little further on, a dog on a lead ran towards me and the owner was unable to control it.

This gave me a fright, as I had been attacked by a dog in a park last year and ended up bloodied.

Had we collided, that would have been the dog owner’s fault.

If there is a wider path, with more space for people to safely pass, then neither of these problems would arise. Victoria Park needs a better, wider path, for the benefit of all. It’s only common sense. I hope this can come to pass with the revised scheme. It is very much needed!

Fred Smith, Knowle

I WAS deeply shocked to read in the last Voice of the decision to take the children of the woman who had 20-odd £20 packs of cannabis into care. What an earth is going on; that is £400 worth of a drug that is very arguably less damaging than alcohol, and the authorities have taken children away from their mother.

Let’s be clear, cannabis is not particularly harmful on the drug spectrum (any trip to the centre of Bristol at a weekend night will confirm this) and is certainly less harmful than alcohol. Was this really warranted and in the best long term interests of the children?

PS, Windmill Hill • Editor’s note: Police have told us the children were only looked after while their mother was interviewed in relation to dealing drugs from her vehicle. That investigation is ongoing. She has since been convicted at Bath Magistrates Court of driving without a licence or insurance and disqualified for 12 months.

POLICE REPORT Complaints from residents are leading to drugs arrests

I

F YOU’RE being affected by crime or anti-social behaviour, make sure you report it. All too often, people will assume we already know about an issue or someone else has called us, but it’s not always the case. The more information we have, the better.

Recently, residents in Knowle complained about drug dealing, drug use and anti-social behaviour in a small cut-through to Airport Road. As a result, we targeted the area and three men were arrested.

One man, from Wells Road, was charged with possession of heroin and cocaine. Another, from Bedminster, was charged with five thefts and a public order offence. We also arranged for the council to clear the area of drug litter and general rubbish.

31

With Sgt Caroline Crane Broadbury Road police station

The key to this was the community stepping up to report the issues and give useful information about exact locations and timings. The more you tell us about people or places that are causing a problem, the more we can look to deal with that for you.

Bristol city council has a dedicated page on its website called Report a Street That Needs Cleaning. You can use it for drug or sex litter, overflowing bins, dog fouling, glass and so on.

I

f you took part in the Bristol 10k, you may have suffered the humiliation of a team of nine Broadbury Road-based officers overtaking you in full riot gear!

The team, equipped with shields and helmets, each dragged round 30lb of kit to raise money for Mind’s Blue Light Programme and Macmillan Cancer Support.

W

e’ve recently relaunched our Safe Places service, a 24/7 number to help people with communication difficulties stay safe when they are out and about.

Once registered, an individual

Riotous behaviour: Nine officers ran the Bristol 10k in full riot gear can call the Safe Places number if they find themselves in a crisis, such as if they are lost, feel scared or upset and don’t know what to do, or if they have been a victim of crime. The number has a direct link into the police control room.

If you think the service could help you or someone you know, find out more on our website: • avonandsomerset.police.uk/ safeplaces

I

can’t let the June edition pass without a reminder not to let the warmer weather make you

complacent about security at home. If you go out, ensure your doors and windows are closed and locked. Also, if you’re in the back garden, lock your front door and close the windows.

Finally, the Bedminster neighbourhood team holds beat surgeries at the beginning of each month at Ashton Vale community centre. Full details are on our website – do take the chance to pop along and discuss any policing issues affecting you.

Until next time, Sergeant Caroline Crane

Got a story or any other inquiry? Call Paul on 07811 766072 or email paul@southbristolvoice.co.uk

June 2017

southbristolvoice

32

n NEWS In witch I curse the hairdresser ...

I

AM NOT keen on having my hair done. I am of course blaming my mother who traumatised me by having my hair cut very short when I was about eight. I looked like a boy and cried for months about it. I now find it a very stressful and awkward business. It also does not help that I do not like being touched and this begins immediately you enter one of these establishments.

From the little hair washer person to the professional hairy person, they all have to touch you – shudder.

A few years ago I braved a hairdressers at the Broadwalk. They were all young, thin and totally

Who is she?

THE We don’t WICKED know – she WITCH hides in her great big cloak

OF KNOWLE

cool. It was going relatively well.

Evil was tiny and happily sat on my knee. I was chatting rubbish, as you do, when Miss Cool suddenly stopped her chopping and peered at my scalp. She scurried off to consult her colleague, Miss Sultry, who shimmied over and they both leaned in. I met their gaze in the mirror and my heart sank. I had nits. Oh the shame, my hair was wet and half cut. They retreated for a conflab, glancing in my direction

with disgusted eyes. Miss Cool told me that she would finish the cut but would not be able to blow dry as my unwelcome guests might fly off onto other customers. I could feel every eye on me. I paid, left a big tip and with Evil tucked under my arm I ran home, hair dripping with water and creatures.

I never returned to that hairdressers. When I do make an appointment elsewhere (once a year), although the nits have long gone I always have an itchy head and sit through the whole process paranoid that they have returned.

When Eldest was smaller I thought I would save money, buy some clippers and do it myself.

How hard could it be? Oh dear, despite using a pudding bowl as a

guide, it was tufty and lopsided. I had to drive him to the barbers on Redcatch Road and beg them to sort it out. The barber shook his head; “Trying to take the bread from my baba’s mouth,” he scolded, while shaving Eldest’s scalp and charging me double.

Evil is much more into her hair and has just trusted me to lighten the ends. I did a very good job. Well I must have as she scrutinised it from each angle before actually thanking me. There was some solution left so, feeling daring, I put a bit in my hair, just a stripe down the side – I’m not too old to look funky! Left it on for longer than I should and when I washed it out – I looked like a ginger badger. A marvellously mad look for this old witch.

Down on the Farm News from Windmill Hill City Farm, Philip Street, Bedminster

Nursery news AS YOU will have read elsewhere in the Voice [see page 8], Windmill Hill City Farm is considering an opportunity to increase its places for pre-school nursery children. If it goes ahead it will give an additional 32 places for 3-5 year-olds in an area that is desperately in need of more provision – and secure the financial future for the farm as a free community facility.

