Illustration by James Seymour

It’s on a drizzly Wednesday afternoon that I find myself passing the busy nail salons and gold chain filled windows of East Street, Bedminster. Under the green glow of Asda, I skirt around the pavement patrons of the Barley Mow and turn right to be faced with an eccentric cider house and an industrial estate beyond. I pause, unsure. I am looking for Windmill Hill City Farm, Bristol’s oldest city farm, whose funding struggles reached a head in 2009 when they appealed to the public to help raise £50,000 to remain open.
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Tuesday 20th until Saturday 24th April 2010 @ Bristol Old Vic, Bristol

Short Fuses is a simple but brilliant idea from the Bristol Old Vic: 5 local writers, 20 minutes each, 2 characters each, and 1 shared starting point. In the case of this week’s shows, each writer was given the simple statement “The State We’re In…” and now for 5 nights in the Bristol Old Vic Studio you can see what they came up with. Each writer interpreted the provocation in a different way and the result is a very interesting and very varied night out at the theatre.

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The leader of Bristol City Council, Barbara Janke, and current MP for Bristol West, Stephen Williams, issued the following statement last night to be read out at the next PRSC/‘NO Tesco in Stokes Croft’ public meeting:
“We support your campaign for Stokes Croft to become a distinctive destination in Bristol. Yet another chain store doesn’t help achieve this aim. The planning process needs reform so local people can shape their communities. Supermarkets also need to be regulated. But we can’t just have a campaign against Tesco at this site. We need a viable alternative proposition. That is why we are tonight calling on local residents and businesses, social enterprises, architects and anyone else with an alternative vision for this site to come forward. We hope this competition will spark local imagination but also attract national interest. We want to work with the community to continue the transformation of Stokes Croft.”
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Thursday 25th and Friday 26th March 2010 @ Ustinov, Theatre Royal Bath, Bath

The superb Milton Keynes-based theatre company Dancing Brick are back in the Westcountry this week with their new show, 6.0: How Heap And Pebble Took On The World And Won. 2009’s 21:13 was the best show SY Magazine saw anywhere all last year and let’s hope this one is just as charming, funny, poignant, beautiful and memorable.

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Monday 15th March 2010 @ Stokes Croft, Bristol

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Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th March 2010 @ Brunel’s Old Station, Temple Meads, Bristol

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You’d be surprised at the scale of Bristol’s fame. Over the last couple of decades, many of its streets, parks and monuments have been immortalised in popular TV programmes and films, from old classics like Only Fools And Horses to modern hits like Skins. The locations within Bristol have all been central to the shows and their storylines and while they’re not going to change anyone’s lives, it does make living here a tiny bit more exciting!
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Bristolians Against Fluoridation (BAF) is a new group formed to oppose the imposed mass medication of Bristol and the surrounding areas in that would result from NHS South West instructing the water company to fluoridate our tap water. Their view is that fluoridation is not ethical, does not work, is not safe and therefore not wanted. The Government are keen on fluoridation but we must not allow it to be imposed upon us here. The decision to fluoridate water in Hampshire was recently taken despite 72% of the public being opposed!
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