Serviced Accommodation Bristol > Bristol local information > Events March 2010
Major Events, Exhibitions,Theatre, Music & Panto
Major Events
5 – 10 April
Riverdance
The Bristol Hippodrome
An innovative and exciting fusion of Irish and International dance, Riverdance propels traditional dance and music into the present day, capturing the imagination of audiences across all ages and cultures. This is the last chance for the UK to see the show rightly described by the Irish Times as “The Original...The Best” and experience the magic that is Riverdance!
Until 18 April
Shape of Things Exhibition
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery
The Shape of Things is a contemporary craft exhibition. Artists Alinah Azadeh and Rosa Nguyen show new work in response to Bristol's collections.
Until 2 May
Shakespeare Season
The Tobacco Factory
Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory Theatre returns for its 11th spring season with two of Shakespeare’s most magical plays. A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest.
Special: Easter
Bristol Zoo Gardens
Easter Eggstravaganza
Get eggcited this Easter by taking part in our Easter Egg Hunt around the Zoo. The Easter Bunny and Spring Bear will also be making a special appearance.
Brunel’s ss Great Britain
Easter Events
Mr. Brunel visits Meet Britain’s greatest engineer (2 – 18 April, except Mondays)
Easter animal trail Explore the fun animal trail on board. The best children’s drawings win prizes! (2 – 5 April)
Victorian surgeon Seek medical advice from the ship’s doctor. Leeches included! (3 – 4 April)
Horseworld
Easter Fun Weekend
Free entry for children aged 3-15 in their Easter bonnet, plus Easter bonnet competitions, Easter egg hunt & much more!
Tyntesfield
Easter Egg Trails
Fun trails and activities throughout the grounds, including Spring crafts in the Sawmill and Easter egg trails supported by Cadbury (11 am – 3 pm).
Fleet Air Arm Museum
Easter Family Activities
1st - 18th April
Everyday throughout the Easter period there will be a variety of special activities for you and your family to enjoy, from daily Easter egg hunts to Family Activity Egg Drops where you and your family will design and build your own parachute for an egg.
University of Bristol Botanic Garden
Easter Art
The spring opening of the University of Bristol Botanic Garden, Stoke Bishop takes place on Good Friday 2 April 2010, with an eye-catching exhibition and sale of original botanical art by noted local artists. There will be a wide range of paintings, drawings, prints and cards.
Westonbirt Arboretum
Westonbirt Easter Challenge
Can you find all the creatures that lay eggs at Westonbirt and solve the Easter riddle? Then create your own Easter crafts. All participants enter the Easter prize draw. Open 10.30am - 4pm. Cost: £2 plus standard admission.
Cabot Circus
Easter Fun
7 and 8 April: Children can enjoy an egg-stra dose of Easter fun at Cabot Circus this April by taking part in an Easter Trail which is set to delight and entertain young visitors.
Family Fun
3 – 5 April
Steam Train Rides on the Harbourside
Brunel’s ss Great Britain
Be transported back to the days of steam when Bristol’s Museums, Galleries & Archives’ most popular exhibit – the impressive steam train - chugs into action once again for a new season of harbour trips.
6 & 13 April
Tyntesfield Tuesdays
Tyntesfield
Children's Fun Day with activities in the Sawmill - each Tuesday of the school holidays. Normal admission applies (children must be accompanied by an adult).
13 April
Walk with Beefy
Ashton Court Estate
Sir Ian Botham will be walking for 10 consecutive days through 10 towns. Beefy will begin each day’s walk outside the town's M&S and then walk to the local park where you can join him and his celebrity friends. To join Beefy in his fight against childhood leukaemia, visit www.beefy25.com for more information.
24 – 25 April
Girl Guide’s Weekend
Tyntesfield
Celebrate 100 years of Girl Guides. Enjoy a display of Guiding from 1910 to 2010, plus tea, home-made cakes and activities for children in the Sawmill.
Until 25 April
Planetarium: Spring Night Sky Show
At-Bristol
Take a trip to the stars beneath an immersive domed screen in At-Bristol’s very own planetarium.
Ongoing
Animate It!
At-Bristol
Morph will join a host of other Aardman Animations favourites in At-Bristol’s new permanent exhibition, Animate It!
Besides Animate-it! there are many more exhibitions, including Move it!, All about our world!, Storytelling!, Eat HQ! and Experi-mania!. At-Bristol, brings science to life!
Get Close to Nature
Throughout April
Various events
Tyntesfield
1 – 31 April: Daffodil Days. Enjoy the first signs of Spring in the garden as Tyntesfield bursts into life with a stunning array of daffodils and bluebells.
