They were formed by brothers Jan and Hamilton Wilkinson in 2001 along with Mathew Wood on drums and Martin Noble on guitar. Releasing their debut album “The Decline Of” in 2003 on Rough trade records, the band garnered a legendary live reputation as well as much critical and commercial success. 2022 saw Sea power at the peak of their creativity releasing the album “Everything was forever” which also included songs originally used in the Disco Elysium soundtrack. It received much praise and found its way on to many top albums of the year list.

+ support: Callum Easter has always been a force of nature. The Edinburgh-based singer and multi-instrumentalist thrives on impulse and spontaneity, balancing that with an impeccable song writing craftsmanship that makes even the more outré moments of his current batch of mutated soul punk/rock‘n’roll instantly arresting.

1900: doors

2000: Callum Easter

2100: Sea Power

Please note this is a standing event, accessible seating is available

Last entry: 2 hours before curfew

Jalen Ngonda is an east coast American singer-songwriter based in Liverpool.

He is one of the most captivating performers on today’s soul scene. His voice, equal parts raw feeling and elegance, exudes confidence and charm. Jalen grew up in a music loving family on the outskirts of Washington D.C. He began musical studies in grade school, where he dabbled in violin, ultimately moving on to the guitar and piano. His inspiration came from listening to his father’s collection, guiding him along a path of constant study and discovery, from early blues to gospel to jazz to rock and soul.

+ Support: Olive Jones is a London-based singer, songwriter and guitarist, Olive Jones draws on soul, jazz and rock-folk to produce her sumptuous melody driven music.

7pm: Doors

8pm: Olive Jones

9pm: Jalen Ngonda

Please note this is a standing event, accessible seating is available

Last entry: 2 hours before curfew

Gerry's Attic - Image Credit: Alastair Brookes

This World Mental Health Day, we are shining a light on some of the activities at Trinity that are specifically programmed to offer support and help improve mental wellbeing.

Next Gen Sounds

Our weekly, drop-in music sessions for young people, Next-Gen Sounds, serves as both a place for young people to collaborate on their musical projects in Trinity’s music studio, but also acts as a safe space for young people to seek support and engage with musicians as a way of improving mental wellbeing. Supported by Bristol-based Mental Health charity ‘Off The Record’, Next-Gen Sounds has played a vital role in supporting young musicians – many of whom are from challenging circumstances – by harnessing the transformative potential of creativity to enhance their mental and emotional resilience.

Community Volunteer Gardening

Trinity's fortnightly Community Volunteer Gardening sessions are relaxed, informal, practical gardening sessions to support the Trinity Community Garden's maintenance and upkeep. Gardening is known to have a profoundly positive impact on mental health and wellbeing. The act of nurturing plants and witnessing their growth fosters a sense of purpose and accomplishment. Gardening encourages mindfulness, reducing stress and anxiety while promoting relaxation. Trinity's Community Volunteer Gardening sessions are very important to people living in the local area, many of whom live in high-rise flats and therefore may not have access to green space of their own, and without Trinity's Community Garden may not gain the positive effects that gardening has on improving mental health and wellbeing.

FAB Disco

FAB Disco is a disco for anyone over the age of 50, delivered in partnership Friends Ageing Better (FAB) and Eastside Community Trust. Isolation and loneliness are all too common among older people, and FAB Disco offers a space for people to socialise, listen to music, and dance together, all of which are proven to have a positive impact on mental health. Music can significantly enhance the mental health of older people by offering emotional support, triggering positive memories, and promoting relaxation. It fosters social connections, reduces stress, and provides an avenue for self-expression, contributing to improved emotional well-being, cognitive function, and overall quality of life.

Creative Wellbeing Workshops

At Trinity, we run Creative Wellbeing Workshops in collaboration with Age UK and Alive Activities. These workshops are a safe and welcoming space for people to take part in arts and crafts activities and to learn more about ways to look after themselves and relax. The sessions are aimed at bringing together individuals from different cultures within the community to explore and share their emotions in a creative and fun way. Using different art materials to express emotion acts as a valuable means of expressing and connecting with emotions, and engaging in this process in the company of other people from the local community can provide the opportunity to increase our understanding of and empathy for each other

Trinity are inviting East Bristol/Central Bristol community organisations or organisations offering community services (e.g education, health, human rights) to take part in Understory, an interactive workshop in which community-based organisations, and those who are involved in community action and engagement, will collectively create an online interactive resource that could help shape the work/activities you do.

The workshop, 90 minutes long, will take place at the Trinity Centre.

Understory has been designed by Onion Collective and Free Ice Cream, (respectively a social enterprise and design studio). More information on it can be found here.