Tickling the keys Bristol-based artist Luke Jerram, who created such memorable installations as the Park Street water slide and the Museum of the Moon, is bringing his decorated street-pianos back to Bristol, and one of them will be at the city farm. Play Me I’m Yours Bristol 2017 celebrates 10 years of pianos installed in public spaces for anyone to play and enjoy. There’ll be a piano at the farm from August 17 to September 7.

Farm Foods Farm-raised pork will be on sale in June. It always sells out quickly so keep an eye out for details on Facebook, the website, or visit the farm shop in the new café.

Would you like to shop less in supermarkets, and avoid endless packaging? The farm has joined Bristol’s Real Economy

Tinkle town: A piano in North St Cooperative to offer you a great alternative. Just sign up on the website, place your order online, then collect your fruit, vegetables and other goods from the farm café. First delivery is July 1.

Farm events Let’s Make Art – new weekly art and storytelling sessions for pre-school children and their grown-ups, themed around popular children’s books, with time to make things together, inspired by the story. Every

Tuesday, 10.30-11.30am in the farm café. £6.

Woodworking Day - make your own hand-crafted woodland products and explore the ancient art of green woodworking in this one day workshop. Sunday June 11, 10am-4pm. £60.

Open Mic – join a host of lovely local musicians in the brand new monthly open mic night in the brand new café! All styles and abilities welcome! Bar and snacks available. Starts Friday June 23, 6-10pm. Free entry.

More information and event bookings via the website.

Summer holidays at the farm It may seem a long way away, but the farm will have lots of great activities running throughout the summer holidays – including the Wild Outdoors Club. Details will be up on the website soon.

• windmillhillcityfarm.org.uk

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June 2017

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RSPCA UPDATE

33 From Bristol Dogs & Cats Home

If you want your bunny to be happy, you need more than just a little hutch

J

UNE 17-25 is Rabbit Awareness Week, and we are using the week to highlight the importance of good and responsible rabbit ownership.

Rabbits are now the fourth most popular pet in the UK, which is why it is so vital that we keep reinforcing the messages about appropriate welfare for our furry friends. Did you know that a wild rabbit’s territory is equivalent to around 30 tennis courts? That is why traditional small hutches are not appropriate. We recommend a minimum area of 10ft x 6ft x 3ft high (3m x 2m x 1m) for a pair of average sized rabbits. It is important that your rabbits have space to hop, jump and stretch!

Around 80 per cent of your rabbit’s diet should consist of hay and fresh grass, with 10 per cent

There’s more to looking after rabbits than meets the eye, but we can offer help Rabbits need a varied diet – rabbit food alone is not enough, they need plenty of greens veggies, 5 per cent healthy pellets, and 5 per cent healthy treats. Constant access to clean water is also, of course, vital.

Sadly many rabbits spend their entire lives living alone in a hutch. Rabbits have complex social needs and are at their happiest when paired with another friendly bunny; every bunny needs somebunny! Our small animal unit is the perfect place to begin your search for a new rabbit playmate. We can provide expert advice on rabbit

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Rabbits can be prone to some health conditions that are often difficult to spot: “Sometimes rabbits can hide pain and illness very well because they are prey animals. That is why good care, and regular veterinary check-ups are so important to keep them healthy. Myxomatosis and VHD are two serious diseases that are preventable by vaccination,” explained Emily Maughan, an animal care assistant in the small

annual unit at the home.

If you are interested in rehoming a rabbit or other small animal please visit our website, or call us on 0117 977 6043 for some advice.

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35

n PLANNING APPLICATIONS 78 Queensdale Crescent BS4 2TS Single storey rear extension to extend beyond the rear by 3.5m, of maximum height 3.6m with eaves 2.5m high. Pending consideration 112 Somerset Road BS4 2JB Single storey rear extension to extend beyond the rear by 3.7m, of maximum height 3.6m with eaves 2.6m high. Pending consideration 61 Quantock Road BS3 4PQ Two rear dormers (one on outrigger) with three roof lights, one skylight, one rear window, juliet balcony, change of rear door to bi-folds and installation of larger side window. Pending consideration 57 Stoneleigh Road BS4 2RH Single storey rear and side extension, to provide one flat and detached garage. Pending consideration 51 Stoneleigh Road BS4 2RH Single storey rear extension to

extend beyond the rear by 4.3m, of maximum height 4m with eaves 2.7m high. Refused 59 Cotswold Road BS3 4NX Two roof extensions to rear, with installation of two rear windows, two front roof lights and removal of chimney. Granted 15 The Square Knowle BS4 2ST Single storey rear extension to extend beyond the rear by 3.7m, of maximum height 3.4m with eaves 2.4m high. Granted 2 Ravenhill Avenue BS3 5DU Hip to gable roof extension, rear dormer roof extension and insertion of roof light. Granted 49 Creswicke Road BS4 1UD Dropped kerb and provision of parking area to the front of the property. Granted subject to conditions Garages, Somerset Terrace, Windmill Hill Outline application for construction of a house, with access to be

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257 Redcatch Road BS4 2HJ Two storey side and single storey rear extension. Granted subject to conditions

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1 Raymend Road BS3 4QR Change of use of garage to 2 bedroom maisonette. Granted subject to conditions Garage at north-west end of Nutgrove Avenue BS3 4QF Demolition of garage and erection of new dwelling house.

Withdrawn 10 Hill Avenue BS3 4SH Single storey rear extension and amendment to bathroom window. Granted subject to conditions 5 Greenleaze Knowle BS4 2TJ Two storey rear extension.

Refused 2 St Agnes Walk BS4 2DL Demolition of conservatory and

6 Ponsford Road BS4 2UP Single storey rear extension to extend beyond the rear by 4.3m, of maximum height 3.5m with eaves 2.8m high. Granted 404 Wells Road, Knowle BS14 9AA Side roof extensions, hip to gable end and rear alteration to roof. Granted 23 Withleigh Road BS4 2LG Single storey rear extension.

Granted subj. to conditions 9 Dundry View BS4 2TX Rear two storey extension and single storey side extension. Granted subject to conditions • The status of these applications may have changed since we went to press. Check for updates at planningonline.bristol.gov.uk

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June 2017

southbristolvoice

36

n YOUR COUNCILLORS

F

IRSTLY, thank you to the more than 5,500 people who have already signed the petition Gary calling for the Hopkins council to ensure Lib Dem the continuation of Knowle Jubilee swimming pool in Knowle. If you have not already done so you can add your name, using the web link at the end of this article.

