Podcasts about bristolians

Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is Paul Marden.If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website SkiptheQueue.fm.If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter  or Bluesky for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this podcast.Competition ends on 23rd July 2025. The winner will be contacted via Bluesky. Show references:  Sam Mullins, Trustee at SS Great Britainhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/sammullins/https://www.ssgreatbritain.org/ Transcriptions:  Paul Marden: What an amazing day out here. Welcome to Skip the Queue. The podcast for people working in and working with visitor attractions, I'm your host, Paul Marden, and today you join me for the last episode of the season here in a very sunny and very pleasant Bristol Dockyard. I'm here to visit the SS Great Britain and one of their trustees, Sam Mullins, who until recently, was the CEO of London Transport Museum. And I'm going to be talking to Sam about life after running a big, family friendly Museum in the centre of London, and what comes next, and I'm promising you it's not pipes and the slippers for Sam, he's been very busy with the SSGreat Britain and with other projects that we'll talk a little more about. But for now, I'm going to enjoy poodling across the harbour on boat number five awaiting arrival over at the SS Great Britain. Paul Marden: Is there much to catch in the water here?Sam Mullins: According to some research, there's about 36 different species of fish. They catch a lot of cream. They catch Roach, bullet, bass car. Big carpet there, maybe, yeah, huge carpet there. And then your European great eel is here as well, right? Yeah, massive things by the size of your leg, big heads. It's amazing. It goes to show how receipt your life is. The quality of the water is a lot better now. Paul Marden: Oh yeah, yeah, it's better than it used to be years ago. Thank you very much. All right. Cheers. Have a good day. See you later on. So without further ado, let's head inside. So where should we head? Too fast. Sam Mullins: So we start with the stern of the ship, which is the kind of classic entrance view, you know. Yeah, coming up, I do. I love the shape of this ship as you as you'll see.Paul Marden: So lovely being able to come across the water on the boat and then have this as you're welcome. It's quite a.Sam Mullins: It's a great spot. Isn't it?Paul Marden: Really impactful, isn't it? Sam Mullins:  Because the amazing thing is that it's going this way, is actually in the dry dock, which was built to build it. Paul Marden: That's amazing. Sam Mullins: So it came home. It was clearly meant to be, you know,Paul Marden:  Quite the circular story.Sam Mullins:  Yeah, yeah. Thank you. Paul Marden:  Thank you. Wow. Look at that view.Sam Mullins: So that's your classic view.Paul Marden:  So she's in a dry dock, but there's a little bit of water in there, just to give us an idea of what's going on. Sam Mullins: Well, what's actually going on in here is, preserving the world's first iron ship. So it became clear, after he'd come back from the Falklands, 1970 came back to Bristol, it became clear that the material of the ship was rusting away. And if something wasn't done, there'd be nothing left, nothing left to show. So the innovative solution is based on a little bit of science if you can reduce the relative humidity of the air around the cast iron hull of the ship to around about 20% relative humidity, corrosion stops. Rusting stops. It's in a dry dock. You glaze over the dock at kind of water line, which, as you just noticed, it gives it a really nice setting. It looks like it's floating, yeah, it also it means that you can then control the air underneath. You dry it out, you dehumidify it. Big plant that dries out the air. You keep it at 20% and you keep the ship intact. Paul Marden: It's interesting, isn't it, because you go to Mary Rose, and you go into the ship Hall, and you've got this hermetically sealed environment that you can maintain all of these beautiful Tudor wooden pieces we're outside on a baking hot day. You don't have the benefit of a hermetically sealed building, do you to keep this? Sam Mullins: I guess the outside of the ship is kind of sealed by the paint. That stops the air getting to the bit to the bare metal. We can go down into the trigger, down whilst rise up.Paul Marden:  We're wondering. Sam, yeah, why don't you introduce yourself, tell listeners a little bit about your background. How have we ended up having this conversation today.Sam Mullins: I'm Sam Mullins. I'm a historian. I decided early on that I wanted to be a historian that worked in museums and had an opportunity to kind of share my fascination with the past with museum visitors. So I worked in much Wenlock in Shropshire. I worked created a new museum in market Harbour, a community museum in Leicestershire. I was director of museums in St Albans, based on, you know, great Roman Museum at Verulamium, okay. And ended up at London Transport Museum in the 90s, and was directed there for a long time.Paul Marden: Indeed, indeed. Oh, we are inside now and heading underground.Sam Mullins: And you can hear the thrumming in the background. Is the dehumidification going on. Wow. So we're descending into thevery dry dock.Paul Marden: So we're now under water level. Yes, and the view of the ceiling with the glass roof, which above looked like a lovely little pond, it's just beautiful, isn't it?Sam Mullins: Yes, good. It sets it off both in both directions, really nicely.Paul Marden: So you've transitioned now, you've moved on from the Transport Museum. And I thought that today's episode, we could focus a little bit on what is, what's life like when you've moved on from being the director of a big, famous, influential, family friendly Museum. What comes next? Is it pipe and slippers, or are there lots of things to do? And I think it's the latter, isn't it? Sam Mullins: Yes. Well, you know, I think people retire either, you know, do nothing and play golf, or they build, you know, an interesting portfolio. I wanted to build, you know, something a bit more interesting. And, you know, Paul, there's that kind of strange feeling when you get to retire. And I was retiring from full time executive work, you kind of feel at that point that you've just cracked the job. And at that point, you know, someone gives you, you know, gives you a card and says, "Thank you very much, you've done a lovely job." Kind of, "Off you go." So having the opportunity to deploy some of that long term experience of running a successful Museum in Covent Garden for other organisations was part of that process of transition. I've been writing a book about which I'm sure we'll talk as well that's been kind of full on this year, but I was a trustee here for a number of years before I retired. I think it's really good career development for people to serve on a board to see what it's like, you know, the other side of the board. Paul Marden: I think we'll come back to that in a minute and talk a little bit about how the sausage is made. Yeah, we have to do some icebreaker questions, because I probably get you already. You're ready to start talking, but I'm gonna, I'm just gonna loosen you up a little bit, a couple of easy ones. You're sat in front of the telly, comedy or drama?Sam Mullins: It depends. Probably.Paul Marden: It's not a valid answer. Sam Mullins: Probably, probably drama.Paul Marden: Okay, if you need to talk to somebody, is it a phone call or is it a text message that you'll send?Sam Mullins:  Face to face? Okay, much better. Okay, always better. Paul Marden: Well done. You didn't accept the premise of the question there, did you? Lastly, if you're going to enter a room, would you prefer to have a personal theme tune played every time you enter the room. Or would you like a personal mascot to arrive fully suited behind you in every location you go to?Sam Mullins: I don't know what the second one means, so I go for the first one.Paul Marden: You've not seen a football mascot on watching American football or baseball?Sam Mullins: No, I try and avoid that. I like real sport. I like watching cricket. Paul Marden: They don't do that in cricket. So we are at the business end of the hull of the ship, aren't we? We're next to the propeller. Sam Mullins: We're sitting under the stern. We can still see that lovely, gilded Stern, saying, Great Britain, Bristol, and the windows and the coat of arms across the stern of the ship. Now this, of course, was the biggest ship in the world when built. So not only was it the first, first iron ship of any scale, but it was also third bigger than anything in the Royal Navy at the time. Paul Marden: They talked about that, when we were on the warrior aim the other day, that it was Brunel that was leading the way on what the pinnacle of engineering was like. It was not the Royal Navy who was convinced that it was sail that needed to lead. Sam Mullins: Yeah, Brunel had seen a much smaller, propeller driven vessel tried out, which was being toured around the country. And so they were midway through kind of design of this, when they decided it wasn't going to be a paddle steamer, which its predecessor, the world's first ocean liner, the Great Western. A was a paddle steamer that took you to New York. He decided that, and he announced to the board that he was going to make a ship that was driven by a propeller, which was the first, and this is, this is actually a replica of his patent propeller design. Paul Marden: So, this propeller was, is not the original to the show, okay?Sam Mullins: Later in its career, it had the engines taken out, and it was just a sailing ship. It had a long and interesting career. And for the time it was going to New York and back, and the time it was going to Australia and back, carrying migrants. It was a hybrid, usually. So you use the sails when it was favourable when it wasn't much wind or the wind was against. You use the use the engines. Use the steam engine.Paul Marden: Coming back into fashion again now, isn't it? Sam Mullins: Yeah, hybrid, yeah.Paul Marden: I can see holes in the hull. Was this evident when it was still in the Falklands?Sam Mullins: Yeah, it came to notice in the 60s that, you know, this world's first it was beached at Sparrow Cove in the Falkland Islands. It had lost its use as a wool warehouse, which is which it had been for 30 or 40 years. And a number of maritime historians, you and call it. It was the kind of key one realised that this, you know, extraordinary, important piece of maritime heritage would maybe not last too many war winters at Sparrow cope had a big crack down one side of the hull. It would have probably broken in half, and that would have made any kind of conservation restoration pretty well impossible as it was. It was a pretty amazing trick to put it onto a to put a barge underneath, to raise it up out of the water, and to tow it into Montevideo and then across the Atlantic, you know, 7000 miles, or whatever it is, to Avon mouth. So it's a kind of heroic story from the kind of heroic age of industrial and maritime heritage, actually.Paul Marden: It resonates for me in terms of the Mary Rose in that you've got a small group of very committed people that are looking to rescue this really valuable asset. And they find it and, you know, catch it just in time. Sam Mullins: Absolutely. That was one of the kind of