Jacky Puzey

For our third Shade Home event, Shade worked with Trevor and Marian at their housing co-op in South Bristol.

Our parade started at Asda Bedminster, thinking about trades histories, as Asda now occupies part of the old Wills Tobacco building on East St, and thinking about new more sustainable ways of trading, creating an action where we left gifts of fairly traded or locally produced objects for people to pick up.

During our parade, we stopped in Asda Bedminster to think about local history, as the building used to be part of the Wills Brothers tobacco empire; their first factory was in Bedminster in the older part of the building linked to Asda. We took a musical tour down a few aisles, then returned to the main through route, and serenaded the drycleaners and key cutters with ‘Putting on the Ritz’.

We then took our parade across East St, past the pub that flooded in the 1968 floods; this is one of the lowest geographical points in Bristol, and our host Trevor and Activist China talked about climate change and local places. Shade Explorer Leiza sang Wade in the Water gospel song.

We then walked back to our Shade Home for the evening, via Windmill Hill City Farm, and a pause to think about shared land.

On our return to the Shade Home, Shade artists sang their song of Home, the Tailors Lament.

Then the Explorers led everyone out into the garden, to explore the shared territory,  and serve soups (Borscht and Saturday Soup). Shade blankets were distributed, to keep everyone warm and wrapped in a new identity. Marian our host and Baljinder the Landowner character from Shade talked about autumn festivals of light and remembrance, from Samhain to Diwali to Day of the Dead. Images from Day of the Dead and Samhain were projected onto the front window, and a trail of pineapples sprayed onto the pavement outside led guests to the house.

During dinner, guests and artists shared food recipes and stories, from chips as one guest remembered the house her father built, and then burnt down when he forgot the chip pan, to Scandinavian smoked fish and cheese, to Indian sweets and crumbles both pineapple and blackberry and apple.

During dinner, the Explorers Leiza and Ruth exchanged their suit, remapping each others’ journeys onto the calico toile (trial version of suit).

Guests had their photos taken, as Baljinder our Landowner and Chandra the photographer changed the boundaries, and our youngest guest starred as his parents introduced their blackberry and apple crumble. There was also an amazing apple cake and Dutch soup.

The party carried on after Shade, around the fire that Trevor built…

Thanks very much to Trevor and Marian for being our generous Hosts for the evening, and to all our guests for being part of  the many magic moments that make up a Shade Home event.

Thanks also to Cedar and Verona, both of them  running the set up and backstage in the kitchen brilliantly – also to Barry for helping us pack at the end of the night!