Meadows to Meaders

from The Mead BS10 Issue 69 July / August 2022

Celebra�ng Sanctuary in Southmead pics

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Were you in the audience for Meadows to Meaders 3: Love on the Mead, or did you hear the BBC Radio Bristol series Southmead Cares? If not where have you been?!

Meadows to Meaders 3 was a live performance at the Greenway Centre on the 14th May 2022. It had been all set to go ahead in 2020 but due to the pandemic, like so much of life, it had to be postponed. The whole cast then, like many other groups, resorted to zoom rehearsals. This was both hilarious and soul destroying, trying week a�er week to learn lines for a performance for who knew when.

One of the good things that came out of the zoom sessions was that our Assistant Director Carlota Matos had the brilliant idea to create a radio play Meadows to Meaders 4: Southmead Cares. Like the stage play, this emerged from the true stories of residents in our really caring community.

This idea for a radio play was great, but reality dawned, how would we then broadcast it?

We approached Radio Bristol who were willing to provide the exper�se needed. This then turned into a series of four episodes rather than just a single play. The first episode features life before the NHS when medical care had to be paid for. Need an ambulance? Need a midwife? Need to see a doctor? All these had to be paid for before 1947!

You can hear all four episodes by going to website www.locallearning.org.uk, they include chats with cast members as well as the actual performance.

When we eventually performed Meadows to Meaders 3 in May at the Greenway Centre, the feedback from the audience was really posi�ve, here are a few responses:

“It made me laugh. A real feel good show. Let’s have more!!”

“What a brilliant experience! A lovely mixture of local history and community theatre that not only had residents as the cast but also welcomed the community into the performance. It was also a great laugh!”

“I loved seeing how the cast have developed as performers. This show felt slick, professional and relaxed. The stories were really upli�ing and the vibe of the event was friendly and welcoming”.

We’re always on the lookout for true Southmead stories from any era so please get in touch to share yours. Drop your details in at the Greenway Centre so we can contact you, or email us: ruth@locallearning.org.uk.

You can of course become part of the cast and the Meadows to Meaders family for the future.