I thought you and other members of the Bristol Historical Association would be interested in this forthcoming event – two films that offer unique and detailed views of Bristol. I hope to see you there. Any help in promoting this is much appreciated.

What was Bristol like in 1964 and in 1985? A rare chance to see two films on the cinema screen. 26 October 2025 12.00-17.00

Before John Boorman went on to Hollywood fame he worked in BBC Bristol making documentaries and docudramas. In 1964, Boorman helped launch BBC 2 with a six-part series about Bristol. The Newcomers is a unique view of the city in the mid-1960s at a time of national and international social, cultural, political and economic change. It is centred around the lives of Alison Kennedy, who came to Bristol as a student, and Anthony Smith (ACH Smith), who came to work for the Bristol Post and then Western Daily Press.

They met by chance, married, and Bristol became their home and where they started their family. Many familiar faces from Bristol at the time feature, including playwright Tom Stoppard. The real star is the city of Bristol itself.

The series covers, among others, capital punishment, work and housing, docks labour, a dodgy pub, night life (where Stoppard dances the Hippy Hippy Shake at The Glen), NHS and the welfare state, homelessness, an evangelical church in St Paul’s, trying to make a living as an artist, crime and policing, what it means to live the good life in Bristol and cities generally. There’s fewer cars and a lot more smoking. There’s even a brief glimpse of Raghbir Singh, the first Sikh bus conductor to be employed by the Bristol Omnibus Company following the bus boycott in 1963.

Following the screening of the complete The Newcomers, we will show Money Into Light, where Boorman returns to Bristol 25 years on and revisits the places he worked in and filmed.

Book here: https://ti.to/film-noir-uk/johnboorman

In July we were delighted to welcome the Historical Society of Lower Saxony from Hannover. They spent a week in Bristol. The group also visited Bath, Wells and Glastonbury. Hannover has been Bristol’s twin city in Germany since 1947.

On 23rd July Rob did a talk at the University entitled ‘Bristol Gateway to the New World’ which included a discussion of the roots of Bristol’s prosperity and of course the links to the Slave Trade.

In the afternoon Rob led a three hour walking tour of the medieval city.

A very full day!

Last Thursday (3rd July) Mary Feerick did a talk to the Trinity Community Services Lunch Club entitled ‘Bristol Wives and Girls in the 1970s’

Over the past few years Mary and Rob have been out to talk to lunch clubs and local history groups including…

Trinity Lunch Club, The Corner Club, Bristol and Avon Family History Society, Knowle and Totterdown Local History Society, Bristol Foster Carers (Speedwell), Bristol Civic Society, Clifton Rotary Club and the Vintage and Classic Motorcycle Club.

More details of the talks we do are on our website. We do not charge for these events.

Wednesday 25th June 2025

60 Bristol sixth formers attended our pizza fuelled history quiz in the Reception Room of the Wills Memorial Building. A big thankyou to the history teachers who encouraged their students to take part. There were 15 teams from six schools. After eight rounds a team from St Mary Redcliffe came first.

Our last lecture was on 11th June.

The John Penny Bristol Blitz Diary is the last word on this subject. No other British city has such a detailed diary for the events of 1940-44. It is now available on our website.

