An animated history of the Trinity Centre, Heart & Soul

As part of this years National Lottery Heritage Fund's, Heritage Treasure Day we are taking a look back to some of the heritage projects at Trinity over the years.

Art of Resistance 2020-2022

Art of Resistance was a two-year project exploring 100 years of social activism, protest and civil disobedience in Bristol and the art that underpinned each movement. In this project we explored how key movements and their messages have been amplified by different art forms such as poetry, textiles, posters, banners, music and performing arts. We also charted the lived stories of inner-city Bristolians and, explores the city's history of grass-roots artistic, community and cultural movements.

Heart & Soul 2017-2018

In Heart & Soul we explored the different uses of the Trinity Centre as a place for celebration. We explored the history of the building as a place for weddings and civil ceremonies and explored it’s journey from church to music and community centre.

Vice and Virtue 2013-2015

Vice & Virtue took a look beneath the area's reputation to explore the many cultures that have lived here, its national significance as an area of architectural conservation and key moments of historical interest. Themes included: the riots of 1932, the British and GI experience, business, trade and leisure in Old Market, the sex industry, the Gay quarter and new communities in Old Market.

What’s your Trinity Story? 2010-2012

Funded by Heritage Lottery Fund Your Heritage Grant - featured an an oral history and archiving project about Trinity from 1960-today, with specific reference to its role as a music and community venue.

The Bristol Sound Project: 2008-2010

As part of our heritage project exploring Trinity’s role in the development of the Bristol Sound we collaborated with The Wonder Club to produce a spectacular site specific promenade theatre performance At Tether's End. The show was inspired by the true story of a local young man William Pullin who tragically stabbed a police man, PC Richard Hill, to death. The show was part of the Bristol Sound Project and featured artwork, set and performances from a large number of young people working alongside professional artists from Bristol.

Explore more:

• The history of the Holy Trinity Church
• The Bristol Sound project
• The Art of Resistance
• Community at Trinity

Old Market Bristol

May is Local History month, so to celebrate we’ve been looking back at our heritage project, Vice and Virtue, that documented the rich history of Old Market in East Bristol, where The Trinity Centre calls home.

Early History

Old Market is an ancient marketplace which once stood outside the walls of the Old City and served as a main thoroughfare for goods arriving from London into Bristol.

The area contains some of Bristol’s oldest buildings, with over 60 listed buildings including the Methodist Central Hall, The Palace Hotel, and – of course – Holy Trinity Church, aka The Trinity Centre.

Following the demolition of Bristol Castle in 1656, the area was redeveloped and stone from the castle is said to have been used to repave Old Market Street, with many of the original 17th century building frontages remaining to this day.

Old Market Street was a thriving centre for trade in meat and vegetables, as well as being home to an assortment of small industries specialising in the production of farming utensils, as well as several brewers, maltsters, and public houses.

Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution radically transformed Old Market, with major new businesses attracting workers from across the South West. New opportunities for employment led to East Bristol’s rapid urbanisation during this period. By 1881, the population of St Phillips rose from approximately 8,000 in 1801 to 50,000.

Religion was seen as a major civilising force that followed rapid urbanisation, and as such, many churches were built in these expanding urban areas. One such church was Holy Trinity Church, now The Trinity Centre, which was built between 1829 and 1832 by Thomas Rickman and Henry Hutchinson, two architects from Birmingham and seated 1,500 people.

The new railway added to the hustle and bustle of Old Market. Traffic increased significantly when an electric tramway was introduced in 1876. Unsurprisingly, the street market struggled to coexist with the tram network, and the market ceased to operate during the 19th century, which signalled the start of rapid change in the area.

The Golden Years, 1900-1939

Old Market Street, with its transport links, entertainment centres and range of shops, was an important and vibrant part of Bristol. The first 30 years of the 20th century were marked by a series of bold new development, including The King’s Cinema, The Methodist Central Hall and The Empire Theatre, catering to a new appetite for culture and the arts. While the traditional street market from which Old Market gets its name had faded out during this period, in its place came a range of new stores and retail businesses.

Old Market was part of the ‘golden mile’ of streets that stretched from Lawrence Hill to the City Centre, with a diverse offering of shops attracting visitors from far and wide.

Decline and Rejuvenation

Bristol breathed a sigh of relief after the Second World War, in which the city’s Historic City Centre was decimated during the Bristol Blitz, with Castle and Vine Street being flattened by bombings. However, across the city, including in Old Market, life did not return to normal immediately, with essential food items subject to rationing until 1954.

After the Second World War, Old Market had become increasingly isolated and sidelined. Now Castle Street was no more, Old Market stood on the other side of a bomb site which many Bristolians feared to cross. The electric trams ceased operation in 1941, and by the 1950s, St Philips Station was closed to passengers, further isolating the area.

The bombing of Bristol’s historic centre led to new approaches to housing, in particular high-rise flats of the 1950s, which dramatically changed the face of St Jude’s and Old Market. Old Market also had to compete with the newly built Broadmead shopping centre. The development of the ring road and roundabout as part of the 1966 Development Plan further isolated Old Market from the rest of Central Bristol. Within a dozen years, the ‘high street’ atmosphere of Old Market had all but disappeared, with a dramatic decrease in footfall in the area.

