South Bristol Voice October 2015

FREE EVERY MONTH in Totterdown, Knowle and Windmill Hill

southbristolvoice October 2015 No. 5

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New views of £100m plan to revive Bedminster Pages 18-19

LETTERS P17 | PLANNING APPLICATIONS P29 | YOUR MP P33 NOW 40 PAGES!

How we’re helping refugees Page 3 Park bioblitz finds 400+ species Page 5 ‘Can’t get in to any local primaries’

Page 6

All lit up: Latest image of the glass-clad arena by architects Populous

DO YOU LIVE IN BEDMINSTER?

South Bristol Voice is coming to you. From next month, a new edition of South Bristol Voice covering Bedminster and Southville will be coming through your doors. To find out more, turn to page 2.

Arena plans up for debate NEWLY revealed proposals for the £91m Bristol arena are open for consultation until October 13.

After criticism that the consultation events are mostly in the city centre, Tresa, the Totterdown residents group, has helped organise a local meeting

to discuss the plans. It’s at Totterdown Methodist Church, Bushy Park, on Monday October 2, from 7pm-8.30pm.

Mayor George Ferguson hit back at claims the arena will bring parking problems to the area.

• ARENA SPECIAL: Pages 8-13

Street market is a huge success

Page 22

History: The family who ran Arnos Vale

Pages 30-32

What’s on & arts Pages 38-39

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southbristolvoice Contacts Paul Breeden Editor and publisher

07811 766072 | paul@southbristolvoice.co.uk

Emma Cooper Advertising sales

0117 908 2121 | 0771 577 0448 emma@keynshamvoice.co.uk

Hollie Dowse Advertising sales

0117 908 2121 sales@keynshamvoice.co.uk

You can find South Bristol Voice on Facebook

www.facebook.com/ southbristolvoice Next month’s deadline for editorial and advertising is October 22

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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Intro

WELCOME to the new edition of South Bristol Voice. It’s only the fifth issue but the reaction has been so positive that we’ve decided to expand.

From next month there will be a separate edition for Bedminster and Southville.

That means homes in Bedminster and Southville will receive a copy through their door of a new edition, filled with local news.

The Totterdown, Knowle and Windmill Hill edition will carry on, and we’ll put news that’s relevant to both areas in both editions – big stories like the arena, for example, and Bedminster Green.

There’s more information on page 5.

October, 2015

• Meanwhile the arena saga rumbles on. It’s a shame that the mayor calls it “scaremongering” when we report residents’ worries over parking.

Most of the residents who have voiced an opinion on the arena have given parking as their biggest worry.

The council is willing to look at a residents’ parking zone, changes to Three Lamps, and other ideas.

Yet a planning application is weeks away, and there is nothing firm on the table.

It’s little surprise that, as Tresa says, “People are upset and anxious, with very real concerns that our voices are not heard.”

You ask, we answer ...

‘With the expected increase of traffic using St John’s Lane to get to the arena, what are the council going to do about the dangerous roundabout at bottom of Redcatch Road and Park Avenue?’

Reader on Facebook • See story on Page 5

‘Hi, will you be covering the rat run and no entry issues in New Walls (County Street, Angers Road) as the last I heard there were three options being considered?’

Reader on Facebook • See story on Page 22

How do I get in touch with ...

My MP? Karin Smyth MP By email: karin.smyth.mp@ parliament.uk By post: Karin Smyth MP, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA By phone: 0117 953 3575 In person: Karin Smyth will be available to help constituents on: Friday 2 October Friday 16 October at Knowle West Health Park, Downton Road, BS4 1WH, from 9.15 am-10.45 am.

For an appointment call 0117 953 3575.

My councillor?

Deborah Joffe Green, Windmill Hill By post: Brunel House, St George’s Road, Bristol BS1 5UY By email: deborah-mila.joffe@ bristol.gov.uk

By phone: 07469 413308 Sam Mongon Labour, Windmill Hill By email: sam.mongon@bristol. gov.uk By phone: 07884 736112 Gary Hopkins Lib Dem, Knowle (Lib Dem leader) By email: gary.hopkins@bristol. gov.uk By phone: 0117 985 1491 or 07977 512159 Christopher Davies Lib Dem, Knowle By post: c/o Liberal Democrat Group Office, Brandon Wing, 1st Floor, Brunel House, St George’s Road, Bristol BS1 5UY By email: christopher.davies@ bristol.gov.uk By phone: 0117 377 3528

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October, 2015

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What an amazing response to the Calais refugee crisis Movement grew from seven to thousands thanks in part to mum who posted son’s picture online

A TOTTERDOWN mother is helping to organise Bristol’s huge response to the refugee crisis after a photo of her son on social media went viral.

Elly Bernard, 37, was so outraged last month at seeing the picture of Syrian three-year-old Aylan Kurdi found dead on a Turkish beach that she decided to do something.

Elly posted a picture of her own son, 3, with the caption, “This is what a three-year-old should look like on a beach.”

The post went viral. “It went really crazy within 24 hours,” said Elly, an NHS researcher.

“I was getting messages from people all over the country and even from Australia asking if they could retweet my photo.”

As global outrage at the refugee crisis mounted, Elly decided to get involved with Bristol’s efforts to help.

A few weeks later, the seven volunteers who formed Calais Refugee Solidarity Bristol were part of a group with 5,000 members on Facebook.

Success Elly tells the story of the group’s success in her article, right. Formerly a worker for a Backwell-based charity, Motivation, she has spent years working in camps for displaced people in Africa and Asia.

But the reaction to the current crisis is different to previous appeals by traditional charities.

“It’s a very grassroots movement and it’s happening really quickly,” said Elly. “People are saying, ‘What can I do?’”

Collection points opened all over the city. Staff at the Tobacco Factory, Computershare and the Wood Recycling Project in Cattle Market Road all took in donations – though they soon became overwhelmed.

But within days the volunteers

How Bristol rose up to help

By Elly Bernard, Calais Refugee Solidarity Bristol

SOUTH Bristol’s response to the refugee crisis in Europe has been overwhelming and humbling. As the appalling pictures of refugees fleeing for their lives on unsafe boats or walking desperately towards borders became more widespread, local people rose up and started asking what we could do to help.

Almost overnight, collection points sprung up all over the city, including at the Bristol Wood Recycling Project, the Tobacco Factory and Computershare in South Bristol.

Within a weekend all collection points were overwhelmed with donations. Warehouse space was donated by Hengrove-based company Phineas Products and volunteers arrived to transport and sort the donations.

The Calais Refugee Solidarity Bristol group, a grassroots alliance of ordinary Bristolians, have worked round the clock to mobilise sorting, storage and logistics of the goods. We have linked up with agencies on the ground who are appealing to donors to avoid causing further problems in the already overcrowded refugee camp in Calais known as the Jungle.

We closed collection points for a week so we could arrange longer term storage solutions and organise the group. We have set up sub-groups for Fundraising, Media, Transport, Networking, Schools and Volunteers. We re-opened drop-off points on September 14, and have again been were offered warehouse space by Phineas Products, a Hengrove firm which makes shoe hangers.

A website was set up, volunteers with vans identified, and priorities agreed for the items that are really needed in Calais. Now a well-oiled, almost zero-cost organisation is in place.

Women’s and children’s clothes, for example, are not needed – decent tents and men’s

overwhelmed by the generosity of Bristolians.

We have a clear list of what we can accept. Please note there are few women and children in the Jungle, so women’s clothes and children’s toys will be turned away as we do not have space to store them.

Together with this practical action, we have seen a huge groundswell of good feeling and of solidarity, sending the very clear message that refugees are welcome here.

We are raising money for a variety of health, sanitation and food projects in Calais.

To donate or get involved see our website: wwwbristolcalaisrefugee solidarity.co.uk.

Current drop off points: 1. Bristol Wood Recycling Project 13 Cattle Market Road, St Phillips, Bristol, BS1 6QW. 11am-4pm Mon-Fri 2. The Henbury Centre Machin Road, Henbury, BS10 7HG. 10am-2pm on Tues, Wed and Thurs. crsb.henbury@ gmail.com 0117 950 7160 3. Emmaus Bristol Upper York Street, St Pauls, Bristol, BS2 8WF. 11am-4pm Mon-Fri 4. Computershare The Pavillions, Bridgewater Road, BS13 8AE. 11am-4pm Mon-Fri • Keep an eye on our Facebook group or Twitter for latest news.

• DONATIONS: https://www. fundsurfer.com/project/ calais-refugee-supportgroup-bristol

Boxed in: Volunteers sort donations at the Wood Recycling Project clothes are. Even better is to raise money – Elly urges people who have surplus items to hold a jumble sale and donate the takings. So far £7,000 has been raised on fundsurfer.com.

Alternatively, give the items to a local charity which can use them in Bristol.

A march in the city in support of refugees on September 12 attracted about 3,000 people.

“It’s been a really fantastic experience to see what the people of Bristol can do,” said Elly.

The message from Bristol, she said, is clear: “We are people, they are people – this cannot go on. We are walking in your shoes.”

• Colston Hall wants musical instruments for music therapy in Calais: www.colstonhall.org/musicagainst-borders-instrumentdonations-for-refugees/

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News

Prison over pig theft from farm THE theft of a piglet from Windmill Hill City Farm reported in last month’s Voice has led to imprisonment for a Knowle man.

Bradley McCarthy, 28, was sentenced to eight weeks custody

by Bristol Magistrates on September 18 after being found guilty of handling stolen goods.

He had been due to attend court on September 12 but did not answer bail and was arrested.

But is it hat?

THE closing date for artists to register for the Totterdown Front Room art trail is Monday October 5. The theme for this year’s event, from November 20-22, is hats.

Meanwhile the Windmill Hill art trail, Art on the Hill, happens on October 3 and 4. It features more than 90 artists and a free app is available as a guide.

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October, 2015

Bioblitz identifies 400 species in Victoria Park MORE than 400 species of plants and animals were found in Victoria Park during a unique ‘bioblitz’.

With the help of Victoria Park Action Group, 900 people took part in the Bioblitz in July.

Bioblitz organiser, ecologist and VPAG member Alex Morss explained: “The Bioblitz was a fun, two-day community event aimed at finding, identifying and celebrating all the wildlife we could find in Victoria Park.

“We managed to find 409 different species living in the park. Those people who joined in also created some beautiful, wildlife-inspired art work.”

The art was on show at Windmill Hill City Farm, though sadly the exhibition ended before the Voice went to press.

“It was a fantastic community event thanks to lots of amazing

volunteers and participants.

“It was also real citizen science, on a large scale, with everyone involved becoming ecologists for two days, learning how to do wildlife surveys with our expert volunteers, using special equipment and recording their results.

“The results will help inform more wildlife-friendly park management.

“Our results show that the park is already an important site for hedgehogs, bats and pollinators. The park is on a wildlife corridor through the heart of the city, which makes it easier for wildlife to recolonize.”

VPAG members have been helping Bristol City Council to introduce more wildlife-friendly habitats, including meadow areas, coppicing, tree planting, more bat and bird boxes and new

WHAT THEY FOUND...

12 species of mammals from foxes to 6 kinds of bat 204 plants from Norway maple to wild oats 2 amphibians – frog and smooth newt 21 birds from tawny owl to black cap warbler 20 bugs 26 moths 12 beetles 12 hoverflies 14 flies 1 cricket ... and many more native wild flower areas. Children from St Mary Redcliffe and Victoria Park primary schools helped to create the new wild flower areas.

