Mike Baker, Plaque Maker – Living Easton Legend Erstwhile friend, collaborator and BRHG colleague Mark Steeds, presents a snapshot of the legacy of Easton legend Mike Baker, who sadly died in 2020 aged just 58. A doyen of the Living Easton History Group, among many others, his talent seemed to know no bounds. Rebel archeologist, Baker researched topics to the nth degree and then drew and sculpted them into veritable works of art. From his makeshift studio in the former Great Western Cotton Works […]
The brutality of the slave trade. In 1693, Captain Thomas Phillips embarked on a voyage from London to Guinea, where he purchased enslaved Africans on behalf of the Royal African Company. The subsequent journey across the Atlantic witnessed a tragic toll, with hundreds of the enslaved captives, and many of the crew, losing their lives before the ship reached the shores of Barbados. Fast forward to 2010, three centuries later, in 2010, Brecon Town Council made a startling and controversial […]
Not A BRHG Event
The Bristol #WithMyanmar group presents a fundraising evening of film and discussion to mark the 3rd anniversary of the Military Coup in Myanmar on 1st February 2021. Proceeds from the event will go to groups in Myanmar providing medical support and support for internally displaced people. See Cube Cinema and Headfirst for more info and tickets - please pay a minimum of £5 to support this fundraiser. Thanks. The event programme is: Doors at 7pm - a chance to buy Myanmar street food and raise […]
On a wet and windy night on the 4th January 2024, upto 200 people attended the first Bristol Allotmenteers Resist! public campaign meeting, at St Werburgh's community centre. By 7.05pm it was standing room only. By 7.20pm I was up at the front, with old pal Mike Feingold, the respected local food grower and permaculture teacher. We had 10 minutes max between us, and Mike was going to talk on his 30yrs of allotment experience in Bristol. We'd agreed that I would, quite literally, do '1000 years […]
Not A BRHG Event
Time for some seasonal solidarity! A fundraiser for Bristol's Kill The Bill prisoners, hosted by the Justice for Bristol Protesters campaign, with all proceeds going to the Bristol ABC prisoner support fund (online donations here). Featuring two live bands, dj, prisoners art & poems, films, and live art from the Bristol Mural Collective. Info, tickets, and band videos from Headfirst here. Or rock up and pay (cash if possible) on the door! Strange Brew is a multi-room DIY art space / music […]
An activist in every sense and now well into his eighties, Tony Wilson continues to campaign, volunteer and cycle. From the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in Hong Kong and later working on weapons’ contracts to setting up Electronics for Peace and building an ethical recruitment agency, Tony’s career has not followed a conventional path! Tony was interviewed by Trish Mensah for the Activist Memories series, supported by Bristol Older People’s Forum. The Activist Memories series […]
Not A BRHG Event
It's the time of year to subvert your friends and families with a range of radical gifts at the next Bristol Radical Bookfair on Sunday 26th November, 11-3.30pm. Hosted again by Active Distro at the Exchange, 72 - 73 Old Market, Bristol, BS2 0EJ, it is of course a FREE event, cunningly timed to fit between the commercial scams that are Black Friday & Cyber Monday! BRHG should have a full book stall, alongside a dozen or more others in the main hall; and down in the basement at 12.30pm, […]
In November 2014 the Bishop of Bristol, preaching to school students, claimed that ‘speculation’ about the ‘business roots’ of the city’s philanthropic icon, Edward Colston, was merely ‘speculation’. These incendiary words inspired complaints, protests and new historical research into Colston’s slave-trading activities and his role as a ‘City Father.’ They also led to the formation of the campaign group Countering Colston which challenged both the physical commemoration and […]
Not A BRHG Event
Rosemary Caldicott and Mark Steeds will be speaking at the Colonialism and Memory in Bristol. Join us for a public workshop on colonialism and memory in Bristol. Moving between the museum, the city, and space for discussion and reflection, we’ll be asking what decolonisation means, what it might look like in practice, as well as the challenges facing these efforts. Join us at the M Shed in Bristol on 1st July, The workshop is free and refreshments and lunch will be provided, but space is limited […]
From local councillor to welfare benefits adviser, radio presenter and campaigner for the rights of older people, Judith is a dynamo who doesn’t stop, despite being in her eighties. Judith was interviewed by Trish Mensah for the Activist Memories series, supported by Bristol Older People’s Forum. The Activist Memories series captures, through oral history interviews, the life experience of those who have fought for a better world.
