The heart of Hartcliffe

A recent performance of Southside Stories at the Tobacco Factory Theatres tackled issues of deprivation, low aspirations and hate crime in Hartcliffe and Withywood.

The fictional suburb of Southside featured in Liz Mytton’s play doesn’t exist, but the strength of community, capable of lifting the neighbourhood from the shadows of the past and breaking down barriers, is very much a reality.

And it is this community spirit that has won through to see the area beat off stiff national competition to win £240,000 from the National Lottery Community Fund, which will be used over the course of three years “to create positive change through place-based action”.

The funding poses a real opportunity for Hartcliffe and Withywood, areas that have all too often been left behind while much of the rest of Bristol flourishes, and is testament to the determination of the people who fought for it.

For Hayley Ward, who has lived here all her life and spends much of her time volunteering to help others, it’s nothing out of the ordinary.

Hayley Ward (pictured with Syvlia Mead) says people go out of their way to help each other

“You hear people from other areas say Hartcliffe’s got no money and things, but you don’t feel deprived when you see what goes on here and what people do for each other,” she says, busily making tea in the kitchen of her Macey’s Road home.

Hayley is often the first person new residents will meet as she always makes sure to welcome newcomers with a knock on the door, a friendly face and an offer to show them around.

“If you come to a new area, especially when you hear it’s Hartcliffe, it can be scary because we have got a bad reputation and I don’t think it’s deserved,” she explains.

“More people here will go out of their way to help you than they would in other areas. If there is something someone can do for you, they will do it.”

Currently undergoing the latest round of regeneration, with some 2,000 homes due to be built in the coming years, Hartcliffe has had more than its share of bad luck.

The closure of the Wills tobacco factory in 1990 dealt a devastating blow to many who relied on it for work, and riots that rocked the community in 1992 are still remembered across Bristol.

Symes Avenue, just a short walk from Hayley’s house, bore the brunt of the violence. Nowadays, the area is home to Morrisons and a small cluster of shops, a Greggs and betting shop. It is a buzz of activity on a recent Friday morning.

Hayley often brings her friend Sylvia Mead shopping here. Sylvia is confined to a wheelchair and says she would be unable to get out if it wasn’t for Hayley, adding that the simple acts of kindness means a great deal to her.

Opposite Morrisons, in the shadow of the imposing, permanently-closed council building, is the @Symes Building, home to the library and the Hartcliffe and Withywood Community Partnership Offices (HWCP).

Steff Probert says there’s a lot of passion for home-cooked food

Here, community development officer Steff Probert is busy planning the Hartcliffe Community Lunch, which he hopes will become a weekly get together in All Saints Church. “There is a lot of passion for food here and cooking in particular,” he says. “I want to tap into what is a good, strong culture.”

He hopes to see events like the community meal and summer food markets become a regular thing, saying: “I see my job as bringing down as many barriers as possible. If we all pull together, we don’t need money.”

Hartcliffe food festival could become a regular event

With reports of antisocial behaviour among young people on the rise once more, Steff – with the help of community volunteers – is channeling a lot of energy into tackling the situation. He has secured the use of Hareclive School in the evenings and holds football training sessions that are free and open to all young people in the area.

“It’s a sort of informal mentoring,” explains Steff, who is on the lookout for more volunteers and says there is an innate respect commandeered by the guys who grew up in Hartcliffe themselves.

“It’s not about creating great footballers, but about creating an environment that, for them, is not weird to have role models. People say the kids make all the wrong choices, but where I was coming from, they did not have a choice.” Steff hopes to expand the sessions with boxing, dance and more so young people can have somewhere to go every night of the week.

“Already I’m seeing there’s a difference,” he says, adding. “I think bad behaviour can be a cry for help.”

Blue O’Connor says he was one of the lucky ones

As someone who grew up in Withywood, Blue O’Connor knows how easy it can be to go down the wrong path. Now on the HWCP board, with a full-time job, side-line business and a young family, he says he was one of the lucky ones.

“I had a foster brother who lived on Fulford Road and when he moved in with my parents, he changed. That made me realise that you can raise people’s aspirations and help them achieve their goals,” says the 31-year-old.