eye openers for me at Mary rose last week, was just to look at the kind of sheer difficulty of doing conventional archaeology underwater for years and years. You know, is it 50,000 dives were made? Some immense number. And similarly, here, you know, lots of people kind of simply forget it, you know, it's never gonna, but a few, stuck to it, you know, formed a group, fund, raised. This is an era, of course, you know, before lottery and all that jazz. When you had to, you had to fundraise from the public to do this, and they managed to raise the money to bring it home, which, of course, is only step one. You then got to conserve this enormous lump of metal so it comes home to the dry dock in which it had been built, and that has a sort of fantastic symmetry, you know about it, which I just love. You know, the dock happened to be vacant, you know, in 1970 when the ship was taken off the pontoon at Avon mouth, just down the river and was towed up the curving Avon river to this dock. It came beneath the Clifton Suspension Bridge, which, of course, was Brunel design, but it was never built in his time. So these amazing pictures of this Hulk, in effect,  coming up the river, towed by tugs and brought into the dock here with 1000s of people you know, surrounding cheering on the sidelines, and a bit like Mary Rose in a big coverage on the BBC.Paul Marden: This is the thing. So I have a very vivid memory of the Mary Rose being lifted, and that yellow of the scaffolding is just permanently etched in my brain about sitting on the carpet in primary school when the TV was rolled out, and it was the only TV in the whole of school that, to me is it's modern history happening. I'm a Somerset boy. I've been coming to Bristol all my life. I wasn't alive when Great Britain came back here. So to me, this feels like ancient history. It's always been in Bristol, because I have no memory of it returning home. It was always just a fixture. So when we were talking the other day and you mentioned it was brought back in the 70s, didn't realise that. Didn't realise that at all. Should we move on? Because I am listening. Gently in the warmth.Sam Mullins: Let's move around this side of the as you can see, the dry dock is not entirely dry, no, but nearly.Paul Marden: So, you're trustee here at SS Great Britain. What does that mean? What do you do?Sam Mullins: Well, the board, Board of Trustees is responsible for the governance of the charity. We employ the executives, the paid team here. We work with them to develop the kind of strategy, financial plan, to deliver that strategy, and we kind of hold them as executives to account, to deliver on that.Paul Marden: It's been a period of change for you, hasn't it? Just recently, you've got a new CEO coming to the first anniversary, or just past his first anniversary. It's been in place a little while.Sam Mullins: So in the last two years, we've had a, we've recruited a new chairman, new chief executive, pretty much a whole new leadership team.One more starting next month, right? Actually, we're in July this month, so, yeah, it's been, you know, organisations are like that. They can be very, you know, static for some time, and then suddenly a kind of big turnover. And people, you know, people move.Paul Marden: So we're walking through what is a curved part of the dry dock now. So this is becoming interesting underfoot, isn't it?Sam Mullins: This is built in 1839 by the Great Western Steamship Company to build a sister ship to the Great Western which was their first vessel built for the Atlantic run to New York. As it happens, they were going to build a similar size vessel, but Brunel had other ideas, always pushing the edges one way or another as an engineer.Paul Marden: The keel is wood. Is it all wood? Or is this some sort of?Sam Mullins: No, this is just like, it's sort of sacrificial.So that you know when, if it does run up against ground or whatever, you don't actually damage the iron keel.Paul Marden: Right. Okay, so there's lots happening for the museum and the trust. You've just had a big injection of cash, haven't you, to do some interesting things. So there was a press release a couple of weeks ago, about a million pound of investment. Did you go and find that down the back of the sofa? How do you generate that kind of investment in the charity?Sam Mullins: Unusually, I think that trust that's put the bulk of that money and came came to us. I think they were looking to do something to mark their kind of, I think to mark their wind up. And so that was quite fortuitous, because, as you know at the moment, you know, fundraising is is difficult. It's tough. Paul Marden: That's the understatement of the year, isn't it?Sam Mullins: And with a new team here and the New World post COVID, less, less visitors, income harder to gain from. Pretty well, you know, all sources, it's important to keep the site kind of fresh and interesting. You know, the ship has been here since 1970 it's become, it's part of Bristol. Wherever you go in Bristol, Brunel is, you know, kind of the brand, and yet many Bristolians think they've seen all this, and don't need, you know, don't need to come back again. So keeping the site fresh, keeping the ideas moving on, are really important. So we've got the dockyard museum just on the top there, and that's the object for fundraising at the moment, and that will open in July next year as an account of the building of the ship and its importance. Paul Marden: Indeed, that's interesting. Related to that, we know that trusts, trusts and grants income really tough to get. Everybody's fighting for a diminishing pot income from Ace or from government sources is also tough to find. At the moment, we're living off of budgets that haven't changed for 10 years, if we're lucky. Yeah, for many people, finding a commercial route is the answer for their museum. And that was something that you did quite successfully, wasn't it, at the Transport Museum was to bring commercial ideas without sacrificing the integrity of the museum. Yeah. How do you do that?Sam Mullins: Well, the business of being an independent Museum, I mean, LTM is a to all sets of purposes, an independent Museum. Yes, 81% of its funding itself is self generated. Paul Marden: Is it really? Yeah, yeah. I know. I would have thought the grant that you would get from London Transport might have been bigger than that.  Sam Mullins: The grant used to be much bigger proportion, but it's got smaller and smaller. That's quite deliberate. Are, you know, the more you can stand on your own two feet, the more you can actually decide which direction you're going to take those feet in. Yeah. So there's this whole raft of museums, which, you know, across the UK, which are independently governed, who get all but nothing from central government. They might do a lottery grant. Yes, once in a while, they might get some NPO funding from Ace, but it's a tiny part, you know, of the whole. And this ship, SS Great Britain is a classic, you know, example of that. So what do you do in those circumstances? You look at your assets and you you try and monetise them. That's what we did at London Transport Museum. So the museum moved to Covent Garden in 1980 because it was a far sighted move. Michael Robbins, who was on the board at the time, recognised that they should take the museum from Scion Park, which is right on the west edge, into town where people were going to be, rather than trying to drag people out to the edge of London. So we've got that fantastic location, in effect, a high street shop. So retail works really well, you know, at Covent Garden.Paul Marden: Yeah, I know. I'm a sucker for a bit of moquette design.Sam Mullins: We all love it, which is just great. So the museum developed, you know, a lot of expertise in creating products and merchandising it. We've looked at the relationship with Transport for London, and we monetised that by looking at TFL supply chain and encouraging that supply chain to support the museum. So it is possible to get the TFL commissioner to stand up at a corporate members evening and say, you know, you all do terribly well out of our contract, we'd like you to support the museum as well, please. So the corporate membership scheme at Transport Museum is bigger than any other UK museum by value, really, 60, 65 members,. So that was, you know, that that was important, another way of looking at your assets, you know, what you've got. Sometimes you're talking about monetising relationships. Sometimes it's about, you know, stuff, assets, yeah. And then in we began to run a bit short of money in the kind of middle of the teens, and we did an experimental opening of the Aldwych disused tube station on the strand, and we're amazed at the demand for tickets.Paul Marden: Really, it was that much of a surprise for you. And we all can talk. Sam Mullins: We had been doing, we've been doing some guided tours there in a sort of, slightly in a one off kind of way, for some time. And we started to kind of think, well, look, maybe should we carry on it? Paul Marden: You've got the audience that's interested.Sam Mullins: And we've got the access through TFL which, you know, took a lot of work to to convince them we weren't going to, you know, take loads of people underground and lose them or that they jump out, you know, on the Piccadilly line in the middle of the service, or something. So hidden London is the kind of another really nice way where the museum's looked at its kind of assets and it's monetised. And I don't know what this I don't know what this year is, but I think there are now tours run at 10 different sites at different times. It's worth about half a million clear to them to the museum.Paul Marden: It's amazing, and they're such brilliant events. So they've now opened up for younger kids to go. So I took my daughter and one of her friends, and they were a little bit scared when the lights got turned off at one point, but we had a whale of a time going and learning about the history of the tube, the history of the tube during the war. It was such an interesting, accessible way to get to get them interested in stuff. It was brilliant.Sam Mullins: No, it's a great programme, and it was doing well before COVID, we went into lockdown, and within three weeks, Chris Nix and the team had started to do kind of zoom virtual tours. We all are stuck at home looking at our screens and those hidden London hangouts the audience kind of gradually built yesterday TV followed with secrets of London Underground, which did four series of. Hidden London book has sold 25,000 copies in hardback, another one to come out next year, maybe.Paul Marden: And all of this is in service of the museum. So it's almost as if you're opening the museum up to the whole of London, aren't you, and making all of that space you're you. Museum where you can do things.Sam Mullins: Yeah. And, of course, the great thing about hidden London programme is it's a bit like a theatre production. We would get access to a particular site for a month or six weeks. You'd sell the tickets, you know, like mad for that venue. And then the run came to an end, and you have to, you know, the caravan moves on, and we go to, you know, go to go to a different stations. So in a sense, often it's quite hard to get people to go to an attraction unless they've got visitors staying or whatever. But actually, if there's a time limit, you just kind of have to do it, you know.Paul Marden: Yeah, absolutely. Everybody loves a little bit of scarcity, don't they? Sam Mullins: Should we go up on the deck? Paul Marden: That sounds like fun to me.Sam Mullins: Work our way through.Paul Marden: So Hidden London was one of the angles in order to make the museum more commercially sound. What are you taking from your time at LTM and bringing to the party here at the SS Great Britain?Sam Mullins: Well, asking similar, you know, range of questions really, about what assets do we have? Which of those are, can be, can be monetised in support of the charity? Got here, Paul, so we're, we've got the same mix as lots of middle sized museums here. There's a it's a shop, paid admission, hospitality events in the evening, cafe. You know that mix, what museums then need to do is kind of go, you know, go beyond that, really, and look at their estate or their intellectual property, or the kind of experiences they can offer, and work out whether some of that is monetisable.Paul Marden: Right? And you mentioned before that Brunel is kind of, he's the mascot of Bristol. Almost, everything in Bristol focuses on Brunel. Is there an opportunity for you to collaborate with other Brunel themed sites, the bridge or?Sam Mullins: Yeah. Well, I think probably the opportunity is to collaborate with other Bristol attractions. Because Bristol needs to. Bristol's having a hard time since COVID numbers here are nowhere near what they were pre COVID So, and I think it's the same in the city, across the city. So Andrew chief executive, is talking to other people in the city about how we can share programs, share marketing, that kind of approach.Paul Marden: Making the docks a destination, you know, you've got We the Curious. Where I was this morning, having coffee with a friend and having a mooch around. Yeah, talking about science and technology, there must be things that you can cross over. This was this war. This feels like history, but it wasn't when it was built, was it? It was absolutely the cutting edge of science and technology.Sam Mullins: Absolutely, and well, almost beyond, you know, he was Brunel was pushing, pushing what could be done. It is the biggest ship. And it's hard to think of it now, because, you know, you and I can walk from one end to the other in no time. But it was the biggest ship in the world by, you know, some way, when it was launched in 1845 so this was a bit like the Great Western Railway. It was cutting edge, cutting edge at the time, as we were talking about below. It had a propeller, radical stuff. It's got the bell, too,Paul Marden: When we were on, was it Warrior that we were on last week at the AIM conference for the first. And warrior had a propeller, but it was capable of being lifted, because the Admiralty wasn't convinced that this new fangled propeller nonsense, and they thought sail was going to lead. Sam Mullins: Yeah. Well, this ship had, you could lift a you could lift a propeller, because otherwise the propeller is a drag in the water if it's not turning over. So in its earlier configurations, it was a, it was that sort of a hybrid, where you could lift the propeller out the way, right, set full sail.Paul Marden:  Right, and, yeah, it's just, it's very pleasant out here today, isn't it? Lovely breeze compared to what it's been like the last few days. Sam Mullins: Deck has just been replaced over the winter. Paul Marden:  Oh, has it really. So say, have you got the original underneathSam Mullins: The original was little long, long gone. So what we have replaced was the deck that was put on in the in the 70s when the ship came back.Paul Marden: Right? You were talking earlier on about the cafe being one of the assets. You've done quite a lot of work recently, haven't you with the team at Elior to refurbish the cafe? What's the plan around that?Sam Mullins: Yeah, we're doing a big reinvestment. You always need to keep the offer fresh anyway, but it was time to reinvest. So the idea is to use that fantastic space on the edge of the dock. It's not very far down to where the floating harbour is really well populated with kind of restaurants and bars and an offer, we're just that 200 meters further along the dock. So perhaps to create an offer here that draws people up here, whether they visit the ship, you know, or not. So it's money, it's monetising your assets. So one of the great assets is this fabulous location on the on the dockside. So with early or we're reinvesting in the restaurant, it's going to go in the auto into after some trial openings and things, Paul, you know, it's going to have an evening offer as well as a daytime offer. And then it's been designed so the lights can go down in the evening. It becomes, you know, an evening place, rather than the museum's all day cafe, yes, and the offer, and obviously in the evenings would similarly change. And I think our ambition is that you should, you should choose this as the place to go out in the evening. Really, it's a great spot. It's a lovely, warm evening. We're going to walk along the dockside. I've booked a table and in the boardwalk, which is what we're calling it. And as you pay the bill, you notice that actually, this is associated with Asus, Great Britain. So, you know, the profit from tonight goes to help the charity, rather than it's the museum cafe. So that's the,Paul Marden: That's the pitch.Sam Mullins: That's the pitch in which we're working with our catering partners, Eli, or to deliver.Paul Marden: Andrew, your CEO and Claire from Eli, or have both kindly said that I can come back in a couple of months time and have a conversation about the restaurant. And I think it would be rude to turn them down, wouldn't it?Sam Mullins: I think you should test the menu really fully.Paul Marden: I will do my best. It's a tough job that I have. Sam Mullins: Somebody has to do this work. Paul Marden: I know, talking of tough jobs, the other thing that I saw when I was looking at the website earlier on was a press release talking about six o'clock gin as being a a partnership that you're investigating, because every museum needs its own tipple, doesn't it?Sam Mullins: Absolutely And what, you know, I think it's, I think what people want when they go to an attraction is they, they also want something of the offer to be locally sourced, completely, six o'clock gym, you know, Bristol, Bristol beers. You can't always do it, but I think, I think it's where you've got the opportunity. And Bristol's a bit of a foodie centre. There's quite a lot going on here in that respect. So, yes, of course, the museum ought to be ought to be doing that too.Paul Marden: I was very kindly invited to Big Pit over in the Welsh Valleys about 8 or 12 weeks ago for the launch, relaunch of their gift shop offering. And absolutely, at the core of what they were trying to do was because it's run by Museums Wales, they found that all of their gift shops were just a bland average of what you could get at any of the museums. None of them spoke of the individual place. So if you went to big pit, the gift shop looked the same as if you were in the centre of Cardiff, whereas now when you go you see things that are naturally of Big Pit and the surrounding areas. And I think that's so important to create a gift shop which has things that is affordable to everybody, but at the same time authentic and genuinely interesting.Sam Mullins: Yeah, I'm sure that's right. And you know I'm saying for you is for me, when I when I go somewhere, you want to come away with something, don't you? Yes, you know, you're a National Trust member and you haven't had to pay anything to get in. But you think I should be supporting the cause, you know, I want to go into that shop and then I want to, I want to buy some of the plants for my garden I just seen, you know, on the estate outside. Or I want to come away with a six o'clock gin or, you know, whatever it might be, there's and I think, I think you're more likely to buy if it's something that you know has engaged you, it's part of that story that's engaged you, right, while you're here. That's why everyone buys a guidebook and reads it afterwards.Paul Marden: Yeah, it's a reminder, isn't it, the enjoyable time that you've had? Yeah, I'm enjoying myself up on the top deck. Sam Mullins:  But should we go downstairs? The bow is a great view. Oh, let's do that. I think we might. Let's just work our way down through.Paul Marden: Take a sniff. Could you travel with these smelly passengers? Oh, no, I don't think I want to smell what it's like to be a cow on board shit. Sam Mullins: Fresh milk. Just mind yourself on these companion, ways are very steep now. This is probably where I get completely lost.Paul Marden: You know what we need? We need a very good volunteer. Don't we tell a volunteer story? COVID in the kitchen. Wow. Sam Mullins: The Gabby.Paul Marden: Generous use of scent. Sam Mullins: Yeah, food laid out pretty much based on what we know was consumed on the ship. One of the great things about the ship is people kept diaries. A lot of people kept diaries, and many have survived, right? You know exactly what it was like to be in first class or in steerage down the back.Paul Marden: And so what was the ship used for? Sam Mullins: Well, it was used, it was going to be an ocean liner right from here to New York, and it was more like the Concord of its day. It was essentially first class and second class. And then it has a founders on a bay in Northern Ireland. It's rescued, fitted out again, and then the opportunity comes take people to Australia. The Gold Rush in the 1850s. Migration to Australia becomes the big kind of business opportunity for the ships. Ships new owners. So there's more people on board that used to it applies to and fro to Australia a number of times 30 odd, 40 times. And it takes, takes passengers. It takes goods. It does bring back, brings back gold from because people were there for the gold rush. They were bringing their earnings, you know, back with them. It also brings mail, and, you know, other. Kind of car goes wool was a big cargo from. Paul Marden: Say, people down and assets back up again.Sam Mullins: People both directions. Paul Marden: Okay, yeah. How long was it taking?Sam Mullins: Well, a good trip. I think it did it in 50 odd days. Bit slower was 60 odd. And the food was like this. So it was steerage. It was probably a bit more basic. Paul Marden: Yeah, yes, I can imagine. Sam Mullins: I think we might. Here's the engines. Let's do the engines well.Paul Marden: Yes. So now we're in the engine room and, oh, it's daylight lit, actually. So you're not down in the darkest of depths, but the propeller shaft and all of the mechanism is it runs full length, full height of the ship.Sam Mullins: Yeah, it runs off from here, back to the propeller that we're looking at. Okay, down there a guy's stoking the boilers, putting coal into into the boilers, 24 hour seven, when the engines are running. Paul Marden: Yes, that's going to be a tough job, isn't it? Yeah, coal is stored in particular locations. Because that was something I learned from warrior, was the importance of making sure that you had the coal taken in the correct places, so that you didn't unbalance the ship. I mean,Sam Mullins: You right. I mean loading the ship generally had to be done really carefully so, you know, sort of balanced out and so forth. Coal is tends to be pretty low down for yes, for obvious reasons.Paul Marden: So let's talk a little bit about being a trustee. We're