Rapscallion Magazine TV Review: Arena’s 1981 documentary Have you seen the Mona Lisa? like the painting hasn’t aged and remains a classic
TV Review: Arena. Have you seen the Mona Lisa? BBC4. We stood in front of the Mona Lisa and I…
Bath Voice Literature News: love, loss, and life’s ups and downs in Zita Muranyi’s novel – On Mr. Darcy’s Sofa
DECEMBER 3, 2023 By Harry Mottram: Hungarian author Zita Muranyi (pictured) has published a new novel which may be of interest…
Bath Voice News: meet the man behind the Bath Preservation Trust (and the deeply morbid reason why the Museum of Bath Architecture is currently closed)
DECEMBER 1, 2023 By Harry Mottram: There is a museum in Bath set in the fine stone portals of The Countess…
Bath Voice News: theatre preview for Wendy at the Egg Theatre
By Harry Mottram: Peter Pan – the play by JM Barrie first performed in 1902 – and turned into films,…
The Axbridge Anthem
This was a poem I wrote for the 2022 Axbridge Pageant for the script but in the end it wasn’t…
Bath Voice News: Bath Contemporary Artists’ Christmas Fair on Sunday December 10th sees Axbridge’s Adam Clutterbuck exhibit stunning landscapes as Green Park Station is transformed into a creative paradise
NOVEMBER 29, 2023 One of the South West’s leading landscape photographers will be exhibiting at the Bath Contemporary Artists’ Christmas…
Bath Voice Sports News: results and match reports
NOVEMBER 27, 2023 Bath City Women go down to home defeat by 0-2 on November 26th at Twerton Park by league leaders…
ICSM Print Industry News: Another PFI company in trouble as workers left unpaid just weeks before Christmas as ‘row breaks out’ over locks being changed
By Harry Mottram: The print industry publication Print Week has reported on a second PFI subsidiary has hit the buffers. Reporter jo Francis…
ICSM Business News In Brief: Miss Universe bankruptcy; David Cameron Greensill scandal; logistic firm in trouble; and HS2 cancellation fall-out
By Harry Mottram: The firm that owns the Miss Universe beauty competition based in the USA and Thailand has filed for…
Axbridge News: Adam Clutterbuck’s photos of The Government Inspector prove a hit
By Harry Mottram: Axbridge Community Theatre’s production of Gogol’s The Government Inspector proved a big hit with the sell out…
Axbridge News: this is a not-a-review-review of The Government Inspector in the town hall – but reflections and notes on the cast
‘Gentlemen, I have some bad news. A Government Inspector is on his way.’ And with those words by Tony Wilson…
Axbridge News: evacuee Ukrainians come to see the Ukrainian play The Government Inspector in Axbridge and to meet the cast (and Maринa who is the doctor in the comedy drama)
By Harry Mottram: Axbridge is a long way from Ukraine. But Geography was irrelevant when two evacuee Ukrainians went out…
Axbridge News: more photographs by Adam Clutterbuck of this week’s production of The Government Inspector
Some super photos by Adam Clutterbuck of the cast of The Government Inspector in Axbridge Town Hall. The play by…
Axbridge News: the town’s theatre group set to stage Gogol’s The Government Inspector with EVERY ticket sold for the four night run
By Harry Mottram: David Parkin, the director of Axbridge Community Theatre’s production of Gogol’s comedy drama The Government Inspector said…
Bristol Theatre News: St Werburgh’s City Farm is the venue for a fun family show this Christmas Yule Be Merry
Award-winning Bristol based family theatre company are bringing their ridiculous festive theatre show Yule Be Merry to St Werburgh’s City Farm between…
Bath Voice Feature: tea and biscuits with the Mayor of Bath Dine Romero as we talk knife crime, grit bins and the real reason she came to the city
NOVEMBER 17, 2023 By Harry Mottram: With tea served complete with biscuits and the Mayor of Bath Councillor Dine Romero dressed…
Rapscallion Magazine Feature: Belarus journalists jailed for doing their job by Lukashenko’s illegal and repressive regime
By Harry Mottram: The exiled democratically elected President of Belarus Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya has reported that the journalist Katsiaryna Andreeva who…
ICSM Business News In Brief: Miss Universe bankruptcy; David Cameron Greensill scandal; logistic firm in trouble; and HS2 cancellation fall-out
By Harry Mottram: The firm that owns the Miss Universe beauty competition based in the USA and Thailand has filed for…
Bath Voice News: What’s On in Bath In December
NOVEMBER 14, 2023 By Harry Mottram: below are a selection of events and productions for December and into the New Year.…
Bath Voice News: local theatre company cancels production due to cast illness just days ahead of a production of A Streetcar Named Desire at the Rondo
NOVEMBER 14, 2023 By Harry Mottram: The Rondo Theatre Company in Bath have dramatically cancelled their production of Tennessee Williams’ play A…
ICSM Business News: rugby’s financial problems continue after it’s revealed the new owners of Worcester have failed to pay for the club in full and most premiership clubs are technically insolvent
By Harry Mottram: Firms that supply top flight rugby union clubs with anything from beer to beefburgers and from coach transport…
Rapscallion Magazine: when I spent a night with the posh wife of a Tory MP (while he watched) – an article from the archives when the Conservatives actually won elections
This article was written a few years ago about how I spent election night in 2015 as as reporter for…
Bath Voice Museum Review: upstairs and downstairs, a brief review of Number One Royal Crescent