With more wildlife-friendly management, the species count should rise again, said Alex. The

148A Wells Road, Totterdown BS4 2AG

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October, 2015

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Danger junction set for work

On a mission: Emily Wiltshire with a sweep net to catch and identify insects in the park Picture: ALEX MORSS bioblitz involved 420 children from St Mary Redcliffe primary, teachers, parents, 60 volunteers including expert guests, and 400 park users of all ages. Other volunteers came from VPAG,

Bristol Natural History Consortium, Bristol Naturalists’ Society, UWE, Avon Wildlife Trust, Hedgehog Rescue and Avon Bat Group.

• You can share Victoria Park

wildlife photos or ask experts to identify species at: www. ispotnature.org/projects/ victoriaparkbristol • Download the full 409 species list at: www.alexmorss.co.uk

A JUNCTION where a boy was knocked over last month looks likely to be revamped.

The roundabout at St John’s Lane, Park Avenue and Redcatch Lane has been criticised as dangerous for pedestrians.

Last month the Voice understands a boy spent a night in hospital after being knocked down by a car on the junction.

His foot was injured but he is recovering.

His grandfather said: “If something can be done to the roundabout I’m all for it, before someone gets killed.”

Council highways officers are designing a scheme to reduce vehicle speeds and improve safety for pedestrians. This will include tightening the junctions and upgrading the pedestrian refuge areas.

Consultation is due to be carried out in October.

Cleve House School and Little Cleve Nursery

Bedminster and Southville edition is coming!

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October, 2015

Totterdown children at sea between 3 primary schools

A NUMBER of parents in Lower Totterdown have been left wondering where their children will go to school – even though they are close to no fewer than three primaries.

Families living in the streets around Windsor Terrace are within easy walking distance of

Close to three schools – but they’re offered the eighth nearest Victoria Park primary on St John’s Lane, St Mary Redcliffe primary in Windmill Close and

Ask the vet:

Why does my dog keep shaking his head?

In a flap: A dog that shakes its head could be in pain ANSWER: If your dog is shaking their head a lot, it could be a sign that their ears are bothering them. Ear infections and disease are some of the most common problems we see as vets, particularly in dogs with long, floppy ears. Other signs that your pet is having problems with their ears can include: scratching at their ears or head, an unpleasant smell coming from the ears, dark discharge in the ears, redness in the ear, pain when touching their head or ears, or irritable behaviour.

So how can you prevent ear disease? Check your pet’s ears on a regular basis to make sure they are clean, healthy looking and smell normal. We recommend regular cleaning using a veterinary recommended product; particularly if your dog swims a lot, has large ears or if your breed of dog is more prone to ear disease. Breeds that are predisposed to ear problems can include cocker spaniels, golden retrievers and schnauzers. Make sure ears are thoroughly dried after having a bath or swimming and trim away any excess hair around the ears to encourage more air flow. If your pet is showing any of the above symptoms however, don’t delay, book in to see the vet now. If you’ve ever suffered from an earache yourself, you can imagine how uncomfortable your dog must be feeling!

Call Highcroft Veterinary Hospital on 01275 832410 to book an appointment. Alternatively, if you’d like some advice about ear cleaners, pop in to see us as we have a selection of recommended solutions available, and we can show you how best to clean your pet’s ears.

Rebecca Forrest-Jones MRCVS Veterinary surgeon at Highcroft Veterinary Hospital, Whitchurch

Hillcrest primary in School Road.

Yet some parents applying for places at these schools are told they are full – leaving them to look further afield, often miles away in Knowle or Southville.

One mother told the Voice: “Because there are not enough school spaces, and our house is between the three local schools, my daughter has been unable to get a place at any of them.

“We only just missed out on a place geographically, but because of the way the school waiting lists operate, it appears unlikely that she or my two other children will ever be able to attend a local school.

“My daughter is carrying on at preschool for now, but it looks like she will be left with no school to go on to.

“We were offered Connaught in Knowle West, which is a really hard journey and our eighth nearest school.

“Southville has now been suggested – our ninth nearest school, and again, not the easiest journey with three young children on foot!”

At least two other families in Lower Totterdown are thought to be facing the same problem.

Deb Joffe, the Green party councillor for Windmill Hill, has asked council officers for a meeting on the issue.

“It’s less about mileage than length and difficulty of journey if they involve steep hills, bus services and so on,” she said.

“The journey has to be made

by a parent or carer four times in six hours and if they have younger children to drop at pre-school or take with them this is really challenging.

“If they can drive it’s easier but we don’t want people driving children to school and obviously this is not available to everyone,” she said.

“The part of Totterdown around the mosque apparently falls at the edge of the three catchment areas. I have heard the area described by a council officer as a ‘black hole’.

“In the long-term I think we will see more schools built – perhaps at Bedminster and St Philips, which should relieve the pressure on Totterdown schools.”

The council said there are no plans to expand any of the three schools near Totterdown as all of them are on very restricted sites.

Expansion It said its schools expansion programme has added 420 primary places at Oasis Academy in Marksbury Road, which is close to Victoria Park, and 950 additional places in Southville and Bedminster.

More places have also been created in Brislington at St Anne’s infant school and West Town Lane, to the south and east of the Totterdown area.

“The admissions team will always try and offer the closest school with a place available,” said a spokeswoman.

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October, 2015

Arena special: The arguments The arena development, phase 1 Bath Road

Car park, 200 spaces, for essential users

New footbridge from St Phillips

“LET’S get real”, George Ferguson told BBC Radio Bristol as the arena consultation began: “This is a much bigger story than parking, this is the most brilliant thing happening in Bristol for many, many years.”

The Mayor has made his agenda clear: the council-owned arena is a much-needed attraction for Bristol which will put the city back on the entertainment map and create a new axis for the city centre, creating thousands of jobs.

Few disagree with the ambition; but many have questioned the execution of the plans and the ambitious timetable. The proposals include only a summary of the final Transport Plan, and no firm plan for residents’ parking.

Mr Ferguson admitted that both the timing of the arena and the budget may slip. He thinks the completion date may slip from 2017 to early 2018, and there may be some inflation in the £91 million budget.

Of more pressing concern are the worries about parking, which Mr Ferguson thinks are “scaremongering” and “overblown”.

The recent Arcadia event in

Main entrance across bridge to Cattle Market Road

This is about more the mayor, but fears Residents cite parking and congestion as their main worries; Mayor admits the timetable may slip into 2018; Calls for Three Lamps junction to be revised

Queen Square attracted 14,000 people over two nights with no complaints about parking, he said.

Many residents told the Voice they are worried the streets of Totterdown and elsewhere will be badly affected by arena visitors looking to park.

“I can’t believe this is going ahead with totally inadequate parking – as usual they just don’t care,” said a reader on Facebook.

“There is not enough parking for people who live in the side streets now. So how are we going

to cope with extra cars who don’t lived round here?” asked another resident of lower Totterdown.

Some think the mayor should drop his opposition to a new car park and provide spaces near the arena, as other cities do.

Sam Mongon, the Labour councillor for Windmill Hill, disagrees. He thinks there are enough spaces in the city centre, but congestion may be a problem.

“It’s assumed the [arena] congestion will not be at the same time as the commuting [traffic]”, said Cllr Mongon at a meeting of Tresa, the Totterdown community group. “This is a concern.”

At the Tresa meeting and elsewhere, residents voiced fears that on nights when the arena is full, there will be gridlock when visitors try to drive home – as there is around other city arenas such as Liverpool.

Many Tresa members felt that the area south of the arena is forgotten in the plans. The pavements and cycleways on

Bath Road are “laughable”: “We know it needs improving already,” said one.

Suzanne Audrey, chair of Tresa, said she felt the council thinks widening the Bath Road for more cycle and pavement space is impossible because of the railway bridge.

Tresa members called for extra bridge space for cyclists and pedestrians to be cantilevered off the existing bridge.

This possibility was backed by Cllr Gary Hopkins, Bristol’s Lib-Dem leader and a councillor for Knowle. He also wants the council to widen the pavement and cycle lane on the embankment opposite Three Lamps.

He says almost all the respondents to a Lib-Dem petition called for changes to Three Lamps to allow a right turn from Wells Road to Bath Road.

But he fears this will not happen as part of the arena plan as it has not been properly examined. “They are putting in a

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Arena special: The arguments ‘IT’S ALL ABOUT THE CITY CENTRE’: What Tresa is calling for

City centre car parks

Inner shaded area is 10 minutes walk from the arena; middle area is 15 mins; outer area 20 mins

THE CAR PARKS ARENA VISITORS WILL HAVE TO USE Pink marks the arena Primary car parks 1. Cabot Circus 2. Broadmead 3. Queen Charlotte Street 4. Prince Street 5. The Grove/Mud Dock 6. Millennium Square 7. Nelson Street 8. Redcliffe Way/ Portwall Lane 9. Temple Meads 10. The Galleries Secondary car parks 11. The Grand 12. Trinity Centre 13. Lower Guinea Street 14. Redcliffe Parade 15. Travelodge 16. Temple Gate 17. Bedminster NCP

than parking, says remain for residents WHAT’S HAPPENING WITH THE ROADS? QUESTIONS remain over changes to the city centre road layout which will affect South Bristol residents.

The Temple Circus roundabout is already due to be replaced by two junctions controlled by traffic lights.

This has led to fears that drivers from the south will have to go to Old Market roundabout before they can turn around to Temple Meads.

The council confirmed to the Voice that the route to Temple Meads will be planning application in a few weeks, without the details worked out,” he said.

Suzanne Audrey at Tresa is concerned that the needs of Totterdown residents have not yet been given proper attention.

“We need to make sure that our voice is heard really loudly, because we are living really close to the arena,” she said.

Deb Joffe, the Green councillor for Windmill Hill,

longer – though it suggested it would be quicker to go up Redcliffe Way and turn at Redcliffe roundabout.

However, the slip road opposite Cattle Market Road will remain open.

This allows drivers from the south to turn around to head towards Bath.

The council said: “We are working with our partners at the HCA and Network Rail as well as talking to the taxi trade on access requirements for all transport modes at Temple Meads.”

believes the parking and transport issues are resolvable but thinks a residents parking scheme is inevitable.

She sees a problem wiith people congestion at the corner of Cattle Market Road and Bath Bridge – the mooted extra pedestrian walkway across to the island would help, she said.

She backed the Bath Road access as long as it has a pedestrian and cycle crossing.

‘We need to make sure that our voice is heard really loudly’ Suzanne Audrey, Tresa chair

9

• Tresa, the Totterdown residents’ group, makes these points – and others – on its website: • All sites for the consultation are to the north of the arena. Why? • People are upset and anxious, with real concerns that our voices are not heard. Plans must relate to Totterdown, Knowle and Brislington.

Transport • All proposed walking and cycling improvements are north of the arena. Improvement is needed for pedestrians and cyclists from Bath Road and Wells Road.

• St Lukes Road is an important walking and cycling route. What plans are in place to improve it?

• To avoid unnecessary traffic being funnelled to the Temple Meads area, Three Lamps junction should allow a right turn from Wells Road onto Bath Road.

• Park & Ride must be priced low enough to be the preferred option.

• There should be a new Park & Ride on the A37.

• All identified parking spaces are to the north of the site. What parking has been identified to the south of the arena site?

• A residents parking scheme should to be tailored to proximity to an arena. Consultation with residents should start urgently.

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October, 2015

Arena special: Transport

Can the alternatives coax drivers away from arena?

Park and ride, park and rail, cycling, extra buses and trains ... will these make up for lack of parking?

Y

OUR comments prove it: the major concern about the arena among the people of South Bristol is parking (see pages 9 and 17 for readers’ views).

The council has set out no firm plans to deal with arena visitors who choose to park on the streets of Totterdown, Knowle, St Philips, the Dings or elsewhere.

Further, it hasn’t published its transport assessment – which will detail any changes needed to to the road layout.