In reply to much questioning, the mayor has so far said that the paperwork saying that the pool would close, which was voted for by him and all Labour councillors, was a mistake. He has, though, refused to distance himself from the appalling “equalities impact assessment” that was in fact a disgraceful parody of a report to seek to justify closure.

The operators, Parkwood Leisure, have, in response to the increased business generated because of the campaign, agreed

Knowle

to drop all subsidy but the mayor has refused to confirm that a new contract has been offered or signed.

The huge petition has triggered a debate in full council on June 27. Campaigners will be making statements and asking questions at the start of the 6pm meeting and every member of the public has the right to have their say. You can do this by submitting a written statement by noon the day before. If you want to, you can turn up to speak. Written questions must be in a week in advance and verbal supplementaries are possible. All to be sent to democratic. services@bristol.gov.uk.

Later in the meeting a campaigner will make a speech which must be responded to by all parties on the council. There will be a live webcast (see second weblink below).

Jubilee pool is a vital community facility – please help us to preserve it.

• savejubileepool.weebly.com • bristol.public-i.tv

M

ANY of you will know that parks are a particular passion of mine, and, with Gary, I have been Chris heavily involved Davies with Redcatch Lib Dem Park. We have also Knowle helped at Perretts and others.

I am still very angry that the present mayor confiscated the money which we had raised for parks improvements by agreeing to a sale of land for affordable housing.

There is a much broader threat to our parks and trees in the city, though, that will inflict serious and lasting damage unless we all work together.

The city council puts in a budget for grass cutting, playground safety checks and general maintenance, but recently money for improvements has disappeared.

Redcatch has continued to invest because of money raised

Wessex Glass & Locks 0117 977 0033 & 0117 977 4012

How to contact your councillor: p2 by our Friends group but paying all the bills is clearly beyond even the most organised local volunteers, and many parks do not have the local structure to help at all.

The mayor has proposed that the parks budgets will not just be cut further but eliminated altogether. While some parks can raise money from the odd pop concert or event, it is impossible to cover everything across the city this way and inevitably playgrounds will close and parks become neglected.

At the same time the tree maintenance budget has been slashed so badly that within years subsidence claims will rise, and mature trees will have to be felled.

Individual parks groups do not have the power to stop this so a city wide petition has been organised to force a council debate.

Please sign at the address below. We must act before it is too late.

• bristolparksinperil.weebly.com

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June 2017

southbristolvoice

n YOUR COUNCILLORS

A

NUMBER of people have contacted me about Bristol’s very visible homelessness Jon problem. Anyone Wellington who visits the city Labour centre cannot help Windmill Hill but be shocked by the number of people sleeping on the streets. The numbers appear to have increased dramatically in the last few years, and it is frankly a shame on our city.

There are many reasons, including rises in private rents and the inevitable greater demand for homelessness services which are already struggling to cope with reduced budgets. This is exacerbated by government cuts and a reduction in benefits available to people at risk of losing their homes.

The mayor and Bristol city council are taking action on this as a priority. At this month’s cabinet meeting, members discussed these services as part

Windmill Hill

of its successful application for three government grants totalling £2.55 million which will help to tackle homelessness. This includes a £1.125m social impact bond to tackle long-term rough sleeping; a fund for projects preventing homelessness; and a grant to provide rapid support to people who are new to sleeping rough and to get them off the streets. This is in addition to the availability of up to £57m of grants to housing associations to provide homes for social rent as part of new-build private developments, and a fund of £9m for new council homes in the city.

Lots of people I speak to want to do something to help people they see sleeping rough.

Streetlink allows anyone to report a person sleeping on the streets via a website, an app, or by calling 0300 500 0914, 24 hours a day. StreetLink sends details to the council-funded support service, St Mungo’s Broadway, who will help them find somewhere to stay.

• streetlink.org.uk

W

37

How to contact your councillor: p2

HAT a year!

The EU referendum, the shock US election outcome, the West of England mayor, Lucy and now another Whittle General Election.

Labour And while this Windmill Hill all goes on many small community projects grow up around us. The many people who are pulling together to improve their local area are an inspiration to me.

I have seen the organisation and clarity of vision of WHaM, using community consultations and a democratic approach to be as inclusive as possible. If you are concerned about the Bedminster Green energy centre or housing proposed by Rollo Homes check out the council planning website, where both planning applications are open for comments.

Also projects like Malago Greenway; Jon and I have joined the fantastic volunteers to clean up the river, which looked

gorgeous afterwards. They have now received some grant money for a Berry Maze designed by local children, but they need more help; you can email them on malagocommunity@gmail.com.

Tresa have also been hugely active improving the Totterdown area, and Jon enjoyed helping them create a mosaic in memory of the community that once stood around Three Lamps.

There are also active groups looking after our parks including the Northern Slopes and Perrett’s park. VPAG challenged the proposed bike path, and those plans are now being revised. It is essential that we include local people in these decisions.

There are so many community groups, choirs and social groups which make life immeasurably better for many people. Not to forget Windmill Hill community centre and their impossible quiz, which I will win one day (I won’t).

There is more than one way of having a positive impact on your community. Using your vote is another.

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n HISTORY Bristol’s most influential doctor It was a revelation The doctor who D that disease could be caused by tiny recognised the living organisms wriggling horrors that brought death to the Bristol slums R WILLIAM Budd was a man with a burning desire. Like many of the prominent Victorians who are buried in Arnos Vale cemetery, he had a zeal for his life’s work – which was principally to save as many lives in Bristol as he could.

He worked so hard that he was reckoned to have shortened his own life by his effort – often running, it was said, from his home in Clifton to the Royal Infirmary because he was so anxious to see how his patients were doing.

His talents were badly needed: it has been said that in the 1840s Bristol was the third most unhealthy town in England.

In fact there’s some dispute about this – it turns out that Bristol was actually fourth on a selected list of 10 large towns, and its high death rate was achieved by excluding the healthy suburbs of Redland and Clifton from the figures.

But that’s to trifle: in the city centre, Bristol was a mass of unhealthy tenements, where life was short and disease rampant.

Budd was a key figure in helping to eliminate many of those diseases, not just in Bristol but across the world. Among many honours he received was a letter from the eminent doctors of New York congratulating him on his discoveries.