“There are young people growing up and they are told they are not good at anything. Then they get older and they get lost. I think I was lucky in the sense that my negative behaviour was pushed in a more positive direction.”

Consistent cuts have taken their toll on any youth club provision that ever existed in the neighbourhood, which also mourns the loss of pubs and spaces to bring people together.

Sam Chilvers and Suzie Gibson want to establish a community support network for women

In a bid to revive community links and offer friendship and support, Sam Chilvers and Suzie Gibson are launching a pop-up community café initiative, aimed particularly at women and children. Suzie also runs Minnie’s, an informal meetup for girls in Years Six to Eight.

“It’s a big community and we want to offer choices,” says Suzie, adding that choice is not always something people feel they have, and being plagued with bad history doesn’t help attitudes to change.

“One of my hopes for Hartcliffe is that it will be recognised for being a really great place, because the community is strong here. It would be good for people to come here and see it for what it is, says Sam.

The Withywood is home to a number of services for the wider community

Over in the bustling Withywood Centre on Queen’s Road, the youth cafe has had to close due to funding cuts, but an initiative is running to encourage local students to consider university as an option. It’s important work in an area where just 8.6 per cent of young people go on to higher education, compared to 100 per cent in Clifton, according to a University of Bristol study.

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Read more: Tackling Bristol’s educational inequality crisis

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“For years they’ve been told that they can’t, but now we are trying to build up kids and say ‘yes you can’,” Tracey Philips, community development manager at the Withywood Centre, who also volunteers at the independently-run Carpenters Food Bank.

She adds that the food bank, which provides a life line for many, has been flat out since well before Christmas, yet is never short of donations from locals.

“We once ran really low and had to put a shout out on Facebook and within a few hours, we had £300 to go and buy supplies,” she tells Bristol24/7.

Tracey Philips says young people need to be encouraged to see higher education as an option

In the wake of the 2016 EU referendum, Bristol has been blighted by a rise in reported hate crime.

And Hartcliffe and Withywood – where 66.9 per cent voted to leave (in stark contrast to the Bristol West constituency that voted 79.7 per cent in favour of remaining) – have experienced a disproportionate spike.

Two women are the pioneering forces behind an organisation that refuses to let the community be marred by hate and works to promote cohesion and provide support and friendship for victims of racism.

Avril Marshall and Marilyn Thomas of Vision BME (black and minority ethnic) recently won a Voscur award in recognition of their work.

“We wanted to give people support and the opportunity to speak about what’s going on and give them space to just be with people who know what they are going through,” says Avril, who grew up in Knowle West, before moving to Hartcliffe 35 years ago.

“We want more people to come along to meetings, particularly people who are isolated and suffering from hate crime.”

Marilyn, who has lived in the area for 25 years, adds: “There is a migration of BME people from other areas like Easton and we want them to stay, and we want to support them.”

Avril’s parents both worked for Wills and she has been involved in community work and regeneration projects for years. “Hartcliffe and Withywood are such wonderful places. You hear reports in the media and rumours of what it’s like, but I’d never move to another part of the city, I love it here,” she says.

“The community campaigned for South Bristol Community Hospital for 50 years and, for me, that says something about the community and the resilience and the willingness to work together to make things happen.”

Marilyn Thomas and Avril Marshall have won a Voscur award for their work

The three-year Place Based Social Action programme is funded jointly via the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and The National Lottery Community Fund.

Reflecting on the positive difference it could make, Amy Kinnear, CEO of HWCP, says: “There’s lots of people doing great work in the community here. When it comes to volunteering with a community group, we’ve got one of the highest rates in the city.

“We are passionate about the strength of community and family, the opportunities that partnership working bring, and the need to value and invest in our young people.

“The lottery came for an assessment visit on a rainy December evening, and over 20 people came along to present all their ideas, including expanding sports clubs, training more people in community organising, running local markets, hair and beauty events and community supper clubs.

“The assessors said they were overwhelmed with the infectious enthusiasm in the room.”

Hartcliffe’s community pulls through against the odds

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