South Bristol - The Summer 2024

Welcome to our special edition of stories from groups which are representing equalities communities in South Bristol. By this we mean groups which have been identified through law as being discriminated against by our society. It is important in community development work to work alongside people who are further marginalised to amplify their voice and to support them to take action on the things that they care about. Here are their stories.

In 2023, Bristol City Council Community Development Team worked alongside Many Minds - a Bristol Based Mental Health Charity, and Breathing fire, a black led theatre group to co facilitate with residents in Bedminster, a Forum Theatre production. Forum Theatre is where the participants design their own performance based on their lived experience and when performed the audience can get involved to explore solutions to local issues. 

Over 30 people attended St Philip St Chapel in Bedminster to watch the performance, named 'Welcome to Bedminster.' 

A local resident Louisa said. "My husband Robert was starting on his road to recovery after a serious decline in his mental health. After seeing the flyer for the performance group we both decided to give it a go. We came to the group, myself as a carer, along with my husband. I liked that it was really open and not only discussing mental health, but also what was happening in the community for everyone, that really attracted us and kept us coming back.”  

“We experienced an enormous sense of belonging and acceptance within the group which we were looking for. The group came together as strangers, all from living in the local area, both new people who had moved in and people born and bred in Bedminster. We grew to become lovely friends as we entrusted the group, part of this was our telling our story and encouraging others to tell theirs. We got support from everyone in the cast of local people and professionals. After the performance, my husband has got his confidence back, he stands tall and is driving again now. This is a huge step and as made a huge difference to me as a carer, we feel like we belong again." 

BS3 resident, Marcus told us how he got involved in the project "Lynn Parfitt from the Council came along to my choir and invited anyone who was there to attend an acting group. I was anxious and nervous in the beginning but I persevered and kept coming with Pete, a friend of mine. The whole experience was like a bolt out of the blue. Drama propelled my confidence and drove me forward. I am now trying new things - I started going to the amateur dramatics at the ACTA centre - I love it - amateur dramatics is now my thing." 

 Omar was part of the group and said "I've loved my time with the group. I enjoyed the process of us developing the production and learned a massive amount by performing in it. My scenes with everyone felt very special because they all had a tinge of truth to them, it helped a lot that we had a shared history with the area as well, regardless of where we originate and the lives we've lived. Everyone was brilliant. Overall I am so glad I found the group online, having lived in Bristol for a long time, I haven't made myself very aware of all the activities going on around me, especially how lively the Windmill Hill City Farm is. Thank you so much to all involved." 

 The performance tackled issues of being a migrant, regeneration, gentrification, accessing and the high demand for local services, poverty, and gambling. To see a short documentary of the performance please  click here. 

A group Hartcliffe residents, decided they wanted to support the local community to cook on a budget, and to help with the cost-of-living crises. This group has been so successful, with 50+ residents attending the sessions each month.  

They were nominated and received The Cost-of-Living Crisis Response award from VOSCUR at the Bristol Social Impact Awards Ceremony in February 2024. 

Congratulations to all the volunteers and this is their story... 

Why did you want to do this? 

“We wanted to bring people together, to share cooking and eating different cultural meals. After Covid, we were aware that people had become socially isolated and needing to re-connect. We found out there was funding available for food projects from a Jewson’s grant and the idea grew. We also wanted a space to support and signpost the community to access services in the area and beyond.” 

“We put in a grant application to run a local cooking and skill sharing project and have a space for dining with the community. We were successful and awarded £3000 and it started in July 2023 and happens every second Wednesday of the month.”  

 What did you hope to achieve? 

“We wanted to support local people, to make a meal on a small budget, and inspire them to do home cooking.  Create a space to socialise get to know each other and learn about our different cultures, respect our differences, build connections, and reduce tensions. We wanted the monthly sessions to be a space that was welcoming to everyone, where people can come and share their challenges, as well as sharing positive stories about living in the area.” 

How do you decide what to cook? 

“Each month one of the volunteers will buy and cook the food. So far, the community have enjoyed Turkish, Sri Lankan, Thai, Philippines, Nigerian and Bulgarian dishes.” 

The Volunteers Reflections 

“I have always been passionate about cooking and helping others cook, and having this in the community is such a great opportunity for all of us to explore especially with the current state of living costs. So far, I have seen great cooking/eating sessions happening, mixture of cultures and spices, love and laughter, education about food and religion.” 

“We have had positive feedback from the community, achieved great integration, and the project provided opportunity to welcome new residents in the area."

“I enjoyed meeting new people as well as connecting with residents also from Sri Lanka”. 

Residents and best friends, Donna and Sue, are regulars at the BS13 Cooking Club and said. “We like coming to the meal, it is good to catch up with friends and meet new ones. We enjoy eating different food from other countries.”  