The council says the parking spaces available within a 20-minute walk of the arena should be able to cope with most of the events.

However, this list includes the NCP car park in Bedminster, and the Millennium Square car park, which are much further away from Arena Island than the streets of Totterdown or St Philips.

For the largest concerts – with 12,000 visitors – the council says a worst case scenario will see 3,600 extra cars on the road.

“To put this in context,” says the consultation document, “on a

Cattle Market Road: It will be part one-way (at Bath Road), part 2-way weekday between 3pm-8pm there are currently over 57,000 vehicle trips made on the road network around the arena site.

On a typical Saturday this figure is over 31,000 between 4pm-7pm.”

To cope with these large events – about 20-25 a year – it will encourage drivers to use park and ride schemes.

On a full-arena night with 12,000 visitors, its says 12 extra trips to Brislington and Portway park and rides could transport

1,800 people between 11.30pm and 12.30am. This could reduce car trips by 750.

Park and ride passengers will be dropped off at existing bus stops near the station but will be picked up from Redcliffe Way, where there is more room for buses to park.

The council will consider parking controls in roads near to the arena – but many residents and councillors consider them inevitable. “The council is open

HAVE YOUR SAY IN THE CONSULTATION • All information relating to proposals for the arena is at www.bristoltemplequarter.com.

• A public exhibition of the plans is at the Citizen Service Point, 100 Temple Street BS1 6AG, Monday to Friday 9am – 5pm, until October 13.

• Also on display from September 28 to October 13 at

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Central Library, College Green.

• You can ask questions at: • 100 Temple Street, October 1, 6pm-7.30pm.

• The Galleries, Broadmead, on September 26.

• Totterdown Methodist Church, Bushy Park, Friday October 2, 7pm-8.30pm

to considering parking controls and funding will be set aside to design and implement schemes should they be necessary.

Similarly, extending the parking controls in other areas close to the arena can be pursued if needed,” says the consultation.

The Bedminster East parking zone, which stretches north of the railway line to Wells Road, starts operation on October 12.

Arena Island will have 45 disabled parking spaces and around 200 spaces for essential users – though these could disappear when the second phase of development around the plaza takes place.

A major aim will be to get visitors to use public transport.

By the end of 2017, when the arena will open, the Metrobus guided bus routes should be open from the north and the south of the city.

The council will also talk to First Bus and First Great Western to improve bus and rail access. Later trains to some destinations will be needed.

Extra trains could be provided to Bristol Parkway – at the moment some trains leave Temple Meads at night empty to be parked at Parkway, and these could be put to use.

Electrification of the main line to London and Cardiff should be complete by 2017. But new trains will not all be delivered until 2018, and a new timetable will not be in operation until the end

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October, 2015

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Arena special: Transport

11

AROUND THE ARENA: Temple Circus roundabout becomes two traffic light junctions; new footbridge from St Phillips; new cycle and pedestrian ways

of 2018. Improvements to Temple Meads including a new access on the eastern, arena-facing side, will not be ready until 2019.

New pedestrian and cycle routes are more imminent, with a detailed plan available.

Cycle and pedestrian ways will lead alongside the Floating

Harbour to the arena, and other routes connect to the BristolBath cycle route and a new cycle lane along Feeder Road.

However there is no answer yet on other called-for improvements such as the call backed by the Liberal Democrats for changes to the Three Lamps

junction to allow a right turn from Wells Road to Bath Road.

Nor is it clear how the congested cycle lanes and footpaths on Bath Road can be improved.

A vehicle entrance was once proposed from Bath Road, but this is not visible on the plans.

Instead there will be a pedestrian entrance from Bath Road – hard to discern on the plan, near the railway bridge.

Coach passengers will be dropped off and collected on Albert Road, and will walk to the arena across a new foot- and cycle bridge from St Philips.

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October, 2015

Arena special: The enterprise zone WHAT YOU SAID Readers’ comments on Facebook... more on p17

• Looks like we’ll have to go with RPZ but needs to be residents only in the evening.

What happens then with local businesses? SM • Having lived in Totterdown for 30 years I can’t wait for the arena. It’s about time we Bristolians had a decent venue. If you look at the plans there is a new metro system coming. There will be some parking. And also trains. Why can’t we embrace this and stop being doom and gloom merchants? DF • I don’t know what [the mayor] means about scaremongering, the facts are that 80% will come by car as the council’s own travel assessment states, so nobody living near the site is going to be able to ignore that volume of traffic for long. AR • I will use public transport if it is reliable, accessible and cheap. So with each ticket purchased for a gig at the Arena, include a free parking ticket for Park & Ride to and from the arena. PR • But there is nowhere much to park now... all full by 6pm. So out of town arena-goers won’t be able find much space to park anyway. Perhaps they will all park in the Dings. AS

The arena development, phase 2

Above and left, the arena and plaza buildings of Phase 2 to include offices, leisure, homes and shops. Phase 2 will build over the Phase 1 car park, but 45 disabled spaces will remain. The site will be split into zones – Plaza, Riverside, Terrace and Village

Arena is at the heart of hi-tech enterprise zone THE plans for the arena site have grown much bigger than for an event space alone.

The project has nearly doubled in the amount of land covered, said Barra MacRuairi, the council’s strategic director of place, who is in charge of the project and the wider Temple Quarter enterprise zone.

Over the past year the enterprise zone around the station and the former sorting office have been added to the old diesel depot – the site of the arena, now known as Arena Island – to make a giant area of opportunity for jobs and investment.

“This area will be home to the 12,000 capacity arena, plus a zone for creative, digital and tech industries for the city and beyond,” he said. “It will open up a great area for development at the back of the station for the city as a whole.”

It will be “the last, best arena in Britain,” said mayor George Ferguson.

The arena will provide about 400 permanent jobs but the enterprise zone will dwarf this, providing up to 17,000 jobs.

However, the full potential of the enterprise zone will take much longer to be realised – up to 25 years.

The construction of the arena over the

next two or three years will create around 1,000 jobs, and the council says it will try to make sure as many of these go to local people as possible.

“Employment and skills requirements will be included in contracts as much as procurement regulations allow and the council will require the operator and building contractors to provide a training and skills plan to promote employment opportunities to local people,” says the consultation document.

The council also wants to work with engineering practice BuroHappold to use the arena project to encourage young engineers in schools.

The current consultation covers not only a detailed planning application for the arena but an outline application for the rest of Arena Island (see Timetable, right).

It envisages several large buildings in the Village zone – the drawings are only indications. Together they will total 24,000 sq metres and will include shops, cafes and bars, offices, around 300 homes and leisure – which could include a cinema, casino or bingo hall. Provision will be made for affordable housing.

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October, 2015

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Arena special: The arena building

13 Seating plans

Theatre: 5,000

Ice show: 7,000

End stage: 12,000

Centre stage: 11,000

‘Shimmering glass will reflect the trees and changing colours of sky’ THE striking design of the arena with its walls of shimmering glass won the competition for architects Populous from among five competing designs.

Nick Reynolds, head of the design team and senior principal at Populous, is described as Britain’s foremost architect for arena designs.

“This is an arena that creates a sense of destination. It’s a dynamic building that can host a myriad of events and be a catalyst for the development of the plaza and the Temple Meads enterprise zone,” said Mr Reynolds.

Built on a masonry plinth, the upper section is partly in clear glass, with cast glass channels to

ARENA TIMETABLE

October 13: Consultation ends Late Oct-early Nov: Planning applications submitted Feb 2016: Planning approval?

March 2016: Contractor selected May-June 2016: Construction of arena starts End 2017-early 2018: Arena completion and opening

upper tiers and the rear. The cast glass will be translucent white “to catch the changing colours of the sky and reflections of trees, and back-lighting will illuminate the building with a subtle glow.”

Crucial to the arena is good sound design. This should ensure that noise does not escape to disturb neighbours, yet the acoustics are excellent whether the audience is 5,000 or 12,000.

The Plaza zone covers 5,000 sq metres. It will be a gathering place and can also hold add-ons to major events such as the Brit Awards or the Sports Personality of the Year. On non-show days it can be used for pop-up events.

The arena Terrace zone is the wide stepped route leading to the upper arena entrance and the Bath Road. There will be a lift from road level too.

A Riverside zone provides a quiet corridor along the Avon to the new footbridge.

Different layouts of the arena for theatre shows, ice shows and concerts are shown above.

The bowl floor can also be used for corporate events and can seat 2,000 for dining.

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15

News Perretts seeks opinions on trees VOLUNTEERS who help look after Perretts Park in Knowle want to hear what park users think of the council’s latest plans.

Members of the Community of Perretts Park backed a £250,000 scheme which brought the park a new playground earlier this year.

The bigger play area with its new slide and other playthings has proved a big hit with children and has led to a large increase in numbers visiting the park.

Also added was a new zig zag path up the steep slope in the park to Sylvia Avenue.

The final phase of the improvement is to add planting around the path.

A small amphitheatre dug into the grass has also been proposed, but so far the council has not made clear where this will be.

The council is proposing to plant an orchard of dwarf stock fruit trees towards the top of the

park near the corner formed by Sylvia Avenue and Ravenhill Road. It is also suggesting a further range of trees to the west side of the zig zag, including ginkgo, Scots pine and tulip trees.

Members of Copp are not sure if these trees are right for the position, and want to hear what the public thinks.

Sue Avent, vice chair of Copp, said, “We think the area chosen for the orchard may not be suitable. It gets very little sunlight in winter and it can get quite boggy, so it may not be right for fruit trees.

“We are also not sure about the other trees suggested for the area next to the new path as they seem rather big and likely to shade the orchard further.

“We have a member who has offered to supply us with willow free, so we would like to see this incorporated into the plan.

“But we want to hear what the

Almost finished: Perretts Park has seen £250,000 spent in past year public thinks, so any comments which could be forwarded to the Voice would be very welcome.”

Copp is also seeking a meeting with the council about maintenance. Some of the

benches are so overgrown they can’t be used.

Views on the Perretts proposals can be sent to paul@ southbristolvoice and will be given to Copp.

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Praise for the street market

• REALLY impressed with the BS4 street market, what amazingly talented and creative people we have living in our community.

Big congrats to all ... Cher Jewellery, Sandra Moore’s cards and artwork, Juliet Fleming’s pottery, Sausagenius ... to name but a few. And a big thanks to Jane for the lovely coat I got from her stall.

Definitely recommended everyone takes a walk down to the market to see what goodies you can buy.

Already looking forward to the next one!

CF, Facebook

Knowle is still sadly lacking I HAVE lived in Knowle all my life and I wish people would stop singing its praises as a super place to live – I think we have been abandoned.

We haven’t got a supermarket or even a decent grocer.

We have Iceland, which I don’t know what we would do without, and we have the 99p

S

WHAT a lovely afternoon in BS4 on September 6: the kids and I took a stroll down to BS4 Street Market, then on the way home we saw a BS4 street library and a BS4 book sale.

What other community can you find all this in walking distance from your home? Albeit with a big hill in between, but that’s good for the waistline! I love my community.

KLN, Facebook

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TER T E

L

October, 2015

shop, but we are all crying out for a proper supermarket. Years ago when we had Safeway and many other food shops it was brilliant but now it’s hopeless.

Sometimes I go to Wells on the bus to shopping and have to lug my groceries back. It’s either that or I get a taxi to Avon Meads, or I get the bus to Broadmead, but there isn’t a big supermarket there.

I’m 85 years old and Knowle to me, compared to the other districts of Bristol, is neglected.

A Lidl or Costcutter here would be marvellous.

OP, by phone

Still waiting for our road lines I SEE that you mentioned last month that the line painting on Wells Road and other roads took a month to get going after the resurfacing work.