NOVEMBER 9, 2023 Harry Mottram writes: It was a damp summer’s day when I popped into the recreation of a posh…
Bath Voice Sports News: Alex Fletcher leaves Bath City FC to work for the Professional Football Association on brain health education
NOVEMBER 8, 2023 By Harry Mottram: Bath City FC have announced their striker Alex Fletcher has left the club to join…
Rapscallion Magazine Feature: cider, cigarettes and Letraset… confessions of a 70s art student
By Harry Mottram: One pint of cider for 30p and you began to slur your words. Three pints and it was…
Bath Voice Sports News: news, information, fixtures and results of the city’s teams and clubs including Bath’s runners coming first in Over The Hills race
NOVEMBER 6, 2023 By Harry Mottram: below are the fixtures and results plus information of the various sports teams and clubs…
Axbridge Theatre Review: a 17th century pile-on sees three women executed for witchcraft in Scratchworks Theatre’s Hags in the town hall
Theatre Review: Hags, Axbridge Town Hall. We call them Twitter pile-ons in the new world of call-out culture. A feverish…
Bath Voice News: crunch day arrives for Bath Rugby Club as public consultation for their proposals for a redevelopment of their stadium closes (but public opinion remains sharply divided)
NOVEMBER 3, 2023 By Harry Mottram: It’s S-Day in Bath (Stadium Day). The consultation over the planning application for Bath’s Rugby…
Rapscallion Magazine News: one of the South West’s greatest comic actors Howard Coggins has died at 52 – Stu Mcloughlin pays full tribute
By Harry Mottram: It was one of those rare shows that make theatre going such a pleasure due to its…
Bath Voice Theatre Review: after a damp start Playing Up’s production of Sheila’s Island dries out nicely at The Rondo Theatre
Review: Sheila’s Island, Rondo Theatre, Bath: Tim Firth’s play Sheila’s Island has been widely criticised for being shallow, cliched, patronising…
ICSM Insolvency News: search for buyer or investor of Axbridge-based haulage firm struggling to survive
By Harry Mottram: A Somerset haulage firm could make a pre-tax profit if it is rescued from insolvency as a going…
Axbridge News: Adam Clutterbuck’s photographs of the rehearsals for The Government Inspector in the Town Hall are published ahead of the November production (and you may spot someone you know)
By Harry Mottram: Rehearsals have been underway in the Town Hall for weeks for Axbridge Community Theatre’s production of The…
Bath Voice News: Spanish officials halt search for missing former Bath rugby player Levi Davis
OCTOBER 27, 2023 By Harry Mottram: The mystery of the disappearance of Levi Davis may never be solved after no body…
Bath Voice News: exhibitions in the city this month
OCTOBER 24, 2023 Exhibition Picks in BathAmerican Museum, Bath. Claverton. The Museum features collections from the United States where you can…
Axbridge Review: Christmas starts here! The 2023 Annual Axbridge Progressive Supper is set for 2nd December – but how does it work?
By Harry Mottram: Trying to explain how a progressive supper works is like trying to explain the off-side rule in…
Axbridge Review Comment. Fireworks, books, clothing rails, alcohol: don’t get me started on people who want to ban things (although I have my own list)
There’s been a debate online on the Axbridge Community Face Book site about whether the fireworks sent up above the…
ICSM News: As company insolvencies rise as the economy struggles business has entered a hangover era like in the 1970s (when some sectors boomed)
By Harry Mottram: It comes as no surprise that the numbers of firms going bust is skyrocketing. ICSM’s Ian Carrotte said:…
Rapscallion Magazine Book Review: skullduggery, Shakespeare and a desperate bid to prevent a military coup in Geoffrey Trease’ Cue for Treason
Cue for Treason by Geoffrey Treace There’s an extra character in Geoffrey Treace’s adventure story set in the dying days…
Bristol News: Children of the 90s gather to celebrate milestone event
From Children of the 90s: Hundreds of Children of the 90s participants from across Bristol and Weston-super-Mare visited the M…
Axbridge Review: Cheddar Reservoir Two is back on the agenda -– with plans to hike the £2.8 billion cost onto its customers
By Harry Mottram: Back in 2018 we thought the Cheddar Reservoir two project was dead. Ofwat had pulled the plug…
Axbridge Review: football, the Furlong Field and the wrench of moving to Axbridge from Bristol – part one of notes on our 26 years of living in the town
By Harry Mottram: My first memory of Axbridge was on the TV news in 1973 when the town became known…
Axbridge Review: a little about the author of the play that is being staged by ACT this November in the Town Hall
By Harry Mottram: Axbridge Community Theatre are staging the classic comedy satire The Government Inspector by the 19th century Ukrainian…
ICSM Business News: sexual harassment claims; liquidated companies; suppliers unpaid; rent owed; and terrible reviews for his night club – the life and times of a ‘latter day chancer’
Picture: You Tube Video – Industry Voices Alex Proud By Harry Mottram: Back in 2020 a businessman by the name of…
Bath Voice Feature: free to visit exhibition at the RUH celebrates the vital contribution to the NHS made by the Windrush and beyond generations as part of Black History Month
By Harry Mottram: In the past readers of other publications I’ve written for have complained about Black History Month being…