The irony is that Budd did his best work, and saved probably thousands of lives, in Bristol. Yet if he hadn’t been the son of a country doctor, and had been forced back to his Devon village to practice there, he would not now be so famous.

W

illiam Budd was born in 1811 in North Tawton, Devon. His father was a doctor who taught his skills to his sons: seven of his 10 boys studied medicine. William spent four years studying in France, where doctors were trying to find the cause of diseases such as typhoid fever.

There was an assumption that such diseases were connected with foul living conditions. But what connected the patients?

One theory was that “foul air” was to blame.

Pierre Louis, later to become know as the father of evidence based medicine, discovered inflammations on the small intestine. Budd remembered this: he was also impressed by a

New world: Dr Budd used the latest microscopes to reveal the true cause of cholera: a living, multiplying organism, seen for the first time country doctor, Brettenau, who found that the typhoid appeared to have travelled with several students who were sent home from a military school in Tours.

Budd asked, what if foul air wasn’t to blame? What if the disease was passed from person to person, and there were unmistakeable physical signs that would identify the disease?

Budd was to return to this idea.

First he went to Edinburgh, where his studies earned him a

gold medal, and then to the naval hospital HMS Dreadnought, where he worked only briefly before himself succumbing to typhoid fever.

He nearly died, but pulled through, and while recovering, returned home to work with his father. It was in Devon that he made his real breakthrough.

Typhoid fever broke out in a village of 1,300 people. North Tawton was thought a healthy place, without tenements and

with clean air all around. But in July 1839, two girls developed typhoid fever. Within four months, more than 80 inhabitants had fallen ill. But what connected them? In a big city like Bristol there was little hope of a single doctor keeping tabs on all the victims, and trying to find out how they become infected. In the village, Budd and his family were the only medics, and Budd recorded every occurrence.

“At first the people involved did not seem to have connections. However, the fourth case, a sawyer, removed to his home nine miles off as soon as he began to droop. Two days after his return home he was laid up with fever of which he died at the end of five weeks. Ten days after his death his two children were laid up and both had it severely.

The widow remained well.”

The personal connection between the victims was becoming clear. The case of another sawyer was “still more instructive,” Budd wrote. “A friend who visited this man when he was at his worst, and was called upon to assist him in the bed … was seized with rigour which was followed by typhoid fever. This person now became a new source of contagion. Before he was convalescent, two of his children were laid up with fever, and also a brother, living at some distance, but who had repeatedly visited him.”

The case had its medical fascination for Budd. But such a fateful outbreak in his home village had personal effect too.

In the introduction to his later book, Typoid Fever, he wrote: “At a time when cholera is destroying hundreds of our fellow creatures daily, and filling the land with mourning, it is the duty of every one who believes himself to be in the possession of any observations which throw the smallest light on the cause of, and the means of controlling, such an awful visitation, to give them, without delay, all the publicity possible.”

With the help of other country doctors, he was to prove his case

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n HISTORY Bristol’s most influential doctor Dr William Budd: “How often have I seen in past days, in the single narrow chamber of the day labourer’s cottage, the father in the coffin, the mother in the sick bed in muttering delirium, and nothing to relieve the desolation of the children?”

that personal, intimate contact was responsible for the spread of typhoid. Dr William Cook, from Worcester, wrote in the Lancet how he had traced a small epidemic over a wide distance in the countryside.

But it was in Bristol that Budd was to make his impression. He became a doctor at St Peter’s Hospital in 1842. (The hospital was then a pauper’s workhouse; it stood behind St Peter’s church in what is now Castle Park and was destroyed in the Blitz in 1940. St Peter’s Hospice was named after it.)

In 1847, when Budd had moved to work at the Bristol Royal Infirmary, he was called to a patient with fever in Richmond Terrace, Clifton: the wealthy end of town, constructed so that the middle classes could move away from the foul airs of the harbour, which were in the summer a mass of stinking sewage.

Budd found that 13 of the 34 households in Richmond Terrace were stricken by the fever. What did they have in common? One thing: a well. The other 21 homes had a different source of water.

Evidence is a slippery thing in medicine, however, and the ground rules of evidence-based medicine had yet to be agreed.

Theories were based on observations; and where there were many possible causes of a disease, as there often were in a city, there was disagreement

among doctors. There were the contagionists, who believed that typhoid was spread from person to person; and anticontagionists, who blamed “miasma” – the spread of disease through bad air or bad drains.

The “immense majority” of country docors, Budd said, were “decided contagionists”. Most medics in large towns were miasmists. If the country doctors should be proved right, he wrote modestly, the credit must be given “not to superior insight on their part but to their possession of a better point of view.”

B

udd was soon to gain the influence to put his ideas into effect. The filth and degradation in Bristol were there for all to see. The city fathers had to be forced to confront it, but Budd and others gave evidence to a parliamentary commission. The opening of the Floating Harbour in 1809 had made matters worse: the tide no longer carried away the sewage. Working drains and clean water were essential for health, said Budd, and he became a founding director of the Bristol Waterworks Company in 1845. The water supply should be out of reach of any sewage, and under constant pressure, he insisted. Hence the reservoirs were built in the Dundry hills, and clean water started to flow – to some Bristolians at least.

It was the work of decades to

turn the city around. An outbreak of cholera in Bristol in 1849 carried off 2,000 people. This was one out of every 70 people in a city of 140,000, killed by a single outbreak of one disease.

Budd seized on the work of the Bristol Microscopical Society, founded in 1843, whose members observed a living organism in the faeces of cholera patients. The cause of cholera was a fungus, Budd stated, spread through contaminated water and air.

He happened to be wrong: cholera is caused by a bacterium, not a fungus, and it’s spread only through water. But in an important way he was right: it was an advance to say that cholera was caused by a distinct living organism, not by a “miasma”. Science advances by such fits and starts.

His work was read by John Simon, medical officer of health in the City of London. When cholera hit London in 1853, Simon had cleaned up the water supply; few in the City died.

With typhoid fever, Budd was

on surer ground. The ulcers on the intestines were distinctive.

Through the new microscopes, he peered at the distinctive “rice-water” stools of fever victims, identifying time and again what he believed were the same organisms.