However, the idea that Old Market went into terminal decline after the Ring Road masks a more complex picture. Old Market’s isolation opened a space in which new cultures and subcultures emerged. Since then, Old Market has becoming a bustling centre of nightlife and culture, becoming a home for Bristol’s LGBTQ+ community, alongside a new and diverse offering of restaurants, bars and clubs. With one of the fastest growing populations in Bristol, Old Market’s future seems to be one defined by its eclectic mix of cultures and lifestyles.

Click here to explore Trinity's archives to find out more about the history of The Trinity Centre and Old Market.

This news item is based on information gathered as part of Trinity's Vice and Virtue project.

Activism through the lens workshop, photo Khali Ackford

The "Art of Resistance" project, made possible with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, documented and celebrated the human stories behind activist movements in Bristol. The project focused on the rich histories of five key activist movements from the last 100yrs: Women’s Equality, Workers Rights, Anti-Racism & Anti-Fascism, Counterculture & Reclaim the Environment. Through collecting oral histories and retaining mixed art forms (e.g. poetry, textiles, banners, music, photography) from protest movements we celebrated the rich heritage of Bristol, and its citizens, as a 'city of protest' to educate, inspire and retain this rich history for ours and future generations.

"What I noticed was by taking part in this project, people discovered that there are so many people battling injustices and fighting against social injustices and yet so often don’t see themselves as an activist." Miranda Rae, Facilitator 'Stories of Resistance'

The project, led by historian and writer Dr Edson Burton, programmed an array of activities, including interviews, workshops, performances, film screenings, and exhibitions - engaging over 3226 audience members across 45 events and activities.

As part of the project we created opportunities that enabled first-step engagement with heritage – providing space for people to explore their heritage and learn new skills in research 83 volunteers took part in 69 hours of training delivered by 11 professionals.

Events included 'The Final Frontier', a creative conference of artists and activists and commentators, we welcomed Soundsystem pioneers DJ Stryda, Lioness, Big D and Vibronics for a 'Desert Island Discs' style event in our outdoor venue. We curated three exhibitions' exploring protest through various artforms. 'Snapshots of Resistance' (online & in person) showcased a selection of photographs documenting women protestors & pioneering artists.

We preserved local testimonies of activism across generations through 'I Remember When'. During these sessions we collected memories and artefacts that contributed to our end of project exhibition, book publication and online archive. Participants included Laura Corballis, Deasy Bamford, Gill Haugh, Ros Beauhill, Lilieth Morrison and Colin Moody.

Oral histories collected as part of the project have been captured in the table book ‘Art & Activism Vol 1: A Portrait. Alongside this bringing the project to life, people can explore the stories further via our interactive Heritage Archive, where you can listen to oral testimonies, watch videos and explore photos and other items gathered during two years of the Art of Resistance project.

To find out more about the project read the Art of Resistance report here.

x-church in Gainsborough

As the push continues to #SaveJWB, we look back to Trinity's 2018 Heart & Soul project and our series of talks where both national and international speakers shared their knowledge and experience on the positives and pitfalls of re-imaging historic buildings. In this blog we invited Marcus Hammond, curator of x-church - a community space in Gainsborough, like no other - to come and share its story...

Over a million bricks hold together the love and forward-thinking acceptance of x-church. Marcus Hammond

Marcus Hammond bought a church building in 2006 and the night before he received the keys, the window got bricked. Therefore the first few days of his ownership were spent fixing the windows, and during this time he left the doors open. Children and young people walked right in and started playing in the space. This has lasted 12 years so far. ‘Now’, he said, ‘the building is almost incidental’.

It was interesting to learn that in the same way as the children wandering in, a lot of x-church’s journey happened almost accidentally: the building was described by someone as built in a slum-gothic way, and as well as enjoying the playful amalgamation of two words, Hammond and what was becoming a small team of volunteers decided it would be the name of a youth project.

x-church is host to many successful visual art installations

Physically building a place is hard but assembling the people is harder

They created a small dome structure for Slumgothic within the huge church space in which young people’s music and band practice can be contained. Immediately Hammond was building relationships with young people with total acceptance of who they are as individuals. Over time these relationships led to so much mutual respect that Marcus handed out keys to the front door. This helped with practical things such as not having to be there to unlock, but also gives the young people a sense of ownership of the building. With a mixture of surprise and pride, Hammond said, ‘So far, nothing bad has happened.’

The bare-brick architecture has become x-church’s strength and therefore not much has been added to make it more than a vast empty space. Marcus’s view is that physically building a place is hard but assembling the people is harder. For example, Mukhat Dar is open about his poignant story of how not all arts spaces end up in success as he reflects on The Drum Arts Centre (The Life & Death of an Arts Centre).