both trustees of charities. I was talking to somebody last week who been in the sector for a number of years, mid career, interested in becoming a trustee as a career development opportunity. What's the point of being a trustee? What's the point of the trustees to the CEO, and what's the benefit to the trustees themselves? Sam Mullins: Well, let's do that in order for someone in the mid part of their career, presumably looking to assume some kind of leadership role. At some point they're going to be dealing with a board, aren't they? Yes, they might even be doing, you know, occasional reporting to a board at that at their current role, but they certainly will be if they want to be chief executive. So getting some experience on the other side of the table to feel what it's like to be a trustee dealing with chief executive. I think he's immensely useful. I always recommended it to to my gang at the Transport Museum, and they've all been on boards of one sort or another as part of their career development.Sam Mullins: For the chief executive. What's the benefit? Well, the board, I mean, very directly, hold the chief executive to account. Yes, are you doing what we asked you to do? But also the wise chief executive recruits a board that's going to be helpful in some way or another. It's not just there to catch them out. Yeah, it's it's there to bring their experience from business, from IT, from marketing, from other museums into the business of running the place. So here we've got a range of Trustees. We've been we've recruited five or six in the last couple of years qquite deliberately to we know that a diverse board is a good board, and that's diverse in the sense not just a background, but of education, retired, still, still at work, young, old, male, female, you know, you name in.Paul Marden: In all of the directionsSam Mullins:  Yeah. So a diverse board makes better decisions than one that just does group think all the time. It's, you know, it's a truism, isn't it? I think we all kind of, we all understand and understand that now and then, for the trustee, you know, for me, I particularly last couple of years, when the organization has been through huge changes, it's been really interesting to deploy my prior experience, particularly in governance, because governance is what it all comes down to in an organisation. You do learn over the course of your career to deploy that on behalf, you know, this is a great organisation, the story of Brunel and the ship and and, you know, his influence on the railways. And I travel down on the Great Western railways, yeah, the influence of Brunel is, you know, is enormous. It's a fantastic story. It's inspiring. So who wouldn't want to join? You know what in 2005 was the Museum of the year? Yes, I think we'll just go back there where we came. Otherwise, I never found my way.Paul Marden: Back through the kitchen. Sam Mullins: Back through the kitchen. It looks like stew is on the menu tonight. You've seen me at the mobile the rat.Paul Marden: And also the cat up on the shelf. He's not paying a lot of attention to the ratSam Mullins: Back on deck. Paul Marden: Wonderful. Yeah. So the other great endeavor that you've embarked on is writing, writing a book. Tell us a little bit about the book.Sam Mullins: Yeah, I've written a history of transport in London and its influence on London since 2000 since the mayoralty, elected mayoralty was, was started, you know, I was very lucky when I was running the museum where I had kind of one foot in TfL and one foot out. I knew lots of people. I was there for a long time, yes, so it was, it was easy to interview about 70 of them.Paul Marden: Right? I guess you've built trust levels, haven't you? Yeah, I don't mean that you don't look like a journalist walking in from the outside with an ax to grind. Sam Mullins: And I'm not going to kind of screw them to the Evening Standard, you know, tomorrow. So it's a book based on interviews, oral reminiscences. It's very much their story. So it's big chunks of their accounts of, you know, the big events in London. So what was it like to be in the network control room on the seventh of July, 2005 when the bombs went off? What was it like to be looking out for congestion charge the day it started? Yep. What was it like to kind of manage the Olympics?Paul Marden: You know? So you're mentioning these things. And so I was 10 years at British Airways. I was an IT project manager, but as well, I was a member of the emergency planning team. Yeah. So I got involved in the response to September the 11th. I got involved in some of the engagement around seven, seven, there's seminal moments, and I can, I can vividly remember myself being there at that time. But similarly, I can remember being there when we won the Olympics, and we were all sat in the staff canteen waiting to hear whether we'd won the Olympics, and the roar that erupted. There's so many of those things that have happened in the last 25 years where, you know, you've got, it's recent history, but it's real interesting events that have occurred that you can tell stories of.Sam Mullins: Yeah. So what I wanted to get in the book was a kind of sense of what it was like to be, really at the heart of those, those stories. And there are, you know, there are, there are people in TfL who made those big things happen? Yes, it's not a big, clumsy bureaucracy. It's a place where really innovative leadership was being exercised all the way through that 25 years. Yes, so it runs up to COVID, and what was it like when COVID struck? So the book's called Every Journey Matters, and it comes out in November.Paul Marden: Amazing, amazing. So we have, we've left the insides of the ship, and we are now under, what's this part of the ship? Sam Mullins: We're under the bow. There we go, and a bow spread that gets above our heads. So again, you've got this great, hulking, cast iron, black hull, beautifully shaped at the bow. Look the way it kind of tapers in and it tapers in and out.Paul Marden: It's a very three dimensional, isn't it? The curve is, is in every direction. Sam Mullins: Yeah,it's a great, great shape. So it's my sort of, I think it's my favourite spot. I like coming to look at this, because this is the kind of, this is the business, yeah, of the ship.Paul Marden: What have we got running along the front here? These these images in in gold.Sam Mullins: This is a figurehead with Victoria's Coat of Arms only sua Kim Ali points on top with it, with a lion and a unicorn.Paul Marden: It's a really, it's not a view that many people would have ever seen, but it is such an impressive view here looking up, yeah, very, very cool. And to stand here on the on the edge of the dry dock. Sam Mullins: Dry Docks in to our right, and the floating harbor is out to our left. Yeah.Paul Marden: And much going on on that it's busy today, isn't it? Sam Mullins: Yeah, it's good. Paul Marden: So we've done full loop, haven't we? I mean, it has been a whistle stop tour that you've taken me on, but I've loved every moment of this. We always ask our guests a difficult question. Well, for some it's a difficult question, a book recommendation, which, as we agreed over lunch, cannot be your own book. I don't think, I think it's a little unfair Sam Mullins: Or anything I've ever written before.Paul Marden: Yes, slightly self serving, but yeah.Sam Mullins: It would be, wouldn't it look the first thing that comes to mind is, I've actually been reading my way through Mick Herron's Slow Horses series, okay, which I'm a big fan of detective fiction. I love Ian Rankin's Rebus. Okay, I read through Rebus endlessly when I want something just to escape into the sloughhouse series Slow Horses is really good, and the books all have a sort of similar kind of momentum to them. Something weird happens in the first few chapters, which seems very inconsequential and. Suddenly it turns into this kind of roller coaster. Will they? Won't they? You know, ending, which is just great. So I recommend Mick Herron's series. That's that's been the best, not best, fiction I've read in a long time.Paul Marden: You know, I think there's something, there's something nice, something comforting, about reading a series of books where the way the book is structured is very similar. You can, you can sit down and you know what's going to happen, but, but there's something interesting, and it's, it's easy. Sam Mullins: It's like putting on a pair of old slippers. Oh, I'm comfortable with this. Just lead me along. You know, that's what, that's what I want. I enjoy that immensely.Paul Marden: And should we be? Should we be inviting our listeners to the first book in the series, or do they need to start once, once he's got his, got his, found his way? Sam Mullins: Well, some people would have seen the television adaptation already. Well, that will have spoilt the book for them. Gary Oldman is Jackson lamb, who's the lead character, okay, but if you haven't, or you just like a damn good read, then you start with the first one, which I think is called Sloughhouse. They're all self contained, but you can work your way through them. Paul Marden: Well, that sounds very good. So listeners, if you'd like a copy of Sam's book, not Sam's book, Sam's book recommendation, then head over to Bluesky and repost the show notice and say, I want a copy of Sam's book, and the first one of you lovely listeners that does that will get a copy sent to you by Wenalyn. Sam This has been delightful. I hope listeners have enjoyed this as much as I have. This is our first time having a @skipthequeue in real life, where we wandered around the attraction itself and hopefully narrated our way bringing this amazing attraction to life. I've really enjoyed it. I can now say that as a West Country lad, I have actually been to the SS Great Britain. Last thing to say for visitor, for listeners, we are currently midway through the Rubber Cheese Annual Survey of visitor attraction websites. Paul Marden: If you look after an attraction website and you'd like to share some information about what you do, we are gathering all of that data together to produce a report that helps people to understand what good looks like for an attraction website. This is our fourth year. Listeners that are interested, head over to RubberCheese.com/survey, and you can find out a little bit more about the survey and some of the some of the findings from the past and what we're looking for for this year. Sam, thank you so very much.Sam Mullins: Enjoyed it too. It's always good to rabbit on about what you do every day of the week, and being here and part of this really great organisation is huge privilege.Paul Marden: Thanks for listening to Skip the Queue. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review. It really helps others to find us. Skip The Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them to increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcripts from this episode and more over on our website, skipthequeue fm. The 2025 Visitor Attraction Website Survey is now LIVE! Dive into groundbreaking benchmarks for the industryGain a better understanding of how to achieve the highest conversion ratesExplore the "why" behind visitor attraction site performanceLearn the impact of website optimisation and visitor engagement on conversion ratesUncover key steps to enhance user experience for greater conversionsTake the Rubber Cheese Visitor Attraction Website Survey Report