His ideas were still in conflict with those of the anticontagionists, but Bristol was gradually being made a more sanitary, less disease-ridden place.

Budd was already sure that it was the organisms in faeces that helped to spread both cholera and typhoid.

He gathered more evidence from the countryside. In Cowbridge, South Wales, eight people died of typhoid fever after visiting an inn in 1853. Not all the customers were affected: what united them was that all the victims had drunk lemonade. The drink had been made with water from a well which was close to the septic tank of the inn. A patient who was recovering from Continued on page 40

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n HISTORY Bristol’s most influential doctor Continued from page 39 typhoid had visited the pub shortly beforehand.

Budd recommended all drinking water should be boiled, and encouraged the city to construct decent drains (a long job). He spoke endlessly about the importance of personal

BUDD AND THE HOMEOPATHISTS DR WILLIAM Budd was a stickler for evidence, and a key figure in developing controlled medical trials. Why, then, is he claimed as a fan of homeopathy?

The website Sue Young Histories claims that Dr Budd was converted to homeopathy in 1860 after treating a patient who passed a stone almost an inch long from a gland under his tongue, after another doctor had given him a homeopathic remedy.

Most medics through the ages have been sceptical of homeopathy, which claims that all kinds of illness can be treated by

hygiene, of washing hands and keeping one’s body clean – particularly for doctors and nurses.

He also became one of the first advocates of disinfectants.

Chlorine had been known as a bleach since the 1780s. As a gas, it is poisonous; but once passed an almost infinitesimal dilution of the substance that causes the disease. Numerous studies have found no evidence that it works, and its practice has now almost disappeared from the NHS (it was offered at South Bristol hospital until 2015).

In this case, the homeopath seems to have misread the evidence. Dr Budd said of homeopathy in 1857 “of all the forms of quackery, none was so insidious, so miserable and wretched”. Even a sympathetic study of homeopathy in Bristol agrees that Dr Budd’s own account of the patient with a stone under his tongue was a ridicule of homeopathic treatment.

through lime it becomes usable.

Budd said chloride of lime should be poured into privies and drains. Medical staff and orderlies – who were previously at great risk of being infected by their patients – could keep themselves safe by disinfecting their hands frequently. He recommended its use in the Crimea, where British soldiers died wholesale from cholera in the 1850s, but he was largely ignored.

When government-appointed health officers began work in Bristol and elsewhere from 1865, however, these precautions became widespread.

E

ven when there was disagreement about how the diseases were spread – by foul air, or personal contamination – it sometimes didn’t matter, if all the hygienic precautions were being taken.

Fatal outbreaks continued, but they allowed Budd to gather more evidence for his theories.

In 1863, typhoid fever struck

the Convent of the Good Shepherd at Arno’s Court – the site of the current Arnos Court hotel. The convent was founded in 1851, intended to rescue young women from a life on the streets.

In 1856 a reform school was added for Roman Catholic girls who had been imprisoned – sometimes from the age of nine.

It’s possible that living conditions in the convent were not ideal. However, there had never been any typhoid there until a previous inmate returned in the summer of 1863, after several months in another town.

Six weeks later, the first case of typhoid (or enteric fever) had occurred, and by the following March, more than 50 were infected, three had died, and two more, including the chaplain were close to death.

Budd said the fact that there had never been fever in the convent before gave the lie to the opinion that it could be caused by bad drains. It must be contagious, he said.

Budd had long been teaching

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n HISTORY Bristol’s most influential doctor THE HORROR OF THE FEVER From Dr Budd’s book, Typhoid Fever O ONE can know what they really imply who has not had experience of this fever in his own home. The dreary and painful night-watches – the great length of the period over which the anxiety is extended – the long suspense between hope and fear, and the large number of the cases in which hope is disappointed and the worst fear is at last realised, make up a sum of distress that is scarcely to be found in the history of any other acute disorder.

Even in the highest class of

society, the introduction of this fever into the household is an event that generally long stands prominently out in the record of family afflictions. But if this be true of the mansions of the rich, who have every means of alleviation which wealth can command, how much more true must it be of the cottages of the poor, who have scant provision for the necessaries of life, and none for its great emergencies! Here, when Fever once enters, WANT soon follows, and CONTAGION is not slow to add its peculiar bitterness to the trial.

As the disease is, by far, most fatal to persons in middle life, the mother or father, or both, are often the first to succumb, and the young

survivors being left without support, their home is broken up and their destitution becomes complete.

How often have I seen in past days, in the single narrow chamber of the day labourer’s cottage, the father in the coffin, the mother in the sick bed in muttering delirium, and nothing to relieve the desolation of the children but the devotion of some poor neighbour who in too many cases paid the penalty of her kindness in becoming, herself, the victim of the same disorder!”

From the fact, already referred to, of its being so much more deadly to grown-up persons, this disease has a relation to pauperism which is almost peculiar to itself.”

his ideas at the Bristol Medical School, where he had quite a reputation. He did not publish them until 1857, when he began a series of papers in The Lancet. In 1873 he published his life’s main work, Typhoid Fever: Its Nature, Mode Of Spreading, And Prevention. It was his final contribution: his health broke – some say he had a stroke – and he was forced to retire. He had given up his post at the infirmary in 1862, already overworked.

He had married Caroline Hilton in Bath in 1847. They had nine children, and lived in Clifton and then Clevedon until his death in 1880, when the papers sang his praises. “No officer could ever serve an institution with more fidelity or more ability than did Dr Budd the Royal Infirmary,” said the Bristol

Mercury, in an obituary reprinted in many other newspapers.

“When not actively engaged in the routine of his professional duties, he was generally found investigating some obscure problem in medical science,” the paper continued, adding that “we owe much of what is known” about cholera and similar diseases to Dr Budd.

“The painstaking care with which he attended upon his patents, his great diagnostic skill, and his success in the treatment of disease won him high renown and a large practice.”

By the time Budd died his battles of theory were largely won. The evidence spoke for itself. In the 1849 epidemic, cholera killed 2,000 people in Bristol. In 1854 another outbreak

killed 430. In 1866, after many reforms of hygiene, the death toll from the same disease was only 29.