ICSM Business News in Brief: ‘Ponzie’ crypto currency trial; retailers crash; printer’s assets sold off; Chinese business boss detained; Metro Bank survives for now; and a Welsh firm goes bust leaving 500 out of work
Pic: Reuters – Sam bankman-Fried ‘Ponzie’ crypto trial By Harry Mottram: Crypto Currencies are often called ‘Ponzie schemes’ by their detractors…
Rapscallion Magazine TV Review: The Reckoning features a tour de force by Steve Coogan but it’s the wrong title and the guilty go free – just like Savile
Rapscallion TV Review: The Reckoning. They all knew – would have been a better title as there is no reckoning…
Axbridge Review: local history group’s October events announced including an in-depth talk on story of The Strawberry Line cycle and walk way
By Harry Mottram: In the last few decades the Strawberry Line – the former Cheddar Valley Railway line – has…
ICSM Business News: inflation set to rise following hikes in oil prices due to the Israel Gaza war (and airlines see share prices fall)
By Harry Mottram: As a new war engulfs Israel, Gaza and potentially neighbouring nations the economic effect is to send oil…
Rapscallion Magazine Feature: pooped on by a pigeon, bitten by mosquitoes and stopped by border control – a week in Italy and selfie heaven
He looked at me long and hard. Was I an international criminal or just some old bloke on his holidays…
Bath Voice News: as HS2 to Manchester is scrapped Lancashire’s loss could be Bath’s gain as new cash is promised
OCTOBER 4, 2023 By Harry Mottram: Whatever your views are on the HS2 rail project linking the Midlands and the North…
Bath Voice News: finally Bath Rugby’s new stadium plans are submitted to the planners
SEPTEMBER 28, 2023 By Harry Mottram: It should be a day of celebration as Bath Rugby announced they had submitted their…
Axbridge Review: it’s official – the next Axbridge Pageant is set for 2029 to mark the 800th anniversary of the town’s Plantagenet charter – so mark your diaries
By Harry Mottram: To celebrate the awarding of the town’s 13th century charter, the next Axbridge Pageant slated for 2030 has…
Axbridge Review: the annual carnival proves a success with fine weather, large crowds and of course… Barbie and Ken
By Harry Mottram: The annual Axbridge Blackberry Carnival was a huge success on Saturday 23rd September, 2023, and was blessed with…
ICSM Logistics Insolvency News: hauliers across the UK collapse as banks put the squeeze on, costs spiral and trade is tight in a flat-lining economy
By Harry Mottram: Debt is one of the factors dragging down businesses across the country with payment of loans to lenders…
Bath Voice News: what’s on in October 2023 plus looking ahead to the pantomime season
SEPTEMBER 26, 2023 Theatre Picks In Bath Thu 28 Sep-Sat 7 Oct. Theatre Royal. A Voyage Round My Father. Rupert Everett…
Axbridge Community Theatre to stage a classic comedy drama in November
A treat is in store for theatre goers this autumn as the thespians of Axbridge Community Theatre tread the boards…
Bath Voice Theatre Review: all hail the eternally brilliant farce – Noises Off – in which men lose their trousers, pretty girls appear in their underwear and doors constantly open and close as the drama collapses into chaos
Review: Noises Off. Theatre Royal Bath. Michael Frayn’s farce continues to deliver the laughs since its first run in 1982…
Rapscallion Magazine Campaign News: blogger detained for championing human rights in Egypt remains in jail despite pressure from British MPs
By Harry Mottram: A human rights activist and blogger remains in prison in Egypt despite pressure from the British Government…
Rapscallion Magazine Campaign News: Russian playwright and theatre director await sentence
By Harry Mottram: A theatre director and playwright have been arrested in Russia and accused of “justifying terrorism” for their…
Bath Voice News: Red carpet premier for film shot in Bath and Bristol – with murder on the agenda – and you can attend free
September 18, 2023 By Harry Mottram: It’s a 77 year old mystery – the murder of Robert Parrington Jackson –…
Bath Voice Croquet News: Georgians play the game of the future during the Jane Austen Festival (also a game of flirtation and match making)
September 14, 2023 By Harry Mottram: As part of the Jane Austen Festival Bath last month Bath’s Croquet Club hosted…
Rapscallion Magazine Book Review: the dark underbelly of American society is exposed in Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead – the white trash of the Appalachians
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver White trash, trailer homes, foster farms and drug fuelled early deaths, Demon Copperhead is not…
Bath Voice News: theatre preview of Michael Frayn’s comedy Noises Off play as it opens in Bath (it’s about a terrible acting group performing in a Somerset town)
September 12, 2023 By Harry Mottram: the Theatre Royal Bath Productions in association with the Birmingham Rep are staging Michael…
Bath Voice News: Channel 5 screens the story of Bath’s Hester Poole and her guide dog Pickle in a life affirming show revealing how guide dogs transform lives
September 11, 2023 By Harry Mottram: The Channel 5 programme Puppy School for Guide Dogs screening this month has featured…
ICSM Logistics business news: insolvencies among haulage firms rise as the industry is hit by a perfect storm
By Harry Mottram: Hauliers going to the wall are sharply up as costs spiral, competition increases and the effects of Brexit,…
Bath Voice News: Empire line gowns, bonnets and riding breeches – the Jane Austen Festival opens in Bath