Our penultimate lecture this year focused on Nikita Khrushchev the leader of the post-Stalinist Soviet Union.  The lecture began with a lively focus on the film The Death of Stalin (2017).  Stalin had left no instructions for what would happen after his death and after a power struggle Khrushchev emerged as the leader.  Daria covered the release of prisoners from the Gulag, his ‘secret speech,’ the reforms he introduced often referred to as The Thaw, the regional autonomy that emerged and the progress of the Cold War.  The extent of the Gulag was revealed not only by the numbers imprisoned but the massive network of camps.  The contradictions of the Secret Speech given to a party who knew only too well what they had been involved in were illustrated by how Khrushchev tackled the question of why he had not spoken out, when none of the others in the party congress had either.  Daria showed how this speech affected those in the Eastern Block.  She examined the economic reforms including the low cost housing ‘Khruschevski’, the import of food but also the failure of the Virgin Lands reforms.  The picture that emerged of Khrushchev was of two steps forward, one step back reformer.  A key insight was the emphasis on regional autonomy which in the long term would be a major factor in the fall of the USSR.  This regional autonomy would lead to 300,000 Ukrainians forming a human chain stretching 482 km (300 mi) from Kyiv to Lviv in 1990. The lecture linked the fall of USSR to the limits of Khrushchev’s reforms but also the key question of why the USSR fell but Communist China has survived.  It was followed by a very informed Q&A session which included a strong discussion of how the celebrations of the Great Patriotic War were not a feature of either the Stalin post-war era or Khrushchev’s unlike that of Brezhnev or Putin.  Our audience of 54 included 16 local sixth formers from 4 schools and nine guests who we hope will become members next year.

Designs4Change competition. 

Together Curiosity Un(Ltd) and Bauer Media Outdoor are looking to select 10 winners whose work will feature across a national network of digital screens for 6 weeks from August 14th until September 30th. Celebrating 60 years of the Race Relations Act 1965, millions will see the winners’ work at bus stops, shopping malls and train stations across the country. The ten winners will share in a prize with a media space valued at £100k+ as well as other prizes. 

If you know of any emerging or established artists who are 18+ who doodle, draw or design then we need your help to amplify this amazing opportunity across your networks in the following ways:

• Write a news feature or blog 
• Include a short story in your external or internal newsletter (copy can be found in the social toolkit)
• Connect with us if you have any other ideas

Words4Change

For aspiring wordsmiths, we’ve launched Words4Change. Inspired by the iconic I Have A Dream speech by Martin Luther King, this competition is looking for 3 poets to proudly celebrate equality, justice and inclusion.  Words4Change is powered by The Diverse Artist Network, Quartet and Curiosity Un(Ltd). To submit your poem goto www.CuriosityUnLtd.com. The competition closes at midnight September 12th. T&Cs apply. Goodluck! 

Finally, if you’re a corporate, civic or community changemaker we invite you to make a PLEDGE to join our audacious and historic bid to bring Martin Luther King III (son of MLK) to the UK. Celebrating the Race Relations Act 60 years to the day it became law, this major finale event will take place in November at the prestigious Wills Memorial Building in Bristol. We invite you to be part of this historic opportunity as a sponsor, funder, co-creator, amplifier or volunteer. PLEDGE and you’ll be joining a growing movement bidding to bring MLK III to the UK. For your inspiration you can check out what MLK III has to say about coming to the UK.

Last year the Bristol HA ran an A level student conference for one of the largest A level topics, Modern Russian History, with 200 students.  This time we went for one of the newest topics, African Kingdoms 1400-1800.  Working again with Bristol University and the support of the OCR’s History subject officer Richard Kerridge we got off to a flying start.  By November 2025 we had planned the afternoon conference for April 2025.  David Rawlings and Mary Feerick had recruited expert speakers including Professor Toby Green from London University and Professors Kate Spinner and Jose Lingna Nafafe from Bristol.  They aimed to lecture on the main topics of the OCR’s module; Benin, the Kongo and Dahomey. Richard Kerridge at OCR flagged up the event to sixth forms and interest was already firm before the Christmas holidays.  This enabled teachers negotiate the paperwork and logistical problems that often make visits difficult.

Bristol’s Education and History departments supported the event by supplying some of the speakers, enabling us to book a free lecture hall and providing free refreshments. David Rawlings of the Education department used the African Kingdoms Whatapp he had established.  The Bristol HA co-ordinated the external speakers, covered their expenses, dealt with applications and encouraged other teachers to use the conference for their own CPD.  Richard Kerridge came along to answer questions for OCR and the OUP sent Nicola Scarisbrick and Kate Buckley with samples of Key Stage 3 textbooks on African History. 

