Seamen's friend returns to Hotwells
The
refurbished statue of Samuel Plimsoll that used to stand near the Entrance
Lock Will be unveiled on March 12th by The Lord Mayor at a new site on
Capricorn Quay near the Jacobs Well roundabout.
Although Samuel Plimsoll lived only his first 3 years in Bristol, his
stubborn fight to improve the safety of ships at sea and save many of
their crews from death had a direct effect on the people of this great
maritime City and no doubt many in Hotwells, at the heart of the Port
of Bristol. His book ‘Our Seamen’ published in 1873, claimed that nearly
1,000 sailors a year on British ships were drowned and hundreds more were
being imprisoned for refusing to sail on unseaworthy or undermanned vessels.
From the time of his election as MP for Derby in 1868 Plimsoll lobbied
doggedly for new legislation to address the problem. He experienced many
setbacks as he confronted the powerful interests of shipowners and the
political establishment but finally achieved Government support for an
amendment to the Merchant Shipping Act in 1876. This introduced a compulsory
mark on all British-registered vessels that came to be known as the ‘Plimsoll
Line’.
After various attempts to memorialise Plimsoll failed in Bristol, a bust
from the City Museum was finally sited on Hotwell Road near the entrance
to Cumberland Basin and unveiled by Lord Mayor L.K. Stevenson in 1962.
There it might be standing still but for necessary works by Wessex Water
to improve water quality in the Floating Harbour which meant the sculpture
had to be removed into temporary storage in 2005. Now, with financial
help from Wessex Water, Clifton & Hotwells Improvement Society and
Bristol City Council, we are delighted to see this great man, spruced
up and returned to enhance the new Harbourside Walkway.
We have produced a special Plimsoll
commemoration edition of Hotwells News to mark the event.
Entrance Lock improvements
Works
at Entrance Lock to replace the water hydraulic system with an oil based
system will be ongoing until next May/June.
As a consequence of this work we shall see 5 small new buildings at Entrance
Lock, 4 to house the mechanisms for each of the lock gates and one to
hold an emergency generator. Hopefully, the design will be rather less
stark that the buildings at Junction Lock. These works will prevent access
to a way over the Lock Gates until they are completed.
Your ideas for improving Cumberland Basin
Following
an article in the last edition of ‘Hotwells News’ we have received over
70 responses so far and a picture is beginning to emerge of what people
would like to see done about the ‘wilderness’ area under the flyover.
see Open space page for details...
Hotwells Panto tickets now on sale!
Book
your seats now for ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’, the homegrown, 100% organic
and completely sustainable production with the lowest carbon footprint
(and sense of humour) of any panto on a warming planet. You can find it
at Hope Chapel from March 10th-13th.
Tickets from The Southville Centre tel: 9231039
Prices: £8 adult / £7 concession / £5 children.
All profits support local community
projects