It's the first day of the Forbidden Worlds Film Festival and we review The Big Picture Documentary! In this special episode, Mike & Spider-Dan talk about their first day at the film festival, where a documentary about Bristol's Megascreen premiered, made by Arthur Cauty, called The Big Picture! The documentary showed the history of Bristol's cinema, the life, death & rebirth of the IMAX screen where FWFF is held, the involvement of the Bristol Aquarium, modern day uses and so much more – the perfect documentary for any film lovers, especially Bristolians and people from the UK! Watch the video version here: https://youtu.be/a6ZwxT7uu3Y  Check out the documentary maker's site here: www.arthurcauty.com/film For more information, visit www.forbiddenworldsfilmfestival.co.uk From 28th May to 1st June, Mike & Spider-Dan will be at the Forbidden Worlds Film Festival to cover all 5 days of the event and do some interviews! For visual elements (including the full FWF schedule & more), check out the video version on YouTube! Make sure you follow & subscribe to Spider-Dan's podcast as much of the coverage will be split between the feeds/YouTube channels! https://spiderdanandthesecretbores.com & www.patreon.com/spiderdanandthesecretbores Make sure you check out the special preview episodes Mike & Dan did, where Mike reviewed the 1985 movie Young Sherlock Holmes for the 40th Anniversary of the movie, where a special showing (& cast Q&A) is happening! For Dan's preview episode, he delved into the Waterworld sequel comic; Children Of Leviathan! Check out Mike's in-depth reviews, breakdowns & things you missed episodes of Season 2 of Andor, on any podcast app or on YouTube: https://podfollow.com/starwarschitchat & https://youtube.com/@starwarschitchat All Patreons have been receiving bonus episodes, including a Thunderbolts, Superman III and Superman IV review, as well as early access and more! Support at www.patreon.com/GenuineChitChat or https://ko-fi.com/GenuineChitChat Guest Spots: Another episode of Disney Discussions is out where Mike & Dan spoke about Lilo & Stitch 1 & 2 with Megan, Ria & guest Natalie! https://tinyurl.com/2bs7kker Mike recently reviewed Superman '78, Superman II and the Super/Man documentary on the 20th Century Geek podcast, while Dan spoke about Superman IV! https://pod.fo/e/2bea07 Mike was on Reckless Rebellion to talk about Andor's Prison Arc from S1, listen here: https://pod.fo/e/2c28cc Find all of Mike's social media & other links at https://linktr.ee/GenuineChitChat Please review/rate, subscribe and share – it helps the show out an incredible amount!

