Bristol History Podcast

This week I met with Helen Meller, Professor Emerita of Urban History Nottingham University to discuss the life of Hilda Cashmore - the pioneering founder of Bristol’s Barton Hill Settlement – which she established in 1911. Helen describes Hilda Cashmore as a ‘quaker, feminist, educator and social worker’. We discussed her life in the city and some of her extraordinary achievements.

This week I met with Dr. Richard Stone, Senior Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of Bristol, to discuss his recent research on Bristol’s early involvement in the trade in enslaved people. It has conventionally been thought that Bristol merchants began trading in enslaved Africans from 1698. However new evidence uncovered by Dr Stone gives strong indications that some Bristol merchants were involved in the trade from as early as 1662.

Your Bristol Life is back for a second series of five podcasts shining a light on underrepresented aspects of Bristol's history. This BCfm series was made with the Bristol Cable, Bristol History Podcast and In The Dark. *** The Sound Of Saffron by Charlie West *** Women, non-binary and trans people occupy less than 5% of the music tech industry and UK festival headline slots are still dominated by male acts. In this episode, Charlie West, a Bristol-based musician and radio producer, discusses a number of recent reports that examine the scale of the gender discrepancy in the music tech and festival performance industries. We hear from other Bristol-based female and non-binary musicians and artists who discuss their experiences of working in the music industry and the felt impact of that discrepancy. So what’s the solution? Saffron, an organisation set up in 2015 with the aim of advancing gender equality in the sector by creating safe spaces for learning, community and progression, is one local organisation,

Your Bristol Life is back for a second series of five podcasts shining a light on underrepresented aspects of Bristol's history. This BCfm series was made with the Bristol Cable, Bristol History Podcast and In The Dark. *** A Bristol Boy's Disabled Life by Richard Prior *** Local lad Richard Prior is blessed with a wonderful family and two beautiful daughters who bring love and laughter to him every day. But he also suffers from hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy; a form of Muscular Dystrophy which restricts movement and causes constant pain. This episode examines how the family cope with the condition, as they suffer also due to the genetic nature of the condition. We hear about growing up with a visible disability and how it can impact on school life and more. Richard’s parents share how they felt trying to support him over the years and how they had to make difficult decisions. Richard is a very proud Bristolian, but how accessible is the city for a disabled person? A life full of ups and downs. Th

Your Bristol Life is back for a second series of five podcasts shining a light on underrepresented aspects of Bristol's history. This BCfm series was made with the Bristol Cable, Bristol History Podcast and In The Dark. *** A Short History Of Purple Penguin by Peter Hall *** You have all heard about the Bristol Sound, and the Bristol street art scene is well documented, but have you heard of the small record shop that was at the heart of it all? Peter Hall presents this short history of Purple Penguin. A tale of community, creativity and underground culture. This is a story about a distinct community that grew from a widely unknown establishment that was situated on Colston Street in the mid 90s. It was a hub for all things underground hip hop, funk, soul and beats, and was the only place in Bristol you could get hold of certain US imported music, video tapes of scratch DJs, graffiti magazines, clothes, spray cans etc. It soon became a mecca for anyone interested in hip hop culture, sample digging, beat maki

Your Bristol Life is back for a second series of five podcasts shining a light on underrepresented aspects of Bristol's history. This BCfm series was made with the Bristol Cable, Bristol History Podcast and In The Dark. *** Love Her by Mary Milton *** “You were in a pub environment, but it was also like being at a friend’s house,” says one musician who used to play at the Weekenders women’s acoustic night. Love Her is a homage to a women’s music night, Weekenders which was started by singer songwriter Lucy Ray and friends in the late 1990’s. It began at the Three Tuns pub in central Bristol. Several venues later it found its final home in the back room of Kearney’s Irish Bar, in the heart of St Werburghs. The event was conceived to encourage women to play. It became a safe, lesbian friendly space where women could test their ‘out’ lyrics to an audience of like-minded people. Love Her includes interviews with some of the women involved in running and performing at the night and archive recordings from the e

