This meeting brings together local historians, and writer and director Ingrid Jones of the Bedminster based acta Community Theatre. We will discuss the process from the seed of an idea, to research, devising, scripting, rehearsal and performance. We will also consider the difficulties of doing 'history from below', researching periods beyond living memory, where to find the voices of people and how to create a script and theatre piece from this. This will be an open discussion with plenty of […]
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 […]
Anatomy of a campaign At the beginning of this century, residents of Hartcliffe and Withywood in Bristol were shocked to hear that the city council planned to close two of their local primary schools. Children, parents and teachers, including Mike Richardson, the author of this pamphlet, mobilised to oppose these closures. The ensuing campaign organised public meetings, wrote petitions and held demonstrations in the city centre, as well as adopting some less orthodox direct action in their […]
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 […]
In collaboration with performers, writers and historians from south of the river, Bristol Radical History Group (BRHG) are putting on a series of events over the autumn of 2024 uncovering hidden histories of south Bristol. The Bedminster-Southville history festival in October features history talks, panels and a walk. We explore the underground history of Dean Lane Skate Park, Somerset miners, women prisoners transported to Australia and explore the radical face of Bedminster before and after […]
‘The enemies of the working-class will arrive in yachts and limousines, not in small boats’ [banner seen in Bristol on Wednesday 7 August 2024] ‘If ever I lie dying on a Nazi street, there’ll be ten dead fascists at my feet’ [anti-fascist trad.] Introduction After a week or so of protests and riots by right wing nationalists and racists in early August, largely orchestrated on social media by far-right propaganda, lies and distortions, we are now faced by a police and government narrative […]
Introduction The so-called ‘race riots’[1] which broke out between January and August 1919 in seven ports[2], were some of the most serious and sustained instances of public disorder in twentieth century Britain. During these riots, white working – class crowds targeted black seamen, their families and black-owned businesses and property in these ports. Other black people, including military personnel and skilled workers also came under attack from white crowds. The 1919 ‘race’ riots came to […]
Strike: An Uncivil War tells the story of the Battle of Orgreave, the most violent confrontation between miners and police during the 1984/85 Miners’ Strike in Great Britain. The year long Miners’ Strike was the most divisive and violent industrial dispute that Britain has ever witnessed, and using powerful personal testimony, previously hidden government documents and a treasure trove of never before seen archive material, Strike: An Uncivil War follows the events at Orgreave, which took place […]
Not A BRHG Event
Rosemary Caldicott will be giving a short introductory talk on Zoom about her new book "Voyage of Despair" on Friday July 19th at 14:30 to Black History Conversations link here 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, […]
What could be more up the Bristol Radical History Group’s street than to time-travel through radical history with Acts of Resistance? We’re therefore overjoyed to dress up and get down to this new Avant-Folk Punk-Opera. Acts of Resistance features a redoubtable trio made up of Steve Lake (self-described “chief show off” with legendary anarcho-punk band Zounds, first appearing on Crass Records and nexus for all kinds of musical troublemakers), Bristolian Emo-folkster Aether Valentine, and Carl […]