September 8, 2023 By Harry Mottram: The Jane Austen Festival runs from Friday 8th to Sunday 17th September 2023, and features guided…
ICSM Business News: Birmingham Council issues a section 114 notice after running out of cash but there’s a long history of councils that have gone bust – both Labour and Conservative
By Harry Mottram: Those who can recall the days of Margaret Thatcher may also remember the Liverpool Council’s 1983 Rate Capping…
ICSM Business Insolvency News: shadowy spivs, sharks and chancers make mockery of Wilko’s collapse as the administrators seek a deal with retail rival B&M to save part of the chain
By Harry Mottram: For the 12,500 Wilko staff and the ailing store’s hundreds of suppliers it’s been an unedifying few days,…
Rapscallion Magazine Feature: Kidderminster, Sheffield and drying bras – a stay with students when supper was peanut butter on toast – this was England in the year of the 1976 drought
Part two of Harry Mottram’s cycle ride to Scotland at a dig at Threave Castle when the UK looked like…
Bath Voice News: a recap of the proposals for a new rugby stadium in the city – the most talked about issue in the city as the new season kicks off
September 3, 2023 By Bath Voice news editor Harry Mottram and John Wimperis of the local democracy service: The architects…
Rapscallion Magazine: the weird night a stranger walked into our Axbridge home and went to sleep – the story as recorded in this BBC Radio 5Live interview at the time
By Harry Mottram: It will be 20 years this April since BBC Radio 4’s Today programme led with the strange story…
Rapscallion Magazine Football Archive: interview with the Bristol Casuals back in the day
In 1997 Chris Badley and Harry Mottram spoke to BBC Radio Bristol about the newly formed Bristol Casuals League –…
ICSM News: property giant Evergrande’s bankruptcy protection threatens not only China’s economy but could hit the UK as confidence in the world’s number two economy plummets
By Harry Mottram: China may be the world’s number two economy, but few economists believe the statistics published by Beijing on…
Bath Voice News: the hill top green paradise in the city approaches its third anniversary run by a public interest company for the community
AUGUST 17, 2023 By Harry Mottram: In just a few weeks time the not-for-profit Community Interest Company (FLHF) of Lyncombe Hill…
Strawberry Line Times Feature: when Italian soldiers were prisoners of war in Somerset
Somerset has been enriched by immigrants since the year dot. Although it’s Syrians, Afghans, Ukrainians and Sudanese immigrants who make…
Bath Voice News: two very different concepts for the future rugby stadium – a pragmatic design from the club met with underwhelming support or the Roman colosseum design championed by many but would send costs spiralling
AUGUST 14, 2023 By Harry Mottram: It’s the story that’s set public opinion alight this summer amongst those with a passion…
Rapscallion Magazine Feature: canal paths, skinny dippers and Macbeth – with added punctures and insect bites on a Somerset to London cycle ride – and our closest ape relatives giving me the cold shoulder
By Harry Mottram: Rain, rain and more rain this summer. And then Carol Kirkwood on BBC’s Breakfast programme announced there…
Axbridge Book Review: Holly Jackson’s A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (and soon to be a BBC3 series) is an unfeasible but highly enjoyable and neatly plotted whodunnit about schoolgirl Pip who uses blackmail, bluff and burglary to bring a murderer to justice
Book Review: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, by Holly Jackson. Sex, drugs and murder. Yes, Holly Jackson’s young adult…
Rapscallion Magazine Radio Review: Jane and Serge and the hit record Je t’aime… that created a wave of snogging in the Fifth Form Common Room and was banned by the Vatican and the BBC
Radio Review: I first became aware of Jane Birkin in a 1967 copy of King Magazine that my sister Kath…
Bath Voice: prestigious architect offers a very different design for the proposed new Bath Rugby Stadium slamming the club’s ideas as ‘lowering the tone of the whole area’ and believing Bath can do better rather than ‘wrecking the Rec’
JULY 31, 2023 By Harry Mottram: First things first – Bath Rugby Club and in particular its stadium or rather ground…
ICSM Business News: as London’s Mayor Khan goes all ULEZ, British Volt’s owners are raided by police and electric car hire firm Co-Cars goes bust – ICSM advises suppliers to be wary of the EV industry
By Harry Mottram: with the news that Tata could build a new electric car battery factory at the former Royal Ordnance…
Axbridge News: things not to say to locals when you move to the town or call in for a visit – words that could lead to you being placed in the stocks!
By Harry Mottram: I posted these notes on the Axbridge Community Face book page as part of a welcome to…
Axbridge News: it’s the book that has got the town reading as the BBC film the whodunnit drama A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder in Axbridge
By Harry Mottram: Residents of Axbridge in Somerset cannot have missed the camera crews and actors closing off streets in…
Rapscallion Magazine TV Review: director Jon S. Baird and John Preston’ script create a tragically comical, and comically tragic Stonehouse – the missing MP
TV Review: Stonehouse, broadcast on ITV in three episodes on January 2-4, 2023.I would guess that pretty much everyone has…
Bath Voice News: oh deer – better hide your geraniums as Bloomfield may not bloom so much with this four legged visitor popping into a garden near you!
