In August 1917 a meeting of Forest of Dean Miners passed motions against the conscription of miners and in favour of an immediate negotiated peace to end the war. This talk will discuss the role agitators and conscientious objectors played in this process and what happened next. Ian Wright recently authored Ring Out the Thousand Wars of Old: The Forest of Dean World War One Conscientious Objectors.
As part of her collection of historically-based narratives which provoke questions about society today, Heather Jane will present a story set in her homeland of Gloucestershire. 'The Dispossessed' is a tale weaving poaching, 18th century criminality, and dispossession of people from the land in Berkeley and the Forest of Dean; followed by historical facts and discussion pondering the modern-day fall out of enclosures.
In two short reflective talks, Sheila Rowbotham and Hilary Wainwright will contribute personal memories of links between events, movements and ideas which surfaced in 1968 and the emergence of the women’s liberation movement of the early 1970s. They will describe how these helped to shape their approaches to politics. These will be followed by contributions and discussion from the audience. In 1969, Sheila Rowbotham’s influential pamphlet Women's Liberation and the New Politics, argued that […]
On this history walk we will discover how Bristolians were fed during the early modern era (17th-19th Centuries). Hear how a rapidly expanding urban area, without the ability to feed itself, was kept supplied. How Bristol in turn helped supply the rural hinterland and its relationship with Wales and the wider world. How the market system worked, and how it was regulated, at times by the civic authorities, or by the “moral economy” and the crowd. What happened when the chain broke, and how did […]
Centred around the Shot at Dawn Memorial the talk looks at how war commemoration is viewed and how an artist's approach may differ from that of a commissioning body. It also looks at how war commemoration has changed, who is included and who is left out.
Otherstory presents – A puppet drama documentary about men on the run from conscription during World War 1. Using table top puppetry, photographs and posters from the period, the experience of men on the run is chronicled – including the extraordinary story of a secret chamber beneath a bike shop in Bedminster – and showing the wide network of support that enabled some men to reach the USA. This will be followed by a discussion/workshop looking at the historical material used in the show with a […]
What is the connection between the Bristol Sharples family of artists, the American Revolution of the 1780s and the Royal West of England Academy of Art? Join Lee Cox and Hazel Gower, director and writer of a TV film about Ellen and Rolinda Sharples, in exploring the places where they lived and worked at the beginning of the 19th century. Rolinda became the only female member of the Bristol School of Narrative Artists, whilst the Sharples family little known legacy led to the establishment of […]
Poet and letterpress artist Dennis Gould began the early 1960s in Stafford Prison. Serving with the Royal Engineers during the 1950s, he later took up the cause of the Committee of 100, the direct-action wing of the anti-nuclear movement, carrying out acts of non-violent civil disobedience for which he was detained at her Majesty’s pleasure. In 1965 Dennis helped to organise an anarchist fringe festival of poetry at the Octagon in Bath. He continued to campaign and work with Peace News and then […]
In the winter of 1968 Bristol students occupied Senate House for 10 days. Their demands included greater representation for student reps on University bodies and 'reciprocal membership' for all students in the city which would allow access, even for lowly polytechnic students, to the wonderful facilities of the newly opened University Students Union Building. Two participants in the sit-in, Sue Tate and Kevin Whitston, will start this session with brief presentations before opening it out to […]
We are very pleased to be hosting an exhibition of political posters from the 1968 movements created our friends at the Interference Archive in New York. From the Atelier Populaire (print collectives) of France’s insurgent 1968 to the radical posters of the Prague Spring and the university occupations in the United States and Mexico City. This exhibition is an an entry point into the cultural production of the global '68 moment and its continued influence on politics, art, and design today.