What two things are aesthetically perfect in this world? Is one of them a vineyard in spring? As sure as spring follows winter there is an array of work to be completed in those vineyards and who better to guide us through this work than Supreme Head Chief Director of Wine, Winemaking, & News Generation, our very own Fergus Elias. In an unexpectedly corporate shift, he guides us through a SWOT analysis of an English vineyard in spring.   Just what are the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats that need to be considered? Have we mistimed our recording and release dates for this episode? How would things look if we had a whale's eye view? And just what do we need to think about when it comes to shoot thinning, spray timing, and labour efficiency?   We include famous Bristolians, groundhog like prognostications, and learn just how exactly Lee convinced Jancis to publish something he'd written.   This is more than just an allegory with a cork, this IS a 360 overhead real time big picture view of an English vineyard in Spring.

George Modler is exactly what UK padel needs.  He is young, enthusiastic and full of ideas! He is the founder of the Golden Point Padel Event series, which are tournaments for beginners to intermediate players and he also came up alongside his partner Ben Harris to establish The Padel Directory! He is part of the 'Bristol Series' of us, Bristolians who fell in love with padel! Great lad, great chat, please do enjoy!

This week a great queue of dentistless Bristolians appeared outside a new practice offering NHS treatment. That followed a report on children's health which specifically referenced the poor and worsening state of their teeth. This week the government announced a package to try and improve things in England. But did it go anything like far enough to solve the problems of too few dentists being willing or able to treat NHS patients? David Aaronovitch is joined by the following experts:Beccy Baird, Senior Fellow, the King's Fund Ian Mills, Dentist and Associate Professor of Primary Care Dentistry at the Peninsula Dental School in Plymouth Thea Stein, Chief Executive of the Nuffield Trust Professor Claire Stevens CBE, Spokesperson, British Society of Paediatric DentistryProduction team: Nick Holland, Kirsteen Knight and Charlotte McDonald Production Co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman Sound: James Beard Editor: Richard Vadon

Is the word ‘Brizzle' becoming more acceptable to use? Or is it still a heinous crime against all true Bristolians? Lucy Wheeler of Beast in St Nick's Market speaks to Martin Booth about the controversial topic in this week's podcast.We also sit down with Carla Diogo, a sustainable designer and maker, as well as the co-owner of Two Six Four on Church Road. She talks to Ellie Pipe about sustainability, repair and mend and inspiration and Reporter Betty Woolerton learns about forest schools.

In episode 118 we are delighted to be in conversation with Dr Julia Carter about current dating trends in society. Are we all as free, unrestrained and equal as we would like to think? Do you know what factors contribute to your choice of partner? Find out more dating patterns and what dating tells us about wider society in general. Julia is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of the West of England. Her research interests include marriage and relationships, families and personal life, and gender and sexuality. She is particularly interested in intimate relationships and the roles these play in an ever-changing social context. Her academic publications focus on marriage and narratives of love, sexuality and commitment; living apart together relationships, policy and social change; weddings and gender; and love and relationships. Julia has also recently collaborated with eHarmony to produce a 'Bristol Love Report' based on research on the dating lives of Bristolians.If you would like to contact Julia for research purposes, please email Julia.Carter@uwe.ac.uk. Her twitter handle is @juliajcarter.Julia's publications:Carter, J., & Arocha, L. (Eds.). (2020). Romantic Relationships in a Time of 'Cold Intimacies'. Palgrave Macmillan (part of Springer Nature). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29256-0 Carter, J., & Duncan, S. (2018). Reinventing Couples: Tradition, Agency and Bricolage. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58961-3

Bristol has embodied the spirit of rebellion for many years, particularly in the area of race. An epicentre of youth culture, the home of drum & bass and a thriving and passionate student fraternity. From the Bristol Bus Boycott of 1963, to the much reported removal of the prominently placed statue of former enslavement trader Edward Colston two years ago, the spirit of fight, protest and expression are omnipresent. We visit St Pauls, in the heart of Bristol's black community and arguably UK's campaigning capital, to find out what Bristolians are feeling two years on from one of the most iconic episodes in race relations of the 21st century.

It's a packed podcast this week as Paul and Eli dive into a range of unusual books and even weirder novelty records! In “Paul's Page Turners” the gents briefly judge a book by its cover, absorb the wit of 50-year-old toilet graffiti and find out why coffins once had to have armed bodyguards! Sadly, Paul finds room to add a new character. Eli remains unimpressed. Later in the show, “Silverman's Platter” unearths a strange old 7-inch record recorded by proud Bristolians from the 1970s. There is also the strange case of a rare promotional book and record that not only gives us an odd adventure with Captain Birdseye, but also a collection of frozen food themed shanties. Expect some really bad singing and bloody awful CheapShow tainted shanties. Sadly, Paul finds room to add another new character. Eli is impressed. Eventually! See pics/videos for this episode on our website: https://www.thecheapshow.co.uk/ep-280-nasty-shanties Tickets for LIVE SHOW on August 13th: Episode 300 Live https://harrowarts.com/whats-on/event/cheapshow-300-live For Information on travel and accommodation for CS300 https://www.thecheapshow.co.uk/cheapshow-300-show-info And if you like us, why not support us: www.patreon.com/cheapshow If you want to get involved, email us at thecheapshow@gmail.com And if you want to, follow us on Twitter @thecheapshowpod or @paulgannonshow & @elisnoid Like, Review, Share, Comment... LOVE US! Oh, and you can NOW listen to Urinevision 2021 on Bandcamp... For Free! Enjoy! https://cheapshowpodcast.bandcamp.com/album/urinevision-2021-the-album MERCH Official CheapShow Merch Shop: www.redbubble.com/people/cheapshow/shop www.cheapmag.shop Thanks also to @vorratony for the wonderful, exclusive art: www.tinyurl.com/rbcheapshow Send Us Stuff CheapShow PO BOX 1309 Harrow HA1 9QJ