JULY 27, 2023 By Harry Mottram: Bloomfield is proving to be the new centre for exotic wildlife this summer. First there…
ICSM News: the rise and fall of the high street bank as Nat West’s CEO quits over the Farage affair and hundreds of branches close and ICSM sees staff cuts at banks causing more problems
By Harry Mottram: At a guess pretty much every business in the UK has had an issue with its bank at…
Bath Voice News: four day walk-out by Junior Doctors planned for August as unrest amongst NHS staff continues following a strike by consultants earlier this month
By Harry Mottram: The industrial unrest amongst NHS medics shows not sign of abating as staff continue to vote with…
Bath Voice News: the exotic (and not so exotic) creatures wandering the streets of the city
JULY 23, 2023 By Harry Mottram: Bath maybe a city with a growing urban sprawl but that hasn’t prevented wild…
Rapscallion Magazine Book Review: funny, witty and with a central character that we all fall in love with, Lessons in Chemistry is a hit
Review: Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie GarmusAt turns funny and witty but also an all out assault on misogynistic 50s…
Rapscallion Magazine Radio Review: Keith Barron stars as Henri Castang in Nicolas Freeling’s thriller Not as Far as Velma in a drama that links 20th century conflicts from Auschwitz to Nicaragua
Not As Far as Velma. BBC4 Extra and BBC Sounds.First broadcast some 33 years ago with a youthful Keith Barron…
Rapscallion Magazine Radio Review: sex (almost), booze (a lot), Brighton (hurrah) – and actor-cum-sleuth Charles Paris (Bill Nighy) in the brilliantly funny drama A Reconstructed Corpse
Radio Review: Charles Paris Mystery in A Reconstructed Corpse. BBC4 Extra.This episode of the thespian-solves-whodunnits is possibly my favourite Radio…
Rapscallion Magazine Radio Review: A Brief History of Boomers – Queenan’s take on the Post War generation
Review: A Brief History of Boomers. Presented by Joe Queenan. BBC Radio 4.I’m a Baby Boomer and so are all…
Bath Voice News: pick of what’s on in and around the city
JUNE 28, 2023 Theatre Picks In BathSat 1 Jul. Rondo Theatre. The Marriage of Figaro . 7:30pm. Bath Opera bring Mozart’s…
Bath Voice News: RUH to be hit by more industrial action as NHS Consultants plan a 48-hr walkout
JUNE 28, 2023 By Harry Mottram: Discontent with the failure of wages to keep up with inflation along with cuts…
ICSM Business News: Thames Water on the brink of collapse as servicing debt exacerbated by high interest rates continues to wreak havoc in business (but the taxpayer could end up bailing the utility out)
By Harry Mottram: One of Britain’s largest utility firms is on the brink of collapse as the economy continues to be…
ICSM BUSINESS NEWS: shock as it’s revealed UK business insolvencies are up 140% as firms crash due to high interest rates
By Harry Mottram: On BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday 26th June, 2023, Matt Ingram Managing Director, UK Restructuring Advisory at…
Bath Voice News: the oddball detective couple in ITV’s McDonald and Dodds are being filmed in Bath for series four of the murder mystery TV drama
JUNE 26, 2023 By Harry Mottram: The detective series that some in Bath love to hate is set to return to…
Rapscallion Magazine Radio Review: Marianna in Conspiracy Land opens a window into the minds of those pushing conspiracy theories that lead eventually to violence and even a planned coup
Radio Review: Marianna in Conspiracy Land. BBC Radio 4. There’s an old saying about conspiracy theorists that people who believe…
Bath Voice Theatre Review: fun, fabulous, full of knock about humour and period perfect choreography – Roman Holiday is a joy
JUNE 21, 2023 Roman Holiday: Theatre Royal Bath, Review Bright, breezy and with a brilliant finale, director Jeremy Sams’ Roman…
Rapscallion Radio Review: behind the soft and reassuring voice is the sinister backdrop of Hitler’s rise to power as Rosemary Leach reads Judith Kerr’s 1971 novel When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit
Radio Review: When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr – read by Rosemary Leach and abridged in five parts…
Axbridge News: Durbin family reunion June 26-27, 2023 – Americans coming to Bristol, Axbridge and Cheddar from San Francisco in search of Durbin Family
Harry Mottram writes: I’ve been contacted by Julie Durbin who lives in California in the USA – she is on…
ICSM Logistics News: the Big Green Parcel Machine goes bust leaving hundreds out of work and customers’ parcels undelivered
By Harry Mottram: One the big players in the parcels and logistics sectors have gone into administration leaving customers in the…
Bath Voice News: industrial unrest in Bath continues with Junior Doctors staging walk-outs at the RUH
JUNE 14, 2023 By Harry Mottram: Junior Doctors who are members of the British Medical Association trade union have taken industrial…
ICSM Insolvency News: suppliers angry as Princess of Wales’ parents’ company goes bust owing creditors an eye-watering £2.6 million pounds
By Harry Mottram: Despite living what many would see as an A-list celebrity lifestyle with Royal Family events and buying a…
Axbridge News: filming set for the town for a new BBC drama Good Girl’s Guide to Murder for the BBC based on the novel
Moonage Pictures will be filming on Moor Green and The Square on Thursday-Friday 22-23 June and have delivered letters giving…
Rapscallion Magazine Feature: when England and Wales turned into a light shade of burnt sienna during the summer of ’76 – and I set off on my mum’s bike from Somerset to er… Scotland
Part One of Harry Mottram’s cycle ride to Scotland during the 1976 drought. In the days before Global Warming and…
Bath Voice News: three held by officers as weekend teenage stabbing victim is named by police as Mikey Roynon as a vigil is held and tributes paid
JUNE 12, 2023 By Harry Mottram: Avon and Somerset Police have named the teenager who died at a property in Bath…
Bath Voice News: Police make arrests after stabbings leave one teenage boy dead in the Weston area of the city after Saturday night tragedy
JUNE 11, 2023 By Harry Mottram: Police have launched a murder investigation following the death of teenage boy in he Weston…
Rapscallion Magazine Book Review: sex, death and racism – life’s a game of chance in Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko and a Korean struggle for survival in wartime Japan
Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee, Book Review With so many characters in the sweeping family drama set over a century…
Bath Voice Sports News: news, information, fixtures and results of the city’s teams coming up this weekend and beyond
JUNE 10, 2023 By Harry Mottram: below are the fixtures and results plus information of the various sports teams and clubs…
Rapscallion Magazine Opinion: the resignation of Boris Johnson marks the collapse of the influence of his Praetorian Guard of MPs and his fandom support – plus marks the beginning of the end of Brexit
By Harry Mottram: Back in 2016 I attended a number of trade shows in Europe and the UK for business…
Rapscallion Magazine Restaurant Review: poissons, pastis and forgetting to order the national dish that’s been a favourite for 2,600 years in Marseille
Restaurant Review: Brasserie du Vieux Port, Marseille I had meant to have bouillabaisse – the poor man’s soup – and…
Bath Voice Sports News: rugby premiership in chaos as London Irish set to exit top flight (but Bath eye possible players leaving the Brentford Club)
By Harry Mottram: The Rugby Football Union gave London Irish RFC until Tuesday 6 June, 2023, to pay outstanding wages and…
Bath Voice Garden Review: avoid Georgian levels of gin consumption when visiting Prior Park Gardens due to the steep paths – in this green and pleasant landscaped valley
Prior Park Gardens, Bath. I’ve been visiting Bath since the early 1960s but somehow have never got around to taking…
Rapscallion Magazine Restaurant Review: Afro beat and performers interrupt a lunch under the trees in Marseille’s Stalingrad Square
Restaurant Review: Les Danaïdes Restaurant, Marseille It was a question of passing out in the heat and collapsing onto the…
Postcard from Marseille: the not so edgy city with its tourists, the rain and my plastic mac – but no elephants
By Harry Mottram: Go to Marseilles they said, it’s edgy and dangerous – and there’s no tourists they said and…
Rapscallion Magazine Film Review: a pianist’s critical note to Stalin brings an end to the dictator as he lies dying in his own urine
Film Review: The Death of Stalin: Putin and his mafia cronies banned the 2017 movie because they are paranoid and…
ICSM Business News Headliners: London Irish Rugby Union Club on the brink as the exiles are given until 6 June to pay wages or face expulsion
By Harry Mottram: The Rugby Football Union has given London Irish until Tuesday 6 June, 2023, to pay outstanding wages and…
ICSM Business News: recession or no recession – concerns mount with the highest level of insolvencies since the Credit Crunch when a run on the Northern Rock Bank heralded an economic nightmare
By Harry Mottram: Earlier this year experts ruled out the chance of the UK falling into a recession this year predicting…
Rapscallion Magazine Feature: Cider, cigarettes and Letraset… confessions of a 70s art student
By Harry Mottram: One pint of cider for 30p and you began to slur your words. Three pints and it was…
RAPSCALLION MAGAZINE BOOK REVIEW: sex, secrets and violence – and a coming of age neo-Gothic mystery set within the shadow of Franco’s Spain in The Shadow of the Wind by Carlo Ruiz Zafon
By harrymottram DEC 5, 2020 The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon Teenager Daniel Sempere is the beneficiary…
Axbridge News: Axbridge Community Theatre confirm their November production – a hilarious satire set in a remote Russian village
By Harry Mottram: When the Ukrainian writer Nikolai Gogol decided to write a play he was frightened that the Russian…
Bath Voice News: the city’s Fringe Festival includes Bluffing Your Way in Ballet at the Mission Theatre (plus more dance shows in June and this autumn)
MAY 22, 2023 By Harry Mottram: Comedy, drama, music and yes dance. Bath Fringe Festival has so much but dance is…
Axbridge Pageant: The 1920s and 1930s when the town modernised during the 20th century and some residents enjoyed inside toilets, women got the vote and education was compulsory up to the age of 14
By Harry Mottram: This is an article from the 2022 Axbridge Pageant programme. War gave way to peace and a…
Axbridge Pageant: Violence, cruelty, blood and disorder – how bull baiting fever took over the town
By Harry Mottram: We claim to be a nation of animal lovers and often turn our disdain for barbaric sports…
Bath Voice News: the city’s Fringe Festival gears up for a celebration of the arts with weeks of workshops, music gigs, comedy, children’s shows and drama
MAY 19, 2023 Bath Fringe Festival: The festival runs from Friday May 26th to Sunday June 11th.The Bath Fringe is…
Bath Voice News: calls for more people to sponsor Ukrainian refugees at special event in Bath as the city consolidates links with embattled city of Oleksandriya as the horrors of war continue
MAY 18, 2023 By Harry Mottram: The leader of the Council Cllr Kevin Guy had a meeting this Tuesday with Zhenya…
Bath Voice News: The Bath Society of Artists Annual Open Exhibition, now in its 118th year, runs at the Victoria Art Gallery until 24 June 2023
MAY 17, 2023 Bath Society of Artists at the Victoria Art Gallery: The Bath Society of Artists Annual Open Exhibition,…
Bath Voice News: Q@A interview with the actors who tackle the controversy over Samuel Beckett’s play that banned women from staging it
MAY 16, 2023 By Harry Mottram: On Thursday, 22nd June, three actors will take to the stage at the Ustinov Studio…
Bath Voice Business News: doughnuts, beer plaudits, retail news and Bath Rugby’s plans for a revised stadium
MAY 15, 2023 By Harry Mottram Beer news: Brewer Abbey Ales in Bath have won plaudits at this year’s Taste of…
Harry Mottram Opinion for ICSM: reflections on fashionable business sectors that rise and fall like the dot-com bubble as new media Vice and Motherboard collapse
By Harry Mottram: Remember the dotcom bubble? When dot-com firms saw their value increase making the owners paper millionaires in the…
Rapscallion Magazine Theatre Review: men, money and microphones in a brilliantly funny and affectionate feminist deconstruction of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice
Review: Pride and Prejudice (*sort of). Bristol Old Vic It’s a truth universally acknowledged, that a single novel by Jane…
Bath Voice Theatre Review: stand up, stand up – they’re rocking the boat! BODS bring a sensational production of Guys and Dolls to a full house at the Theatre Royal Bath
