Category: Upcoming

Football’s Coming Home at The Prince Albert

I like visiting the Albert,
I like the way it commands a crossroads,
Welcoming all cardinal points of the compass,
Just like a traditional inn should,
I particularly like it when the football comes home.

I like visiting the Albert in springtime,
When vases of flowers greet you in the bar,
With vernal fragrance and equinoctial promise,
Stretching into blossoming infinity,
But that’s not as good as when the football comes home.

I like summer drinking in the Albert,
With a pint of Alton’s Pride,
It’s like an infusion of Thomas Hardy,
With every novel you’ve ever read
Returning like a Native,
Or like the football.

I like autumn drinking in the Albert,
When mists and mellow fruitlessness
Entwine themselves around the eaves,
Just like a gothic Woman in White,
Or Jordan Pickford.

I like winter drinking in the Albert,
Sledging down the snow-scaped common,
Then in the bar for mulled ale and wine,
Just like we’re in A Christmas Carol,
But not with the ghost of Sam Allardyce.

I like visiting the Albert,
I like the way it commands a crossroads,
Welcoming all cardinal points of the compass,
Just like a traditional inn should,
I particularly like it when the football comes home.

I like visiting the Albert in springtime,
When vases of flowers greet you in the bar,
With vernal fragrance and equinoctial promise,
Stretching into blossoming infinity,
But that’s not as good as when the football comes home.

I like summer drinking in the Albert,
With a pint of Alton’s Pride,
It’s like an infusion of Thomas Hardy,
With every novel you’ve ever read
Returning like a Native,
Or like the football.

I like autumn drinking in the Albert,
When mists and mellow fruitlessness
Entwine themselves around the eaves,
Just like a gothic Woman in White,
Or Jordan Pickford.

I like winter drinking in the Albert,
Sledging down the snow-scaped common,
Then in the bar for mulled ale and wine,
Just like we’re in A Christmas Carol,
But not with the ghost of Sam Allardyce.

read more

Alternative Heritage Walk

Radical Stroud’s June walk is a week-early Jo Cox Memorial Walk: Meet at Rodborough Church, Friday June 15th at 10; returning to the church at 1pm. We shall be investigating the medieval history of Rodborough from the days when it was still owned as part of the Manor Minchinhampton by the Abbess of Caen. A trail that takes in several recorded medieval residences and places.

Radical Stroud’s June walk is a week-early Jo Cox Memorial Walk: Meet at Rodborough Church, Friday June 15th at 10; returning to the church at 1pm. We shall be investigating the medieval history of Rodborough from the days when it was still owned as part of the Manor Minchinhampton by the Abbess of Caen. A trail that takes in several recorded medieval residences and places. read more

God Save Great Thomas Paine

Why, sirrah, and why, madam, hast thou not read thy Tom Paine?

‘Kings succeed each other not as rationals but as animals …
an hereditary governor is as inconsistent as an hereditary author.’

And you needn’t visit Paris in this, the year of our Lord,
Seventeen Hundred and Ninety Two,
To witness republican enthusiasm,
You could travel on the turnpike to Sheffield instead,
And witness the 5,000 cutler ‘republican levelers’,
The ‘Sheffield sans-culottes’ with their Angel of Peace
Proffering Tom Paine’s Rights of Man to Britannia,
While across the land, parodies of the national anthem are sung:
God Save Great Thomas Paine,
While
AT THE FEDERATION THEATRE IN EQUALITY SQUARE,
On Thursday
Will be Performed
A new and entertaining Farce, called LA GUILLOTINE!
Or GEORGE’S HEAD IN THE BASKET!
Dramatis Personae: Numpy the Third …
Tight Rope Dancing from The Lamp-post,
By Messrs. CANTERBURY, YORK, DURHAM &.
And
Pamphlets such as King Killing;
The Happy Reign of King George the Last;
100, 000 people meeting at Copenhagen Fields, Islington;
The King’s carriage attacked:
‘No War! No King! No Pitt!’
The following sung to the tune of ‘God Save the King’
At Drury Lane Theatre:
‘And when George’s Poll
Shall in the basket roll,
Let mercy then control
The Guillotine’

Why, sirrah, and why, madam, hast thou not read thy Tom Paine?