Your Bristol Life is back for a second series of five podcasts shining a light on underrepresented aspects of Bristol's history. This BCfm series was made with the Bristol Cable, Bristol History Podcast and In The Dark. *** L'Chaim, My Lovers by Tom Chachewitz *** Local artist and writer Tom Chachewitz presents a brief history of Jewish life in Bristol, as well as reflections from Jewish people living in Bristol today on their connections to an ancient culture that has been part of the City’s diverse society for nearly 1000 years. Join Tom as he visits the site of Bristol’s medieval Jewish neighbourhood, its synagogues and its Jewish graveyards and learn more about an often overlooked part of Bristol’s past and present. Credits: Researched, presented and produced by Tom Chachewitz Sounds and Music by Ninotchka, Motion Array, Eye For Music, Mayer Malik and Burgh Records Contributions from Nik Jovčić-Sas, Mahallah Honey, David Burke and Sade & Sid Additional research from Rife Magazine, Bristol Archives and Je

The Severn is the longest river in the UK and from its source in the Cambrian mountains in mid Wales, it flows down through Shropshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire before eventually reaching the Bristol Channel. I met with Nicola Haasz, who has dedicated herself to exploring, collating and informing about the many facets of the Severn - including of course Sabrina - her associated goddess. We discussed the origin myths of Sabrina and the different cultural responses that the River Severn has elicited throughout its history.

This week I spoke with journalist and author Eugene Byrne to discuss the mass squatting movement that took place in Britain in the aftermath of the Second World War. In the context of a chronic housing shortage across the country, Bristol in the summer of 1946 saw ex-military bases at Purdown and White City in Ashton occupied by hundreds of people (mostly young couples) who found a direct solution to the housing crisis.

Your Bristol Life is a new series of five podcasts shining a light on underrepresented aspects of Bristol's history. This BCfm series was made with the Bristol Cable, Bristol History Podcast and In The Dark. *** Bianchi's Food Group by Steven Mitchell *** During Covid and post-Brexit, food, hospitality and catering became acknowledged as an essential, infrastructural part of communities all over Great Britain. Food often brings diverse communities together. This audio piece is a brief “listen in” on the sounds of an uniquely Bristol restaurant group that values community and is an integral part of Bristol’s local food ecology: Bianchis. Their authenticity and innovation are part of what makes Bristol one of the most exciting cities to eat out. In this piece, we listen to a family that has become an integral thread in the multicultural fabric of a great city, by putting love into everything. From the intimate to the celebratory, even the perfect Napoli-level pizza. Delivered on a cycle? No problem! Italian m

Your Bristol Life is a new series of five podcasts shining a light on underrepresented aspects of Bristol's history. This BCfm series was made with the Bristol Cable, Bristol History Podcast and In The Dark. *** Old Market (REMIXED) by Tom Marshman *** Old Market (REMIXED), written and performed by Tom Marshman and recorded and edited by Bernie Hodges, uncovers the hidden histories of communities in Old Market, shining a light on the area from the 1990s to the present day. Tom finds memories of a lawless place, the proclaimed gay village, and the home of gentrification; an area that has undergone radical change since its day as Bristol’s ‘golden mile’. Woven together from the stories of people who experienced it first hand, this audio piece celebrates the raucous, riotous, tragic and the artisan. The show includes stories from 25A, Old Market Assembly, Bristol Bear Bar, Old Market Assembly, Fi Real, Rudies, Trinity, Jokoto Tailoring and Electric Ladyland. The piece also premiered as a live theatre show in N

Your Bristol Life is a new series of five podcasts shining a light on underrepresented aspects of Bristol's history. This BCfm series was made with the Bristol Cable, Bristol History Podcast and In The Dark. *** Henrietta Lacks by Daniel Edmund *** The life-size bronze statue of Henrietta Lacks that was erected at the University of Bristol in 2021 by Bristol-based artist Helen Wilson Roe is the first public statue of a Black woman made by a Black woman to be permanently installed in the UK. Henrietta Lacks was a young African-American mother who had an aggressive form of cervical cancer. During surgery, a sample of cells was taken from the tumour and sent to a laboratory where they were found to be the first living human cells ever to survive and multiply outside the human body. Henrietta’s cells were taken without her or her family's knowledge or consent, and it was only in 1975 that by chance the family found out about her legacy. These cells made possible some of the most important medical advances of all