Young leaders from across the city (including South Bristol) successfully lead a social action event where they created a community day in Barton Hill. Collaborating with local people and organisations, they helped bring a day of fun to all ages. Each young leader brought their own skills and passions to the event. Aelisha co- managed and cooked delicious food for all who attended, supported by Deniece and Gabby at Cafe Conscious, where the planning group had based themselves in the weeks running up to the event.  

Deniece said ‘I have been here for 12 years, and I have never seen a bigger or better event in this community, you should all be very proud of what you achieved.’ 

Louis provided parkour (free running) and ‘assisted through the event, running around, helping out.’ He said ‘it went well, lots of people were there, around five hundred people through the day. We all worked well as a team, so even when we ran out of food, we problem solved and found a solution together, picking up extra food.’ 

Louis’ partner Charlotte helped with parkour and supported Aelisha with the cooking ‘My favourite bit was when Aelisha came back fully determined, she completely smashed it.’ 

Gabes facilitated circus skills, djing on a wheelie bin sound system and creative arts and graffiti, Faizaan coordinated a raffle for ‘Faiz’s prizes’ giving out gifts he had sourced from businesses and family. He commented ‘it was a fun day, the kids really enjoyed it, it went better than I thought it would. The planning sessions really helped it feel ok on the day. My family and my mentor came to support me too.’ 

The event was deisgned to bring different communities together who live in Barton Hill and it did just that. 

Louis commented that his favourite part was ‘the people, we got on surprisingly well, usually when people come from across the city there are some clashes, there is an opinion you have based on where people are from, you assume what someone is going to be like, but that’s not the case. It was great to meet and hang out with new people.’ 

Faizaan said ‘it highlighted how much I had achieved; it didn’t feel like I had done so much. I enjoyed getting to know everyone, the mentoring, and the training with Julia and Kerry, I also enjoyed planning with the group. I now I have got a job.’ 

Katy, Public Health Specialist said; ‘This has been my first experience of working directly with communities (and with the Communitiy Development Team) on Domestic Abuse interventions, and it has quickly become one of my favourite projects. From the initial planning session with the Focus Group to seeing the event come to life, everything has been done with and by the residents of Hartcliffe and Withywood. Despite the discouraging statistics around domestic abuse in the area, the people who have shared their time and experiences with us have shown real dedication to improving the lives of survivors and increasing awareness of the issue. I have learned a lot from both the residents and the Communities team and look forward to seeing what the group achieves in the future.’ 

In October 2023, funding had been set aside from the public health grant to do work with communities about the prevention of and recovery from domestic abuse. 

Hartcliffe and Withywood was chosen as one of the communities for this work due to the high levels of reporting and some concern around residents feeling that domestic abuse is a private matter.  

It was important that local people were involved how this funding would be spent to ultimately support them and people in their community. In Hartcliffe through our community development work we have been building a culture with residents of “nothing for us without us.”  Alongside our Public Health colleagues, we brought together a group of women with lived experience of domestic abuse to hold a conversation about how this work could be introduced in the area. 

The group decided to hold an event for local women where we could talk to them about what sort of initiatives they thought would work.  It was designed as a wellbeing event and local networks were used to promote the event.  The event consisted of a series of ‘tasters’ of different initiatives all with a connection to a pamper activity. Conversations were prompted by facilitators at each table to draw out the thoughts and opinions of the women as well as local domestic abuse services were present to offer support and guidance. 

Around 30 local women attended the event and gave their feedback which has now informed next steps and the steering group are busy working alongside a local community organisation who will be employing a worker. The role of this worker is to work with local residents and develop the project ideas that came out of the event with them so the projects will be community led. 

Local residents now feel heard and valued for their involvement in the project and will continue to stay involved in recruiting the new worker and bringing their expertise to the co-designing of new projects for women in their community. Our Public Health colleagues have changed the way they would have delivered this initiative and moved away from ‘doing to’ the community and towards ‘doing with’ the community building trust along the way.   

The COVID19 pandemic and the Cost-of-Living Crisis have starkly highlighted how equalities groups are impacted more than other groups and how we still have a lot of work a lot to do to make people’s experiences the same. Working with Knowle West Alliance we looked at how we could engage people who feel on the edge of their community and look for more opportunities to help people feel welcome and included.  

We had community conversations through door knocking and visiting bumping spaces to talk to people, particularly those who feel isolated. From listening to what people wanted we provided monthly drop-in sessions across Knowle West, providing welcoming spaces for conversation, in different areas and spaces to ensure people could reach them easily. These provide a chance to chat and signpost to opportunities, activities, and ways to access support and advice. From these sessions, residents have accessed funding to set up their own groups and activities around things that interest and matter to them.  