I don’t know if you have noticed, but another month on and there are still a lot of lines missing.

Wells Road and St Luke’s Road, for example, still haven’t got any yellow lines down the side.

Do you think it will all be over in time for Christmas?

PS, Totterdown

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17

Have you got strong views about what’s happening in South Bristol? Whatever you want to say, write to us and we’ll make sure everyone in the area knows about it. Email paul@southbristolvoice. co.uk, post to Letters, South Bristol Voice, 18 Lilymead Avenue, Bristol BS4 2BX or call us on 07811 766072. Please keep letters short. The editor reserves the right to edit your letter.

More reactions to arena plans WHY the constant articles criticising the arena? It’s a fantastic development that can only benefit the local community.

Living in Knowle I’m more than happy to accept a residents parking zone, even at my cost.

Furthermore, your article criticising the fact that the council are displaying the plans four light years away at 100 Temple Street is ridiculous. It’s a mere 1.1 miles from my house, hardly an epic journey! I could walk there in half an hour.

It’s fine to ask questions of the arena, but how about some balance? It seems you are happier with it being a derelict wasteland.

JM, Facebook • LIGHT and sound pollution is a big concern of mine.

LW, Facebook • I DON’T want our streets to become weekend RPZs that prevent friends from visiting or limit us to one car per house unless we buy a permit.

HM, Facebook • WE need an arena, but they do attract visitors so parking is needed, otherwise it will be a

nightmare for visitors and locals alike. The sort of place you only visit once.

RT, Facebook • I’M WITH a lot of posters here asking about parking. I’ve travelled to arenas all over the country and always been able to park, even if it has been a bit of a mission (NEC) or booked in advance (Sheffield).

JH, Facebook • WHAT steps will the council be taking to ensure that the arena is active in job creation such has been done for projects such as the Olympics?

For example, will there be schemes to train unemployed local people and get them jobs in construction and operations? If not, why not? MT, Facebook • PARKING and the potential bottle neck on the Bath and Wells roads ... the proposed changes don’t look sufficient.

BW, Facebook • SORRY but Arcadia vs Arena is a totally different ball game.

There are a tonne of NCP car parks in town. EB, Facebook • THERE were never 14,000 at Arcadia were there? Possibly 7,000 each night at a push. Plus a much more niche audience than the stadium gigs will cater for, in my opinion.

FP, Facebook

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More details of plans for Bedminster Green as construction draws nearer THE DEVELOPER behind the ambitious plans for Bedminster Green station and up to 800 homes nearby has defended the scheme to local residents.

Critics say the £100 million project has too many tall buildings that will spoil the view for many in Windmill Hill.

Residents at a meeting with

developer Urbis at Windmill Hill community centre on September 8 voiced fears that the development of a large area between Whitehouse Lane and East Street is too high-density and will change the character of the area.

Urbis already has agreement for a 16-storey, 188-apartment

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building at St Catherine’s Place off East Street.

The new plan for Bedminster Green and surroundings will add around 18 more buildings, some of 10 storeys or more.

“My concern is the density and what it is going to do to the area – it doesn’t need buildings that high,” one resident told the Urbis representatives.

Others voiced fears about the amount of traffic the scheme will bring. “There’s a lot more people coming in with cars and already when it rains you get lots of cars coming out,” said another resident.

But the development will only succeed if it is high density, countered Richard Clarke, Urbis managing director.

The plans are to create a community that is well connected by public transport. The new MetroBus will have a stop outside the station, and bus passengers will rise by more than 50 per cent.

New MetroWest train links will also more than double rail

October, 2015

Residents ask for fewer high-rises and less density. But developer says these are the things that can make it pay – and revive East Street passengers. Parking will be included in the new scheme at the rate of 75 spaces for every 100 homes.

“It’s about trying to create a community where there is an option for car ownership but it’s not a prerequisite,” said Mr Clarke.

With so many new homes – including a development for older people just off East Street – the area will become more attractive to retailers. “All the shops you need will be in walking distance,” said Mr Clarke.

“You have to give some reason for business to go into East Street. High density residential

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October, 2015

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News Link to Malago Greenway

New station

Bedminster Green

St Catherine’s Place

Links to East Street

19

Gateway Square

3D VIEW OF BEDMINSTER GREEN AND ST CATHERINE’S PLACE

use next to a commercial area will help East Street,” he said.

He insisted that the scale of the development is necessary to make it pay.

Urbis wants to create high-quality development that will not look cheap in a few years time, Mr Clarke said.

Moves like opening up the Malago river and creating new green spaces do not come cheap, nor does creating a gas-fired district energy centre which will heat all the new homes and reduce CO2 emissions by more than 70 per cent.

Profits from the energy centre will subsidise energy-saving improvements to older homes near the site by £150,000 a year, he said.

St Catherine’s – where there is to be no subsidised housing – “only just made the mark” financially, he said.

Bedminster Green will do better with around 150 affordable homes.

One resident asked what was meant by affordable housing, saying that her grandchild would love to live in the neighbourhood but couldn’t afford it.

Mr Clarke responded that the rents charged would be up to the social housing provider.

“Affordable” rents are linked to market rents and are not fixed.

Residents also raised fears about the impact of so many new residents on schools and other

community facilities. Urbis responded that a new dental surgery, childcare centre and GP practice are part of the plans.

Contributions from the developer will be enough to pay for a new school, but deciding where to put a school will be up to Bristol City Council.

The main complaint at the meeting was the height of the buildings, shown at the meeting by a cardboard model.

Least popular was the multi-storey building at the new entrance to Bedminster station, which will also accommodate commercial tenants and car parking.

“Can you move that block? It will block out a lot of the view for people in Windmill Hill,” asked a resident. Mr Clarke responded

that the plans could be changed in detail, though it might not be possible to move entire blocks.

Moving the parking out of the station block, for example, could lead to more pressure on street parking.

He emphasised that the plans are for the area to become a greener, safer and more welcoming place.

Owners and managers of the new blocks will have an incentive to manage the area. St Catherine’s Place will be owned and let by a single company and can be expected to manage it to a high standard.

It is also hoped that some apartments will be leased to landlords who are not buy-to-let investors, so leading to a more stable population.

Rain garden: Concept for street planted to use rainwater for plant beds

TIMETABLE FOR THE £100m PLAN THE Bedminster Green area – also known as the Framework area – is divided into four large plots. Planning applications for the first site, Plot 1 in front of the station, are expected to be made in November.

The public will be able to give their views on each planning application as it is made.

Meanwhile work is expected to start on St Catherine’s Place in mid 2016.

Work on the Bedminster Green site will start with Plots 1 and 2, scheduled for the middle of next year.

The first section to be completed will be the energy centre, slated for mid-2017.

Work on Plots 1 and 2, which includes opening up the Malago, should be finished in early 2018.

Plots 3 and 4, including a 170-space underground car park and a community centre, should start construction in 2017 and be finished in 2019.

The new-look station, with an entrance facing a new green on the Bedminster side, will open in 2018.

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October, 2015

Picture special ... Knowle street parties in Somerset Road an

The Reacharounds: One of the bands playing Somerset Road

Dog show: Labradoodle Fergus won for ‘Handsomest Heartthrob’

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In Bre game

October, 2015

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nd Brecknock Road on September 5

Road’s first closure for a party since the street’s centenary in 1997. Residents remarked on a new community spirit. Dog and band pictures: SAM HEARN

ecknock Road, street parties have been more frequent in recent years, with es, music and food galore. When the road is closed, new markings appear ...

Mark Stephens, sax and Laurie Gunning, guitar, entertain Brecknock

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News

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Street market is a runaway success for BS4 THE FIRST Sunday street market for Totterdown was such a success that not only will it return, it will have a new venue.

Debbie Kleiner-Gaines, who organised the first event in Wells Road on September 6, has won permission to hold the next one in School Road.

The road will be closed next to the park on October 4 to allow stalls to be put under the trees.

More than a dozen stalls set up for the first event were almost swamped by eager punters.

Baker Kelda Tovey, whose business is Cake Face, sold out of cakes within an hour and a half.

John Atkinson of Sausagenius was hard pushed keeping up with the demand for bangers – and eventually sold out – while beermaker Stephen Hall of the Incredible Brewing Co was

October, 2015

Consultation over rat runs

Crowded out: The first BS4 Street Market outside Gaines greengrocers selling bottle after bottle of his Brislington-brewed craft ale.

Other busy stalls included Cher’s jewellery, Sandra Moore’s cards and art work and Juliet Fleming’s pottery.

The Co-op store reportedly had its busiest day ever.

Debbie Kleiner-Gaines said: “It was a phenomenal success.

Each and every stallholder wants to come back for October and I’ve an inbox full of requests. We are so lucky to have so many talented individuals within our community. Who’ll ever buy gifts at a supermarket again?”

About 30 stalls are expected next time including vintage clothes and furniture.

RESIDENTS of the New Walls are to be consulted over how to reduce rat-running through the estate, though it is not clear when.

The council said: “We have been carrying out informal consultation with locals and the community group Tresa in regards to reducing traffic flows on Angers Road, County Street, Stanley Hill and the surrounding streets. The design is currently at an early stage and statutory consultation will be carried out when this is complete.”

Art for sale

AN exhibition and sale of paintings and cards takes place at the Redcatch Community Centre on Saturday October 10 from 11am-4pm. Redcatch Art Club is also holding a tombola, with proceeds going to the Children’s Hospice Southwest.

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Bristol Dogs & Cats Home It can be a long wait for a home

E

VERY animal in our home is cared for by dedicated and experienced staff, and each is given a second chance for a happy life, free from pain or neglect. Many of the pets who find themselves in our care are only with us for a short time before they find their forever homes – however, through no fault of their own, some are with us for much longer.

We class animals as ‘long stays’ if they have been with us for six months or more, and we do everything in our power to find them new loving homes. As was the case with Anne the Staffie, who walked around Bristol visiting all 70 Shauns, in the hope that she might find her new family along the way. Anne is still hoping for a happy ending

Police update

I

’VE talked a lot in recent issues about the nuisance and dangers caused by people riding motorbikes and even driving cars recklessly – it’s a common complaint at our forum meetings and has been raised by readers of this magazine, too.

As well as recently seizing a moped from a man causing endless misery around South Bristol, last month (September), a man from Hengrove was convicted of dangerous driving.

He was disqualified for 20 months after one of my colleagues witnessed him ‘power sliding’, or skidding, around a corner the wrong way in Filwood.

He’d chosen a sunny evening when children were out playing to try this manoeuvre – I think we can all imagine how it could have ended. For the same reasons, the officer stopped following the offender when he reached speeds of more than 40mph, but he obtained CCTV and later arrested the man, who pleaded guilty at court.

The reason for highlighting this case is to show that, despite

rspca-bristol.org.uk

Continuing our new column from Bristol Dogs & Cats Home

and a new home, she has now been with us for nine months – but we will not stop looking for her perfect forever family.

When animals are with us for long periods of time, we often coordinate with other RSPCA rescue centres to find new environments for them. This was the case for Dom, a Staffie cross, who stayed with us for a whole year – constantly being overlooked. Dom was transferred

Cleo: When she offers you her paw, how can you resist?

If you might be able to give Cleo a home, call 0117 977 6043. to a rural centre in Somerset, and after three months he was adopted by an ex-marine, who now takes him on long hikes and adventures! Lucky Dom. Another long stay resident at the home is Cleo, who has now been with us for six months. This

beautiful girl absolutely loves play time and lots of cuddles!

If you think you could give Cleo, or any of the gorgeous animals in our care, the loving home they deserve, please get in contact with the home on 0117 977 6043 or pop in to see us.