17 April: Bluebell Woodland Walk. Explore the stunning array of bluebells in Tyntesfield's Truckle Wood on these guided walks with the Warden. £5 includes a hot drink from the Kiosk (10.30 am or 2pm, booking required).
Until 30 April: "Searching for Spring" Children's Trail. Enjoy the kids' garden trail, exploring the nature and wildlife in the gardens during the first signs of Spring.
Until End of October: Garden Tours. Enjoy a free guided tour of the formal gardens or Kitchen Garden. Meet by the Aviary. Tours run Saturday to Wednesday and last approximately one hour - normal admisson charges apply. No booking required.
10 and 25 April
Various events
Trooper Hill
10 April: Guided Walk. Enjoy a guided walk with expert Ed Drewitt and listen to bird song and spot native and rare species (booking essential).
25 April: Avon Valley Walk. Enjoy a guided walk through St Anne’s Woods, Nightingale Valley, Eastwood Farm, Conham and Dundridge Park, finishing at Troopers Hill. There is the opportunity for lunch at Beese’s Riverside Bar & Tea Gardens or bring a picnic (booking essential).
12, 13, 14 and 16 April
Various events
Westonbirt Arboretum
12 – 16 April: Awakening Woods. With Spring in full swing, why not venture out to discover the awakening woodland - from buds bursting and rising sap, to colourful blooms and wildflower carpets - explore the changes that occur amongst the trees at this time. Then create your own spring crafts. 10.30am to 4.00pm.
12 – 13 April: Westonbirt Estate Heritage Open Days. A rare and exciting opportunity for visitors to discover the whole historic Westonbirt estate with access to the house, gardens and arboretum.
14 April: Wildflower Walks. Discover the wealth of wildflowers growing at Westonbirt. Not suitable for children under 10.
24 April
Adoption Birthday Party
Horseworld
Join the Adoption Animals for their “official” birthday. Adopters will be sent a special invitation nearer to the date.
Exhibitions
4, 6, 7, 13 and 14 April
Hands On…
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery
4, 6 and 7 April: Hands on… Make that Link. There are all kinds of connections linking objects and paintings in the museum. Explore how some of these are linked to each other and how they may relate to you.
13 & 14 April: Hands on… Colour Crazy. The museum is full of colourful objects – create some colourful masks and collages related to some of our dazzling displays.
Suitable for children aged 2-11 years. No need to book, just drop in.
Until 18 April
Tiger display
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery
A unique collection of tiger artefacts from around the world. Sculptures, masks, toys and graphics will be on display alongside specially commissioned work by artists in the UK and abroad.
Until 25 April
Imogen Stidworth Exhibition
Arnolfini
Arnolfini is planning the first solo, museum-scale exhibition in the UK of work by Liverpool-based artist, Imogen Stidworth.
24 April – 04 July
Otto Zitko Exhibition
Arnolfini
Arnolfini is commissioning artist Otto Zitko to produce his first solo exhibition in the UK. He will produce an ambitious drawing-based architectural intervention especially for the Arnolfini’s exhibition and circulation space.
25 April
Reserve Collection Open Day
Fleet Air Arm Museum
This is the only occasion when the Museum's Reserve Collection will be on public display. See behind the scenes in our climate-controlled hangar called Cobham Hall. See over 30 rare examples of aircraft and numerous artefacts including confiscated vehicles and weapons from the Falklands and Gulf Wars.
28 April
Hidden Treasure Tour
Tyntesfield
Join the Inventory Officer for a behind the scenes tour of some of the often missed treasure around the House. Discover never-seen-before items from the National Trust's largest recorded collection (booking essential).
Until 11 April
Sanity Assasin Exhibition
Spike Island
Spike Island presents the first major solo show in a public gallery by London based artist Amanda Beech (1972). Beech was awarded the main production residency for UK artists at Spike Island in 2009 which contributed to the making of her new body of work Sanity Assassin.
Ongoing
Plinth Project
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery
Container will be presenting a series of six newly commissioned works in an exciting collaboration with Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery. The Plinth Project starts in 2010 with a new sculpture by Ben Rowe, which is on show until 25 April.
Theatre and Music
Ongoing (Sundays)
Soul Sundays
Glassboat
Get that 'Easy like Sunday morning' feeling at the Glassboat. From this February onwards you'll be able to wind back & read the paper whilst sipping on a Bloody Mary and tucking into your Eggs Benedict. The Soul Brothers will provide the perfect background to an indulgent Sunday with laid back soul 45's in the lounge bar.
Sawmills Music Series
Until 31 May
Tyntesfield
Bristol's Pindrop Club will be returning to the Sawmill at Tyntesfield for their 2010 series of very special and intimate live acoustic music nights. For information and bookings call the Pindrop Club on 01275 810166. Last Saturday of every month.
