Upcoming events in 2022

Community Voice magazine

If you have seen the latest edition of The Community Voice for Sea Mills and Coombe Dingle you may already know that we have some exciting events happening this year.

Your Stories – from late April to July we will be giving people the opportunity to come to Sea Mills Library and record stories from their lives. This could be anything from one event or anecdote you want to tell us or a chat through your life experience. You can do this by yourself or with a friend or family member. A volunteer from Sea Mills 100 will be on hand to prompt and ask questions and will actually make the recording. All ages are welcome, but those under 18 must be accompanied by an adult. Sessions will be on Saturday afternoons and must be pre-booked. Book here now

The final recordings will be archived by Bristol Libraries and may be available for the public to listen to in the library, online and used in the Sea Mills 100 project. Participants will be asked to sign a form to allow this to happen, but only after they have completed their recording and are happy with it.

Bristol Walkfest – 15th May – 2pm An easy paced, short heritage walk around Sea Mills. This walk will be led by local residents and explore the oldest part of the area, taking in the Square, the first houses and the area around Sea Mills Farm. Booking is essential and is now available online. The walk is free but there will be an opportunity to make a donation to Sea Mills 100 at the end of the walk. This walk is part of Bristol Walkfest.

Found it! – 9th July – 10am – 2pm at the Cafe on the Square. Found it! is our accidental finds event. We want to see objects people have found in their houses left by previous occupants. Every object tells a tale and we will have experts on hand from Bristol Museums and Archives to help us identify the objects and unlock their stories. No booking is necessary for this event, just turn up with your found object or if it’s too big or fixed, bring a photograph.

Peacocks return to Sea Mills

A peacock

After more than 100 years peacocks are set to return to Sea Mills recreation ground. The brightly coloured birds were a common sight in the area in the early 1900’s. Philip Napier-Miles the former owner of Kingsweston House used the fields around his property to breed them.

Kingsweston House – the family home of Philip Napier-Miles

Peacocks have been absent from the area since 1919 when the land was sold to the Bristol Corporation to build much needed housing for soldiers returning from WW1. The area now taken up by Sea Mills Recreation Ground, known locally as “The Rec” would have originally housed the birds.

Percy the Peacock, one of a pair which will be arriving in Sea Mills later this month

Peacocks are soon to be seen on the Rec again due to a generous donation from Bristol Zoo resulting from the closure of their Clifton site. Rather than relocate the resident peacocks Derek and Percy to the Wild Place near Cribbs Causeway, they will instead be brought to Sea Mills Rec. A replica of the original Napier Mills peacock house will be created next to the Shire Colts changing rooms. The birds will be enclosed at night but during the day they will be given the freedom of the Rec.

The initial costs of providing accomodation for the birds will be met by the zoo but ongoing feed costs will be provided by local residents. This will be via a £50 a year peacock charge to those households on St Edyth’s Road, Woodleaze, Sylvan Way and Shirehampton road which overlook the Rec. Those residents will have exclusive rights to any feathers which are dropped by the birds and be allowed to sell them on at a profit.

The Napier-Miles Aviary c1898