The x-church team like it when someone comes in and has a grand plan for an exhibition, show or event to hold there, and x-church is welcoming to almost all ideas. In a community like Gainsborough there is not an active interest in art or culture but x- church’s practice of ‘inconveniencing people with art’ proves that if you take it to the people they will engage.

From blocking out all the windows with card in order to turn x-church into a camera obscura to holding 24 hours of drumming for Syria, lots of events and exhibitions have taken place at x-church, some instigated by the young people and some by external artists. ‘Increasingly at x-church', according to Marcus, 'people don’t have a fear of making a fool of themselves.’ I agree wholeheartedly that there is a lot to be said for creating a space in which young people can take risks. In a time when young people are called upon to be available at all times via phones, it is increasingly important to allow freedom in other parts of their lives to benefit their wellbeing and independence.

Through loads of conversations and shared experiences, the lives of individuals and the Slumgothic community has been immeasurably touched. From what I heard at the talk, x-church is an inspiring example of what could be happening to benefit young people all over the world. Over a million bricks hold together the love and forward-thinking acceptance of x-church, but Marcus is not precious about what happens to the physical building, instead it is the people that matter. 'If the building collapsed we could just relocate somewhere else. Even to a field.'

This write up was by Tess Sieling, who was the project intern on the Heart & Soul heritage project. The talk was part of a series exploring the challenges and achievements of transforming and preserving historic buildings and was programmed in collaboration with Bristol's Architecture Centre and the University of West England (UWE).

How to get involved

Click here to sign the Hotwells and Cliftonwood petition to Save Jacobs Wells Baths

Further reading

Read more from our Heart & Soul talk series - Father Paul, Fidel Meraz and Dr Katie McClymont

Read more about the Save Jacobs Wells Campaign here.

Father Paul moved to Bristol in his 20's and is well loved in St Pauls @Khali Ackford

Before Father Paul’s talk I did not know much about him and his life in Bristol, but afterwards it was clear that he is regarded as family by the community in which he serves.

As the push continues to #SaveJWB, we look back to Trinity's 2018 Heart & Soul project and our series of talks where both national and international speakers shared their knowledge and experience on the positives and pitfalls of re-imaging historic buildings. In this blog we reflect on Father Paul's talk the re-purposing of churches as community spaces.

On the evening of Tuesday 29th May 2018, we were very grateful to Father Paul who stepped in to cover the planned speaker who was unfortunately unwell. He appeared an unconventional priest, wearing camouflage combat trousers and a shirt, very much living up to the talk title ‘Rebel Conformist’.

Before Father Paul’s talk I did not know much about him and his life in Bristol, but afterwards it was clear that he is regarded as family by the community in which he serves. He has touched the lives of a lot of people in Bristol, particularly the St Paul’s area where he has lived and worked most of his life.

Father Paul talked about the need for the church to respond to contemporary issues @Khali Ackford

Father Paul wants to be able to conduct these ceremonies and to celebrate love without judgement. He told many anecdotes about individuals from the community where he has worked, mostly to show that, "where there is life, there is hope".

Heart & Soul project coordinator, Dr Edson Burton, gave a warm introduction to Father Paul. Several audience members as well as Dr Burton clearly hold him in great affection, indicative of the widespread impact Father Paul has had over the years. In a childhood anecdote, Father Paul remembers growing up in Pontypridd, Wales, wishing he had a brother to play with as he only had one sister. Not until his twenties when he had moved to Bristol and settled in St Paul’s did he realise he was lucky enough to be surrounded by many many brothers and sisters now.

Father Paul started by talking about gay marriage, and the fact that in Wales and Scotland you can have a gay marriage in church, supported by the Church. However in England although you can have a civil partnership or gay marriage, you still cannot conduct these ceremonies as a vicar in a church. It saddens him that there is nothing in the wedding hymn book dedicated to LGBTQ marriage. Father Paul wants to be able to conduct these ceremonies and to celebrate love without judgement. He told many anecdotes about individuals from the community where he has worked, mostly to show that, "where there is life, there is hope".

On many occasions people have gone to Father Paul for help and he has been a huge support throughout the community. These pillars of the community that have not faded despite the move towards communities being started or maintained by technological means.

A lot of people fear that the sense of community relying on face to face contact is being lost due to societal changes- we all spend more time looking at screens. However, Father Paul is an example that where there are people living together in an area, there will always be community leaders and supporters, no matter the advances in technology. It is our human nature.

Many local residents attended Father Paul's talk @Khali Ackford

He says; "Things fit together in ways I don’t always understand but don’t object to." I enjoyed Father Paul’s talk because it shed light on the positive influence one person can have in a community. Tess Sieling, project intern

After Father Paul’s talk, he invited a friendly discussion within the group. We moved on to explore what is the role of the Church now? Is it to serve the spirit or to serve the law? There seems to be an openness particularly in Bristol and other large UK cities that is calling for the Church to serve the spirit. In contemporary society, issues that need addressing and the nature of human struggles have been changing, so there is a need for the Church to serve them in an equally contemporary way.

