LivingBristol.co.uk

Cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen are famous for their cycles. Everywhere cyclists fly by on black bikes.

The UK department of transport has recently launched a bid to encourage cycling and Bristol has beaten off competition from other major cities to become the first “cycling city”. A grant of 11.4 million pounds will be used to provide free bikes to poorer communities, excellent locker and storage facilities in the city centre and dedicated cycle paths linking the suburbs and the city centre.

Would like to earn extra money in Bristol by renting out your property? Film Bristol is a local Bristol website with holds a registration database of properties in Bristol. You can register there and prospective film makers can approach you about hiring out your property.

Any type of property that could be used on TV or in a film is required. So that could be a stately home, a 3-bed semi or a scruffy student place. If you are willing to put with a few smelly cameramen traipising round this could be a fun and interestig way to earn some extra money.

Volunteering is a great way to do something positive for the world, gain experience and hopefully have some fun. So where can you volunteer in Bristol?

The BristolVolunteers website is the first place to look. It contain a comprehensive list of places to volunteer, grouped by sector, and includes a useful urgent vacancies list.

Nationwide Organisations 

If you are a good listener maybe you would be interested in becoming a Samaritan. Information sessions are held the first evening of every month in central Bristol on St Nicholas Street.

Arts Organisations

The Cube cinema is a local independent cinema. It is not for profit and entirely volunteer run. It exists as a community social space hwoing films, events and music that would not be shown elsewhere. They do a volunteer induction once a month.

Grapevine social are running a wine tasting/speed dating event this Friday the 18th of April in Central Bristol at Po Na Na’s nightclub.

The age range is going to be 26-38, although this is leeway either side of that. If you are a 40 year woman with a taste for younger men then you should be ok. The night kicks off at 7:30 and includes free entry to the club later that evening.

For booking details follow this link.

The Pierian Centre Bristol is hosting a festival of art this weekend the 14th, 15th and 16th of March. The centre is located in a lovely building in St Pauls just a few minutes walk away from broadmead and the city centre. The building itself has lots of beautiful artwork and there is a nice leafy park outside if you want to bring along a packed lunch.

The programme is as follows:

Friday 14th March

6.30pm Grand opening of Art ExhibitionTasters of the delights in store! Music - refreshments! Stanfords book launch.

7.30pm“Unforgettable Walks to Take before You Die” by Steve Watkins & Clare Jones (BBC Books)

Saturday 15th March

11am-5pm Art Exhibition

10.30am Shadow puppet workshop & animated film “The Pilgrimage” for families with kids 7–11(Jonathan Hayter - Figure of Speech)

2.30pm Summiting Ama Dablam:Nikki Skinner’s journey from Kendal to Khumbu

7.30pmThrough the Giant Caves of Borneo : illustrated talk by cave explorer Dick Willis

Sunday 16th March

11am-5pm Art Exhibition

11.00amBooks & Buns Morning -coffee, croissants, books & authors

1.30pm“A Message to the Sea” - performance around the Atlantic Slave Triangle

4pm Iraq War: Diana Warner’s experiences on her Bristol to London peace walk

Cabot Circus Cantata: screening & discussion of Neville Gabie

7pm& David Ogden’s musical film Travels with a Trumpet: David Mowat’s story

Guerilla Galleries is a new shop/exhibition space on Gloucester Road specialising in graffiti and street art. Bristol and, in particular the Stokes Croft area, has a thriving graffiti scene centred round Cheltenham and Gloucester Road. 

They showcase artists like cheba, inkie and FLX.

The gallery is open Wednesday to Saturday midday to seven at 140-142 Gloucester Road.

The Bristol Festival of Ideas 2008  is a series of lectures exploring some of the big, and frankly, daunting ideas out there in humanity.  The lectures are spread out over the course of a couple of months starting on the 29th of January and finishing the 28th of March.

This years selection tackles such monsters as global warming, democracy, creativity and rational choice. Each one being covered seperately in individual talks with moderately famous authors/intellectuals/clever people.

The highlight for me will be Charles Leadbetter’s talk “We-think: The Power of Mass Creativity” which promises to discuss some really recent cultural and technical changes. How websites such as youtube, wikipedia and craigslist can release innovation and creativity.

Leadbetter is going to be giving similar talks on “We think” at the Tribeca Film Festival and the Tallberg conference in Sweden. So it is nice to see Bristol on the creative map alongside these.

You can download a draft version of the book here and get involved in some community conversation around it as well… which is, after all, exactly what the book discusses.

Ticket prices are fairly steep at £17.50 a pop although the concession price of £7.50 looks better value especially when you usually can pick up a free book from the presenter. Last year most of the attendees seemed to go along for free because there company had sponsored the event and the organisation was a little chaotic. I paid full price but could easily have gotten in for free as no tickets were checked.

The full programme can be found here.

Ever wanted to be a part of Big Brother? Are you looking for Big Brother auditions in Bristol? Well you are quite possibly mad but you can still apply to take part in the 2008 programme. Auditions are taking place up to January 20th.  Unfortunately there are no auditions planned locally for Bristol so the nearest one will be in London on the 19th and 20th January.

The auditions have never taken place in Bristol which is a shame although they usually have a casting each year close by in Cardiff. Other locations are Newcastle, Glasgow, Dublin, Belfast and Manchester. So maybe we will have Big Brother auditions in Bristol for 2009.

To book your place check out this link.

A conman is on the loose in Bristol local police have reported. A series of cunning raids have been carried, police suspect, by one man. Sometimes known as the ‘Beanie Man’, due to his propensity for wearing Beanie style hats, the culprit has been perpetrating an energy related con trick against trusting local residents.

Hi MO is simple. He knocks on a door posing as an innocent new neighbour with electrical problems. “I can’t get the lights on!”. He asks for an extension lead, then turns it down because “it isn’t the right shape” then procedes to ask for money for the electrical meter. Once the money is handed over he is off sharpish with his promises to return proving to be a callous lie.

He is known to boast about his connections with local curry houses and to offer free meals, which of course never materialise, in return for spare change.

There is an interesting film showing for anyone working in the healthcare industry in Bristol. Bristol doctors and may well want to go along to the January 23rd screening of Profit Before Patients, hosted by pharmaware, at the Bristol Royal Informary. Entry is free. The film itself is a 50 minute documentary on the ethics of the pharmaceutical industry.

Definitely of interest to healthcare professionals in Bristol.