Canford Park - Cafe at Last?

Word from the tennis courts is that coffee is now served at Canford Park - the first time such a radical development has taken place in the fifteen years I have been visiting Westbury's green space.

A temporary cafe has appeared in the building next to the tennis courts, serving hot and cold drinks and snacks and it is understood that negotiations are on-going to open the eatery on a permanent basis.

November may not appear the most obvious time to launch an open-air cafe, but I understand that the drinks are proving popular with parents forced to endure the cold while their children run amok on the playground equipment, or occasionally play tennis.

Opening hours are 11.00 am - 4.00 pm on weekends and "when dry and sunny" on weekdays.

Watch this space for further developments.

Artist's impression of cafe fare at Canford Park courtesy of bjearwicke.

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Here Comes the Sun

Today is the first day of the year when I have felt hot, as opposed to pleasantly warm.

Not surprising, since today's temperature in Bristol reached 25C, (77 in old/American money) - higher than Athens, Rome or Tunis.

With the Westbury Farmers Market tomorrow, the Stokes Croft Free Festival (or whatever it's called) and the prospect of a day on the beach, the weekend appears to be shaping up quite nicely. Dare say I may even get round to reducing the height of the waist-high weeds that pass for grass in the garden.

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Bristol's Got Talons

Westbury Park resident and local solicitor Stuart Urquhart has suffered head injuries after being attacked by a falcon while jogging on holiday in Cornwall.

The bird swooped on the 36-year old while he was on a morning run near the Helford River in south Cornwall and drew blood, resulting in him needing treatment at the local hospital in Falmouth.

Mr Urquhart, who works as a commercial lawyer for TLT Solicitors based in Redcliff Street in Bristol, is quoted by the BBC as saying that "I have brown hair and I wasn't sure if the buzzard had mistaken me for a big, slow rabbit."


source

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Ten Things to do on a Sunny Day in Bristol

You'll have to read my latest post on Guide2Bristol in order to find out what they are. Prepare for a few surprises....

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Bring on the New

I am beside myself with anticipation.

For several years now, I have been looking forward to the fulfillment of the promise boldly proclaimed on the side of the former ABC cinema on Whiteladies Road that the art deco building will become the site of "a new concept in entertainment."

This is marvellous news and my mind has been working overtime to imagine this totally new concept in food, music and entertainment hinted at by the enigmatic owners under the working title of "Vanity". Trampolining to Afro Pop while eating spaghetti bolognaise,would certainly go some way to creating such a new concept, though I'm sure the final outcome will l be more creative . Cossack dancing and frozen yogurts, perhaps.

Whatever the final concept, which, like Cabot Circus, has been about ten years in the making, I have no doubt that the fabulous building will burst forth with originality and new paradigms in amusement for the masses.

Which is why I was more than a little puzzled to discover that the licencing application for the former cinema that went before the City Council planning department in December included proposals for eating, drinking, live music, recorded (DJ) music and dancing and for opening hours to run till four a.m.

I am convinced - because the banner I see every day announces "a new concept" - that the owners have not the slightest intention of turning the building into a nightclub and am sure that the nightclub-like application is all just part of the clever PR to rev up anticipation ahead of the final unveiling of the un-nightclub-like cutting edge entertainment concept .

My view was confirmed when I subsequently learned that the application was withdrawn altogether in February. How exciting! Perhaps we will after all be treated to retro arcade games and live Gaelic folk music while being served Sushi by midgets on roller skates. Marvellous.

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What's Happened to the Downs?

Driving a guest to an appointment at Bristol University last Sunday morning, I couldn't help noticing the terrible state of the Downs near the water tower following the previous night's firework show which took place despite the appalling weather.

The combination of thousands of people, heavy rain and numerous lorries, fairground rides and other heavy vehicles has left the Downs looking like a dirt bike track rather than a green field.

I don't know the answers but I do have some questions:

1. Who made the decision to proceed with the event despite the heavy rain? I have personally attended on previous years when the event has been put back 24 hours. Why was this not done last Saturday?

2. What are the financial arrangements, if any, between the organisers and Bristol City Council?

3. How long will it take before the Downs will be usable again by the general public and, if necessary, who will pay for any repairs that may be needed?

Just asking.

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Looe Island

Continuing the occasional series on places to visit not that far from Bristol, we move down the south west peninsula to Looe Island.

Also known as St George's Island, Looe Island, readers won't be surprised to discover, lies one mile south of the Cornish town of Looe.