Perhaps a testament to Father Paul’s openness is the fact that at one stage, he was visiting a convicted murderer in prison in Cardiff while also planning the victim’s funeral in Bristol. He says; "Things fit together in ways I don’t always understand but don’t object to." I enjoyed Father Paul’s talk because it shed light on the positive influence one person can have in a community.

This write up was by Tess Sieling, who was the project intern on the Heart & Soul heritage project. The talk was part of a series exploring the challenges and achievements of transforming and preserving historic buildings and was programmed in collaboration with Bristol's Architecture Centre and the University of West England (UWE).

How to get involved

Click here to sign the Hotwells and Cliftonwood petition to Save Jacobs Wells Baths

Further reading

Read more from our Heart & Soul talk series - Dr Katie McClymont, Fidel Meraz and A Million Bricks of Love.

Read more about the Save Jacobs Wells Campaign here.

Photo credit: Ice Road by Raucous, Jack Offord, Jacobs Wells Baths

"Bristol is brimming with dance talent in many forms, and it is well overdue for a dedicated space of its own" Deborah Baddoo MBE, Bristol Dance Futures Producer

Former dance centre and Victorian swimming pool, Jacobs Wells Baths has recently been saved from potential disposal by Bristol City Council following their announcement to launch an open process for expressions of interests to manage the building via a Community Asset Transfer.

In 2019-21 we were part of Bristol Dance Futures, a consortium dedicated to building dance profile, capacity and infrastructure in Bristol. The project highlighted the rich potential of dance in the city and created legacies including cross-sector working across health and community development.

We asked Bristol Dance Futures Producer, Deborah Baddoo MBE, to reflect on the project and to share how it could help reimagine a community space, such as Jacobs Wells Baths.

"During my time as producer for Bristol Dance Futures it was clearly evident that there is a huge gap in terms of a dance specific space in Bristol.

Obviously, it is important to bring dance into other organisations who may not normally have access to dance activity, but there is a thriving dance community throughout the city, hiring commercial studios, performing in unsuitable spaces and trying to book spaces in venues for rehearsals, classes and workshops.

Post Covid-19, now more than ever, the powers that be are recognising the valuable role that dance and indeed all the arts have on helping individuals on their journey to wellbeing and the special role that dance has in connecting people, improving mobility, releasing stress and enhancing creativity, to name only a few of the benefits of dance.

A dedicated dance space such as Jacobs Wells Baths has potential to be a place where many exciting initiatives can flourish, a networking space for dance, a rehearsal space, and importantly hub for dance and wellbeing activity in the city.

Dance in Bristol has gone through many changes and manifestations over the last 25 years, but these have always tended to be piecemeal, short-lived initiatives having limited long-term impact for the sector as a whole.

Bristol is brimming with dance talent in many forms, and it is well overdue for a dedicated space of its own. A dedicated space will help enable the dance sector in Bristol to continue to grow and be a catalyst for exciting new developments and a much needed home for dance in this vibrant city."

Deborah Baddoo MBE, Dance Producer

If you would like to join a conversation on what the future for Jacob Wells could be, please click here.

Dr Katie McClymont's talk '...and The Spirit Lingered On' explored the idea of community spirituality photo@ Khali Ackford

As momentum builds to save Jacob Wells Baths and return the listed building to community use we are looking back at our archive and sharing our blogs exploring the importance of community spaces. In this blog, first published in 2018 as part of our Heart & Soul heritage project, we reflect on Dr Katie McClymont's  (UWE’s Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning) public talk about municipal spirituality and its social context.

"Before Katie’s talk I did not understand much about the subject but it was an enormously interesting presentation with many specific examples from around Bristol." Audience member

The talk began with an explanation of the meaning of municipal spirituality and the way it occurs in places with civic and spiritual functions. The term is quite broad and can be applied to music venues, libraries, ex-churches, parks, public spaces and community centres. The factor of whether the space is inside or outside is irrelevant, it is the sense of potential for togetherness or inclusivity that is the key. This feeling does not have to respond to an existing religion, it can be responding to something beyond the everyday realm. For example, cemeteries are not necessarily places of religion but to many people have an enormous sense of the spiritual.

As part of her talk, Katie showed examples of church buildings around Bristol that have been re-purposed. They are all buildings that she happened to be passing on her route around the city on a given day, showing how many church buildings are scattered across the city, and the great proportion of them which are being used for something different than the original purpose.

Katie talked about how, through the 1970s and 1980s, there was an exponential rate of church closures. Some of these still have a social function, such as a former church in Easton that is now a centre for supported independence. Currently the Church of England (C of E) closes around 20-25 churches per each year.

A report from the charity Locality documents this selling buildings and what comminities are doing in response to this.

"I found it very interesting to hear that C of E churches are available for sale, listed on the C of E website for the public to peruse. Some of them have descriptions about their future use, for example ‘for continued worship’, ‘community work’ or ‘suitable for a wide range of uses’." Tess Sieling, project intern

Katie cited the strange feeling around seeing churches for sale in such a matter of fact, straightforward way when in fact they are very special buildings. This raised the question: can you put a price on a church? Also, what judgements are being made about the buildings before they are sold? The example of the Bill’s restaurant chain taking over old church buildings was used, as Katie said that in some cases the insides are ripped out but the strong ethos from the church remains. Even in its new function, sometimes a feeling of the old spirit lingers on. Katie is a very passionate advocate about the amazing idea that churches will always be a place to create connections between people and others; people and the past; and people and something bigger than themselves.