With Sgt David Deakin, Broadbury Road police station www.avonandsomerset.police.uk

to come to these meetings or If you think you try contact us through the website (above) to tell us your concerns. can speed away, ’m pleased to say that one of Iantwoelderly men involved in stealing you might still woman’s handbag as she walked along Wells Road on get a knock a Sunday afternoon in September has been arrested. A PCSO spotted the car used by the two at the door

men the same evening on the back of a flatbed lorry, having been sold hours before. After making some enquiries, the suspect was arrested at his home.

I work with a great team who are dedicated to keeping people in South Bristol safe. Please continue to work with us by telling us what you know and what matters to you.

the ‘goading’ at the time, if we don’t follow, it doesn’t mean the end of the matter. It’s simply not always safe to do so.

S

imilar issues were raised at the Windmill Hill Neighbourhood Forum on September 9, which was really well attended. As a result, the concerns about off road bikes in the area have been passed to the Op Biker officers, who target their patrols according to reports from the community.

Other concerns raised were anti-social behaviour in Malago Park, which we will continue to patrol, and speeding on Dunkerry Road and St Lukes Road. Please

23

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Columns Recognition for the New Cut as a haven for wildlife

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S WE reach the final stages of the city’s year as European Green Capital, it is fantastic to see South Bristol welcome a new Local Nature Reserve designation for the Avon New Cut. Running from the Totterdown Basin through to Hotwells, this valuable wildlife corridor is home to a wealth of different species including grey herons and cormorants.

I would encourage all readers to consider visiting one of the city’s 12 local nature reserve sites for an autumn day out. There are a series of events taking place, including a tree walk and apple pressing at Stockwood Open Space on October 10 and a Cycle for Health Nature Ride in Manor Woods, Bishopsworth, on October 16. For more details contact bristolparks@bristol.gov.uk Still on the topic of health, some of you

The Mayor’s view Each month Bristol mayor George Ferguson shares his take on South Bristol life

October, 2015

Stoptober ball at the recent Knowle West Fest. The team is out and about encouraging smokers in Bristol to take this year’s Stoptober challenge and go smokefree during October. More details at www. smokefreebristol.com Thanks to those of you who took part in our extensive consultation regarding rollout of Bristol’s 20mph scheme in the Outer South area (Bishopsworth, Brislington West, Hartcliffe, Hengrove, Stockwood, and Whitchurch Park) which went live in recent weeks. I strongly believe this is an opportunity to continue to save lives on the roads and encourage more people in the community to cycle and walk.

Finally, consultation on the Bristol Arena is now live and will run until October 13. For details of public drop-in sessions please visit www.bristoltemplequarter.com/ arenaconsultation As this exciting project moves closer to reality it is important that you are all fully informed and have the opportunity to air your views.

may have seen Public Health Bristol’s Smokefree advisers and the giant red

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News A walk round the skyline

Toilets still a mess at park

Inspired by the coverage in issue 1 of South Bristol Voice, reader Graham Southorn led a group of 21 people around the Bristol South Skyline Walk. Here’s his account ...

WE STARTED at Arnos Vale Cemetery, proceeding via green spaces in Knowle, along the Malago river and through Victoria Park before heading back along the banks of the Avon to the Arnos Vale café.

Despite occasional spits and spots of rain, we were lucky that the weather was otherwise fair for the three-and-a-half hours it took to complete the circuit.

My fellow walkers enjoyed exploring areas of Bristol they hadn’t visited before, such as the Northern Slopes and Malago river, as well as Arnos Vale itself.

We also passed the new bridge to Arena Island, which had been swung into place the day before.

I hope that funding can be

MORE evidence that the toilets in Victoria Park need major work came when Bristol Bad Film Club held an outdoor screening.

The showing of The Valley of Gwangi on August 8 was a big success for the film club and for Victoria Park Action Group, which received more than £1,100.

But the state of the toilets was a problem on the night, VPAG chair Shaun Hennessy told a meeting of the park group on September 7.

The toilets were left unlit and with water on the floor, Mr Hennessy said. Volunteers managed to light the block only with glowsticks.

VPAG is pursuing a long-term aim of making a major bid to the Heritage Lottery Foundation, which would refurbish the Lodge in which the toilets are located, as well as other improvements around the park, including a bandstand.

Looking for a view: Graham, centre, leads the walkers from Arnos Vale found for wayposts, as it had taken me several attempts to follow the route, even with the maps on the walk’s website.

In addition, the flytipping in Knowle parks is not a great advertisement for the city in Bristol Green Capital year. Some of the rubbish, including items of furniture, had been there since

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early summer. I’m planning to lead more groups around the Skyline Walk - they’ll be advertised via the Bristol and Bath walking social group, which is free to join on Meetup.com.

Graham Southorn, Totterdown (Twitter: @GrahamSouthorn) • www.northern-slopesinitiative.co.uk/Skyline

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southbristolvoice www.southbristolvoice.co.uk Reports from your councillors – Knowle W M 26

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October, 2015

How to get in touch with your councillors – page 2

HILE most but not all residents in Totterdown and Lower Knowle welcome the arena and the Gary enterprise zone Hopkins, (paid for by the city Lib-Dem, deal struck a few Knowle years ago prior to the mayor), there is growing concern that many important details are being ignored by the mayor, and South Bristol issues marginalised. I and other Lib Dem activists have been informing and campaigning on the key issues. (see www. bristolarenapetitions.co.uk).

Work to improve outcomes is now much harder but we are trying. Worryingly the mayor is busy downplaying the local arena effect, suggesting that the 3,600 extra cars will be minor and pretending that they will ignore free parking in local streets to drive to Cabot Circus, pay to park and then walk back .This is nonsense. While we fully support

any efforts to divert concert goers to sustainable transport the planning “consultation” is woefully short on specifics.

Still, a meeting with transport officers flushed out a few nuggets.

First, a report on the Three Lamps junction referred to by the mayor did not exist and it fell to me and Lib Dem Cllr Tim Kent to explain how it could be redesigned.

Second, no action was planned on the dangerous shared pavement outwards from Temple Meads. Third, while acknowledging the need for these and parking issues to be tackled they are trying to say that they are “nothing to do with us guv”.

Detailed questions have now been put by me to the head of transport. I do not care which pots of money (and there are several large ones) pay for the improvements but the work must be done.

Though the opening is 2.5 years away unless you get involved NOW we will suffer locally from what should be a positive development.

ANY will remember some years ago when we had a near crisis in our primary schools.

Demands from Chris the Labour Davies, government for Lib-Dem, school closures of Knowle “surplus places” (including Ilminster Avenue primary) were fought off, and our Lib Dem administration put in record capital to address the large number of young children approaching school age.

Locally we approached West Town Lane primary to help, and children from Knowle were successfully accommodated. We recognised a continuing need for more places and we suggested Marksbury Road should be considered. It was approved and a primary school was finally built after a year of delay by the mayor.

In a council debate last month our group raised the secondary schools issue and the pressing need to think ahead to

accommodate our growing number of young people moving up from primary to secondary education, particularly in South Bristol. A report from council officers confirmed our fears: although they were admitting there was a problem, there was no clear plan.

We have recommended a solution – land suitable for a school at The Park centre in Daventry Road – which many will remember as Merrywood school until Labour closed it.

Plans were put forward for a “studio school” to specialise in practical, less academic subjects, but the centre was not successful in getting their project approved.

We feel the time is right to put forward a similar case, which could work in partnership with other academies, for a secondary school, again with specialist choices. With Gary a governor of Knowle Park primary and myself governor at Ilminster Avenue we will be working with all concerned to try to progress the plan.

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www.southbristolvoice.co.uk southbristolvoice Reports from your councillors – Windmill Hill W I

October, 2015

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E’RE now three quarters of the way through Bristol’s Green Capital 2015, so I thought it would Sam be worth reflecting Mongon, on how successful Labour, it’s been so far.

Windmill And I’m afraid I’m Hill struggling to see what real difference the £7 million-plus of public money spent has made to date.

Yes, there are exciting initiatives. I particularly welcome the establishment of the Bristol Energy Company (find out more at https://bristol-energy.co.uk) to supply more sustainable, efficient and cheaper energy to Bristol homes. However this, like many Green Capital schemes, was in motion well before we won our bid.

Warm Up Bristol is another great idea but a missed opportunity. It aims to make homes more energy efficient by providing assessments and

access to financial support or grants. However, a number of local residents have complained to me about the quality of the assessments, the time they’ve had to wait for a response and the quality of the work carried out. Of course this hasn’t been helped by David Cameron’s call for the Government to cut funding for the “green crap”.

At the same time recycling rates are down, congestion is up, parks funding is being cut and the council’s response to littering and fly-tipping is slower. What sort of legacy will Green Capital give the city if we can’t even get these basics right?

I want the next mayor to take a different approach to green schemes and listen to local people about what their priorities are. Yes we need big ideas and innovations. But sometimes it’s the little things that make a difference to people’s quality of life; a new recycling facility for South Bristol would be a good start – sign the petition here http://epetitions.bristol.gov.uk

HOPE everyone enjoyed the summer. We had a slightly quieter time at the council but it has quickly got busy again.

Deborah The consultation Joffe, on the arena is Green, finally out, and I Windmill have pressed for Hill a Totterdown public meeting about this which is now happening. The plans do not include much detail about transport and we are told more proposals will follow at some point. This is frustrating for residents for whom this is a major concern and I have told the development team that earlier, more co-operative consultation would be much better.

I encourage everyone to look at the plans and feed back, not just on what is proposed, but on things you would like to see. Lots of feedback does send a strong message to the council about where people’s concerns lie.

On the other side of the ward

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is the Bedminster Green development, which is mainly new housing, which in itself is sorely needed. This is not actually in the ward but will have an impact on residents. Several people have written to me about this and I have put their comments to the developers and the council.

Housing is an enormous challenge for the city. Recent changes to planning legislation, benefit caps and cuts and other government policies are putting the council in an impossible position with a projected £255 million loss to the housing budget over 10 years.

Bristol Greens are focusing on this issue so that we can promote a solid policy which deals with the quantity, quality, sustainability and affordability of housing.

On a lighter note I am excited to be helping Victoria Park with their application to Bristol in Bloom, which means I get to walk around the park looking at all the plants. My idea of a perfect day.

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October, 2015

Rediscover the skills you thought you’d forgotten Want to keep mind and body active after retirement? The U3A might be for you

ARE YOU retired and wondering what to do next? Don’t stay at home – there are scores of activities on your doorstep, says Bristol U3A. Bristol U3A offers informal learning and leisure activities for older people, and is a great way to meet new people and find stimulating things to do once you’ve retired.

Not heard of U3A? It stands for University of the Third Age – the first age being childhood, the second the years of adulthood. The third age is retirement – which can be a challenge, as South Bristol U3A organiser Helen Thomas found herself.

“Our aim is to help members keep their minds and bodies active while they learn something new, develop their interests and make friends,” said Helen.

Born and bred in Bristol, Helen lived for a long time in South Wales.

“When I retired and moved back to Bristol, I thought, what shall I do now?” she said.

Hearing about U3A, she gave it a try but found many of the activities were north of the Avon.

“Someone said, if you want HELPING REFUGEES BY KNITTING BLANKETS U3A member Christine Ironside is organising the knitting of blankets for refugees, the homeless and struggling families. If you’d like to help, Chris gives the following instructions: To make a 12 inch square: Double knitting wool, size 5 mm needles, 54-60 stitches depending on your tension. 6 inch knitted squares also will be appropriate. If you want to sew them up, instead/as well, that also will be helpful. * More information from Chris – contact her by e-mail on:cironside457@btinternet.com

Striding out: Members of the U3A South Bristol walking group meet a Shaun on their trek to Ashton Court anything in South Bristol, then get something going.”