MAY 10, 2023 Review: Guys and Dolls at Theatre Royal Bath Big set piece song and dance numbers, snappy lines,…
Bath Voice News: how the local elections have seen a sea change in British politics and in Bath and North East Somerset in particular
MAY 5, 2023 By Harry Mottram: There has been a sea change in the politics of Bath and North East Somerset…
Bath Voice News: as a giant phallus appears cut into the lawns of the Royal Crescent we take a look at this symbol used by Roman Soldiers, Classical Greeks, the Cerne Abbas Giant and er… very naughty Bathonians
MAY 5, 2023 By Harry Mottram: A day ahead of a Coronation party on the lawns in front of the…
Bath Voice News: election day – don’t forget to vote and take photo ID with you – plus the death of a candidate means the Paulton vote is postponed
By Harry Mottram: Today (Thursday, May 4th, 2023) there are elections across Bath and North East Somerset for new councillors who…
Rapscallion Magazine: latest issue for May 2023
Welcome to the latest issue of my occasional magazine that essentially ties up the various features and reviews that I’ve…
Bath Voice News: Royal College of Nursing members employed at the RUH and in Bristol set to strike at 8pm tonight and May Day over pay and conditions dispute
APRIL 30, 2023 By Harry Mottram: The Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust and the Royal College of Nursing (RCN)…
Axbridge News: date set for the appointment of a new Mayor of Axbridge in the ‘Mayor Making’ ceremony in the town hall – an office that dates back centuries
By Harry Mottram: It’s a date eagerly looked forward to each year by the families, friends and civic colleagues of…
Axbridge News: the pageant – the early history of the town – an article from the programme 2022
By Harry Mottram: Axbridge is first recorded in the early 10th century in the Burgal Hideage of Saxon Britain and…
Axbridge Pageant 2022: the first residents of Axbridge were hunter gatherers who live on the edge of Mendip Forest… and horror of horrors their clothing was 100% animal skins…
By Harry Mottram: We finally portrayed the first residents of not-Axbridge (as Axbridge was yet to exist) in the pageant…
Bath Voice Theatre News: what’s coming up at the city’s theatres – from HG Wells’ The Time Machine to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar
APRIL 21, 2023 By Harry Mottram: Bath is gifted with so much theatre – and if you’ve not explored some of…
Bath Voice News: upcoming local elections on May 4 will see photo ID made a requirement for the first time – here is the list of OK photo ID to use
APRIL 21, 2023 By: John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporter: In Somerset, elections are happening for North Somerset Council and Bath and North…
Bath Voice News: latest on missing former Bath rugby player Levi Davis as reports of him struggling in the sea near Barcelona emerge
APRIL 20, 2023 By Harry Mottram: By Harry Mottram: It is being widely reported in the media that police in Barcelona…
Bath Voice Sports News: Yeovil Town FC relegated to the National League South setting up an all Somerset derby next season with Bath City FC
APRIL 19, 2023 By Harry Mottram: those with long memories may recall Yeovil Town beating Bath in the FC Cup in…
ICSM Insolvency News in Brief: Bridal chain falls flat; inflation remains in double figures; large legal firm crashes; huge rise in firms going bust; packaging firm falls into administration
By Harry Mottram: The numbers of businesses going bust continues to rise as a toxic mixture of inflation, high interest rates…
Rapscallion Magazine Film Review: it’s all about Evelyn – Everything Everywhere All At Once is confusing, bizarre, violent and a mother and daughter relationship movie
There’s a scene where Evelyn’s daughter Joy Wang enters a room and her father asks, ‘What are you doing here?’…
ICSM Business News In Brief: Ernst & Young non-break up, Tupperware on the brink, banking troubles, CBI sex scandal and female fraudster to be jailed
By Harry Mottram: ICSM brings you the latest headline news from the business of insolvencies, administrations and firms in danger of…
Bath Voice Sports Feature: a short (and hidden) history of women’s rugby union
By Harry Mottram: Despite over 130 years of rugby union played by a wide variety of club teams in Bath…
Axbridge News: Planning meeting on Monday 17th April, 2023, set to discuss the building of a new ‘million-pound house’ at the bottom of Moorland Street on another green field site
By Harry Mottram: A controversial planning application for a proposed detached two storey house will be part of the discussions…
Rapscallion Magazine Book Review: What Ho, Jeeves – a comic send up of the idle rich maybe, a funny novel set in Edwardian England yes – but also a completeness of a comic style rarely achieved
Right Ho, Jeeves. By PG Wodehouse. Book review. Pip, pip. Tip top. And midnight cycle rides. What Ho, Jeeves, is…
Bath Voice Photography Review: America In Crisis at the American Museum gives an insight into the other USA – a world away from the American dream
APRIL 10, 2023 Review: America in Crisis at the American Museum, Bath: Violence, race hatred, murder and poverty are the headline…
Rapscallion Magazine Feature: a day in Paris to check my new passport won’t get me deported like last time – but it was disappointing as there were no riots or piles of rubbish in the streets
By Harry Mottram: Last September I was deported from Rome as my passport was officially stolen – now with a…
Axbridge News: a report on the Swiss Air Disaster 50th Anniversary Memorial Service at St John The Baptist Parish Church on April 10, 2023
By Harry Mottram: A packed church with standing room only for the 50th Anniversary Memorial commemoration for the Swiss Air…
Bath Voice Feature: WG never lost his Gloucestershire accent, he took 11 years to pass his medical exams and scored 1,098 runs for England in a career that popularised cricket
By Harry Mottram: But WG Grace, was first and last a Gloucestershire man born in Downend in 1848 in a…
ICSM Business News: Ten essential tips to keep the cash flow… flowing
By Harry Mottram: One thing that keeps many a business owner awake at night is the fear their cash flow will…
Rapscallion Magazine Feature: Beaten, brainwashed and coached to play football by Catholic nuns – God, sins and Neolithic hunters – the confused concerns of a school boy
By Harry Mottram: Until I visited a museum where there was a skeleton of a Neolithic man my faith in…
