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Series of talks to explore hidden histories of Bedminster and Southville
The hidden histories of neighbourhoods across Bristol are being celebrated in a series of events this autumn.
The first talks and films will focus on Bedminster and Southville, looking at themes including the experiences of those who worked in the tobacco factories, squatting after the Second World War and the Bedminster workhouse.
Bristol Radical History Group (BRHG) are behind the events, with those giving the talks including Green Party councillors Tony Dyer and Christine Townsend, and historian and author Eugene Byrne.
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Bedminster’s hidden history is being uncovered in the series of talks – photo: Martin Booth
These are the events taking place:
- Sep 15, 6.30pm, Tobacco Factory, Bedminster’s Tobacco Women by Helen Thomas
- Sep 20, 2pm, Bedminster Library Bedminster Workhouse by Rosemary L Caldicott
- Sep 22, 6.30pm, Tobacco Factory: Stolen Paradise: the post-war squatting movement in Bristol by Eugene Byrne
- Sep 27, 2pm, Bedminster Library: Taking a Holiday – a film about war resistance in Bedminster during World War One with Otherstory
- Oct 4, 2pm. Bedminster Library: Mining in Bedminster and the Dean Lane pit disaster by Tony Dyer
- Oct 6, 6.30pm, Southville Centre: Girls, Wives, Factory Lives by Anna Pollert
- Oct 11, 2pm, Bedminster Library: The Gas Girls – a hidden history of World War One by Christine Townsend
- Oct 13, 6.30pm, Tobacco Factory: Nicotiana Brittanica by Roger Ball & Will Simpson
Remnants of Bedminster’s industrial heritage still remain – photo: Martin Booth
In October and November, the focus will be on Knowle West, uncovering the late-19th century socialist and green influences on the garden suburbs of Filwood, as well as the mass and militant resistance to fascism in the 1930s.
“This is not just about us blabbing on,” write BRHG on their website.
“As we have discovered over the last 16 years, we carry stories through our families about these historical events whether the experiences of moving onto the brand new council estates, working in the tobacco factories or kicking the Blackshirts out.
“So if you have stories, artefacts, letters or dairies please bring them to the talks as they are the stuff history is made of in Bristol.”
For more information, visit www.brh.org.uk/site/event-series/south-bristol-history-festival-september-november-2022
Main photo: Martin Booth
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