Katie made a film about community art spaces around Bristol including Trinity, Jacobs Wells Baths, Barton Hill Settlement and St Mary Redcliffe Church. As well as being a great medium to communicate the joys of community spaces, Katie said that when they were interviewing people from these spaces, after being asked a question, the interviewee would often give a very telling pause before answering which she believes shows the sense of the community space working beyond its physical and material achievements. Sometimes when churches are changed into private use buildings like a holiday home it can feel wrong and perhaps this is due to that change away from its original ethos. Is it because there is a feeling of loss of the shared community space that once was there?

What is the value of a church when it no longer is a church? Photo credit @Khali Ackford

Sometimes when churches are changed into private use buildings like a holiday home it can feel wrong and perhaps this is due to that change away from its original ethos. Is it because there is a feeling of loss of the shared community space that once was there?

Churches have value. They have a common purpose and a built heritage. The debate is what is their value is and when is it lost? If the value is the sense of people coming together and socialising with people they would not normally, then spaces like Trinity offer us examples of activites that do this with great popularity and with no religious aspect.

Churches closing have caused massive losses to local communities. In addition, a lot of us now live in self selective communities, so where do you meet people different from you apart from in a doctor’s waiting room or on a bus?

Katie's talk highlighted the importance of having inclusive places where different people can engage in a meaningful way. Do we define using a church as a multi use community space as adapting the church or losing the church? As an increasing number of us are of no religion, perhaps we are adapting churches to keep them relevant and concerts, gigs and other actitivites offer us that place to congregate in our secular state.

This write up was by Tess Sieling, who was the project intern on the Heart & Soul heritage project. The talk was part of a series exploring the challenges and achievements of transforming and preserving historic buildings and was programmed in collaboration with Bristol's Architecture Centre and the University of West England (UWE).

How to get involved

Click here to sign the Hotwells and Cliftonwood petition to Save Jacobs Wells Baths

Further reading

Read more from Katie McClymont in her published journal, Spaces for Secular Faith

Read more from our Heart & Soul talk series - Father Paul, Fidel Meraz and A Million Bricks of Love.

Read more about the Save Jacobs Wells Campaign here.

Artwork credit ASLS

Trinity CEO Emma Harvey reflects on the importance of community buildings following the news that Jacob Wells Baths is now at risk of being taken out of public ownership.

Jacobs Wells Baths is an asset owned by us. Built in 1889 to serve the working poor, the Grade II Listed building holds within its walls a wealth of of architectural and social heritage - from its time as a public swimming baths to its 30 year history as a dance hub.

This all risks being lost as, in December 2022, leisure company Fusion Lifestyle announced they were pulling out of restoring and managing the space meaning our cash-strapped local authority may now table it for disposal.

The story of this asset is sadly not unusual. A 2019 report by Bristol Cable revealed how Bristol City Council has sold off millions of pounds’ worth of public property as part of their ongoing response to austerity. This local saga is set against a national backdrop dubbed as ‘The Great British Sell-Off’, with local authorities across the UK attempting to combat funding crises through sale of our shared civic and heritage spaces.

"One thing you can say about Bristol is we’re a city that has demonstrated we can take complex heritage assets and transform them into viable community and cultural hubs."

It’s a pattern that shows no sign of stopping in 2023. Bristol faces yet another round of cuts and the pressure’s on to plug a £32m funding gap in whatever way possible. 134 years on from the Baths’ construction, it feels as though Bristol folk are still working hard though still very much the poorer for it.

It’s really easy to reduce these buildings to numbers on a spreadsheet. If we sell Jacobs Wells then the headache as to what to do with it next is finally over. Plus, we get some cash to plug a gap so we can all breathe a temporary sigh of relief until the next cycle of cuts. If you grew up poor it’s actually understandable. I’m sure many of us have memories of our parents pawning what few possessions they’d acquired just to make ends meet. It’s just what you do when you’re broke.

The problem though is that, when our Councils take this same attitude to balancing the books, this robs current and future generations of the assets we own and makes us all collectively poorer. In a city like Bristol, growing in density and diversity, it deprives us of places to come together, connect and share experiences. To learn and grow, to grieve or to celebrate. To keep fit, dance and be merry. To avoid loneliness or just to get out of the cold. Even to problem solve, mobilise and take collective action about the things that matter to us.

What is unusual about Bristol though is that for every Jacobs Wells Baths there are other success stories that run counter to this ‘sold from under you’ narrative. From Spike Island, to Watershed, to the Tobacco Factory, one thing you can say about Bristol is we’re a city that has demonstrated we can take complex heritage assets and transform them into viable community and cultural hubs.