The island measures one mile in circumference and 22 acres in area and was inhabited until 2004. Unusually for an island of this size, Looe Island is partly wooded. The views back towards the Devon and Cornwall coast are, apparently, spectacular.

Looe Island was bought in 1965 by two sisters, Babs and Evelyn Atkins who moved there in fulfillment of a life-long dream. Their contact with the mainland was via a local boatman who visited several times a week as weather and tide permitted. In the era before mobile phones, the only other form of communication was via flags and hand signals.

With Evelyn's death in 1997 and her sister's in 2004, St George Island passed to the care of the Cornwall Wildlife Trust. The island has long been a haven for sea and woodland birds and can be visited in the Summer via the town.

The island has no roads, no shops and no traffic. It does posses two beaches, numerous rock pools, woods, caves and good fishing spots. A few stones remain from an early medieval benedictine chapel, linked by legend to Joseph of Arimethea (is there anywhere he didn't visit?)

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Return of the Hacky Sack

While wandering through Cotham Gardens at lunchtime, I was pleasantly surprised to stumble upon a huddle of well-scrubbed-but-trying-to-look-grungy youths engaged in a more profitable pastime than spraying "9-11 inside job" onto phone boxes or garden walls.

The assembly were practicing the ancient Californian art of Hacky Sack - keeping a small leather bean bag in the air by using one's feet, legs, chest and head.

Introduced to the art while studying for a year at the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1984, I like to feel that I made a modest contribution to the introduction of Hacky Sack to these isles back in the days before CDs.

Having not seen it practiced for several years, I was heartened to discover that the game may be on the brink of a resurrgence, with Bristol youth at the cusp of this cultural wave.

For the record, when us old foggies used to play hacky sack (a game, incidentally, created originally in Oregon to assist with the rehabilitation of a knee surgery patient) there were four golden rules:

1. Don't use your hands or arms
2. Don't step on the bag
3. Don't serve to yourself
4. Don't say sorry

Transgressing any of these rules would permit other members of the group to throw the sack at the offender at high speed, unless the guilty party could grab the bag first and fling it to the ground in an act of contrition.

I saw no such rituals in evidence at lunchtime.








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Bristol Balloon Bales in Back Garden

Was slightly bemused, while standing at the bus stop on the corner of Falcondale Road and Henbury Road this morning (the one just slightly up from the new Texaco/Somerfield) to see a low-flying hot air balloon cruise gracefully over Canford Park, Henbury Golf Course and the back gradens of properties on Southdown Road.

Nothing unusual about that, Bristol being a European centre of hot air ballooning and Westbury on Trym being on the flight path from Ashton Court.

I had not, however, previously seen a bolloon come down in theat exact spot before - just behind the row of houses on the bend of Henbury Road.





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No breaking glass heard, so presumably the golf course or Blasie Castle estate was the final landing spot.

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Carter's Steam Fair Extends Bristol Stay

Carter's Steam Fair - described by Jonathan Ross as "more like a film set than a travelling fair" - is extending its stay on Bristol's Durdham Down by an extra weekend, following a spectacular washout during its initial stint last weekend.

The Fair consists of vintage rides and attractions salvaged from the skip, so to speak.

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Cabot Circus Impressions

Driving up Newfoundland Road this evening, I was struck by the outside of the nearly-completed Cabot Circus.

I found myself wondering how many European cities would consider undertaking the equivalent (to quote the official PR) of "Bristols [sic] largest and most important city centre regeneration programme since the post World War 2 reconstruction" by bolting together a conglomeration of huge concrete blocks at distressingly random angles.

I hope the inside will be more visually pleasing than the exterior.

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Failure of Memorial Stadium May Not be the Best Thing for Local Residents

Local residents around the Memorial Stadium on Filton Avenue are said to be "delighted" by the news that the planned development of the ground has been delayed by the withdrawal of a main contractor.

Spokesman for the Residents Opposed to the Stadium Expansion (ROSE) pressure group, said: "We've said all along that it doesn't make financial sense to shell out millions on a new stadium that is in the wrong place. It seems we have now been proved right. It now seems more likely than ever before that this development will never get off the ground, something we have campaigned long and hard for."

The campaigners may want to pause before breaking open the bubbly and think about the consequences of the failure of the Stadium to redevelop.

I lived through a similar story in Brighton many years ago. Although work has now started on a brand new out-of-town stadium for Brighton and Hove Albion, their former ground (the Goldstone Ground on the Old Shoreham Road in Hove) has already been converted into a soulless retail park, housing such wonderful attractions as Toys R Us, DFS, Homebase and Carpet Right.