How to book:

Places are limited. For more information about this event, please contact Jenny Farmer, Trinity’s Arts Engagement and Outreach Manager at jen@trinitybristol.org.uk

Trinity are inviting East Bristol/Central Bristol community organisations or organisations offering community services (e.g education, health, human rights) to take part in Understory, an interactive workshop in which community-based organisations, and those who are involved in community action and engagement, will collectively create an online interactive resource that could help shape the work/activities you do.

The workshop, 90 minutes long, will take place on Tuesday 31 October at the Trinity Centre. Attendees will be asked to respond to a series of questions on your phone/tablet/laptop, and in front of you, an interactive map will take shape showing, in real-time, the connections we have.

Following the workshop you’ll gain access to the map, to explore and utilise the data created to support your organisational aims.

Understory has been designed by Onion Collective and Free Ice Cream, (respectively a social enterprise and design studio). More information on it can be found here.

How to book:

Places are limited. For more information about this event, please contact Jenny Farmer, Trinity’s Arts Engagement and Outreach Manager at jen@trinitybristol.org.uk

Trinity Garden Party photo: Sophia Stefelle

We caught up with new member of the Trinity team, Jen Farmer, who has been in the post of Arts Engagement and Outreach Manager since September 2023. We wanted to find out more about what Jen will be focusing on and what she is looking forward to.

Q. Tells us about you:

A: Hi I’m Jen, the Arts Engagement and Outreach Manager here at Trinity. This is a new role, created to support the organisation as we increase our commitment to working with local neighbourhoods and community groups. I started this role in September after eight years working as Outreach Programme Manager at Easton Community Children’s Centre, and for many years before that managing and delivering education, outreach and community arts programmes with schools, theatres and arts organisations.

Q. What will you be focussing on within this role?

Over the next two years I’ll be working closely with cross-sector partners – charities, community groups, social enterprises, grassroot creative organisations and local residents and artists – with three key aims; to design and deliver a targeted programme of place-based activity, to support and add value to our community groups, and to build on and integrate our combined arts offer. We will be working in co-creation with our most local neighbourhoods, responding to, and supporting, their interests.

Q. What are you working on now?

The first step involves understanding community connections within our locality. To do this, we’ve partnered with social enterprise, Onion Collective and gaming technology company, Free Ice Cream.

We are inviting a wide range of local cross-sector organisations to participate in 'Understory', a workshop in which we will create a unique digital network map. Answering a series of questions, participants will see, in real time, the map build, allowing us to explore the relationships between people and organisations.

This map will become an important tool that informs Trinity’s plans as we go forward, and for all the other organisations who participate too.

Q. How can someone take part in Understory?

The workshop will take place on Tuesday 31 Oct 10.30am - 12 midday at Trinity., If someone would like to take part they can email me on Jen@trinitybristol.org.uk for more information.

Q. What else is Trinity doing at the moment?

We are currently working in partnership with St Pauls Carnival and David Jubb (Citizens in Power) to develop a model for a Citizens' Assembly for Culture in 2024. The idea of this is to creates ways for citizens to shape cultural offers for the WECCA region. We are also working with key community partners to help restore Jacobs Wells Baths and re-open the building to be a community hub.

Image credit: Visual Thinkery

This issue of our built environment and who shapes it is a local affair. Aside from exceptions such as the nefarious demolition of The Crooked House pub, campaigns rarely make national news. Headlines of collapsing schools, public sector strikes and unrelenting cost of living and housing crises can make preservation of our heritage and civic realm appear out of touch and NIMBYist.

"Amidst the minefield of regulations, funding shortfalls, and bureaucratic complexities, the neglect of our shared spaces carries profound implications for generations to come. We must move beyond a meritocracy model and the need to balance our short-term fiscal needs to take a duty of care over the long-term reimagining of a shared civic canvas on which to build our collective future."  Emma Harvey

Context is a cornerstone principle of the national planning framework, yet local authorities find the threat of an overturned decision and the resulting fines too risky at a time when 26 English councils risk of bankruptcy in the next two years [^1^]. Councils have powers to issue enforcement notices for urgent preservation or compulsory purchase of important, privately owned buildings. All too often though, it’s these same councils who are the reluctant custodians of our ageing social infrastructure.

We find ourselves trapped in an ongoing “estates rationalisation” exercise that deprives future generations of the shared spaces that shape the collective narratives of our communities. Research from the IPPR shows £15bn of publicly owned assets have been sold off since 2010. That’s 75,000 civic spaces, libraries, leisure centres, community halls and youth spaces lost. There is funding available to save them; £300 million DCMS Youth Investment Fund and £150 million DLUHC Community Ownership Fund. And yet it would appear only a fraction of these central government funds have been allocated.

These old, often listed, almost always complex buildings are in desperate need of investment after decades of cuts that have de-prioritised preventative preservation. This leaves such projects to save these spaces with an inherent messiness that is just to risky amidst continued rising costs of essential services. Such conditions make it almost impossible for all but a few fortuitous groups to lever funds to save the spaces we love.

