Discovering Bristol’s social justice roots! - Eastville parkrun #519 - 02/08/25

Parkrun no 519 for me and no 483 for Shveta.

Previously, I visited Bristol in April 2022, completing the stunning Ashton Court parkrun (which you can read about by clicking here). A long overdue visit to see some of my favourite people provided the opportunity to take in another of the city's parkruns. This time we ventured to the North East of the City to Eastville Park, home to Eastville parkrun.

This 70-acre park came into existence following calls for a 'people's park' in the working-class area of the city. Bristol Council bought the land from Sir Grevelle Smyth, owner of Ashton Court. Eastville Park was opened in the late 1880’s and early 1890’s with a large ornamental lake, bowling green, woodlands, wildflower meadows, tennis courts and a bowling green.

Parkrun, created by Paul Sinton-Hewitt, was very much created for ‘the people’ and so fittingly has an event here started back in November 2017. The course ordinarily takes in the full beauty of the park but currently, due to a fallen tree near the lake, the course is three clockwise laps of part of the park perimeter finishing in the middle. We didn’t get to see the lake but enjoyed the wonderful view over the park three times, which I found very enjoyable.

We were doing their B course which gives you this view 3 times; beautiful.

With the start in the middle of the park, it was wonderful seeing participants arriving from all directions, with a range of ages, sizes, lycra, and prams. Many from near and the farthest being Australia 🙂

There were 485 participants today.

There was a great team of marshals on the course cheering people round, and speakers playing upbeat music; good vibes were in the air and the woodland section offered some respite from the rising sun. With 70m of elevation, it should have been no surprise that the first finisher was from the local Helm Hills Runners Club, with another 485 finishers behind him.

We chatted to some wonderful folk visiting from Wales who recommended the Conwy parkrun, another to add to my parkrun bucket list (you run to a castle) with the promise of a new country flag too 🙂

We got our classic picture with the event sign, thanked the Event Director and team before heading back to our friends and a trip into Bristol city centre.

Bristol’s city centre is vibrant, car-free and blessed to have the River Frome, which used to power the watermills by the docks, flowing through it. The River Frome snakes its way through the city and up to Eastville Park, where we’d been earlier in the day, before disappearing into an underground culvert at Eastville Sluices upstream of Baptist Mills.

We visited the M Shed, and amongst the many excellent exhibitions was the statue of Edward Colston, lying chained and splattered in paint. I reflected on how the many roots of social justice movements, which led to the creation of Eastville Park, remain alive and well in Bristol, from community building to environmental action and more. 

Edward Colston bronze statue now in the M Shed.

A huge thank you to the 28-strong volunteer team, who set the tone for a wonderful weekend away and huge love to my chosen family who have done more for me than I could ever say. They continue to add to my faith in humanity.

With my chosen family

Stay safe, happy running or walking, rain or shine.

www.nuhorizons.uk

You can read about how parkrun was created by the founder, Paul Sinton-Hewitt, a care leaver, in his book 'One Small Step' The Definitive Account of how a run became a Global Movement.

My nuclear family.