The fact is that if the memorial Ground is not redeveloped and the clubs which use it have to move elsewhere, the residents of Horfield will be facing much more difficult battles against infinitely more aggressive opponents that Bristol Rovers.

The lifestyle implications of having a retail park at the bottom of Filton Avenue, not to mention the damage this would do to the independent shops on Gloucester Road, seem to me far more damaging than a larger Memorial Stadium, which was of course there long before any of the present residents moved into the neighbourhood.

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Enjoying the Sunshine in Blaise

May is always my favourite month of the year and this time round it is as lovely as ever.

Enjoyed a lengthy walk from Westbury on Trym to Coombe Dingle and back over the weekend, across Henbury Golf Course and the lower section of Blaise Castle Estate.

One feature of this part of the estate is the near-total absence of dogs and their owners and youths on bikes who can, on a sunny Sunday, make the main tarmac path through Blaise Castle feel more like a motorway than a rural byway.

The alternative route starts at Falcondale Road, follows the Trym on the footpath near the allotments and then enters the golf course. Staying at the bottom end of the course, keep walking along the Trym until you come to a stile into a meadow. From there, you have several options, all of which take you through empty parts of the estate.

My favourite route takes you past some beautiful, hidden, stone houses. If you find them, I bet you'll say "Wow, I never knew these were here. I wonder who lives here."

Enjoy the sunshine.

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The Orpheus Experience

Given half a chance, I always prefer the Orpheus Cinema to any of the larger multiplexes.

Laying aside for a moment the romanticism of attending an older and smaller cinema, the simple fact is that it's a lot cheaper to view films at the Henleaze cinema than it is at one of its larger competitors.

Compare my visit on Saturday night, for instance, with the equivalent experience up the road at Vue Cribbs Causeway where I would have paid £27.70 compared with £18 at Orpheus to take my family of five. That's before buying the popcorn. On Mondays, single tickets at Orpheus are a mere £2.80.

The possibility of walking to the Orpheus is another attraction, though one which I must confess, I rarely take. Then there is the simple charm of turning up at the front desk, buying your ticket from one person, stepping one pace to the left to be relieved of your change by the person behind the sweet counter and then, also one step away, handing over your recently-purchased ticket to be torn in two by the usher as you step into the auditorium itself. I would bet that the Orpheus Cinema tickets hold a record for shortest distance traveled from point of sale to point of destruction - about six feet.

The cinema has what Prince Charles might call "a sense of proportion", nestled as it is above Waitrose on Northumbria Drive and containing only three smaller-than-average screens. It also has a reasonable selection of up to date films at affordable prices. In fact, I would describe it as the cinemagraphic equivalent of the Westbury farmers' market - local, seasonal and direct.

Boom, boom.

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St Michael's Mount - Island of Legend

Continuing an occasional series of places worth visiting not that far from Bristol, we turn today to St Michael's Mount.

First the facts:

St Michael's Mount is a small tidal island less than half a mile from the coast of Mount's Bay, near Marazion in Cornwall. Its distinctive C15 castle and chapel bear a similarity to its counterpart island of the same name off the coast of Normandy in Northern France.

Owned by the St Aubyn family, the island contains a small number of houses and access is managed by the National Trust. The island can be visited by boat or, at low tide on foot via a natural causeway.

Now the fun part - the folklore and legends. The island's Cornish language name means, "the grey rock in the wood" - a rather striking name for an offshore island. Local folklore relates that in an earlier era, the area was a forest and that the island and beyond were an integral part of the mainland. St Michael's was, according to this view, a granite mountain in the middle of a woodland. Remains of stumps of trees have been seen at very low tides off the coast, supporting this traditional view.

Less certain is the Cornish legend of Lyonesse, an ancient kingdom which sank to the depths of the sea following a cataclysmic event in the C6 or before. Some have seen St Michael's as part of this kingdom, possibly extending as far west as the Isles of Scilly. The Lyonesse legend appears in both Cornish and Celtic mythology and features strongly in the legends of King Arthur.

The postcard image is from the late 19th or early 20th century.




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Free eBooks for the Holidays

Fancy curling up with an old classic on your lap top, PDA or mobile?

I know, they'll never replace proper books, but, all said, ebooks do have their charms. Especially when they're free - in the sense of requiring no payment and having absolutely no strings attached whatsoever.