While new laws have appeared to protect statues in the wake of the Colston statue's toppling, this protection seems to favour a type of politicised heritage storytelling, rather than building connections through our shared past. Our heritage spaces are being co-opted by those looking to control the narrative as exemplified by the recent case of the Restore Trust's bid to dominate the governance within the National Trust [^2^]. If those who control the present control the past and that past shapes our future, then the erosion of our stake and influence in shaping these narratives poses significant threat, especially if we continue to lose the spaces that allow us to make these stories our own.

The idea that we can only fix the roof whilst the sun is shining risks leaving us with no roofs at all under which to learn how to swim, to dance, to read, to make memories, connections and shared solutions to the problems facing us all. After a decade plus of political storms the ability to define heritage, own space and determine which assets should be preserved feels like a luxury. Distracted with the immediacy of our collective woes, the agendas of all but a few will define who we become.

Amidst the minefield of regulations, funding shortfalls, and bureaucratic complexities, the neglect of our shared spaces carries profound implications for generations to come. We must move beyond a meritocracy model and the need to balance our short-term fiscal needs to take a duty of care over the long-term reimagining of a shared civic canvas on which to build our collective future. Cost-saving solutions that fail to think beyond the current political cycle means we pay in perpetuity. Somewhere, in some form, we always pay.

Emma Harvey, CEO

About this article

Trinity are committed to advocating for shared community and cultural spaces. We are members of Locality and are currently leading an appeal to restore Jacobs Wells Baths in Hotwells.

Read our 100 Beacons report that shines a light on the importance of – and understand the risks posed to – Bristol's community and cultural assets.

[^1^]: The Guardian: "At least 26 English councils at risk of bankruptcy in next two years"

[^2^]: The Guardian: “Vote no to the thinktank pod people trying to body-snatch the National Trust”

LINEUP:  
- Opa Rosa (Balkan wedding bangers LIVE) 
- Bazuka (super rapid music from around the globe) (Gun finger sweaty fun times) 
- FFTP (Super fast jigs n reels, and a couple of singalongs LIVE) 
- Kitty (One of Kesh’s favourite people and DJ's in the world) 
- Kesh (Miserable git with some good tunes) 

LOOSE GENRE LIST: 
Panamanian dancehall / Balkan wedding bangers / jigs n reels / Soul songs that will make you cry / Baile funk / Congotronics / Bhangra / Booty shakers / Breakbeat Hardcore / Jungle-techno / Acid Electro / Calypso / Soca / Soukous / Cockney knees up slammers / Jungle / Turkish percussion / S club 7 / Carnaval samba 
ALL NIGHT CURVEBALLS 4 YOU ODDBALLS.

Wheelchair + epilepsy friendly. If you have any other requirements, then get in touch and we will do whatever we can to make this party accessible for you. 

£5 Tickets for the skint crew (please be honest) 
Party games? Maybe 
Dress code? Don't wear anything valuable 
Will it be worth it? yeah probably 
I think this will be fun & that you should all come.

Please note this is a standing event, accessible seating is available

Last entry: 2 hours before curfew

Artwork by Patch Keyes

Duppy Hunter: A Locals Guide to St Paul’s is a ‘listening experience’ where audiences are invited to embark on a playful exploration of St. Paul's, assuming the role of Duppy Hunters in pursuit of an elusive spirit hidden amongst the streets and sights of this vibrant neighbourhood.

This unique experience is a collaboration between Trinity and the renowned Tamasha Theatre Company, whose work supports both emerging & established Global Majority artists and arts organisations Coney who create playful digital experiences.

We caught up with the Director of Duppy Hunter, Hanna Adu-Boateng, to find out more about the adventure:

What attracted you to this project?

The project came about at a time when I was seeking work with Global Majority theatre companies. I was really interested in the collaboration between Tamasha, Coney and Trinity and the concept of the Ends and Tales genre of theatre. I liked the fact that the three organisations were looking for a director who was connected to the Global Majority heritages, especially the African Caribbean communities in St Paul’s, Bristol. I came to Bristol 30 years ago to work creatively within St Paul’s for an organisation called Kuumba, which empowered and developed people of African descent. Dr Edson Burton also worked there at the same time. However, an opportunity has never arisen for me to direct/dramaturg one of his plays. The project brief also aligned with my desire to delve into work which includes interviewing members of the community to draw out personal stories connected to the rich history of St Paul’s. I also was really attracted to the prospect of developing my work with digital media and audio production, which would be a new and exciting challenge for me.

Duppy Hunter is written by Dr Edson Burton, inspired by interviews with the local people of Bristol and their memories. How do you go about directing a piece of work that use community stories?