So she did – and now there are about 20 U3A groups in Knowle alone, with more in Bedminster and Brislington.

Groups are formed around subjects that interest the members.

“If I hear someone say, ‘I used to speak French’, or ‘I used to enjoy walking’, I say, ‘Right, let’s start a new group’,” said Helen.

Meeting in small subject or activity groups in local venues, U3A members share their knowledge, skills and experience.

South Bristol groups include bridge, table tennis, ukulele and recorders, poetry, French, books and short stories, ethics, exercise and walking.

“We believe that we never stop learning, and the best way to learn in later life is by enjoying focused time with others who share our interests,” said Helen.

“The good thing about is if you are new to the area, or recently retired, it makes it easy for you to meet people.

“You don’t realise until you retire than when you are working your day is full of people!”

Often the members rediscover skills they had forgotten.

“Someone asked if anyone

else had played the recorder at primary school. Now we have a group that meets once a fortnight and we are getting quite good!” said Helen.

There are more than 100 groups meeting across Bristol and 1,200 members covering a universe of interests. Some meet to chat, while others are more hands-on.

Some are very informal, while others are for those who want to learn something.

Some groups are very relaxed in their aims – such as the one focused on Historic Pubs of Bedminster and Central Bristol.

Others tackle serious subjects: the Ethics group recently had a discussion about assisted dying.

Some hark back to schooldays: there are several groups learning Latin informally.

Others look at art – some by studying art history, others by visiting the latest art exhibitions in Bristol.

“There are more than 20 groups in BS3 and BS4 so there is a good choice of things to do close to home.

“We also have a monthly meeting for all members in central Bristol, with invited speakers on a wide range of topics”, added Helen.

Membership costs just £15 for each year and covers as many activities as you want to do.

“The best way to find out about Bristol U3A is to come to one of our monthly meetings, which are held in central Bristol, or to a local social group. You’ll find a very warm welcome, and people to explain what we do and what is available near you,” said Helen.

For more information: • Web www.bristolu3a.org.uk • Blog https://southbristolu3a. wordpress.com • Call 0117 963 1032 SOUTH BRISTOL U3A groups Bridge, Knowle Tuesday pm, weekly Calmer Living, Knowle Weds pm - Occasional Choral, Knowle 2nd Tuesday am, monthly Current Affairs, Knowle 2nd Tuesday pm, monthly Ethics, Southville Last Tuesday pm, monthly French Conversation, Southville 1st and 3rd Thursday pm Genealogy, Whitchurch 2nd Tuesday pm, monthly.

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Planning applications Land between 202-204 Creswicke Road, Bristol Details in relation to conditions (landscaping, drawings, sample, archaeology, watching brief, contamination, boundary gates, lamp post) of planning permission 09/03584/F: Construction of 2 x four bedroom single dwellings. Approved 43 Kensal Road, BS3 4QU Application for a Certificate of Proposed Development for rear dormer roof extension. Pending consideration 179 St Johns Lane Bristol BS3 5AG Construction of front dormer window. Refused St Catherines Court, 61-63 Broad Walk, Bristol Window replacement works. Granted subject to conditions 26 Eldon Terrace, BS3 4NZ Construction of 2 bedroom house on land to the rear. Granted subject to conditions 129 Leinster Avenue BS4 1NN Conversion to two dwellings and associated works. Granted subject to conditions 162 Wells Road, Totterdown BS4 2AG Conversion of loft into a one bedroom flat. Withdrawn 28-30 Eldon Terrace BS3 4NZ Construction of three 3 bedroom town houses on land to the rear with primary access off Cotswold Road North. Granted subject to conditions 126 Broadfield Road BS4 2UU Prior approval for single storey rear extension extending

4.2 metres, maximum height of 3.9m, with eaves 2.9m. Pending consideration Knowle West Childrens Centre, Downton Road, Bristol Enclose area to form secure play area for children.

Decking with canopy to rear of the property. Sign board bearing name of the centre. Granted subject to conditions 6 Maesknoll Road BS4 2HF Single storey extension and replacement of side extension.

Pending consideration 5 Addison Road Bristol BS3 4QH Application for a Lawful Development Certificate for proposed rear roof extension.

Pending consideration Arnos Vale Cemetery, Bath Road, BS4 3EW 5-Day Notice to dismantle a dangerous Black Locust tree within Area 1 (adjoining another tree of the same species, which has recently fallen). Within a conservation area, but not subject to a Tree Preservation Order. Pending consideration Storehouse, Pylle Hill Crescent/Rear Of 38 Hill Street, BS3 4TS Prior approval for the change of use from office floor space Use Class B1 (a) to residential accommodation Class C3 (dwelling houses) Pending consideration 29 Somerset Road BS4 2HT Proposed rear extension.

Pending consideration 6 Hill Avenue BS3 4SF Demolition of modern extension

SOUTH BRISTOL U3A groups (continued from page 28) Wednesday am, weekly Historic Pubs, South & Central Last Monday pm, monthly In My Back Yard, South Bristol 2nd & 4th Wednewsday pm Latin, Bedminster Monday am, fortnightly Looking at Art, South & Central 3rd Thursday am, monthly Poets and Poems, Southville 1st and 3rd Tuesday pm Poetry for Pleasure, Knowle 4th Friday pm, monthly Reading Group, Bedminster 2nd Monday am, monthly Recorder Playing, Southville

Wednesday am, fortnightly Short Story Group, Bedminster 1st Monday am, monthly Social Group, Bedminster 1st Wednesday or Thurs am Table Tennis, Knowle 2nd & 4th Thursday, pm Textiles, Knowle/Southville 4th Wednesday pm, monthly Ukekele, Bedminster Monday am, fortnightly Walking South Friday am, fortnightly Yoga, Brislington Tuesday am, weekly

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and conversion of vacant former church to provide three 3-bedroom townhouses and one 2-bedroom house; extension of terrace to provide two 3-bedroom houses; four off-street parking spaces and ancillary development. Pending consideration 203 St Johns Lane, Bristol BS3 5AL Proposed single storey side & rear extension to create new 1 x 2 bed dwelling. Pending consideration 54 Stoneleigh Road, BS4 2RJ Prior approval for single storey rear extension extending 4.3m, max height 4.0m, eaves 2.7m.

Prior approval not required 366 St Johns Lane, BS3 5BA Extension to provide an additional 3 flats with a single entrance serving both existing and proposed flats. Granted subject to conditions 5 Maesknoll Road BS4 2HF Single storey rear/side extension.

Pending consideration 131 Broad Walk Bristol BS4 2RT Outline application for three 2 bedroom flats and one 1 bedroom flat and associated infrastructure works. Pending consideration

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28 Imperial Walk Bristol BS14 9AE Replacement, single storey, rear extension with extension to existing balcony. Granted subject to conditions 7 Maidstone Street Bristol BS3 4SW Single storey rear extension. Granted subject to conditions 10 Melvin Square Bristol BS4 1LZ Single storey extensions to enlarge existing shop unit (retaining post office) and one storey extension over, including rooms in new roof to extend the existing flat. Granted subject to conditions 100 Novers Hill Bristol BS4 1QT Erection of 14 dwellings following the demolition of the existing buildings at the site (major application). Granted subject to conditions 63 Talbot Road BS4 2NN Proposed extension to form new dwelling. Granted subject to conditions Priory Surgery 324-326 Wells Road, Knowle BS4 2QJ Two storey extension to existing doctors’ surgery.

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36 Pylle Hill Crescent BS3 4TNR Raised decking platform at rear with 1.8m high screening to both sides of platform.

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Lower Knowle Farm Berrow Walk Bristol BS3 5ES Demolish remains of ruined barn in grounds of listed house and build 9 new dwellings in 4 units.

Pending consideration

14 Beckington Road Bristol BS3 5EB Two storey side and rear extension. Granted subject to conditions

• The status of these applications may have changed since we went to press. Check for updates at planning online.bristol.gov.uk

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History

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October, 2015

Meet the family who made

T

HIS month’s Tale from the Cemetery is one with a difference –it’s about the living, not the dead.

Betty Utting and her son Howard are well known to many in South Bristol as part of the family that can claim to have a more intimate connection with the cemetery than any other.

The Uttings lived in Arnos Vale for three generations.

Betty’s husband Alfred was superintendent of the cemetery all his working life, as his father was before him.

But living at the cemetery meant the families of all the resident staff were swept up in an unusual way of life which absorbs them to this day.

Many people might think a life spent among gravestones and memorials might be gloomy, even spooky.

And when many of the visitors you meet in your daily round are grief stricken, possibly in the depths of despair, you might easily imagine that this life would be a depressing one.

Far from it, because Betty and Howard feel they have had a privileged life.

For them their decades in the cemetery were not about the monuments and ceremonial avenues, chapels and obelisks – they were about the constant challenges and rewards brought by the cemetery’s visitors.

“Howard and I are unique, and I’m not saying that boastfully,” said Betty, now 97 but still clear in her memories of a life dedicated to running Arnos Vale as a family affair.

“When you live on the premises you have to live for the people who visit.”

A century ago, when Alfred’s father William was superintendent, the cemetery was owned by the Bristol General Cemetery Company, owned by three directors, solicitors from Corn Street.

The directors took little interest in day-to-day matters.

“They didn’t have any interest in the cemetery, just in the business,” said Betty. “So he [William] always felt it was his cemetery.”

In those days a superintendent had to be

Tales from the Cemetery

Every month we tell a story from Arnos Vale Cemetery

The Uttings are Bristol’s first family of Arnos Vale: three generations made it their home and their life’s work married, and his wife was a vital part of the operation.

Later, council-run cemeteries let their staff live off site, kept strict opening hours, and their families had nothing to do with the work.

But the Uttings were always on duty – often late at night, and even at Christmas. Someone always had to be at home in case there were questions – visitors looking for a grave, undertakers wanting to book a funeral, or mourners in deep distress.

“The one rule the directors had was that the cemetery could open on Sunday only from 11am to 7pm. That sounds all right but it caused a lot of problems, partly because they wouldn’t allow prams in on Sundays”, said Betty.

“They had men on the gate to stop people with bicycles or prams. People came with their babies, found they couldn’t take the pram in and they would come to our back door, so we said, “We will take the baby for you”.

Often more help was required.

One small child was brought in rather sick: Betty’s mother gave it a restorative tot of brandy, as was the custom, and advised the child should get medical care. Later the mother confirmed she took this advice and the child was

A life in Arnos Vale: Betty Utting pictured with her son Howard indeed ill. Similarly when a woman tripped over a grave and twisted her ankle, Betty’s mother urged her to see a doctor, but was rebuffed. Later the woman, who was tending the grave of her dead son, told the Uttings she wished she’d followed the advice. Her ankle turned out to be broken but the bone set at the wrong angle and the woman never walked straight again.

Working in a cemetery encourages a thoughtful and perceptive frame of mind.

“When you meet people in a cemetery they aren’t happy and smiling – you meet people who

are heartbroken and in shock,” said Betty.

Howard remembers much of the advice his father gave him.

One of his sayings was, “Sorrow is not forever – love is.”

“I asked my father, what do you say to people who are in grief? And he said: ‘You don’t say anything – you let them talk to you.’

“We have spent our lives listening,” said Howard. He also saw how careful his father was not to overwhelm people. It is too much to put your arm around someone who is upset, he said; instead a light touch on the arm

To advertise, contact sales@southbristolvoice.co.uk or Paul on 07811 766072 or Emma or Hollie on 0117 908 2121.

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October, 2015

History

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Arnos Vale a lifetime’s work

often provides the right reassurance.