The Trinity Centre is one such building as over the last 15 years we have demonstrated that we can take a big old dilapidated liability and transform it into a celebrated, multi-use arts and community asset.

So what’s stopping us from doing the same with JWB? Even with our track record, groups like Trinity just aren’t treated as serious contenders when the future of assets like Jacobs Wells Baths comes up for discussion. Maybe that’s because we don’t have millions of pounds at our disposal, or maybe its because I look like a Fraggle and talk like the love-child of Russell Brand and Janet Street-Porter. Decision makers just aren’t that great at trusting anyone to solve complex problems if the solution isn’t packaged in received pronunciation and a smart suit.

We don’t do it because we’re told we can’t, are scared to try or don’t believe we can. If we want to change this narrative this doesn’t start with the Council. It starts here and now with us. If we want to save our spaces and protect Jacobs Wells Baths and other shared civic spaces for this and future generations, as citizens we need to come together and say we want one last shot at reimagining a different future.

The Council may be the landlord but these buildings are ours. Once they’re gone they’re gone and there is no going back. We just need to believe for a moment that we can do this Bristol. Let’s put our heads and voices together and make it happen.

Take action today:

• Contact your Councillor and MP – write to them about why JWB is important
• Prepare a statement for local Cabinet
• Check out past feasibility study and plans for viable asset management
• Send your support to ensure it is registered as an Asset of Community Value
• Share on social media using the tags #SaveOurSpaces #SoldFromUnderYou #SaveJWB
• Read our 100 Beacons Report and find out more about Power to Changes We're Right Here Campaign

From riots in 1831 to the Colston statue and Kill the Bill protests, Bristol has long been a city renowned for radical action. Now, as then, radicalism has been accompanied by an outpouring of creative responses - from poetry to illustration to performance.

Now, Stories of Resistance, a new nine-part podcast series has been launched, uncovering some of Bristol’s lesser-known stories of contemporary activism. From the story of how one moment changed the direction of a grassroots boxing club, to a mother’s journey into disability activism, to changing the face of environmentalism and pushing for better gender representation in the music industry, these podcasts explore the stories of ordinary people fighting for change.

"What I noticed was by taking part in this project people discovered that there are so many people battling injustices and fighting against social injustices and yet so often don’t see themselves as an activist." Miranda Rae, Community Journalist

The series was created by Bristol residents during workshops with award winning journalist and broadcaster Miranda Rae (Sound Women SW and Ujima Radio). Over four months Miranda hosted group and 1-2-1 training sessions where participants learned how to produce, research, record and present a podcast.

The podcasts were commissioned as part of Art of Resistance, our two-year Heritage Lottery Funded project that has been exploring, documenting and celebrating the human stories behind activist movements in Bristol.

The podcasts will be distributed on Ujima Radio on Sundays  throughout January at 11am starting on 08 Jan throughout January 2023 and will include interviews with the creators as well as Dr Edson Burton, who is the driving force behind the project. Please note that the episodes may include language and topics that may not be suitable for all audiences.

Listen now on Spotify

As part of our in house programme, Trinity Presents we welcome Gardna (Fr 14 Oct) who will be joining forces legendary reggae and punk veteran Don Letts.

Trinity's history has long been part of the cultural crossover of punk and reggae scenes which emerged in the late 1970s. Letts was instrumental in introducing reggae and dub sounds to the punk scene at the time. Given this rich history that we both share, we wanted to reflect on some of the key moments in Don Letts career.

• Don Letts was deeply inspired by the roots reggae from his parents' homeland in Jamaica, in particular the anti-establishment message of Bob Marley. After seeing Marley play the Odeon in Hammersmith in 1976, Letts snuck into Marley's hotel room and spent the night talking and befriending him.

"By 1977, the white teenage youths in London were looking for a new soundtrack and punk rock exploded on the scene. Problem was, this was so early in the scene, there were no punk records to play. So I'm spinning what I like, heavy dub reggae, and the punks were loving it. They dug the whole anti-establishment rebel vibe" - Don Letts

• During the 1970s, Don Letts rose to prominence as a resident DJ of The Roxy, a nightclub in London's Covent Garden. While The Roxy was known for being a hub for the punk scene that was growing in popularity at the time, Letts' sets at the venue featured mostly dub and reggae records.

• Letts recognised the natural similarities between punk and reggae, particularly in their shared, anti-establishment message, creating a crossover between the two cultures. Bands like The Clash were one of the first groups to incorporate elements of reggae music into their sound, seen most clearly through their cover of Junior Murvin's 1976 classic 'Police and Thieves'.

• Developing close relationships with punk bands such as Sex Pistols and The Clash led Letts onto creating films based around the punk scene at the time. Letts became the unofficial documenter of the scene, creating 'The Punk Rock Movie', mostly compiled from Super 8mm footage shot of live performances at The Roxy.

• Since then, Letts has gone on to direct over 300 music videos for a range of artists including Bob Marley, The Psychedelic Furs, Elvis Costello and long-time collaborators The Clash.

• Don Letts' life story was recently told in a documentary 'Rebel Dread', released earlier in 2022, featuring extensive footage from Lett's personal archive of videos.

