Cumbria Naturally
  • Home
  • Blog
  • My Books
    • Cumbrian Contrasts
    • A Lakeland Experience >
      • Introduction
      • Derwent
      • Langdale
      • Ullswater
      • Kentdale
    • About Scout Scar
    • Atlantic Odyssey
  • Other Writing
    • What Larks!
    • Further - Explore Shetland
    • Autumn Migration
    • Rydal and Nab Scar
    • Perspectives
    • The River Kent
    • Wings
  • Gallery
  • Contact

Bristol: Colston meets Caribbean

15/6/2020

1 Comment

 
PictureFragrant orchid, gift of the seed-bank in a wild-flower lawn
Seed Stories from the Lockdown. The Food Programme. BBC radio 4.
Caribbean horticulture thrives in Bristol allotments and gardens.  Traditions of saving seed, sowing beans and growing fruit trees. 'You get a great pleasure, especially when the rain falls, watching things grow/ says Mr Brown. Jamaican growers like he and Leon Walker bring with them a horticultural tradition of tending a small plot, skills  being rediscovered  during the lockdown.  Both men convey the joy of growing food. And Leon Walker's wisdom  is memorable..
It was refreshing to listen to these two Jamaican growers in a week when the headline news from Bristol was the toppling of Edward Colston's statue. 





It was good to hear the sense of wonder in these Jamaican voices, their closeness to the earth, their tradition of saving seed, planting, growing, harvesting.  Within the context of Seed Stories from Lockdown  theirs was a story of self-reliance born of an  understanding of our relationship with the soil and a reverence for it.   
Right now radio schedules come close to being overwhelmed with items on Covid 19.  And the violence erupting around the Black Lives Matter protests.  Of the latter, I'd like a more balanced picture. And if we are to hear the history let it not be partial.  The whole truth in its historical context please.
I doubt whether the Radio Times will publish two of my letters in consecutive weeks- but I had to write it.  So here it is.

Planting Seeds
Seed Stories from the Lockdown  (The Food Programme Radio 4  . 14 June) )
 There’s a cameo of Jamaican growers in Bristol. Mr Brown on his allotment, plants kidney bean seeds he saves  ‘ you get a great pleasure from watching things grow.’   Leon Walker has a garden of fruit trees; cherry, plum, apple. ‘ everything comes from the soil, we depend on that.’ These men have skills to share, horticultural skills brought from the Caribbean and taking root in Bristol.
Their voices give a sense of balance as Colston’s statue is toppled and drowned in Bristol Harbour. In the Black Lives Matter debate,  where peaceful protest is hijacked by violence,  it would be good to hear more voices like Mr Brown and Leon Walker, their wisdom and sense of wonder. 

I recommend this edition on The Food Programme. Seed stories from Lockdown is an important topic.
Having lived in Bristol for many years I'm following David Olusoga's ' A House Through Time..'  Number 10 Guinea Street, so called because the Bristol merchant who built the house  made his money by bringing slaves from Guinea, West Africa.   I wish the origins of the slave trade in Bristol had been made clear.  Historical truth demands it.  When  Bristol merchants arrived in Guinea  did they buy slaves already captured by other African tribes?   Were they profiting from an  established trade in slaves?   It does not exculpate them but it  changes  the  story. 
Globally, slavery goes back a long way, long before the Bristol Triangle.  And it's still with us in modern day trafficking.

This evening, BBC4 showed Black and British: a forgotten history .  Here David Olusoga explores his subject in more depth and detail.  Fascinating insights into Tudor England's outreach into Africa.  Seeing an Asante king adorned in  Ghanaian gold ( Guinea is now named Ghana)  I realised the origin of the coin, the golden guinea.  The coin was minted in Britain between 1663-1814, with gold from the coast of West Africa.  .
 

1 Comment
Glaramara
15/6/2020 01:37:16 pm

Well said, Jan. As a Bristolian and old girl (and member of Staff) at Colston's Girls, I wish the history were better taught .We were all told at school about the slave trade and had no illusions about Colston, except that he was a man as others are, partly well-intentioned, partly profiteering on a ruthless scale. I fear my question is, what's different now? Yes, these gentle Bristolian Jamaicans are great role-models

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Author

    Jan Wiltshire is a nature writer living in Cumbria. She also explores islands and coast and the wildlife experience. (See Home and My Books.)

    Archives

    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    September 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    November 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    April 2010
    January 2010
    November 2009
    January 2009
    January 2004

    Categories

    All
    A Local Patch
    Birdlife
    Butterflies And Moths
    Flowers
    Locations
    Views
    Walks
    Weather
    WIldlife

    RSS Feed

Website
Home
Blog
Gallery
Contact



​Cookie Policy
My Books
  • Intro - My books
  • ​Cumbrian Contrasts
  • A Lakeland Experience
  • About Scout Scar
  • Atlantic Odyssey
    ​
Other Writing
  • Intro - Other Writing
  • What Larks!
  • Further - Explore Shetland
  • Autumn Migration
  • Rydal and Nab Scar
  • Perspectives
  • The River Kent
  • Wings
Jan Wiltshire - Cumbria Naturally
© Jan Wiltshire 2021 All rights reserved
Website by Treble3