Betty remembers a lady whose only son was killed serving in the Royal Navy in the Second Wordl War. “Her world came to an end,” said Betty. But the son’s body was recovered from the English Channel and he was brought home and prepared for burial by undertakers Davies of Bedminster (a firm still under family ownership today).

“She had him brought home, which you did in those days, and though she knew he had been treated with care, she took him out of the coffin and washed him again, then dressed him,” said Betty.

“After that she came out every day to his grave, for 30 years, in all weathers. She would sit there arranging his flowers and talking to him. I would never dare touch a flower if it seemed out of place for fear she would notice.

“I think it saved her life. She lived well into her eighties, and she still came even when she was blind.”

B

etty Utting was not at first impressed when her father, who worked on a farm in what was then the suburb of Knowle, came home one day in 1935 and asked her if she fancied moving to Arnos Vale.

“Being a farmer he knew everthing about land. But I told him I didn’t want to live in a cemetery!” said Betty.

She was already a resourceful teenager – though only 17, she had been working as a hairdresser for three years, and loved it.

“But I came round to it and gave everything up and went to live with my parents in the top lodge,” she said.

The top lodge off Cemetery Road, now derelict, was where the deputy superintendent lived; the superintendent, William Utting, lived in the East Lodge by the main gate on Bath Road.

Soon Betty was working for William in the office. Gradually she got to know William’s son, Alfred, a kind and shy boy.

But Alfred’s mother saw an attraction between the youngsters, and invited Betty to share their Christmas in 1938.

Impressive sight: The Greek-styled 1830s lodges were better to look at than to live in, the Uttings found It was on the walk back up the ceremonial drive, when they got in sight of the top lodge, that shy Alfred asked Betty to marry him.

In time Alfred succeeded his father, and took over the East Lodge.

Change is slow in the burial business, but Bristol’s booming population through the 20th century brought increasing pressure on graveyards.

Farsighted William Utting was very early in spotting the need to cremate bodies – for those who wanted it – in order to free burial space.

It became his hobby horse, and he made himself increasingly unpopular with the Arnos Vale directors in his request for a crematorium to be built.

In fact, Betty says, in 1927 the directors wrote William a letter threatening to sack him if he didn’t cease his demands.

But his arguments must have been persuasive, because the very next year Arnos Vale became the only cemetery outside London to install a crematorium.

The controversial nature of this move can be judge by the fact that Bristol’s next crematorium was not installed until the 1950s, in the councilrun Canford Lane site.

Betty recalls that the early Continued on page 32

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The first family of Arnos Vale Continued from page 31 days of cremations were viewed with great suspicion by some.

“All sorts of rumours started flying about what we were supposed to be doing to people who were cremated,” said Betty.

“People said we were removing rings from bodies and all sorts.

“So my father-in-law said we should open up the crematorium so that people could see what actually went on. So we opened it up sometimes on a Saturday.

That stopped the rumours and gradually people took to cremation.”

Howard, who still does regular voluntary work at Arnos Vale even though he no longer lives in Bristol, still meets visitors from crematoria associations who say they look up to Willaim and Alfred Utting as pioneers.

“My father and grandfather are looked on with high regard,” he said. Only last year a visitor from a London crematoria association came to look at the remains of the ovens and made it clear that he revered the Utting name.

A

lfred Utting, who was born at the cemetery, never wanted to stop working at Arnos Vale – indeed, he never wanted to leave the place at all.

The directors agreed to let him work on past the retirement aged of 65. But by the time he turned 70 his family could see that he was beginning to find the work a strain.

Wanting to give him a rest, Betty’s daughter Elaine invited him to her home in Kent at the end of 1982, promising him the finest Christmas he had ever had.

Sadly, it was in Kent that he died, and he returned to Arnos Vale only to be buried in the plot he had already chosen for himself, oriented to face his bedroom in the East Lodge.

Asked by his son why he had angled his grave that way, Alfred told him it was so that he could “see them all coming”.

Reflecting on Alfred spending his entire life within the cemetery gates, Betty said: “He had never known a neighhbour; he had never known a boss apart from his own father.”

With Alfred’s death, Betty lost

October, 2015

come over for a sing song.” On that occasion the policeman was eventually convinced that it was quite normal to have a late night party at a cemetery – though he couldn’t be persuaded to join in.

B

Much changed: The top lodge off Cemetery Road where Betty Utting lived with her mother and father when she moved to Arnos Vale in 1935 not only her job but her home.

She left without a penny from the owners: no pension after all those years of dedication.

All she was given was Alfred’s burial plot, which the directors consented to hand over without charge.

Some might be bitter at such treatment, but Betty was determined to make a new start, first at a flat in Brislington, then in the sheltered apartment she enjoys living in today, on Wells Road in Knowle.

Sadly, Alfred has not been her only loss: her daughter Elaine died from multiple sclerosis in 2005.

Howard always kept his links with the cemetery – though it posed problems for him when he was young.

He once brought a young female friend home on the bus.

As they got off opposite the lodge gates on Bath Road, the teenager looked around quizzically and asked where Howard lived.

When he pointed at the cemetery and said, “In there”, there was no reply. His hoped-for girlfriend took one glance at Howard’s Gothic-looking estate, turned and ran down the rouad, never to be seen by him again.

At other times he had difficulty persuading people thaat he did live in the cemetery.

A policeman found him once atop the cemetery wall, Howard having forgotten his keys. The PC refused to believe Howard was not trying to break in and

threatened arrest before the young man’s earnest appeal eventually sank home.

Sometimes, when asked where he lived, he would respond, “The dead centre of Bristol.”

The police were to be bemused again. The Uttings found the lodge an awkward place to live in, but a good venue

New plaque: The unmarked graves of those who gave their bodies to science are now also remembered, thanks to Betty for parties. They never had to worry about waking the neighbours and sometimes played music till late.

Once an officer arrived in Morris Minor police car and knocked at the lodge, surprised to see lights blazing and merriment at 1am.

“We always used to say, ‘The neighbours never complain!’ and we had no trouble with car parking, recalled Betty.

“Howard’s friends often used to

ut it is the people who came visiting the graves that Betty and Howard remember most. The well-spoken Indian families attending the grand memorial to Rajah Rammohun Roy, who died in Bristol in 1833 and is regarded as the father of modern India.

The couple from Calcot Road, Knowle, who lost their only son aged eight and buried him in Arnos Vale. As the Blitz approached during the war they decided to leave Bristol and rented a flat in Bath – only to be killed when the Luftwaffe targeted that city in 1941.

For Howard, the encounters continue. He is still meeting women who, thanks to his mother, can stand next to their children’s burial place.

In the 1940s and 50s, a child that was stillborn did not recive a burial service. Tiny white coffins arrived at the cemetery and were interred several at a time.

Thanks to Betty, the modern custodians of the cemetery have beeen able to mark this site with a plaque, near the West Lodge.

Many women who lost a child in this way have expressed their gratitude that they now have a place where they can grieve; a process made somewhat easier when Howard tells him that sometimes his father would recite the 23rd Psalm as he buried the children, unattended by any other ceremony.

Betty says her Christian faith has helped sustain her and though she can’t make it to church she still receives communion from reverend Laurie Burn, who visits her from Totterdown Baptist Church.

“I feel like I have come out on top in the end because I feel I have done my job properly and brought a bit of happiness somewhere along the way,” said Betty.

Howard still enjoys meeting the visitors to Arnos Vale, now a prime visitor attraction for South Bristol.

But Betty is clear that she would rather it was still a working cemetery and crematorium – serving the city as it has done for almost 180 years.

To advertise, contact sales@southbristolvoice.co.uk or Paul on 07811 766072 or Emma or Hollie on 0117 908 2121.

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October, 2015

Columns I’m looking forward to working with a new leader

I

N CASE you hadn’t noticed, the political party I represent elected a new leader last month.

I reckon if you’re reading this, you have some interest in politics. You may even count yourself as a political anorak. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about! But for most people Labour’s leadership contest barely raised an eyelid.

Of course leadership qualities touch all our lives in one way or another. Whatever job we have, we’re led by a boss (or we lead).

When we send our kids to school, we put our trust in the headteacher leader. If we use the NHS we rely on the team looking after us. The list goes on.

In my many years both as a Labour Party campaigner and in my professional NHS career, I’ve worked with a huge variety of

southbristolvoice

33

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The MP’s view Each month Bristol South Labour MP Karin Smyth gives her perspective leaders and bosses. Some I’ve liked personally, but found to be terrible leaders.

Some I’ve been less enthusiastic about on a personal level but have found to be great at securing the key asset any leader needs to succeed: respect.

And occasionally I’ve worked closely with some people who I’ve both liked and respected as great leaders.

Good leadership is about vision (setting it and remaining wholly focused on achieving it), ambition, purpose, and the ability to deliver. It involves making tough choices, being ready to be unpopular if necessary, sometimes changing your mind, compromising, and bringing people with you.

That’s always been my philosophy.

I think as long as the leader or boss ensures everyone is clear about their own role and responsibilities, as well as the overall aims of the organisation, then things work well. I’m clear that my job as MP is doing my very best for people across South Bristol. The new Labour leader’s job is to deliver the best electoral results for the party he and I represent.

When I’m asked my views about Jeremy Corbyn all the above is relevant. It’s well known that I didn’t vote for him in the selection process.

But he is now in charge and, as long as Labour wins power in Bristol, both in the council and the mayoral election next May, and the party rises up from its poor recent poll ratings over the next few years, winning in 2020 in those Parliamentary seats we lost to the Tories this year, Jeremy Corbyn will join the ranks of great bosses and leaders I’ve worked with. I look forward to helping make it happen.

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October, 2015

History

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35

Memories of former church MENTION in last month’s South Bristol Voice of the old Mission Hall in Marmaduke Street has brought back memories for a Windmill Hill resident.

Mrs Rita Davies was brought up in 5 Hill Avenue next door to the church – now proposed for redevelopment.

It is shown as the Mission Hall on a map of 1904. But Mrs Davies remembers it from her childhood in the 1940s and 50s as St Michael the Less – a hall attached to St Michael’s church in Windmill Hill.

She knows her brother was baptised there and believes she and all her siblings were too.

She also remembers nonreligious meetings in the church.

“Lots of people used to play cribbage there and they had afternoon teas,” she recalls.

“Lots of us children used to go in to do the washing up afterwards

Mothers’ meeting: A photo helpfully dated from 1953 of the Mothers’ Union at St Michael’s the Less and stack the chairs.” Mrs Davies lived in a three-bedroom house next to the church with seven brothers and sisters – plus her parents, her grandfather, and, for a while, an uncle.

“There was no bathroom, the toilet was outside and we had to wash in a tin bath,” she says.

She found the photo of the church’s Mothers’ Union taken on October 7, 1953. Her mother is second from right at the back.

A developer has now applied for planning permission (see page 29) to turn the church site into six houses.

The church opened in 1886.

According to the Churchcrawler website, it reached its final form in 1910. The west end was damaged by air raids in 1940 but the building reopened in 1942.

The church held its last service in February 1956 and it was sold in 1958. Since then it has been used for storing vehicles.

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October, 2015

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37

Nightmare race for Halloween

Greening of car park at city farm

RUNNERS looking for a challenging trail race, or simply a different way to burn a few calories this autumn, are invited to sign up for the Nightingale Nightmare off-road 10k race, which returns to Bristol on Sunday, November 1.

This Halloween-themed race is back for its third year, taking in the woodland of Leigh Woods and running under Clifton Suspension Bridge along the River Avon towpath. There’s free cake for all finishers, as well as a spook-tacular medal.

Southville Running Club is behind the event and the team has come up with spooky ways to keep runners on their toes, from haunted house marshal stations, to the grim reaper chasing the runners, and even eyeball-shaped cakes.

