NF01 November/December 2023
Issue one of nearfield celebrates new beginnings across the region. We get excited about the reopening of Bristol Beacon, meet the hardy dippers revelling in the cold waters of the restored Cleveland Pools, find out what the Bristol Old Vic's new artistic director has planned; and explore the vintage shops, upcycling workshops, and reclamation yards breathing fresh life into old. We also keep readers moving through winter with a guide to indoor and outdoor activities, and meet the Icebreakers in our first community takeover. Plus we round up all the best events, experiences, and food and drink in the southwest this winter.
Issue one of nearfield celebrates new beginnings across the region. We get excited about the reopening of Bristol Beacon, meet the hardy dippers revelling in the cold waters of the restored Cleveland Pools, find out what the Bristol Old Vic's new artistic director has planned; and explore the vintage shops, upcycling workshops, and reclamation yards breathing fresh life into old. We also keep readers moving through winter with a guide to indoor and outdoor activities, and meet the Icebreakers in our first community takeover. Plus we round up all the best events, experiences, and food and drink in the southwest this winter.
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40 Bristol Beacon<br />
ACCESS ALL AREAS<br />
Cathy Mager picks out a few of the region's<br />
accessible spaces<br />
Royal West of England<br />
Academy<br />
RWA offer sensory bags<br />
for neurodivergent visitors,<br />
accessible activities,<br />
special tours for adults with<br />
dementia, and the calming<br />
Youngwood Room.<br />
rwa.org.uk<br />
The Watershed<br />
They offer a range of<br />
options such as masked<br />
and socially distanced film<br />
screenings, and sessions<br />
for visitors with autism.<br />
watershed.co.uk<br />
Rondo Theatre<br />
The Stolen Winter Light<br />
(13-24 <strong>December</strong>) is a fully<br />
accessible festive show<br />
with BSL and captioned<br />
access, touch tours, and<br />
‘screaming’ performances<br />
for babies and children.<br />
nfld.io/stolenwinter<br />
The Wave<br />
Their adaptive surfing<br />
sessions are tailored to<br />
access requirements,<br />
whether physical, learning<br />
or sensory.<br />
thewave.com<br />
There have been more meaningful<br />
incidents, too: “I wanted to highlight<br />
the resistance and activism, without<br />
shying away from more uncomfortable<br />
episodes,” Cathy says. “In March 1934,<br />
the British Union of Fascists’ leader<br />
Oswald Mosley gave a talk here. But<br />
6,000 people demonstrated outside,<br />
and some hid in the stalls to disrupt<br />
the meeting.” Similarly, in May 1909,<br />
suffragettes Vera Holme and Elsie<br />
Howey waited in the grand pipe of the<br />
organ to interrupt a political speech by<br />
Augustine Birrell.<br />
More recently, of course, the venue's<br />
name has been a subject for debate.<br />
In 1998, Massive Attack announced<br />
they would boycott the venue as long<br />
as it bore the name of the slave trader<br />
Edward Colston. In 2017, plans for<br />
a name change were under way, and<br />
expedited after the resurgence of the<br />
Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.<br />
“We’ve tried to communicate Black Lives<br />
Matter as a continuation of a long-<br />
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