‘Kings succeed each other not as rationals but as animals …
an hereditary governor is as inconsistent as an hereditary author.’

And you needn’t visit Paris in this, the year of our Lord,
Seventeen Hundred and Ninety Two,
To witness republican enthusiasm,
You could travel on the turnpike to Sheffield instead,
And witness the 5,000 cutler ‘republican levelers’,
The ‘Sheffield sans-culottes’ with their Angel of Peace
Proffering Tom Paine’s Rights of Man to Britannia,
While across the land, parodies of the national anthem are sung:
God Save Great Thomas Paine,
While
AT THE FEDERATION THEATRE IN EQUALITY SQUARE,
On Thursday
Will be Performed
A new and entertaining Farce, called LA GUILLOTINE!
Or GEORGE’S HEAD IN THE BASKET!
Dramatis Personae: Numpy the Third …
Tight Rope Dancing from The Lamp-post,
By Messrs. CANTERBURY, YORK, DURHAM &.
And
Pamphlets such as King Killing;
The Happy Reign of King George the Last;
100, 000 people meeting at Copenhagen Fields, Islington;
The King’s carriage attacked:
‘No War! No King! No Pitt!’
The following sung to the tune of ‘God Save the King’
At Drury Lane Theatre:
‘And when George’s Poll
Shall in the basket roll,
Let mercy then control
The Guillotine’

read more

STROUD RADICAL HISTORY: ALTERNATIVE HERITAGE WALK – Friday 18 May 2018

Two years ago an Alien landed in Nailsworth, unnoticed by the Stroud Valleys folk. Since its arrival after fifty years temporarily rooted on Planet Essex, this strange being has immersed itself in the Gloucestershire soil, attempting to make sense of its move here “for a change, and it ticked more boxes than anywhere else”.

See how a creature far from home has struggled with unfamiliar territory; intensively exploring its new homeland on foot, or by bicycle, guided by its ‘Ordnance Survey Explorer 168’, Gloucestershire ‘Pevsners’, and Wikipedia.

Join a naive explorer for a circular walk, as this being shares with you its Outsider Views on the Stroud Valleys heritage, as it attempts to blend-in with its new people.

Two years ago an Alien landed in Nailsworth, unnoticed by the Stroud Valleys folk. Since its arrival after fifty years temporarily rooted on Planet Essex, this strange being has immersed itself in the Gloucestershire soil, attempting to make sense of its move here “for a change, and it ticked more boxes than anywhere else”.

See how a creature far from home has struggled with unfamiliar territory; intensively exploring its new homeland on foot, or by bicycle, guided by its ‘Ordnance Survey Explorer 168’, Gloucestershire ‘Pevsners’, and Wikipedia.

Join a naive explorer for a circular walk, as this being shares with you its Outsider Views on the Stroud Valleys heritage, as it attempts to blend-in with its new people. read more

Alternative Heritage Walk

STROUD RADICAL HISTORY

ALTERNATIVE HERITAGE WALK

Friday, 20th April, 2018

A circular walk from Stonehouse Station to Standish, Haresfield, Ring Hill, Randwick Woods and back to Stonehouse. Ancient Barrows, mediaeval churches, Romano-British farmsteads, a moated stronghold, a hillfort and old woodland. Throughout the walk the construction of the controversial Javelin Park incinerator will dominate the view to the west. We will explore alternative historical narratives via walking through this complex landscape.

STROUD RADICAL HISTORY

ALTERNATIVE HERITAGE WALK

Friday, 20th April, 2018

A circular walk from Stonehouse Station to Standish, Haresfield, Ring Hill, Randwick Woods and back to Stonehouse. Ancient Barrows, mediaeval churches, Romano-British farmsteads, a moated stronghold, a hillfort and old woodland. Throughout the walk the construction of the controversial Javelin Park incinerator will dominate the view to the west. We will explore alternative historical narratives via walking through this complex landscape. read more

Bristol And The Spanish Civil War

24 March BRISTOL
24/03/2018
IBMT’s annual Len Crome Memorial Conference, with historians Professor Tom Buchanan and Dr Emily Mason speaking about:

Aid Spain: the mobilisation of support for the anti-fascist cause among the British people during the Spanish Civil War

Venue: Colston Hall, Colston Street, Bristol BS1 5AR.

