Tidal Turnings...

Thanks to the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Connected Communities Festival fund, Water City Bristol and Bristol Loves Tides were able to hold a half-day event on Saturday June 20th at the wonderful Benjamin Perry Boathouse in the Bristol Harbour.

Proxi and Peri and a very large sturgeon! Benjamin Perry Boathouse. Photo credit: Marianna Dudley

The afternoon event was pitched at a growing ‘tidal supporters club’ based on those who attended the March 22nd Syzygy event at the Lockside, as well as any others who have expressed an interest in Bristol’s tidal nature. The event involved the screening of the first Proxi and Peri film, a live music performance by two of Bristol Loves Tides young presenters, and a very interesting panel discussion involving the audience about what it might mean to be a ‘hydrocitizen’ in Bristol.

Attendees were also encouraged to share their tidal or water stories of Bristol on a map with pins, and were awarded badges for doing so.

Water City Bristol and Bristol Loves Tides badges. Photo credit: Antony Lyons

The crowd were then led out of the boathouse and to the dock where ‘The Oath’ to the tides was once again led by Proxi and Peri before they boarded the ferry and went to the Museum of Water at the Bristol Green Capital Lab near the Watershed. There they contributed a bottle of dock water on behalf of Bristol Loves Tides and Water City Bristol.

The interactive event, held in this wonderful yet unassuming building steeped in heritage (not just history – an important distinction as we learned!) was another great reminder of the importance of tides to this the city, but also water more broadly to all of us, our places, our pasts, presents and futures…