The support from schools and colleges was terrific.  Nine centres brought their students, 130 in all and the total attendance was 151. Most of the students were local since Bristol and the South West is one of the major areas this topic is studied. There were students from Chew Valley, Trinity Academy, St Brendan’s College, Montpelier High School, Winterstoke Hundred Academy and Saint Mary Redcliffe.  In addition, three schools, made long journeys; Belper School and Derby High School from Derbyshire and Trinity School from Croydon.  Thirteen more teachers without students came along as part of their own professional development.  The lectures were on contrasting topics. Toby Green, author of a Fist full of Shells, did a lecture on Benin and the Politics of Restitution.  Not only was it highly relevant to the teachers and students but he also gave them information of the newest digital resources available. Jose Linga Nafafe’s lecture shared his award winning research on Lourenço da Silva Mendonça, and the Black Atlantic Abolitionist Movement in the 17th century. This challenged the traditional British narrative that it was Clarkson and Wilberforce who led the way in the abolition of the slave trade.  Our final speaker Professor Kate Skinner gave a very concise and enlightening lecture on how the kingdom of Dahomey was different from the other African Kingdom the students studied, including its involvement in the Slave Trade.  There was very enthusiastic feedback from teachers, students, and the lecturers.

‘I just wanted to thank you for the amazing event last week.  It was so well run and all three lectures were fascinating.  I’d love to attend any future conferences, and will also potentially bring students next time.’

‘That 150 people came and really did seem to take something away from it is just great!…

Thanks again, it was a great day’  Toby Green.

For those students and members who could not attend David Rawlings managed to film all three lectures and these should be appearing on the website soon.  Toby Green has also sent us his PowerPoint which is a real up to date resource for teachers and students.

Professor Alexandra Walsham University of Cambridge, President of the Historical Association. Wednesday 2nd April 2025.

In the space of 45 minutes Alexandra Walsham presented a fascinating overview of the treatment of ‘heretics’ and the argument that Britain evolved into a tolerant nation during the Reformation.  She began by exploring these contrasting terms including interpretations of previous generations of historians including Henry Kamen and Perez Zagorin.  Tracing back the treatment of ‘heretics’ in the 15^th century she showed how during the Tudor and Stuart periods the state stepped in to combine the crimes of heresy and religious conformism with that of treason.  While Elizabeth did not ‘make window on men’s souls’ during her reign she faced a series of plots and risings in which Catholics were hung, drawn and quartered rather than burnt as heretics. 

‘Secret Catholics’ were increasingly known as ‘Roman Catholics’ and in James’ reign fear of plots increased. In Charles I’s reign the Counter Reformation and the possibility of a Catholic royal marriage increased anxiety but there was also increased persecution of ‘Puritans.’  The Irish Rebellion of 1641 led to the fear of a Popish plot in the rest of the Kingdom. This culminated in a second reformation during the Civil War.  There was intolerance of radical sects and but also Anglicans and Catholics.  In the Restoration there was not liberal toleration but the exclusion of radical dissent and fear by some clergy of a return to ‘Popery.’ This was illustrated by the protest of a mock pope and cardinals in 1679. 

John Locke the philosopher’s ‘Letters on Toleration’ argued that persecution of different beliefs produced hypocrisy and there should be relativity and plurality of truth.  But the Glorious Revolution of 1688 did not produce this version of toleration with only toleration shown to Protestant dissenters but not to Catholics or atheists or Arians.

 Alexandra concluded her lecture by illustrating how persecution continued well into the 18^th century and the Whig myth of a tolerant Britain was far from the reality.  The scholarly lecture which covered so much ground was followed by some excellent and well informed questions that touched on issues including the persecution of witches, the treatment of those who left Britain for the colonies in order to worship more freely and how Christians described themselves.