The toll of overcrowded and filthy living conditions still afflicted the working people of Bristol, however. The ways in which disease was transmitted were becoming understood; but the city, and its medical officer, were reluctant to use even the powers they had to tackle horrific overcrowding in the slums (in 1877, the death rate was worst in the ward of St Mary Redcliffe, where there were notorious courts, or tenements, off Redcross Street; twice as many people died here each year, per head of population, as in Clifton).

Budd’s position in history was secure, however. His biography

by Michael Dunnill, published in

“N

THE FEVER HOSPITALS – AND THE BRISTOL ARENA

ONE innovation which Dr Budd helped encourage may yet have an effect on our future. Special “fever hospitals” were used to isolate infectious patients. A temporary one was erected next to Stapleton workhouse in 1864. Eventually two small hospitals, one for fever (typhoid) and one for small pox, were built near Temple Meads, off Cattle Market Road near Totterdown Lock.

One source says the council did not agree to build them until the 1880s – our map dates from about 1880 – but the buildings also appear, unlabelled, on a map of 1874.

Either way, many people died at the hospitals, and it’s uncertain exactly where they are buried. This

The effect: Budd’s illustration of ulcers in the small intestine in the 11th day of typhoid fever 2007 by Redcliffe Press, was called William Budd: Bristol’s Most Famous Physician – a title that’s beyond dispute.

Sources: • Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 2002 Nov; 95 (11): 561-564 • Int. Journal of Epidemiology, 2013 (42) 6: 1576-1577 • Public Health in Victorian Bristol, Peter Malpass & Michael Whitfield, ALHA (Avon Local History & Archeology) Books No 19, 2015 • Homeopathy in Bristol 1840-1925, Michael Whitfield, ALHA Books No 15, 2013 • sueyounghistories.com/ archives/2010/04/15/williambudd-1811-1880 • Typhoid Fever: Its Nature, Mode of Spreading, and Contagion, Dr William Budd, 1873

TOTTERDOWN LOCK

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Tribute: A plaque on Budd’s former home at 89 Park Street is one of the factors being considered before the sale of what is now Arena Island, and the former Royal Mail sorting office, to the University of Bristol. Are there graves waiting to be discovered by the developers, and perhaps decontaminated? Time will tell.

THE HOSPITALS

THE NEW CUT

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The isolation hospitals: the upper for fever, the lower for smallpox

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n TAKE A BREAK

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2 is A, B or C 3 is D, E or F 4 is G, H or I 5 is J, K, or L

6 is M, N or O 7 is P, Q, R or S 8 is T, U or V 9 is W, X, Y or Z

1

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n WHAT’S ON

A little like Glastonbury, but without the mud THE Totterdown Music Festival is back with it’s biggest-ever line-up. Like last year, the stage will be in Oxford Street, outside the Oxford pub. Expect food stalls and a lively atmosphere from 2pm on Saturday June 9, continuing on Sunday June 10.

There will be plenty of local participants in the Break Out Voices choir. Other past festival favourites appearing again include African Sambistas and Troy Ellis & The Hail Jamaica

Reggae Band, as well as Natty Dapps and The Dunbars.

The line-up also includes The Houdinis, The Deltics, Crawlin Kingsnakes, Ilu Axe, Sensijam, The Bad Losers, Pigs Ear, Conor Hughes, The Itinerants, Dukes of Mumbai, Dappa Don and the Playaz, Mama Cabassa, Bristol Ukulele Club Band and Regime.

There was no schedule at the time of going to press. More at • facebook.com: Totterdown Music Festival 2017

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Party time: Last year’s Totterdown Music Festival in Oxford Street

A perfect night of fabulous variety acts REVIEW A Night at the Cabaret, Redcatch community centre, Knowle HOSTED by Entertaining Local Knowle, the hall was transformed from a place for kids’ parties and exercise classes to a welcoming improv theatre, with long tables adorned with flickering tea lights.

Himself states that women comedians are simply not funny. I was willing Angie Belcher, compere and finalist of Best Female Comedy Newcomer, to prove him wrong. And she delivered. Oh, she was slick. She was also very naughty and crude to the delight of the majority, including my friend who had to keep dabbing away the tears.

One group sat with pursed lips but they were from a church so I will forgive them.

El Diabolo wowed the crowd with tricks and flips, bouncing his fancy flashing diabolo daringly, until one of his sticks broke, making the act even funnier. He was followed by Bed of Nails Man (Fakir Darren), a

cheeky chappie who had us cringing, gasping and laughing.

He somehow survived his performance and it was time to bring on Moaning Malcolm. I was a little bit worried; I hate a moaner. But oh he was good; a very clever comedy poet, his delivery and timing done to perfection. Destined for television for sure.

El Diabolo then changed into Marky Jay, a death-defying knife juggler. His finale saw two members of the audience persuaded onto the stage. I hardly dared to look as Marky Jay clambered onto their uneven shoulders, nearly getting tangled up in the bunting and disappearing from view behind the pelmet. How he managed to juggle without killing someone was a miracle – I could see the organisers frantically checking their insurance.

A break for a bowl of delicious soup, then the night was finished off by songstress Ella Candela. Her first song was worryingly karaoke and she nearly lost her audience but she soon warmed up and had the crowd dancing madly. It was fabulous, a cheap night out within staggering distance of home. Perfect. The Wicked Witch

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n WHAT’S ON Thursday June 1 n Something Else Acta theatre, Gladstone Street, Bedminster. Deafinitely Theatre, the UK’s leading deaf theatre company, bring award-winning picture book Something Else to life, using British Sign Language and spoken English. A story for children aged 3+ and their families, both deaf and hearing, celebrating everyone's right to be different. 1pm and 3.30pm, £7.

• acta-bristol.com n Biota Paintworks, Bath Road, Totterdown. Photography exhibition by Falmouth University students of marine and natural history. Until June 7, 9-5pm. Photos from Cornwall to Fiji, from the predators of the Pacific Ocean to Europe’s last wild primates and the wildlife of Chernobyl's exclusion zone.

• play.paintworksbristol.co.uk n Sirens Tobacco Factory theatre, until June 3. Belgian theatre company Ontroerend Goed get to the core of what it is to be female. “Sirens starts as a concert: six vocalists screaming their lungs out. What follows is a barrage of images, dealing with role models, patterns of expectation, persisting inequalities, acquired rights, inner censorship and everyday abuse.” Age 18+ only. £16/£14.