Letts has continued to DJ throughout his career, and has been a regular feature on lineups across Bristol and the West. Don Letts will join Gardna at Trinity on 14 Oct for Trinity Presents: Gardna + Friends. Make sure to head down to catch this legend of the UK music scene (and his extensive vinyl collection) in action. Click here to get your tickets.

About Trinity Presents:

Gardna + Friends is part of Trinity Presents - our in-house programme of music, bringing world-class artists and emerging talent to inner-city audiences.

After The Fire - Film by Matt Feurtado

After the Fire was an immersive exhibition programmed part of our free community party in Sep 2022 . Across nine hours, over 1200 people came along to watch performances from some of Bristol and the South West's leading underground musicians, take part in workshops and much more. The exhibition displayed stories and artwork collected as part of the two-year Heritage Lottery Funded project: Art of Resistance.

From women's rights, worker's rights movements to the recent environmental and BLM movements ,Bristol has long been known as an 'activist city'. We sat down with historian and writer Dr Edson Burton, curator of Art of Resistance, to understand the project’s important contribution to social history:

"After The Fire was a vehicle for showing the midway point that we had reached with the research for the project. We had some fantastic audio from the oral histories we’d collected with artists and activists as well as pieces of artwork that had been inspired by protest.

To my mind it was important to escape the gallery aesthetic, the white-wall space which we normally associate with art, which conveys a certain sense of art as separate from life, separate from lived experience and it has an intellectual and class connotation that might leave some people feeling like it’s not part of their world.

We also wanted to bring the space to life, in keeping with the post protest theme, to stir the embers. With this in mind, we commissioned some of Bristol's leading performers to share their work, acoustically, straight after the soundscape.

The title was inspired by James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time written in response to racial tensions and riots in 60s America. I wanted to create a sense of a space that carried the sense of the broken, the unfinished, the space after the revolt.

"Collecting archives, interviewing people, is like gathering priceless treasures. I say priceless because, in a sense, an interview is a capture of a voice that may not exist in years to come."  Dr Edson Burton

I didn’t want it to feel like, ‘here’s one space that says is about that area of protest and here’s another’ because one of the things that is really striking when you interview artists and activists is often their passions intersect. We found people that are concerned with the environment may also be involved with anti-racism, people who are working on LGBTQ+ rights may also see common cause with anti-racism, and so on.

When you create spaces, they are spaces not just for audiences, but for artists to link, to meet and discuss and share, to see and revive work. That’s such a vital part of why these projects are useful. There is a sense too, that we are curating and holding the experiences that might otherwise disappear. Despite the wealth of research that is available, there are still stories that sink, there are not passed on. Collecting archives, interviewing people, is like gathering priceless treasures. I say priceless because, in a sense, an interview is a capture of a voice that may not exist in years to come."

About Art of Resistance

Art of Resistance is a two-year National Lottery Heritage Funded exploring 100 years of social activism, protest and civil disobedience in Bristol and the art that underpinned each movement.

Grove - Image Credit: Sophia Stefelle

Kahn ft. Rider Shafique - Image Credit: Sophia Stefelle

After The Fire - Image Credit: Sophia Stefelle

Rita Lynch - Image Credit: Marley Small

Hip Hop Garden - Image Credit: Sophia Stefelle

Image Credit: Sophia Stefelle

Solomon O.B - Image Credit: Sophia Stefelle

Irish Mellow + Cxption - Image Credit: Marley Small

Garden Party: Revolution Sounds was our second free-community event of the year where we said goodbye to the summer with a mix of live music, workshops, performances and an immersive exhibition: After The Fire.

As always we welcomed some of the best artists in Bristol and the South West all playing on The Den stage. From punk to experimental we had the likes of Rita Lynch, Talisman and Kahn. Kept a secret until they came on, headliner Grove closed out proceedings with an epic mosh pit.

"Inspirational people and artwork" Feedback, Garden Party: Revolution Sounds

In the Fyfe Hall, we hosted an immersive exhibition 'After the Fire', a thought-provoking odyssey through the sounds and sights of Bristol’s protest history in recent years. This exhibition allowed us to present a culmination of artwork made as part of the last two years of Art of Resistance - pieces created by participants including pottery and murals, alongside placards made as part of our Visions of Resistance including a mural made by Tanith Gould which was displayed outside People's Republic of Stokes Croft on Jamaica Street.

We also had a number of workshops running throughout the day, including Movema Dance Workshops and Button-Up Badge Making Workshop in the Main Hall, plus Hip-Hop Workshops in the Trinity Garden.

Big thanks once again to everyone that made this event possible - from the artists that performed, the exhibition curators, the workshop facilitators, the lighting and sound team working behind the scenes, the bar staff and Trinity Team, and of course all of you that came down on the day - over 1,200 of you came along, and we raised over £1,000 in donations so that we can put on more events like Garden Party for the local community.

If you'd like to stay in the loop with everything on at Trinity, head to our What's On page for all our upcoming events, or follow our Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and sign up to our mailing list to stay updated.