Forum Theatre gave local people with lived experience the opportunity to come together and create a performance around their lived experience to share with others in their community. It helped highlight the issues facing disabled people and those with long term health conditions and elevated voices often unheard. This was shared with a group of young people from Lawrence Weston who talked about issues facing them.  Click here  to watch a short film.

We have worked with young people to support their social action projects working with Mutual Gain, Youth Moves and Grassroot Communities. Young people have worked alongside residents to collaborate on projects that are meaningful and impact their communities in a positive way. Each project has highlighted the skills, strengths and creative ideas of the young leaders and the care and thought around their communities. Through this work a peer led LGBTQ+ youth group was set up.  

Through developing a community champion network, we are able to support local people to organise and run successful events including a successful diversity fun day and an Eid event, which was replicated this year.  

The way we are working has been shared through our newly developed action group, that includes local people, local groups, and organisations who want to support meaningful work prioritising equity. The sessions have been a place to highlight good practice, use a collective to problem solve, and support positive change and approaches. 

From this work we celebrate the development of the One Love Hub, a multi-cultural group of local people who come together to share skills and passions and create an inclusive space for people to connect, and a new Somali resident led group. Through continuing this work we will co-create a more welcoming community and improve access to opportunity for everybody. 

In the autumn of 2023, Holland House Hotel on Redcliffe Hill in South Bristol was commissioned to house refugee and asylum seeker families as part of a Home Office funded program. 

Bristol City Council (BCC) Community Development Team have been working alongside residents and agencies in Redcliffe for some years to improve the lives of those that live there. The arrival of large numbers of families into the area meant that there was an opportunity for us to build on this work.  

Through the Resettlement Team at BCC, we were able to identify funding for The Redcliffe Community Hub, a community organisation based on Redcliffe, enabling them to directly offer a range of activities and initiatives that would support the involvement of the new residents. We wanted to create opportunities for them to meet other people in the community and to use their skills.  

Redcliffe Community Hub held play sessions for families which we used to discuss other things that were happening in the community and to find out what they would like to do. We started seeing people access other activities in the neighbourhood such as holiday clubs and stay and play sessions.  

Redcliffe Community Hub also started holding a weekly ‘cook up’ session which proved popular with families, who come from across the globe and are used to very diverse diets which the hotel is unable to cater for. The ‘cook ups’ have enabled families to cook and share familiar cultural dishes. Cooking is a big part of most cultures, so being able to feed your family with food that they know and enjoy is really important. The ‘cook ups’ have become a space where families from different cultural backgrounds build relationships and get to know each other through their passion for food. 

The Hub have also hosted Meet and Greet sessions where residents from the hotel have met with members of the more established community members, building their awareness of each other’s lived experiences and getting to know one another, an important step to people feeling welcomed into the local area. At one of the Meet and Greets, a Caribbean refugee from the hotel offered to host a weekly Conversation Club in The Hub, a great example of someone volunteering to share their skills; stepping up to offer an opportunity for others to improve their spoken English. 

I’m Marilyn and my role is as an Inclusive Communities facilitator. Within my role I look to connect with individuals from equalities communities to make sure they can play a part in their community. I’m now in post and I love my job. 

I met Ranjit in the Counterslip Church, Food Bank on first week of May. I was volunteering to help, she came to collect her food. We introduced ourselves to each other, sat down for a coffee and had nice conversation. We connected easily. 

Ranjit told me her family have newly moved to Hengrove. They don't know anyone in the area. I took and showed  her to different places and  introduced to some local groups and people who could support her. To start with I accompanied  her and her  children to clubs and invited the family to community events.  

It was a perfect timing that someone I know is giving away her sofa. Ranjit’s family really needed it – I also heard a local neighbour is giving away some stuff. We arranged for Ranjit’s family to have it – all useful equipment for the kitchen which they didn’t have. The family have now settled well and these connections have made a real difference. 

This is what Ranjit says: 

June 10, 2024 

Dear Marilyn, 

 Thank you for your support and guidance! I really appreciate the time you gave me and I connect others in community. I just moved in Bristol and I met her you in church .  You offered me coffee and we talked about an hour. You introduced me to places and activities in the area. In my previous property, my family and I faced hate crime but after we met, my feeling more confident in the community. 

Once again thank you so much for your help and support. 

Ranjit Kaur 

Hengrove, Bristol 

 As part of my new role in Hengrove I have met other BAME residents who are unconnected, so together we have created Global Family and Friends Whatspps group. Ranjit is one of the admins. She can add friends who would like to be in the group and post information. 

I am loving being able to connect people together in my role, and see what a difference it makes to their lives. 

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