Once In A Blue Moon headed down to the Bear Pit in Bristol for our second venture. It was a pleasure to see how this open plan underpass in the middle of a busy roundabout has been transformed from a dull, urban walkway into an increasingly vibrant community setting.
We nestled in with the lovely people from Handmade By Hippies, who kindly invited us down a few weekends back. They’re an outfit aiming to create jobs and opportunities for artists based in Bristol, selling unique clothing designs and providing workshops of all styles at the Bear Pit most days under the moniker ‘Bear Skillz’. Very cool people!
After getting all our kit in the car and driving down, we arrived to some fantastic weather and set up with a load of instruments, furniture, drawing materials, a lino printing workshop and homemade blueberry lemonade and samosas.
We worked on a continuation of the exchange/donation vibe with which we are hoping to build our travelling cafe; various bits and pieces coming together from different people and places. Anything people gave got them a free treat – and it went well! People got involved with the workshop, played the instruments, added to the communal drawing and we even got given a few quid. The Blueberry Lemonade in particular received glowing reviews from everyone, a definite mainstay as we get going. Perhaps we’ll have to trademark it 😛
A massive shout out to all the people at the Bear Pit and those who came down, we’ll definitely be back!