Welcome to another episode of 'Stories From...' where I share anecdotes, stories and interesting tidbits from my journey across the country on The Great Rugger Run.   This week there are stories from Hornets RFC where I talk through some of the great things they are doing there. I then journey to Gordano RFC where I speak with Andy Davies about how they make use of their epic location next to the M5 motorway. Lastly, join me at  & Old Bristolians RFC where I speak with Aimee Kelley about remembrance, club history and some fun drinking games!   https://amateurrugbypodcast.com #rugbypodcast #amateurrugby   PODCAST KIT Everything I use to create, edit and produce this podcast can be found on my Creating a Podcast (https://www.amateurrugbypodcast.com/creating-a-podcast/) page.   SUPPORT If you would like to support the podcast in some way then there are plenty of options for you on my Support the Podcast (https://www.amateurrugbypodcast.com/support/) page.

Craig Cheney is the local lad and councilor for Hillfields that is the controller of the purse strings at Bristol City Council. After 12 years of central government-imposed austerity, that purse is much smaller than it needs to be. Now as the council is planning for the new year's budget they need to fill a £23 million sized hole in the finances. With the threat of cuts and sales of council assets, Neil and Craig discuss the challenges of local government finance and what that means for Bristolians, whether so-called 'town hall fat cats' should take a cut and if the council is getting the best deal from Bristol's status as an increasingly attractive and wealthy city. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

True Crit returns with season 2 and a complete change of direction, as we uncover the unique sound of pioneering Bristolians, Portishead.Episode 1 tackles their debut Dummy, an album which thrust the band into the limelight virtually overnight. Dummy defined a genre, an era and unwittingly the band's future. Exploring love, vengeance and vulnerability with one of the greatest voices of a generation. Enjoying the show? Please support BFF.FM with a donation. Check out the full archives on the website.

2020 marked the eightieth anniversary of the Bristol Blitz, which saw 77 Nazi air raids on the city, with six major raids taking place in the winter of 1940-41. I spoke with Eugene Byrne of the Bristol Post to discuss the origins of the Blitz and how Bristolians coped with being bombed. We also explored the legacy of the bombing, which killed 1,299 people, injured over 3,000 and permanently reshaped the physical landscape of the city.

Welcome to another solo show of the podcast, Sam is once again left on his own to slowly go insane talking to himself. If a bloke chatting to himself and or Bristolians not your thing, maybe give this week a miss.... but as our commitment to never letting that attention whore Stephan get back on the show and Matt working hard to keep the nation moving it fell to Sam to step up and go it alone!! We hope you enjoy the show and normal service should be back next week... we all hope!

On the same day that Martin Luther King pursued his dream in America, a group of Bristolians boycotted buses, changing the face of civil rights in the UK. The campaign led to the Bristol Omnibus Company lifting its “colour bar” on employment, and paved the way for the UK’s Race Relations Acts of 1965 and 1968.On this episode of the Sky News Daily Podcast, host Noel Phillips speaks Roy Hackett, who was part of the 1963 Bristol protests, long-term campaigner for civil rights, Barbara Dettering, and history teacher and boycott enthusiast Tracy O’Brien.Credits:Daily podcast team:Podcast producer - Annie JoycePodcast producer - Nicola EyersPodcast producer- Emma Rae WoodhouseInterviews producers - Oli FosterInterviews producers - Tatiana AldersonInterviews producers - Megan CouttsArchive - Simon WindsorMusic - Steven Wheeler

The first 3 names that ran before James Bracey's in the 55 man England squad list this year – Anderson, Archer, Bairstow – confirm James' calibre, as a future England player, but also his status as a Bristol boy living his dream. For many, a quick rise to the top like James' would have been too much to digest. After all, it was only two years ago that James was graduating from Loughborough University. For James, a guy whose character is “a combination of humility and age-belying maturity”, it is just another challenge he is rising to, and facing head-on, in the pursuit of his ultimate goal - a spot in the Test match side. Cricket is as much psychological as it is physical, and to succeed in the sport you need to be mentally strong. James' mindset has received plaudits from players, fans and media all across the sport, and his coach, Richard Dawson, now England bowling coach, has been extremely praiseful of his mental strength. In particular, his ambition, and the self-belief to back it, are two qualities James clearly possesses. In our giveaway sessions, we're trying to portray the mental side of the sport and so to talk to James about the sacrifices he's made along the way, and how he remains able to work so hard, was a real pleasure. Ambition and self-belief are two of the most desirable qualities for a young sportsman to have and so to speak to a cricketer with these qualities in abundance, was a real pleasure. As proud Bristolians, we're pleased to see someone fly the flag for the city on an international stage. James is a proud Bristol boy and any suggestions that success may lead him to stray from his roots cannot be true – on the same day as the T20 Blast quarter-finals last year, James was at the Rovers' ground watching his team against Accrington Stanley. Being lined up as a potential candidate for an international side is a great honour and one that is thoroughly deserved. Like James, we're very much looking forward to what these next couple of months bring. If a debut does not come this summer, it surely cannot be that far away.

It's Building Sustainability's first birthday & most of the world is on lockdown... So this month sees a triple Building Sustainability podcast release to celebrate / occupy your mind. The first of this month's episodes is:Lucy Pedler - Architect & Director 'The Green Register'Lucy started both The Green Register (TGR) and her architectural practice in 2000 when her children were 3 and 5 - she attributes the creation of these two new companies to sleep deprivation at the time.From a desk in her spare bedroom, TGR has grown to be what Lucy had hoped it would be - a successful nationwide organisation promoting sustainable building practices. Lucy has had the pleasure of working with some very committed people and The Green Register team are second to none.Lucy uses her architectural experience to inform the activities of TGR - understanding what training construction professionals need has contributed to the success of the organisation.When not working with the TGR team, Lucy runs her own small architectural development company, focussing on providing affordable, small-but-perfectly-designed eco houses for those struggling to get on the first rung of the housing ladder. Lucy also enjoys cycling, cooking and walking in the great outdoors.(Bio from The Green Register)We discuss The fundamentals of retrofitting an existing buildingThe work that the Green Register doesThe Future Proof training schemeA huge thanks to Lucy for making the time for a wonderful conversation.Links from Episode 13https://www.greenregister.org.uk/https://www.futureproof.uk.net/Bristolians guide to solid wall insulationGreen Register Hot topicPassivHaus TrustGreenHeart Sustainable constructionhttps://carbon.coop/https://www.cse.org.uk/http://leejohnphillips.com/https://www.instagram.com/leejohnphillips

Your favourite Bristolians are here chatting BS in, but not limiting the discussion to, the BS postcode. This week we have an honest discussion on Maz's experiences, with the complicated effects a mixed-racial heritage has on ones own identity. We touch on school experiences, effects on parental relations, racial conflict between ones own heritage, treating People of Colour (POC's) as a collective group, navigating a life of simultaneous privilege and oppression and how people can be an ally to aid the racial microaggressions experienced by all People of Colour in everyday life. This week we are blessed with the personal experiences of two mixed-race queens, Rhi and Rosie, whom share how their mixed heritage has effected their sense of self. On this weeks 'Is your glass half full or half empty?' segment... we question whether the sexualised perception and fetishisation of 'lighties' has a positive effect on representing the new generation of mixed-race individuals?