• tobaccofactorytheatres.com Friday June 2 n Sean Kelly: Sold Your Way Comedy Box at the Tobacco Factory. The ever-smiling, ever-shouting auctioneer, star of Storage Hunters, has led a crazy life and wants to tell you about it, from holding a secret military clearance sale to catching shoplifters in Italy. Bring an item to be auctioned in aid of Help for Heroes. £15.50, 7.45pm.

• thecomedybox.co.uk n The Vibrators + PolkaDot-Socks + DJ Gaz Le Punk Thunderbolt, Bath Road, Totterdown. London punk pioneers The Vibrators formed in 1976 and have been touring hard for 40 years. 7.30-11.45pm, £7.

• thethunderbolt.co.uk n Tops SouthBank Club, Dean Lane, Southville, 8pm.

Montreal’s dream-pop band Tops launch their third album Sugar At The Gate. £8.

• southbankclub.webs.com Saturday June 3 n Dan McKinnon Saltcellar Folk Club, Totterdown Baptist Church, entrance off Cemetery Road. Return visit of the warm-

A slice of real history that left me in tears

Acta’s acclaimed story from the Bristol home front of WW1 brings life to personal histories

REVIEW Gas Girls, Acta theatre, Bedminster I HAD no idea about the devastation caused by mustard gas, not only to British and German soldiers in the First World War, but to the women and men who made it. In Avonmouth, two factories employed 2,000 people making the gas (in fact it was a liquid, which becomes a vapour on explosion). Nearly 3,000 injuries were reported in six months, including blistering, burns and blindness, and seven deaths. Shell-filling at the National Filling Factory No. 23, Chittening site, was only done by women.

There is something wonderful about hearing proper Bristol accents from the local cast members – and that doesn’t mean this is an amateurish production. They are not professional actors but their skills are clear – setting up characters and

back stories so that you quickly care about what happens. The roulette of war means you don’t know who will be affected or by what – but you know there will be an impact on them all.

The likeable characters range from saucy to stern, godly to ordinary working class girls, all wanting to contribute to the war effort, or distract themselves from their own tragedies. Group pieces are interspersed with monologues, giving you extra insight into the stories of working men, doctors, managers, and, of course, the women themselves.

The play is so well put together and full of feeling

that I left the theatre in tears, and full of respect for both the original women involved and the cast who played them with such care and dignity. This story is an important social history of hundreds of local women who suffered in extremes in their bid to make a difference. Hats off to Acta and all the cast and crew for creating this powerful, moving legacy.

Beccy Golding • Following the Bristol-wide tour the play is touring the region a second time. You may still have time to see it on June 3 in Weston or June 6 in Lockleaze.

• acta-bristol.com

hearted, warm-voiced Canadian singer-songwriter. £5, 7pm.

• saltcellarfolk.org.uk n Alfie Brown: Stand Up For The Weekend Comedy Box at the Hen & Chicken, North Street, Southville. Alfie Brown’s firebrand style of comedy has been forged from years of pushing boundaries. Plus guests. £11, 7.45pm.

• thecomedybox.co.uk n Country Night The Tunnels, Temple Meads. The Hillbilly Blues Band perform oldfashioned Nashville classics and more modern songs with a Hillbilly twist or two. “It’s time to grab your partner by the hand and do-si-do the night away.”

7.30pm, £8.

• thetunnelsbristol.co.uk Monday June 5 n VPAG meeting Every month members of Victoria Park Action Group meet to discuss upcoming events, issues that have arisen and ongoing projects, like

creating play areas, wildlife areas and mending benches. Bowling Club, 7.30-9pm.

• vpag.org.uk Tuesday June 6 n Dylan Thomas: Return Journey Tobacco Factory theatre. Heralded by critics worldwide as a “lyrical tour-deforce” (The Guardian), see Bob Kingdom bring Dylan Thomas’s last lecture tour to life in a performance originally directed

by Anthony Hopkins. £14/£12; 8pm; 2pm matinée on Thursday.

• tobaccofactorytheatres.com Wednesday June 7 n Otis Gibbs Zion Bristol, Bishopsworth Road, 7.3010.30pm. Otis Gibbs is a folk songwriter, storyteller, painter, photographer and planter of 7,176 trees. He once wrestled a bear and lost. He has been described as “the best unknown songwriter in music today.” £12/£10.

• zionbristol.co.uk

Friday June 9 n The Changing Face of Bristol Docks Knowle and Totterdown Local History Society, Redcatch community centre, Redcatch Road, Knowle, 7.30pm. A talk generated from the photographic collection of past chairman Doug Semple and former member Fred Searle, presented by Peter Read.

Members £1.50, visitors £3.

• knowleandtotterdownhistory. org.uk n After Hours Tour Arnos Vale cemetery, 7.30-9pm. A tour revealing the darker side of Arnos Vale at dusk, in an atmospheric exploration of tragic tales, folk customs and funeral etiquette of Victorian society.

Bring a torch. £9.

• arnosvale.org.uk n Doreen Doreen Fiddlers Club, Willway Street, Bedminster. The city’s constant favourites at their regular South Continued overleaf

Got a story or any other inquiry? Call Paul on 07811 766072 or email paul@southbristolvoice.co.uk

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46

n WHAT’S ON It’s a jig, Jim, but not as we know it

REVIEW Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games Bristol Hippodrome IT’S twenty years since Michael Flatley released his fiendish Irish-dancing feet on to the world. This celebratory show is part of a global trek lasting several years, with 40 dancers and musicians in each show.

There’s a classic plot of good and evil. A mythical version of Eire hosts a holographic flute-playing nymph who weaves the story together; a pair of smiling female fiddle-players play super jigs and reels while strutting across the stage; rainbow faeries perform soft-shoed Irish dance pieces with floaty skirts and incredible high kicks. Dance-off fight scenes occur between Mad Max soldiers (whose vest-ripping draws whoops from the audience) and sci-fi robots. It didn’t totally make sense but it didn’t matter – as a fun, energetic vehicle to bring these dancers and musicians together, it worked.

A giant floor-to-ceiling digital screen showed spectacular scenes of a moon surface, rolling hills and rainbows, and devilish roaring fires. Sadly a technical hitch in the second half meant we lost the bottom section – though ironically that made it easier to see what the dancers were doing.