Time: 11am (registration from 10.30am) to 4pm.

Plus: Music from Amanda Boyd & David Nash, Ewan McLennan and the Red Notes Choir, and films, exhibition and stalls.

Entrance: £20 (£15 students).

Booking: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/len-crome-memorial-conference-2018-t… or send cheques (include email if receipt is required) to: IBMT Treasurer, 37a Clerkenwell Green, London EC1R0DU.

24 March BRISTOL
24/03/2018
IBMT’s annual Len Crome Memorial Conference, with historians Professor Tom Buchanan and Dr Emily Mason speaking about:

Aid Spain: the mobilisation of support for the anti-fascist cause among the British people during the Spanish Civil War

Venue: Colston Hall, Colston Street, Bristol BS1 5AR.

Time: 11am (registration from 10.30am) to 4pm.

Plus: Music from Amanda Boyd & David Nash, Ewan McLennan and the Red Notes Choir, and films, exhibition and stalls.

Entrance: £20 (£15 students).

Booking: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/len-crome-memorial-conference-2018-t… or send cheques (include email if receipt is required) to: IBMT Treasurer, 37a Clerkenwell Green, London EC1R0DU. read more

Feb 23rd 2018 – Terminalia Festival of Psychogeography

The below has been sent to the Walking Artists Network. Good to see us headlining above London!

‘Here are more details about the events across the UK currently planned for Terminalia: Festival of Psychogeography 2018 held on Friday Feb 23rd 2018

http://terminaliafestival.org/#events

  • 10am, Stroud. Radical Stroud: Terminalia Festival Walk
  • 11am, Seasalter, nr Whitstable, Kent. Elspeth Penfold: Walking with The Waste Land
  • 1pm, Aberystwyth. Roger Boyle: Terminalia – An Aberystwyth Celebration Walk
  • 5.30pm, Leeds. Beating the Bounds Walk – Circular walk around our boundary of Leeds
  • 6.30pm, London, Nathania Hartley: Tapping Into The City: Group Walk – Stratford

Many thanks and I hope you have a Happy Terminalia!

Tim Waters

The below has been sent to the Walking Artists Network. Good to see us headlining above London!

'Here are more details about the events across the UK currently planned for Terminalia: Festival of Psychogeography 2018 held on Friday Feb 23rd 2018

http://terminaliafestival.org/#events

  • 10am, Stroud. Radical Stroud: Terminalia Festival Walk
  • 11am, Seasalter, nr Whitstable, Kent. Elspeth Penfold: Walking with The Waste Land
  • 1pm, Aberystwyth. Roger Boyle: Terminalia - An Aberystwyth Celebration Walk
  • 5.30pm, Leeds. Beating the Bounds Walk - Circular walk around our boundary of Leeds
  • 6.30pm, London, Nathania Hartley: Tapping Into The City: Group Walk - Stratford

Many thanks and I hope you have a Happy Terminalia!

Tim Waters read more

Counter-Heritage Weekend Programme

STROUD COUNTER-HERITAGE WEEKEND FEBRUARY 3rd-4th

The Centre for Science and Art,
Lansdowne,
Stroud

SATURDAY
10am Doors open

The following events are timetabled, but there are events running throughout the day. Scroll down until you see the heading

EVENTS RUNNING THROUGHOUT THE DAY

10.30: The People History Forgot to Remember: tour of Stroud cemetery with Angela Findlay, artist & cemetery resident
Using poetry, diary extracts and performance to explore attitudes to death from the 1850s onwards, the hidden symbols used in gravestones, the fate of those deemed ‘paupers’ & workhouse life.

Meeting point: Lower Cemetery Lodge, 114 Bisley Road, GL5 1HG, just inside the gates of the cemetery
Tickets available at location – some parts of the walk are not wheelchair accessible, but many parts are.