Open Access is a corner of the Internet which is doing very nicely, thank you, and which allows ordinary web surfers in Westbury on Trym, Baghdad or Buenos Aires to access masses of free software and - the point of this post - works of literature.

All of the following titles are free and legal - you are not robbing the (long-dead) author nor will your computer be taken over by nasty software from the Ukraine. Honest.

So, for the holidays, please allow Trym Tales the pleasure of recommending:

• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

• The Marvelous Land Of Oz by L. Frank Baum

• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

• Beowulf

• Ulysses by James Joyce

• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

• The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli

• The Iliad by Homer

• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

• The Art of War by Sun Tzu

In case none of the above titles appeal, why not visit Project Gutenberg and search their listings of over 20,000 free ebooks ready to download today.

Go on, try it. You know you want to.

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Tamed at the Tobacco Factory

The current production of Taming of the Shrew at the Tobacco Factory is a very fine piece of theatre, in my opinion.

Both the play and the venue were new to me and I enjoyed both very much.

The production company based at the Factory was formed out of the conviction that audiences wanted "to see Shakespeare professionally performed by large casts in an intimate space." With 18 actors taking part, and thus minimum doubling up, the production was true to its company's vision, producing a big impact in a small space.

The Shrew was performed in the round, the audience of about 250 sitting on four sides of the performance space. There was no stage, only a flat area in the middle, an arrangement I had not seen before but one which worked very well, due in part to the very intimate feel of the theatre.

Leo Wringer (pictured) was sensational as Petruchio, winning a spontaneous round of applause from the audience after one particularly powerful speech.

The matinée audience had an average age of about 65, which was something of a surprise to me as I expected more families to be present. Unlike me, they seemed very knowledgeable about the goings on but like me they appeared to enjoy the whole event - a performance, I might add, which started at 2.30 and finished at 5.40. Although the seats did come with cushions, the intermission was welcome.

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Bryher - Population 92

Continuing a mini-series of places worth visiting not that far from Bristol. If you haven't read the earlier more general post on the Isles of Scilly, you can do so here.

The smallest populated island on the Isles of Scilly, Bryher lies to the west of Tresco. The east side of the island, facing Tresco, is protected from the Atlantic storms and is therefore the milder side. The west cost, by contrast, receives the full force of the winter gales and contains the appropriately-named Hell Bay, where one of the sandy beaches is also located.

About half a square mile in area, Bryher (meaning "Place of Hills") has good views from Watch Hill and Samson Hill on the south of the island. Just off the southern tip is the uninhabited island of Samson. You can get a boat there from St Mary's - just look out for the signs by the quay or ask at the tourist office.

The Great Pool on Bryher is a site of special scientific interest - and the whole island itself has a rather wild feel. There is one hotel and a few guest houses plus a cottage or two for rent and a campsite. You won't need a map - just get off the boat and walk around!

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Get Your Hands on Some Cash for Westbury Neighbourhood Events

With Westbury on Trym's high level of community spirit and frequent neighbourhood events, local organisers may want to be aware of the The Bristol Community and Festival Fund.

The fund exists for Bristol–based community groups, organisations, companies and charities who are organising existing, or emerging cultural festivals & events from April 2008 to March 2009. Priority is given to events that "engage communities" and "enhance local image and identity".

Individual funds are awarded to a maximum of £2,000 per festival/event and the application deadline for 2008-09 is Friday 22nd February 2008.

Further guidelines and an application form can be found here.

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Time for the Scilly Season

Following the recent closing of a blog I did not have the time to keep writing, I will be incorporating some of its better content over here in Trym Tales. Here then is the first of an occasional series previously posted and now re-branded under the dynamic title of

Places I like that are not too far away from Bristol especially when you consider that some people go to Cuba for their holidays.

The Isles of Scilly are such a place. A beautiful collection of islands (5 inhabited) 28 miles off the western tip of Cornwall, the archipelago is rightly designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is famous for its beaches, clean seas, birds and wildlife, fauna and flora and lush climate - being the first piece of Britain to be hit by the warm current of the Gulf Stream.

For those whose consciences and bank balances allow them to fly, there are direct flights from Bristol and Exeter. There is of course a boat service, though a friend who took it said she felt sick the whole way and I must confess I'm not much of a mariner myself. My preferred way of getting to Scilly (as if I do it every weekend) is by train to Penzance, followed by helicopter from the town's heliport, close to the station. 20 minutes in a Chinook - it's a buzz!

Once there, you will have the time of your life - assuming breathtaking scenery, the absence of noise, golden beaches to yourself and boat trips to places of interest are your thing.

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