During the 1930’s militant anti-fascist responses to Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts were established amongst the Bristolian working-class. Discouraged by their defeats in the inner-city districts of Bristol, the British Union of Fascists (BUF) turned their attention to south Bristol, Bedminster and the new garden suburbs springing up on the outskirts of the city. This illustrated talk traces the migration of pre WWII physical resistance to fascism in Bristol from the smoky and overcrowded slums to […]
Not A BRHG Event
The Bristol Anarchist Bookfair Collective (BABC) has been reformed after a hiatus of several years. They return with this mini-Bookfair event at The Exchange, 72-73 Old Market Street, Bristol BS2 0EJ, from 10.30 to 3.30pm...and are promising a mega-Bookfair in 2025. BRHG's book stall will be out and about at The Exchange - so come by and say hello! From the FB Event, the Collective state: Inspired by Active Distro's Radical Bookfairs we're hosting an event at Exchange this winter. A chance to […]
Bristol History Podcast is dedicated to exploring various aspects of Bristol’s history. Produced in partnership with the Bristol Cable since April 2018. Episodes include Tom Brothwell’s interviews and conversations with Bristol Radical History Group members and many others.
To mark the centenary of the 1926 General Strike and miners’ lockout, BRHG members are involved in a project to commemorate the strike in Bristol and the surrounding area. The outcome of this will either be a number of pamphlets on general strike themes or a book containing a number of essays. The aim is for the publications to be launched in April or early May 2026 and that the launch will coincide with a commemorative event. The centenary of the start of the strike will be on May 4th 2026. The […]
During the 1930’s militant antifascist responses to Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts were established amongst the Bristolian working-class. Discouraged by their defeats in the inner-city districts of Bristol, the British Union of Fascists (BUF) turned their attention to south Bristol, Bedminster and the new garden suburbs springing up on the outskirts of the city. This illustrated talk traces the migration of pre WWII physical resistance to fascism in Bristol from the smoky and overcrowded slums to […]
In the 1930s, the Bristol Baths Committee announced its aspiration “Every Bristolian a swimmer”, setting a target that every home should have a swimming facility within a mile. City of Swimmers is a verrucas-and-all history of swimming in Bristol, from the eighteenth-century Rennison’s Baths in Montpelier to the beautiful historic Jacob’s Wells and Bristol South baths, and the mostly overlooked pools in more recent leisure centres. Readers may have memories of a world of award patches, metal […]
Meet: 2.00pm Dark Horse pub (formerly the Rope Walk) – 5 Nelson Parade, Bedminster, Bristol BS3 4JA Come with us on a journey through time and space in Bedminster, Victoria Park and Windmill Hill… This two hour history walk uncovers the radical political groups and individuals active in Bedminster in the pre-WWI and post-war periods, the strikes and trade union actions of the growing labour movement and how these networks of activists combined to resist the war. We also look at the changing […]
To celebrate Mayday and three new Bristol Radical History Group publications focusing on the vibrant labour history of Bristol we are bringing the authors together at Tony Benn House for an early evening event. Deference and Dissent: Labour relations in a family firm by Mike Richardson is a study of the printing and publishing company J. W. Arrowsmith Ltd from 1855 to 1927, providing a window into the working lives of compositors, letterpress machinists, and bookbinders and their relationships […]
This multimedia display allows visitors to hear the voices of current and former staff and volunteers of groundbreaking feminist mental health service, the Bristol Crisis Service for Women. Now known as Self Injury Support, this pioneering group was started in the back of a charity shop in Easton as a feminist collective in 1986. Its goals were to listen to, support, and amplify the voices of women using self injury to cope with their experience of trauma. In 2022, as part of an oral history […]
Squatting is central to Bristol's history. For the last 50 years Stokes Croft and the neigbourhoods that surround it have been one of the city's most squatted areas. This short walking tour includes a selection of buildings squatted in and around Stokes Croft and St Pauls in the 1970s, 1980s, 2000s and 2010s. The buildings were used by a variety of people and groups for housing, political organising, art, music and as social centres. Join us to look back at what Bristol owes to squatting, […]