Art of Resistance is a two-year, National Heritage Lottery Funded project charting 100 years of protest in Bristol.

Photo Credit: Sam Howard

For the last 15 years, Teachings in Dub has been a staple of the Bristol dub scene and has become one of the longest running club nights in Bristol. Formed by Stryda (Dubkasm) and Pinch at Clockwork Nightclub on Stokes Croft until 2008 when Teachings found its new home here at Trinity.

Dub and soundystem cultures have been an integral part of Bristol’s music scene. During the 1970s and 1980's a DIY culture of soundsystems sprung up, particularly around East Bristol, allowing young people in Bristol to participate in the city’s music scene from the ground up.

Teachings in Dub has allowed for a new generation to participate in Bristol’s history of dub music. Teachings co-founder Stryda writes that the event has “always been about bridging the gap between the older generation and the new and ensuring the culture is maintained and respected but the vibes are passed on”.

"We aim to give elders a space to enjoy the music and vibes they grew up on as well as a window for newcomers to enter a music scene they may have otherwise not even known existed” - Stryda, Teachings in Dub co-founder

Stryda attributes Teachings’ long-standing popularity to providing “an authentic space to experience real undiluted soundsystem vibrations. The Bristol music scene is respected worldwide but is built on Reggae and soundsystem. We aim to give elders a space to enjoy the music and vibes they grew up on as well as a window for newcomers to enter a music scene they may have otherwise not even known existed”.

Teachings has hosted some of the biggest names in dub and roots reggae, including Jah Shakka, Iration Steppas, Channel One Soundystem and Aba Shanti-I, and will host celebrations for 50 Years of Jah Tubby this month on 17 Sep, before celebrating 15 Years of Teachings in Dub on 25 Nov.

A new semi-permanent artwork created in collaboration with Tanith Gould – a local mural artist and member of Bristol Mural Collective - and the local community has been unveiled outside the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft building on Jamaica Street.

The mural is currently on display outside People’s Republic of Stokes Croft on Jamaica Street and will move on to Trinity next month to be displayed as part of Garden Party II on 18 September.

"This project has given people a platform to discuss issues they care about whilst also connecting them more deeply to their own beliefs and morals" - Tanith Gould

The mural, titled ‘Bristol Resists’, was created as part of a month long series of workshops teaching elements of mural design to the immediate community as part of our two-year long project, Art of Resistance, exploring 100 years of protest and activism in Bristol.

The mural was commissioned as piece of community art - made up of ideas from the public and around 50 participants over 3 workshops - featuring placards directly inspired by their submissions - to be displayed publicly across Bristol.

To create the mural, Tanith delivered a series of creative workshops, with the aim to provide a platform in which people were able to come together to discuss areas of social, political and environmental injustice and create a powerful piece of protest art in response.

Visions of Resistance launched at Trinity’s Garden Party back in May with a mural workshop. Participants were encouraged to think of artistic responses to the five research strands of the Art of Resistance project - Reclaiming the Environment, Women’s Equality, Counter Culture, Anti-Racism/Anti-Fascism and Working-Class Equality. These responses were expressed through a mix of mediums including collage, paint and printmaking.

The initial workshop at Garden Party was then followed workshops focusing on printmaking and collaging. These workshops encouraged participants to develop on the themes of protest and activist art with sessions focusing on printing radical imagery, slogans and lettering to make placards that represented social causes that resonated with them personally.

Tanith collated placards created during the workshops as well as illustrations representing significant moments in Bristol’s protest history such as the toppling of the statue of Edward Colston and the Bristol Bus Boycott to produce the final mural which represents a broad range of activism in Bristol over the last 100 years.

About Art of Resistance

Art of Resistance is a two-year National Lottery Heritage Funded exploring 100 years of social activism, protest and civil disobedience in Bristol and the art that underpinned each movement.

Trinity are proud to be the Bristol partners of The World Reimagined, a ground-breaking, national education project transforming how we understand the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans.

“If we’re going to make racial justice a reality for all, it calls on us to courageously face our shared history with honesty, empathy and grace" - Michelle Gayle, The World Reimagined Co-founder

The project features 103 unique globes placed across seven cities in the UK, including nine in Bristol, forming an education trail to allow the public to learn more about the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans.

Trinity are hosting a globe entitled 'Legacy' created by Alex Grose - a local artist specialising in drawing, painting and printmaking. Since 2011, Grose has focussed upon the human condition and lost generations, layering to obscure, destroy, hide, cover, manipulate, strip and wash away images and materials, using these forms of making to symbolise the passage of time and the way history affects memory and knowledge in contemporary society.

The globe will be on display to the public in Trinity's Garden from 13 August - 31 October 2022.

With more than 2m trail visitors; 200+ schools; 75+ community organisations, The World Reimagined will be one of the largest art education projects for racial justice the UK has ever seen. The coming together of art, education, activism and community will make for a unique moment as we examine our shared history and help us to better understand what it means to be British.

Click here to find out more about The World Reimagined.