Your favourite Bristolians are here chatting BS in, but not limiting the discussion to, the BS postcode. This week we discuss the multi-million dollar business of pharmaceutical medicine, focusing on it's intrinsic links to western societies value systems, the effects of consumerism and the need for reform in therapeutic diagnostic manuals. Although this week in particular we digressed onto a topic I doubt anyone would've guessed. For listeners discretion, we are joking and no underwear were harmed in the making of this show. On this weeks 'Is your glass half full or half empty?' segment... we question whether a treatment which cures cancer will be developed in our lifetime.

Your favourite Bristolians are here chatting BS in, but not limiting the discussion to, the BS postcode. This week we have a honest discussion on the state education system, focusing on the selectivity in teaching on British colonial history, a one size fits all teaching structure, and why we need to start celebrating free thinking and unconventionality! On this weeks 'Is your glass half full or half empty?' segment... we question whether the use of popular figures, such as grime artists, at Universities like Oxford/Cambridge will make these spaces more accessible to younger people of colour.

Your favourite Bristolians are here chatting BS in, but not limiting the discussion to, the BS postcode. This week we have an honest discussion on the effects of social media on self-esteem, how some people are under-represented and on owning your space and tailoring your social media profile to ooze positivity! On this weeks 'Is your glass half full or half empty?' segment... we question how positive or negative we feel about the recent test, which removed the number of likes shown on Instagram and Facebook, aiming to improve how users feel when using these platforms.

Thousands of Bristolians and tourists have bought ice creams from Lopresti ice cream vans at iconic city landmarks over the decades. For an equally long time rumours spread about their notoriety as employers and landlords. In an investigation by the Bristol Cable spanning five years that led to Modern Day Slavery charges, these rumours have been investigated and a shocking story uncovered. Now with reporting restrictions lifted, the Cable can reveal there were men living like slaves under Salvatore Lopresti’s control, and a trail of workers and tenants exploited by the Lopresti ice cream and property business. Having had enough of living in fear, poverty and indignity, these same people spoke out. wwwthebristolcable.org @thebristolcable

Sound Memories is a series of audio portraits portraying varying perspectives on how and where we remember the dead in our changing world. I spoke with Fabiola, Carmen, Danielle, Efrain, and Louise on a chilly October day in the basement crypt of a Southwest England cemetery. Here, over warm coffees and homemade muffins, this group of friends prepared for a public Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration by building a Mexican Ofrenda—a traditional altar to the dead. Listen to their stories to hear how a shared experience of loss brought these Bristolians together across cultures and national origins.

Episode 44 of Robins On The Wire has Sky Sports' Michelle Owen and Bristol City reporter Gregor MacGregor examining the 1-0 defeat at Wigan and what went wrong for the Robins up in Greater Manchester last Friday.There is also the fallout from Tomas Kalas' injury plus the leftovers from the Baggies' bashing last week too.The duo preview the HUGE Aston Villa game coming up on Friday and look at whether Steve Bruce is really under pressure or just under pressure at Villa Park. There is also discussion of Tammy Abraham, Albert Adomah, Jonathan Kodjia and Yannick Bolasie's return to Ashton Gate, while Nathan Baker and Andreas Weimann face their old team too.Meanwhile this week's special guest is a former Bristol City academy player who was released at 14 but is excelling off the pitch and becoming a star in his own right via YouTube and social media: Jemel One Five. Jemel kindly talks about playing football around Bristol, visiting the Easton playground as Bobby Reid, playing non-League football with Hashtag United and inspiring young Bristolians. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

This week Sky Sports' Michelle Owen and Bristol Live Bristol City reporter Gregor finish off their review of the season, taking in the two great games against Manchester City, and the drop-off in form towards the end of the season.The duo dissect why City were unable to win away from home and look back at the January transfer window, asking if the Robins could have done better in their recruitment and what the lessons for the future are.As well as chewing over the latest City news including the club's long-running head of communications leaving Ashton Gate, there is also some discussion of the bright future for City's academy and the next generation of Bristolians to do well at the club.There's also your reviews of the season with the fans' three word reports on the 2017-18 campaign.While the pair also ask whether head coach Lee Johnson is under pressure and explain why the former Barnsley coach should remain with the Robins and build on the last five years of progress at the club.Thanks to ELM Legal Services for sponsoring the episode. They are based in Bristol & provide Will Writing & Estate Planning Services across the UK. Standard Single Will £99.00. For more details visit here. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

As the fifth oldest zoo in the world, Bristol Zoological Gardens has been introducing Bristolians to wild animals since 1836. I met with Dr Andy Flack, Teaching Fellow in Modern History at Bristol University, to discuss the origins of the zoo, its role in civic identity and the extent to which our attitude towards animals has (and hasn't) changed over the past two centuries.

This week I met with Steve Poole, Professor of History at UWE to discuss his book 'Bristol from Below' (co-authored with Nicholas Rogers). We explore the life of ordinary Bristolians in the long 18th century, discussing - among other things - riots, radicalism, arson and sodomy.

Alcohol has always been important to Bristol and Bristolians. I met with Dr Evan Jones of Bristol University to discuss the changing economic and social dimensions of boozing throughout the city's history. How have our drinking habits changed over time? And who was more fond of a tipple - us or our ancestors?

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/

Bristolians have often been condemned or commended for their riotous history. For this podcast I met with Dr Roger Ball of the Bristol Radical History Group and Dr Steve Poole of UWE to discuss Bristol's 'riots' in the 18th and 19th centuries. What constitutes a 'riot'? Can we discern political intentions behind crowd activity? And how do popular disturbances and uprisings fit into modern Bristol's image of itself?

Welcome to Episode 015 and the first episode of season 2! Me and my wife Tiffany spent some time talking to her cousin Ryan and his childhood friend Craig about all things Somerset, Cider and the ways Bristolians talk. Enjoy. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Bristol has been named as Europe's Green Capital for 2015. Tom Heap finds out if local people will see real improvements in their city. Trapeze artists and a high wire act on a bicycle, spanning two former warehouses, heralded the start of Bristol's Year as European Green Capital for 2015. The award is a few years old now and goes to a city with outstanding green credentials and ambitions. So how is Bristol shaping up for it's year in the big green spotlight? A year ago Costing The Earth asked what the award meant, and how it would impact and improve the lives of Bristolians along with those living around the city. Now the award is here, so Tom Heap investigates whether there is substance beyond the stunts, gimmicks and planned festivals: are there radical plans afoot to put the environment in the forefront of Bristolians' minds? Solar Panels are appearing on roofs of council buildings across the city, projects and grants encouraging residents to insulate their homes are in full swing. Wildlife corridors are springing up, provision and distribution of sustainable food is gathering pace. There's an education programme featuring Shaun The Sheep for school children, piloting in Bristol and available nationwide from September but the city cannot ignore it's major problem: the traffic. Bristol has some of the worst congestion in the UK, and with that congestion comes poor air quality, and this ultimately costs lives. Costing The Earth asks if Bristol's traffic conundrums are solveable and if, after being green capital for a year, the number of deaths in the city caused as a direct result of air pollution, will fall. Presenter: Tom Heap Producer: Martin Poyntz-Roberts.

In this episode: This month Mark Cosgrove, Watershed Cinema Curator, considers his five, or so, top films of 2014. We also hear from Nikesh Shukla, editor of Watershed's young people's magazine Rife on their list of the twenty four most influential Bristolians under 24. Mark discusses films that this year have renewed his confidence in British filmmaking, films that mesmerised him and films that have thrilled him with their subtlety, vigour and passion. What are your top five films of the year?