Directing Duppy Hunter means that you must be able to connect with, design a specific set of questions that you want to ask each interviewee, but also be flexible enough to go with the stories each person wants to tell. The memories of local people and their connection to St Paul’s give authenticity to the narrative, which Edson created. It is important that the writer has confidence in you honouring his work and the local people trust and are comfortable with sharing their memories with you. I think Edson drew out a strong narrative that will relate to many of the community of St Paul’s from decades gone by, but he also included poignant individual memories of characters who have passed, which must be overseen with care and empathy.

Why is a project like this important to Bristol - and beyond?

It is so important that Bristol and places beyond recognises and celebrates the epic contribution the African Caribbean people from the Windrush era onwards have shaped the political landscape, history and culture of the city. You can learn more from projects such as this.

What should someone expect to experience when they sign up for Duppy Hunter?

They should expect to have a lot of fun experiencing the narrative unfold as it transports you from one memory and place to another, through the central character of Josie, who is a Duppy Hunter. They will also be moving through different periods of time, encountering different people who have contributed to the racial justice and equality struggle.They will enjoy music from different decades, the singing of hymns and be moved by real people who have passed but will never be forgotten. They will learn alot!

Duppy Hunter runs from 03 October - 29 October and starts at The Trinity Centre - click here to get your tickets.

Guess the line up:

- Ch_d D_bz ft Wh_ Kn_w

- _ _ _ _

- C_mm_d_ ft M_ng_ St H_l_r_

- C_mm_d_ B2B P_nch

- N_kn_k

- S_n_ _ S_ _nd

Please note this is a standing event, accessible seating is available

Last entry: 2 hours before curfew

Discover fresh, unprocessed, up and coming talent from Bristol and further afield. Located in Old market and hosted across some of the city’s most renowned and characteristic venues. Trinity will act as Outer Town’s hub, where wristband will be given, Outer Town’s DIY creatives market will take place, and where the main stage will be hosted.

Headlining at Trinity:

Snapped Ankles are a London-based post-punk band, incorporating elements of performance art and art rock.

Full line up TBA

Please note this is a standing event, accessible seating is available

Last entry: 2 hours before curfew

Set between states of being – past and present, dream and waking life, colonised and free, male and female, memory and prescience – Neptune Frost is an invigorating and empowering direct download to the cerebral cortex and a call to reclaim technology for progressive political ends.

This is an Afrika Eye & Trinity Presents partnership with poetry from Shakara followed by a post-screening discussion.

See Afrika Eye's 2023 programme at www.afrikaeye.org.uk.

About Trinity Presents:

This event is part of Trinity Presents - our in-house programme of music and performance, bringing world-class artists and emerging talent to inner-city audiences.

Jacobs Wells Baths, a dance centre for over 30yrs, has been closed for a number of years

The mission to restore Jacobs Wells has received a significant boost with grants from the Architectural Heritage Fund and the Sylvia Waddilove Foundation UK, aimed at matching the committed funding from the Nisbet Trust. This financial support is a crucial step towards reimagining and restoring the iconic Grade II Listed building in Hotwells.

The redevelopment project is being supported by specialist expertise from an experienced professional team including conservation-accredited architect, Corinne Fitzpatrick. Corinne has previously worked on projects including Clevedon Pool, Bridgewater Castle House, St. James Priory, and Tabernacle Kingswood, as well as supporting with a year long repair programme of works to the Trinity Centre.

Leading the design aspect of the project is Sean Redmond and the PH3 Design team who have a history of involvement in feasibility studies and capital design scheme’s for the former Bristol Community Dance Centre, based at Jacobs Wells for over 30 years until they closed in 2016.

The structural engineering team from Mann Williams have been working on a similar restoration scheme to Moseley Road Baths. The team are being led by Nichola Dyer of Greenwood Projects, who are also providing Quantity Surveying services.

The team have commenced on-site surveys to assess the condition of the asset. These surveys will help identify costed works plans, which will include a phase of Emergency Works to stabilise the asset while the Trinity Team and the steering group work on developing an application to the Community Ownership Fund (11 October).

As part of our mission to restore the building we will be continuing to approach heritage funders to support Emergency Works alongside developing a full application to Community Ownership Fund – a £150m government scheme to save assets and amenities at risk of being lost.

Be part of future and help make the magic happen:

• Fill in our survey tell us how you would like to use space
• Share your story e.g. images / memories of space #savejwb or to info@trinitybristol.org.uk
• Write a letter of support
• Join us on one of our pop up events to find out more about our plans (20, 23 Sep)
• Comment and vote on our Pol.is
• Click here to join our mailing list to be kept up to date on ways to get involved
• Click here to donate to the Jacobs Wells Baths Fundsurfer now

As well as hoop you can try your hand at loads of other activities including crafting, aerial hoop, fans, pole dance and much much more.

Includes two live shows, the best of the UK & Bristol's vegan food and unlimited chocolate.