Avon Stories

Dr Edson Burton is a man with many strings to his bow: historian, poet, playwright, performer, storyteller and programmer/curator, just as the start.

I talked to him about his work, how he got into writing in the first place, running poetry and story-telling workshops, events he curates, and much more. And we finished the conversation by Bristol Harbour, where he read one of his poems.

You can find the links to Edson's work, including his recent play on BBC Radio 4, on my website:

https://avonstories.com/2017/07/26/avon-stories-8-edson-burton/

Photo provided by Edson Burton, taken by Claudio Ahlers.

In this week's podcast, Charlie Revelle-Smith, author of Bristol-based murder mysteries, told me about some of the famous historical murders around the Bristol Harbour, and what they reveal about the city, as well as some of the ghost stories.

He also told me about his Weird Bristol twitter, which shares fantastic factoids about the city. You can find links to the things we talked about on my website:

https://avonstories.com/2017/07/21/avon-stories-7-weird-bristol/

John Raymond-Barker runs RB Boatbuilding, one of the last boatyards on Bristol's Harbour. He builds Bristol Channel Pilot Cutters, and told me about these unique boats, and being a link back to Bristol's history.

More information, and photos, on my website:https://avonstories.com/2017/07/15/avon-stories-podcast-6-rb-boatbuilding/

A walk down the Avon with Nikki Pugh, an artist who investigates how we perceive, move through and interact with our surroundings. Her work combines a mixture of techniques, including sculpture, walking, playfulness and use of technology. Often it also includes other people getting involved in some way.

We talked about her art, playing in the city, and a lot more, and got very excited about the tide going out, and the silt in the Avon - please join us!

Our photos from the walk are on my website http://www.avonstories.com

Part 2 of a conversation with Dr Peter Fleming, a professor at the University of the West of England, who specialises in Medieval History.

We talked about the people who lived in the city, from the Icelandic slaves to the Knights Templars, the Jewish communities, how women lived, and more; how the city responded to the huge events of the era, including Plague and war; and what Bristolians did for fun.

For links to everything we talked about, go to my website, https://avonstories.com/2017/07/05/avon-stories-4-podcast/

The first of a two-part podcast with Dr Peter Fleming of the University of the West of England talking about Bristol in Medieval times, and how the River Avon and the River Frome were integral in making it one of the most important cities in England and Western Europe.

We talk about the physical city and the infrastructure, how the geography made Bristol so important, as well as how people lived, who had the power, and what the city would have looked (and smelled) like.

There are maps, photos and links to things we talked about on my website

https://avonstories.com/2017/06/27/avon-stories-podcast-3/

For this Avon Story, I travelled 20 miles outside of Bristol, to find out about the railway line that runs up the Avon Gorge to Pill and the Royal Portbury Dock, and used to continue on to Portishead, on the Bristol Channel.

Dave Chillistone of the Portishead Railway Group took me for a walk and told me why the railway was built, the impact on the town, why it was closed, and why the PRG are campaigning for it to be re-opened.

You can follow our walk, with photos and lots more information, on my website, http://www.avonstories.com

Avon Stories is a podcast exploring the River Avon in Bristol, and one of the best resources to learn about the city and the river is Know Your Place, where you can overlay maps going back to the early eighteenth century onto current maps, and view photos, paintings and all kinds of archive material in context - and add your own, to help build up the record of the city..

Pete Insole is the Historic Environments Officer who runs Know Your Place, and he how and why it was developed, how it has expanded across the whole of South West England, and how it helps us understand some of the key aspects of the city's history, including, of course, the River Avon.

Find the links to things we talked about over at the Avon Stories website:

https://avonstories.com/2017/06/03/avon-stories-podcast-1-pete-insole/