Jo Cox Memorial Walk: the Ghosts of Five Valleys Past and of London Present and Future
9.3 % Swing
A red island in the sea of Cotswold blue
A red outcrop in these blue remembered hills
We’re not 25 grand smug shepherd’s huts
We’re red brick, spit and sawdust, woollen mills
A red rose amidst the snarling thorns of May
A red flag sewn from Stroudwater Scarlet
We’re not the headmistress’s blue-rinse smile
We’re the crimson kiss of a wanton harlot
We’re not Farrow & Ball “complacent blue-tit”
We’re not weekend waxed-jacket and tweed knickers
We’re not honey-dipped, chocolate-box bollocks
We’re not mimsy-boo-boutique more tea vicars
Jo Cox Commemorative Walk: Saturday June 17th
Jo Cox Commemorative Walk Saturday June 17th: 4 miles or so, around Nailsworth; meet by the clock near Hobbs at 10 o’clock. A performative walk: referencing FGR’s success; David Drew’s success; Jo Cox’s first speech to parliament: “We are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us”, and, finally, working class local history. Please wear FGR colours or red or whatever.
Sixty People Gathering
Sixty people gathering
In the welcoming woodland of Stroud Brewery,
Watching the preview of Day of Hope,
Listening to tales of weavers’ riots
And Chartist dreams;
Quaffing Chartist porter
While Paul Southcott sang us songs
Of the world we have lost …
Resting by a sun warm red brick bridge,
Hidden Stroud Walks
Announcing two new walks in collaboration with the Hidden Stroud project this weekend:
Stroud History Reimagined
The walk will reimagine the history of Stroud, touching upon springs, streams and weavers; radical canal history, Stroud Scarlet, slavery and the Black Atlantic.
A walk for anyone interested in walking, history, literature and an imaginative blurring of genres.
http://www.subscriptionrooms.org.uk/whats-on/stroud-history-reimagined-with-stuart-butler/
https://www.facebook.com/events/340825872919858/
For ages 14+
08 October 2016
Start times: 10:00-13:00
Tickets: £2 donation on the day
Box office: 01453 760900
A History of Radical Stroud
A performative walk from the front of the Subscription Rooms, up to Rodborough Common along the Frome, re-imagining the history of Stroud by looking at the Captain Swing Riots in Gloucestershire; Chartism in Stroud and the Five Valleys; the relevance of John Clare to our landscape and history, and then down to The Prince Albert.
A walk for anyone interested in walking, history, literature and an imaginative blurring of genres.
http://www.subscriptionrooms.org.uk/whats-on/a-history-of-radical-stroud-with-stuart-butler/
https://www.facebook.com/events/1770295653243313/
For ages 14+
08 October 2016
Start times: 14:30-16:30
Tickets: £2 donation on the day
Box office: 01453 760900
Swans, Bridges, Feudalism and Modernity: From Newbridge to Oxford
The Windrush joins the Thames at Newbridge, Flowing beneath the elegant Taynton stone bridge, Once a port of call for that Burford quarried stone On its way to Oxford and London, As well as a defeat for the Parliamentarians … The sight of so many swans gliding on the...
From Lechlade to Newbridge
The day started early in Cirencester, where our Chartist Allen Davenport was a cobbler before he married Mary, And moved to London, where the writings of Thomas Spence Led him into revolutionary politics, writing, and action – But that was less on my mind than...





