At our Speaker Meeting we were delighted to welcome Henry Alpass whose knowledge of St George’s amazed us.  Henry took us through the different phases of St George’s ending with the recent upgrade.   He told us that in in the early 1800s St George’s was St Augustine’s Chapel  and was built in a burial ground between Great George Street and Charlotte Street.  Then in 1832, it became St George’s Brandon Hill. Then in 1975, lunchtime concerts began at St George’s.  The first evening concert took place in 1981 and then in 1984, St George’s closed as a parish church.  In the 1990s St George’s became a concert hall and the pews were replaced by seats.  Finally in 2018, a new pavilion extension was completed, with a new gallery and performance spaces. We were amazed at the changes that have taken place over the

Nick Gazzard’s daughter, Hollie, was brutally murdered by her partner 10 years ago following a relationship characterised by domestic violence, abuse and stalking.   Her family, Dad, Nick, Mum, Amanda and sister Chloe, decided to deal with this terrible loss in a positive way and set up a Trust in her name which aims to educate, inform and protect young people from such behaviour by providing programmes for use in schools and colleges and information provided through social media. They have also developed an amazing app called Hollie Guard which actually provides young people with protective measures they may take to raise an alarm with family, police or other named people to alert them that they are in danger in ways which would be unknown by an attacker.   It is incredibly sophisticated and has saved lives in various ways, not always related to physical attacks but

Soroptimists are always open to learning and our speaker Sabeena Pirooz (a senior clinical negligence solicitor and Director of The Sky Project) taught us a great deal about a subject very few of us knew about in detail but is a huge cause for concern for some women and girls. In 2009, Sabeena learned that many 16-year-old girls were not returning to education, and some appeared to ‘disappear’, so she started ‘The Sky Project’ to confront the issue of forced marriage and honour based abuse. The project has three main aims: To educate and raise awareness of the issue, train professionals and form a multi-agency network.  From these aims, the outcomes should hopefully stop domestic violence and abuse, suicide and self-harm, depression, sexual abuse, Female Genital Mutilation and honour killings (14 a year). A forced marriage is coercion which can be physical, psychological, emotional, or

Our Speaker  Meeting on Monday, 8th May welcomed Henry Rossiter, talking about the Watercress Project. At this south Bristol wildlife haven in-the-making, 1331 different plant and animal species are thriving in their rewilding project, increasing by 165 – and counting –  in just the last year. The Belmont Estate in Wraxall is a ‘redefined and reimagined country estate on a mission to regenerate land, reverse biodiversity loss and reconnect communities to nature.’. This is Henry’s family 400-acre nature restoration project. In 2019 the Rossiter family purchased nearby Watercress Farm where they also run  an educational project that involves schools’ visits, ensuring children learn about biodiversity and have the opportunity to explore nature freely. In addition, they run family days of nature-driven activities around their resetting and rewilding projects. The Watercress project is fascinating regenerative estate aiming to connect through environmental conservation. They are extending their

  25 Years of Transforming Leisure     We can all have some very set ideas about Leisure Centres, what they involve and who uses them.  Perhaps we think that only the fit and active among us use them!  Sarah’s talk, however, gave us a much wider insight into why, as a nation, we need to view Leisure in a far more holistic way and provide Centres that cater for all age groups with their many diverse needs and abilities to keep fit and stay healthy. The key aim being to create a much healthier and active society.  Sarah referred to examples of where new-style Leisure Centres had become a community hub of health and wellbeing as they brought people together socially as well as actively. At the end Bridget thanked Sarah and said  “Thank you for a fascinating talk this evening.  When I saw

    Toby Pinn, who has entertained us on a number of occasions gave a most interesting talk at our Speaker Meeting on ‘The Fine Art of Valuation. Price is what you pay, value is what you get‘.He had brought a selection of objects and used these to show how prices change because of fashion and popular demand and because of the change in the value of gold and silver.The value of an item is dictated by market forces and therefore subject to constant change.Toby said that platinum used to be the most valuable metal, but its value had been overtaken by that of gold, while the value of silver had dropped.This affects the monetary value of objects but he pointed out that objects often have a value beyond price.Thank you Toby, it was a fascinating evening and we are already looking forward to your

    We welcomed our Margaret Parkinson our Regional President  who joined us at our Speaker Meeting .  Thank you Margaret is was lovely seeing you here in Bristol.       Alison Bevan, Director/CEO gave a  fascinating talk about the history of Royal West of England Academy (RWA).      The RWA is Bristol’s first Art Gallery, described by Sir Nicholas Serota as one of the most beautiful galleries in the country.  The RWA began its existence in 1844 at the instigation of a woman artist, Ellen Sharples for the promotion of Fine Arts. It soon became an important and well-regarded art institution. One of the main activities has been to hold an Open Exhibition, with a brief break during the Second World War (when the building was requisitioned for use by GI’s stationed in Bristol). The annual exhibition has shown thousands of artworks by amateur artists as well

    Welcome Sharon:   Before our Speaker Meeting we were delighted to welcome Sharon.  We know she will enjoy our programme work and will settle in quickly        Clive started by telling us that that the following story came about because of a photograph he found of his grandfather in the first world war.      He then told us that in 1914 a large area between Ashton Gate and Cumberland Basin was developed to house the Bristol International Exhibition.  They planned a trade fair and amusement park supported by the great and the good of Bristol.  200 workmen a week worked for just 10 weeks and then it opened.  He showed us many pictures of the site as it developed, and it was nicknamed “White City”.  It was an amazing site, that could be viewed from Bedminster Down.  The funds £100,000 were

  At our evening meeting on November 13th the speaker was Nick Houndsfield whose vision and determination was the inspiration for The Wave, an inland surfing lake just outside of Bristol. It is an amazing story of how the Wave was built in 2019/2020, his philosophy behind the company focussing on the environment, health, sustainability and accessibility for all, men, women, children and for those with disabilities.  It was born out of a passion for technology, nature and human health. All should have enjoyment and fun. The team is working towards the ultimate goal of Paralympic inclusion for surfing. It was a truly inspiring evening given by a very modest man, thank you Nick.