STROUD COUNTER-HERITAGE WEEKEND FEBRUARY 3rd-4th

The Centre for Science and Art,
Lansdowne,
Stroud

SATURDAY
10am Doors open

The following events are timetabled, but there are events running throughout the day. Scroll down until you see the heading

EVENTS RUNNING THROUGHOUT THE DAY

10.30: The People History Forgot to Remember: tour of Stroud cemetery with Angela Findlay, artist & cemetery resident
Using poetry, diary extracts and performance to explore attitudes to death from the 1850s onwards, the hidden symbols used in gravestones, the fate of those deemed ‘paupers’ & workhouse life.

Meeting point: Lower Cemetery Lodge, 114 Bisley Road, GL5 1HG, just inside the gates of the cemetery
Tickets available at location - some parts of the walk are not wheelchair accessible, but many parts are. read more

Bristol Doors Open Days

Bristol Doors Open Days
The Merchants’ Hall
indocilis pauperiem pati
‘One who cannot learn to bear poverty’

What did I learn about our ‘Island Story’
On a squally September rain-swept day,
At the Merchants’ Hall, and Redcliffe Caves?
Well, we formed an orderly queue at the Hall,
Bantering with the pinstriped beadle,
Before our guide escorted us to the hall,
Where our talk began.

It was informative, in a manner of speaking:
The chandeliers are cleaned every two years!
Sixty-eight people can sit at this table!
When a speaker addresses an audience here,
The chairs are moved to face the front!
Princess Anne likes the Merchant Venturers!
Here are pictures of the docks in the 18th century!
(No mention yet…)
Royal Charters galore!
Portraits galore!
One day there will be a woman on the wall!
And a female ‘Master’ of the Society,
And she shalt have the title of ‘Master’!
The voice went on about the Society’s charitable enterprises,
I glanced at a couple of their annual reports:
‘New Schools’ Trust Offers Diversity’
(Conventional trope of girl in a science lab.),
More stuff on academies, residential care for the elderly,
‘Social business’ (sic), almshouses,
The ownership of Clifton Downs,
‘Although some 460 years old, the Society
is fresh and full of vigour and purpose’;
‘ … The Society and Bristol prospered. Trading patterns changed
over the centuries, with the later years marked
by the appalling period of slave trading in the 18th century.’
It all felt a bit Kafkaesque,
An arcane, shadowy world of ruling class disinformation …
Where philanthropy and charity
Obscures the hierarchy of ruling class control…

Bristol Doors Open Days
The Merchants’ Hall
indocilis pauperiem pati
‘One who cannot learn to bear poverty’

What did I learn about our ‘Island Story’
On a squally September rain-swept day,
At the Merchants’ Hall, and Redcliffe Caves?
Well, we formed an orderly queue at the Hall,
Bantering with the pinstriped beadle,
Before our guide escorted us to the hall,
Where our talk began.

It was informative, in a manner of speaking:
The chandeliers are cleaned every two years!
Sixty-eight people can sit at this table!
When a speaker addresses an audience here,
The chairs are moved to face the front!
Princess Anne likes the Merchant Venturers!
Here are pictures of the docks in the 18th century!
(No mention yet…)
Royal Charters galore!
Portraits galore!
One day there will be a woman on the wall!
And a female ‘Master’ of the Society,
And she shalt have the title of ‘Master’!
The voice went on about the Society’s charitable enterprises,
I glanced at a couple of their annual reports:
‘New Schools’ Trust Offers Diversity’
(Conventional trope of girl in a science lab.),
More stuff on academies, residential care for the elderly,
‘Social business’ (sic), almshouses,
The ownership of Clifton Downs,
‘Although some 460 years old, the Society
is fresh and full of vigour and purpose’;
‘ … The Society and Bristol prospered. Trading patterns changed
over the centuries, with the later years marked
by the appalling period of slave trading in the 18th century.’
It all felt a bit Kafkaesque,
An arcane, shadowy world of ruling class disinformation …
Where philanthropy and charity
Obscures the hierarchy of ruling class control…

read more