Your Bristol Life is a new series of five podcasts shining a light on underrepresented aspects of Bristol's history. This BCfm series was made with the Bristol Cable, Bristol History Podcast and In The Dark. *** Skate or Cry by Jazlyn Pinckney *** In this audio documentary, five women taking space in Bristol’s skateboarding scene speak to Jazlyn Pinckney. Some have just picked up a board for the first time, others have been skating for decades, but all talk about the feeling skating gives them, the sense of community and the biggest battles they face breaking down barriers of the male skater stereotype. What does it feel like on the board? Why do they get back on when you fall off? And which corners of Bristol city are the smoothest, safest or down right gnarliest to skate? We hear the voice of Vivienne Mcginnis, Bella Warley, Jasmine Creusson, Isadora Vlachou and Casey Jane. Recorded in the field at Campus Skatepark and Trenchard Street Carpark, and with special mention to Maverick’s Warmley Skatepark, M32

Your Bristol Life is a new series of five podcasts shining a light on underrepresented aspects of Bristol’s history. This BCfm series was made with the Bristol Cable, Bristol History Podcast and In The Dark. *** The Bristolian Refugee by Sam Sayer *** What is it like to leave your country of origin and go to a strange, faraway land to find safety? How do you feel about your new city and what kind of welcome do you receive? How long does the label ‘refugee’ remain stamped on your identity? Do you choose to embrace it? When does Bristol really become home? In this audio documentary against the backdrop of Bristol as a City of Sanctuary, Sam Sayer explores these questions with refugees who have settled in Bristol over the past 50 years from Ukraine, Iran, Kenya, Chile and Uganda share their early experiences of Bristol life. The audio documentary begins with the newest of refugees, Diana and Jennie, who have recently arrived from Ukraine and are getting used to waking up to English voices. Adineh and Siavash f

This week I met with Professor Nick Groom, to discuss the life, work and reputation of the Bristolian poet Thomas Chatterton. Born in Redcliffe in 1752, Chatterton was a precocious talent. In just seventeen years of life he produced a great body of poems, plays, prose works and a collection of medieval writings that he attributed to a fictional 15th century monk named Thomas Rowley. We discussed the details of Chatterton's short life and the myths that surround his posthumous reputation.

This week I spoke with Brycchan Carey, Professor of English at Northumbria university to discuss the life and work of 18th century Bristolian poet and milkwoman, Ann Yearsley,

This week I met with ballooning pioneer Don Cameron. We discussed the birth of hot air ballooning in Britain, the fifty-year history of his company - Cameron Balloons, the remarkable rise of the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, and touched on some of the extraordinary feats of ballooning that Don has undertaken.

This week I spoke with Andrew Foyle from Outstories Bristol, a volunteer community history group with an objective to gather, preserve and communicate the stories of LGBTQ people in Bristol and the surrounding area. We discussed some of the stories of LGBT people throughout Bristol’s history from the 17th century to the present day.

This week I spoke with amateur historian Steven Carter to discuss his research on how profits from the slave trade were fed back into British industry. Focussing on Edward Protheroe - a feted coal industrialist in the Forest of Dean in the early 19th century - Steven has traced how a substantial amount of the Protheroe family wealth was derived first from the slave trade and later from the labour of enslaved people on sugar plantations. During our chat we discussed the surprising and sometimes obscure ways that profits from the transatlantic slave trade and slavery-reliant industries were channelled back into the British economy.

This week I met with Dr Michael Whitfield to discuss Bristol's dispensaries. For the two hundred years or so before the creation of the NHS in 1948, the dispensaries were one of the main providers of healthcare in Britain, especially for its poorest people. We discussed how the dispensaries operated, who paid for them and what they can tell us about modern day healthcare.