Race director James Prestidge

A NEW community garden is taking shape at Windmill HIll City Farm, where the car park has been dug up to be greened over.

A kiosk is being fitted out and will serve teas, cakes and ice-creams. The work is expected to take several more weeks to be finished.

All cut up: The runners take an axe to usual race wear says: “It’s a fun but challenging Halloween-themed 10k race for runners of all abilities. The race reflects Southville Running Club: serious about running but also serious about having fun!”

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What’s on

Tuesday September 29 Ghost Opera, Brewery Theatre. Bristol’s award-winning FellSwoop Theatre preview their production before its première at The Lowry, Salford. A mesmeric two-hander, Ghost Opera explores the haunted in a spoken and sung performance. Two strangers, both haunted by living ghosts: the 30-year-old woman and the 17 year-old boy. Until October 10. £7/£9.

• www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com Thursday, October 1 John Fairhurst, the Thunderbolt, 7.30pm–11:30pm. “Hailed by many as the best guitarist in Britain and nominated in The British Blues Awards 2013 for Best Original act.” £4/£5 • www.thethunderbolt.net Friday, October 2 Jerry Dammers (The Specials) DJ set + Clumsy, The Thunderbolt, Bath Road, 7.30pm–11.45pm. £7/£8 • www.thethunderbolt.net Saturday October 3 Annual apple pressing day at the Patchwork Community Gardening Group at North Street Green, Bedminster, 11am-3pm.

Bring along apples to make juice, listen to the music and celebrate all things appley (including cake). Apple press is available to hire to other groups. Details: bemmiepatchwork@gmail.com Salt Cellar Folk Club: Thornbridge Trio. Totterdown Baptist Church, Sydenham Road,

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Jumped up: Cian Kinsella and Cormac Mohally are leaping for laughs TIME to welcome the fame obsessed and socially impaired Lords of Strut as part of Circus City, Bristol’s new circus festival.

Ireland’s most emotional dancers are here to change the world with dance and share their “idiot proof” secret to life and happiness. An hour of belly laughs is promised. Circus City is a brand new festival for Bristol, mixing circus with dance, theatre, comedy and puppetry. www.bristolcircuscity.com 7.30pm. Barbara and Andy Rusbridge and Guy Hawthorn bring their differing voices together in a distinctive complex sound: old songs and originals performed with subtle harmony and gentle instrumentation. £5 • www.saltcellarfolk.org.uk Bristol Surf Film Festival, Paintworks. A celebration of surf film, surf culture and creativity in the South West. A day and night of international feature films,

award winning shorts and home grown productions.

• www.bristolsurffilmfestival.com Sunday October 4 Simon Munnery: And Nothing But Tobacco Factory Theatre. Multi award-winning comedian Simon Munnery with a new stand-up show. 8pm, £12.50 • www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com Monday October 5 Take It On: Calling All Comedians! Learn specialist

October, 2015

skills in comedy and the secrets to bringing laughter to an audience. Every first Monday of the month, 4.15pm - 5.45pm.

Cost £3 per session (limited places) For 10-13 years, Tobacco Factory studio.

• www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com Dignity and Light Poetry Exhibition, Paintworks, Bath Road. Until October 8, United Response, a national disability charity, and Bristol poet Rogan Wolf, hold an exhibition to launch two new collections of poetry which aim to shine a light on learning disability and mental health. Monday 2pm to 5.30pm, Tues–Thurs 10am to 5.30pm.

• www.paintworksbristol.co.uk Tuesday October 6 Film: Changing Face of Bristol Knowle Townswomen’s Guild, 2-4pm, Redcatch Community Centre, Redcatch Rd. • wwwfacebook.com/ knowletownswomensguild Every Brilliant Thing Tobacco Factory Theatre, until October 10. You’re six years old. Mum’s in hospital. Dad says she’s ‘done something stupid’. She finds it hard to be happy. So you start to make a list of everything that’s brilliant about the world. £13/£9 • www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com Friday, October 9 Booze forage walk at Arnos Vale cemetery. Revealing the drinkables at your fingertips in a unique evening “forage of discovery” with Andy Hamilton.

Food

... make a historic digestive spiced drink mulled wine. It can be served The Historical Dining chilled or warm but either way Rooms, a unique the spice infusion has to happen at room temperature first. restaurant in St Lukes Ingredients 1 bottle of good wine (such as Road,Totterdown, chardonnay or good red claret) revives recipes from 10g whole cinnamon 5g fresh ginger, peeled and thinly medieval times RECIPE OF THE MONTH THE Historical Dining Rooms is a new revelation in British dining, showcasing a range of seasonal tasting menus, serving fine dining dishes from our heritage in a modern way.

The main room is styled as a Regency dining hall and there’s also a private room inspired by a Tudor library with panelled walls and open fireplace. On the roof

terrace, we have a working historical herb and flower garden and two bee hives feeding the kitchen with fresh honey.

This recipe is for a digestive historical drink recipe, Hippocras, which was very popular during the Tudor era and it’s easy to make at home.

Hippocras is a medieval version of what we now called

sliced 0.5g crushed fresh nutmeg 6 cloves 100g caster sugar 3g grains of paradise (available from The Spicery in Bath) 2 fresh bay leaves 1g dried long pepper, crushed 1 small sprig fresh rosemary Method Place all of the ingredients in a non-metallic bowl or container, preferably with a lid, and leave to stand covered at room temperature for 24 hours.

Pass the ingredients through a Hippocrates sleeve (pudding cloth or muslin cloth is a fine substitute) and chill.

Once chilled, enjoy, or alternatively warm up to a drinkable temperate.

• Historical Dining Rooms, 75 St Lukes Road (above Star & Dove), Totterdown • Are you in the food business and want to have a recipe featured here? Email paul@ southbristolvoice.co.uk

To advertise, contact sales@southbristolvoice.co.uk or Paul on 07811 766072 or Emma or Hollie on 0117 908 2121.

October, 2015

E: paul@southbristolvoice.co.uk

What’s on

Over 18 only. Tickets £25 include tasting and a container to take home your own foraged brew.

• www.arnosvale.org.uk Saturday October 10 Bench mending, Victoria Park. Members of Victoria Park Action Group will be repairing and repainting a couple more benches in the park. Meet at Mrs Brown’s Café at 10am or join in on the path near the old wetland.

• www.vpag.org.uk The fascinating world of fungi at Windmill Hill City Farm, 10am to 4pm. Learn all about fungi – from identification to cultivation. Techniques to create mushroom spawn and other methods of cultivating to try at home. £45.

• www.windmillhillcityfarm. org.uk Sunday October 11 Chosen Wedding Fair, Paintworks, Bath Road. A wedding fair that celebrates local designer makers and vintage talent to help you make planning your big day.

11am-4.30pm. £2 entry.

• www.chosenwedding.com Monday October 12 Outpost Brewery Theatre.

Absurd comedy and grotesque puppetry combine to explore nationalism, leadership and the terrible consequences of using another man’s toilet.

Co-production with Bristol’s Green Ginger. Until October 24. £13/£9.

• www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com

southbristolvoice

Wednesday October 14 Falstaff by Verdi Tobacco Factory Theatre. Verdi’s greatest opera Falstaff explodes onto the stage in a co-production between Opera Project and Tobacco Factory Theatres. Until October 24. £27-£37 • www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com Saturday October 17 Animal husbandry in a day at Windmill Hill City Farm, from 10am to 4pm. Learn how to keep and care for sheep, goats, pigs, cows and chickens, with City Farm’s Tim Child. Cost: £45 • www.windmillhillcityfarm. org.uk Stone Cold Fiction: EP launch The Thunderbolt, Bath Road, 7.30pm–11.30pm.

Acclaimed as the Red Hot Chili Peppers combined with the The Black Keys. £4/£5.

• www.thethunderbolt.net Sunday October 18 Judy’s Vintage Fair, Paintworks, Bath Road. From menswear to womenswear, homewares to collectables and accessories to jewellery, from 1920s beading to 1990s grunge.

• www.judysvintagefair.co.uk Jazz on a Sunday Evening Mark Randall Sextet, Windmill Hill Community Association & Social Club, Vivian Street, 8pm10.30pm. Non-members £1.

• www.whca.org.uk Tuesday October 20 Yusuf Can’t Talk Somali mums with autistic children created this

www.southbristolvoice.co.uk

show to share their experiences.

Following previews at Acta Centre in Gladstone Street, Bedminster, last year, the show tours to Rotterdam and cities across the UK. Three preview performances until October 22.

• www.acta-bristol.com Thursday, October 22 Mark Morris (The Bluetones) + Mitch Sanders (Della Vega) + Jack Simmons, The Thunderbolt, 7.30pm–11.30pm. £8/£10.

• www.thethunderbolt.net Saturday October 24 Autumn trees at Arnos Vale, 11am. Enjoy the cemetery in autumn colour with an expert ecologist. Learn how to tell your holly from your holm oak.

Tickets £5.

• www.arnosvale.org.uk Sunday October 25 Rob Beckett: Mouth Of The South Tobacco Factory Theatre.

Rob Beckett’s back with a brandnew show of funnies and he’s taking on the big issues like Kit Kats and flatbread! £15.50.

• www.arnosvale.org.uk Tuesday October 27 Frightful Forest Funday at Arnos Vale, 11am, for children eight and over. Creepy crafts, cool critters and freaky fun in the Forest. Session is led by learning coordinator Janine Marriott. £20.

• www.arnosvale.org.uk Arthur’s Dream Boat with Long Nose Puppets, Brewery Theatre. A magical, playful children’s show with

39

breathtaking puppets. For ages 2–8. Until November 2. Shows 11am and 2pm, £7.

• www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com Wednesday October 28 Day of the Dead mask making at Arnos Vale, 10.30am.

Join artist Beth Towney for a mask making workshop. Age sixplus. Tickets £10.

• www.arnosvale.org.uk Thursday October 29 The Adaams Family and The Blair Witch Project Outdoor cinema screenings at Arnos Vale, 4.30pm and 7.30pm. Not a BYO event. Conditions apply: see website. Tickets £13.00, child 1215 £8.50, under 12s £6, family (2 adults and 2 children) £33.00.

• www.backyardcinema.org.uk • www.arnosvale.org.uk Vanity Bites Back Brewery Theatre. A bold, subversive clown-cookery show about searching for self-worth in a cheesecake. Join aspiring TV cookery host Jill – described as a cross between Alan Partridge and Margaret Thatcher. £12/£8.

Until November 2.

• www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com Saturday October 31 Clown workshop on Saturday and Sunday November 1 at Windmill Hill social club, Vivian Street, Bristol, BS3 4LW. 10.304.30 each day, £120 or £100 concs. Contact Tim on 01422 842851 for more info or to book. email: gibbotime@yahoo.co.uk.

• multiklune.co.uk

15 minutes to convince you

5x15: Clive Stafford-Smith, David Olusoga, Fahma Mohamed, Gavin Pretor-Pinney and Tim Dowling

FIVE eminent speakers come to the Tobacco Factory on October 5 in the Bristol debut of a new kind of live speech event.

The idea is simple: in 5x15, five speakers get a strict 15 minutes each to talk.

The first event features Bristol’s own Fahma Mohamed, who helped win national attention to the plight of young women facing genital mutilation, or FGM. Lawyer Clive Stafford Smith talks on mental health and crime; Cloud Appreciation Society founder Gavin Pretor-Pinney considers clouds; historian David Olusoga details the British role in the slave trade; and Guardian journalist Tim Dowling wonders how to be a husband.

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

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T: 07811 766072

www.southbristolvoice.co.uk

October, 2015

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