My favourite bits were the big ensemble pieces, the whole cast coming together to deliver foot-stomping energetic rhythms in tight unison or caterpillar-ing from one end of the line to the other, in that straight-armed Irish dance style, beating out un-countable taps per second.

At the end there’s even a cameo performance by Flatley himself. Skilful and charismatic, he’s lost none of his fancy footwork.

Beccy Golding

Continued from page 45 Bristol haunt. £10, 8pm-2am.

• fiddlers.co.uk Saturday June 10 n Never Too Old To Disco Charles Padfield Centre, Victoria Park Baptist Church, Sylvia Avenue. Second Saturday of the month. “Love to dance, want to dance but don't know where?

Come and feel the disco beat once more and reconnect with the old tunes you know and love.”

10.45-11.45am, £7. Contact Zoe nevertoooldtodisco@gmail.com n Stomping Story: The Queen’s Knickers Arnos Vale cemetery, 11-11.45am. This outdoors telling of a tonguein-cheek tale is penned by kids favourite Nicholas Allen. “Join us for a hilarious knicker hunt, then try to decide what knickers the Queen would wear if she visited Arnos Vale?” £5, for ages 3+; babies and toddlers go free with an older sibling.

• arnosvale.org.uk Monday June 12 n Stand Up For Refugees Comedy Box at the Redgrave Theatre (tickets from the Tobacco Factory). Star-Studded comedy night to raise money for the humanitarian crisis. The heaving line-up includes Gary Delaney, Josie Long, Angela Barnes, Jonny and the Baptists, Suzi Ruffell, Jen Brister, Kerry Godliman and others still to be confirmed. £20, age 14+, 8pm.

• tobaccofactorytheatres.com Tuesday June 13 n Milk Poetry Tobacco Factory theatre. Recently picked as one of the UK’s Best Spoken Word Nights by Picador Books, Milk Poetry returns after a sell-out show in April. With World Slam Champion and full-time poet Harry Baker, British Nigerian poet Theresa Lola, winner of the 2017 Charles Causley Poetry Prize. Plus more. £14, age 14+, 7.30pm.

• tobaccofactorytheatres.com Wednesday June 14 n Down Our Road Acta theatre, Gladstone Street, Bedminster. “Loneliness, rivalries, pranks and parties – it all happens down our road!”

A poignant and humorous snapshot of life in Lockleaze today, devised and performed by local residents. 7pm, £2. Also on June 15.

• acta-bristol.com n Infinity Pool and Eurohouse Tobacco Factory theatre. Two shows in one

night for £15 (or £10 each). In Eurohouse, two performers – one Greek, one French – dance and shout, cry and sing, agree and disagree in a darkly comic look at the EU’s founding ideals and what got lost along the way.

Infinity Pool is a retelling of Flaubert’s Madame Bovary by Bea Roberts. “A tender comedy like no other, using projectors, party rings and PowerPoint.”

7.30pm and 9pm.

• tobaccofactorytheatres.com Saturday June 17 n Picnic in the Park Victoria Park Action Group (VPAG) is inviting the community to bring a picnic to the park as part of The Great Get Together in memory of Jo Cox MP, murdered one year ago. 12noon, all are welcome.

• vpag.org.uk n The Charity Acoustic Event Totterdown Methodist Church, 12noon-4pm. Musicians include Dan Milton, Jake Ryall, Tia Psihogios, Olly Impossible.

Proceeds to The New Home from Home Appeal at Bristol Children's Hospital and church funds. £6 on door or call 07977 437620.

Sunday June 18 n The Great Get Together Park Street, Totterdown.

Totterdown’s “Big Lunch”, renamed this year in honour of Jo Cox MP, murdered one year ago. Activities including turnip rolling, music and food, in the street, the community space and the community orchard. 1-4pm.

• tresa.org.uk

n Pocket Opera Arnos Vale cemetery. Pat Leighton, Martin Le Poidevin and Helen Roberts, local singers with a wealth of experience, will perform songs by a variety of composers based on the words of Shakespeare, plus Mozart’s Pocket Opera. Tickets £10; 3.30pm-5pm.

• arnosvale.org.uk Friday June 23 n 13 Tobacco Factory theatre.

Graduating students from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School stage Mike Bartlett’s powerful, profound and epic play, 13, in which 12 strangers wake up from an identical, terrifying dream, full of monsters, explosions and thousands of voices. Enter John,

a Christ-like figure … £15/£10, 7.30pm, age 14+.

• tobaccofactorytheatres.com n The Watts + Super D Thunderbolt, Bath Road, Totterdown. The Watts are Nicki Jones’s indie rock covers band, from Blondie to Primal Scream and AC/DC. Super D performs songs from Coldplay, The Killers, Blink 182, Nirvana. 7.3011.30pm, £5.

• thethunderbolt.co.uk n Richard Dawson Fiddlers Club, Willway Street, Bedminster. The fiery folk maestro brings a full band including violinist Angharad Davies. With Glaswegian deregulated guitar pop group Still House Plants and DJ Fielding Hope. £15 in advance.

• fiddlers.co.uk Saturday June 24 n Marie Curie Blooming Tea Party United Reformed Church, West Street, Bedminster, 1.303.30pm. Plenty of cups of tea and yummy cakes for sale. Raffle with lovely prizes. n Carnival Paintworks, Bath Road, Totterdown. Annual art festival by Milestones Trust, which works with disadvantaged people, featuring art from paintings to pottery and from food to films. With music and food. 10am-4pm until June 27.

• play.paintworksbristol.co.uk n Nuttyness The Tunnels, Temple Meads. Nuttyness have been acclaimed as the finest tribute to British hit band Madness. 7.30pm, £8.

• thetunnelsbristol.co.uk Thursday June 29 n An Evening With Sam Baker The Tunnels, Temple Meads. Sam Baker is one of the finest songwriters to emerge from Texas, the home of great songwriters. 7.30pm, £16.

• thetunnelsbristol.co.uk

Friday June 30 n John Otway (postponed from June 9) Thunderbolt, Bath Road, Totterdown. Since his 1977 hit Really Free, a heady mix of blind ambition and rank incompetence has kept microstar Otway shining despite his ability to turn any situation to his own disadvantage. 7.30-11.30pm, £11.

• thethunderbolt.co.uk

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