4 April
Paul Sinha
The Tobacco Factory
The Asian Arts Agency’s Comedy Night is back, this time with the formidable international stand-up hit Paul Sinha and rising star Ahir Shah.
7 April
Mark Latimer
St Georges Bristol
The fascinating, eclectic pianist Mark Latimer celebrates three great keyboard masters: Bach, Chopin and the formidable Alkan. Part of the Border Bicentenary Project (celebrating the 200th birthdays of Chopin, Liszt and Alkan), Latimer deftly illustrates the richness of the concerto form in these solo works
11 April
Sherlock Holmes
The Tobacco Factory
After his great success as Sherlock at the Tobacco Factory last year, Roger Llewellyn returns with this new and very different play. The world’s greatest fictional detective confronts the most complex case of all – his own psyche.
12 – 17 April
Dreamboats and Petticoats
The Bristol Hippodrome
Inspired by the album, Dreamboats and Petticoats The Musical will give you the greatest time of your life – taking you back to a time when each passing week brought another classic track. Featuring songs from Roy Orbison, The Shadows, Eddie Cochran, Billy Fury, Chuck Berry and many more.
14 April
Elektrostatic: Modern Britain
Colston Hall
The Emerald Ensemble will continue its boundary-defying contemporary classical season. The Ensemble will swell to a 25-piece orchestra, featuring works by living British composers inspired by ancestry, ritual and landscape.
17 April
Hazel O’Connor and the Bluja project
Colston Hall
Award-winning singer/songwriter Hazel O'Connor teams up with legendary saxophonist Clare Hirst (Bellestars, Communards, David Bowie) and pianist/vocalist Sarah Fisher (Eurythmics, Sax In The City) to perform a mixture of O'Connor originals and classics.
18 April
Migrations Double Bill
Claudia Aurora / Kooch
St Georges Bristol
A subtly intense, exquisitely passionate music double-bill possessed of the raw heat of the radical traditions of Portugal and Iran.
21 April – 02 May
Anything but love
The Tobacco Factory
Anything But Love charts a unique meeting between the great wit, poet, dramatist and adventuress Dorothy Parker and the fellow wordsmith and equally hard-drinking Dorothy Fields – the greatest female lyricist of all time. The two Dorothys laugh, drink, reminisce and bitch, whilst romping through songs that include: I Won’t Dance, A Fine Romance, In the Mood for Love, The Way You Look Tonight and I Can’t Give You Anything But Love.
23 April
An evening with Rufus Wainwright
Colston Hall
Affectionately referred to by Elton John as 'the greatest songwriter on the planet' and praised by The New York Times for his 'genuine originality,' Rufus Wainwright has established himself as one of the great male vocalists and songwriters of his generation.
Until 24 April
Romeo and her Juliet
Bristol Old Vic
Developed since 1997 in collaboration with Minder producer Sean O'Connor, the production uses Shakespeare's text, but casts our lovers in their 80s, with their anxious children, not their parents, seeking to prevent an imprudent and costly match.
25 April
The Musicians of Bremen
The Tobacco Factory
Bruno, an old donkey, runs away with his friends – Alberta, a fox hound, a pretty cat called Cornelia, and Fritz, a magnificent red rooster – to become jazz musicians, The Musicians of Bremen. And what adventures they have, especially when they come across a posse of terrifying robbers – and an abandoned baby!
26 April – 4 May
Blood Brothers
The Bristol Hippodrome
Blood Brothers tells the captivating and moving story of twin boys separated at birth, only to be re-united by a twist of fate and a mother's haunting secret. The memorable score includes A Bright New Day, Marilyn Monroe and the emotionally charged hit Tell Me It's Not True.
Special Tours
Ongoing
The Bristol Packet Boat Trips
Wapping Wharf
Take a trip on one of the beautiful boats for a unique tour of Bristol and beyond.
Every weekend: Floating Harbour Tour
Every Sunday: Afternoon River Cruise to Beese's Tea Gardens
Ongoing
Bristol Ferry Boat Co
Harbourside / City Centre
The distinctive yellow and blue boats offer a range of services from within the city limits and out to the countryside beyond.
Fairs, Markets & Food
3 April
Records Fair
Colston Hall
The most popular Record Fair in the South West has moved to the Colston Hall's new foyer building for 2010.
Every Wednesday
Bristol Farmers Market
Corn Street
Local producers from a 40-mile radius sell a massive range of food from cheese, fish, honey, cakes and vegetables to meat, game and poultry at this award-winning market.
First Sunday of every month
Slow Food Market
Corn Street
The UK’s first regular Slow Food market has become a monthly treat for lovers of real food. Slow Food embraces the theory of good food production.