Axbridge News: the town is set to mark 50 years since the Swiss air disaster with a service on Easter Monday in the church
By Harry Mottram: Axbridge is to mark five decades since the Swiss air disaster that claimed many lives from the…
ICSM Business News: suppliers and funders for Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit left with millions of pounds of debt after the rocket failed to reach space
By Harry Mottram: Investing or supplying a new business is risky but the rewards are great and in general this is…
Bath Voice News: Dates for Industrial Action in April
APRIL 5, 2023 By Harry Mottram: Strike action for some workers in the NHS has been paused while members of the…
Rapscallion Magazine Feature: like George Orwell I took The Road to Wigan Pier but it wasn’t there
I went to Wigan Pier but it wasn’t there. Not a barge in sight, nobody loading coal, or men wearing…
Axbridge News: new photos from Adam Clutterbuck of the last night of the Harold Pinter play The Birthday Party in the town hall celebrates the success of the production
By Harry Mottram: The cast and crew of Axbridge Community Theatre’s (ACT) production of Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party were given…
Rapscallion Magazine Feature: cider, cigarettes and Letraset… confessions of a 70s art student
By Harry Mottram: One pint of cider for 30p and you began to slur your words. Three pints and it was…
Axbridge News Theatre Review: Axbridge Community Theatre stage a stylish production of Harold Pinter’s sinister play The Birthday Party (but we’re still not sure what it was all about)
No wonder everyone was so slim in the 1950s, what with post war rationing and Meg’s low-calorie breakfasts which consisted…
ICSM Business News: Hammersmith’s Riverside Studios collapses into administration while other venues struggle
By Harry Mottram: The actors’ trade publication The Stage, has revealed that the Hammersmith venue in London for the performing arts…
Rapscallion Magazine: stuck between heaven and hell without a passport – my 36 Hours in Rome’s Airport
The lost souls of Rome’s airport As I walked out into the cool night air at Bristol Airport, I felt…
Bath Voice Exhibitions in April: includes America in Crisis at Claverton, New English Art at the Victoria and the art of Durer at The Holburne
MARCH 28, 2023 Exhibition Picks in BathAmerican Museum, Bath. Claverton. The Museum features collections from the United States where you can…
Bath Voice Theatre What’s On in April: Kyiv Ballet at The Theatre Royal Bath, Bond the Unauthorised Parody at the Rondo and Waiting For Godot at The Mission Theatre
MARCH 28, 2023 Theatre Picks In BathSat 1 Apr. Rondo Theatre, Bath. Bond, an unauthorised Parody. 8pm. By Gavin Robertson. Bond…
Bath Voice What’s On in April: Talks at Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, a Comedy Festival and the Bath Jewish Burial Ground Open Day
MARCH 28, 2023 Pick of Diary Events in BathMon 1- Sun 23 Apr. Bath comedy Festival. Various venues and events. These…
Bath Voice News: Cross Party support in the House of Commons for the Bath MP’s Workplace Sexual Harassment Bill as it passes its second reading
MARCH 27, 2023 By Harry Mottram: There has been widespread support amongst MPs of all political parties in Westminster for Bath…
Axbridge News: this week’s play in the town hall is brought to life in colour as the cast prepare for the first night of Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party with photos by Adam Clutterbuck
By Harry Mottram: With just hours to go before the actors of Axbridge Community Theatre (ACT) tread the boards in…
Axbridge News: ‘Save our Trees’ poster appears as plans to build homes off Houlgate Way would see trees felled and parking restricted
By Harry Mottram: With outline planning permission granted for the development of a new housing estate off Houlgate Way betwixt…
Bath Voice News: those in favour of this country rejoining the European Community stage an event in Bath to highlight their cause
MARCH 26, 2023 By Harry Mottram: Ever since the nation voted by a small majority to leave the European Community in…
Bath Voice News: The American Museum & Gardens presents a photography exhibition – America in Crisis
MARCH 24, 2023 From the American Museum: As part of an exciting new partnership with the Saatchi Gallery, the American Museum &…
Bath Voice Sports News: fixtures and results for this weekend as Bath Rugby welcome Exeter Chiefs to the Rec
MARCH 24, 2023 This weekend’s sporting fixtures for Bath’s teams Team Bath Netball. HOME Fixture: Friday, 24th March, 2023. 7.00pm. Team…
Bath Voice: Parents slam strict new rules on child autism referrals as “discrimination” – part two by Adam Postans
MARCH 22, 2023 By Adam Postans, local democracy reporter Outraged parents of autistic children have branded strict new rules about…
Bath Voice: Children must now be in “crisis” before they can be referred for autism – part one by Adam Postans (local democracy reporter)
MARCH 22, 2023 By Adam Postans, local democracy correspondent. Part one. Children must now be in “crisis” before they can…
Bath Voice Theatre Review: a spirited and ambitious musical production of Adrian Mole’s life at the Mission Theatre in a very British cul-de-sac
MARCH 22, 2023 Adultery, boozing grown-ups, unpaid bills and unrequited love: yes, the growing pains of teenager Adrian Mole are…
ICSM Business News: banking jitters continue as UBS rescues Credit Suisse triggering fears for business and jobs in the UK
By Harry Mottram: The collapse of two USA banks has continued to cause concerns across the banking world despite the major…
Bath Voice News: shock as Mothering Sunday diners see car crash into their Bath restaurant
MARCH 19, 2023 By Harry Mottram: The residents and staff at the Grade 1 listed Francis Hotel on Queen Square in…
Rapscallion Book Review: Sue Townsend’s diary-style comic novel of the unreliable narrator Adrian Mole is a classic (and a musical version is set for Bath this week)
MARCH 18, 2023 Book Review. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Age 13 3/4Sue Townsend’s comic 1982 fictional diary style…
Axbridge Drama News: a profile of Harold Pinter – the writer behind ACT’s production of The Birthday Party being staged in the town hall
Axbridge Community Theatre are staging The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter in Axbridge Town Hall nightly at 7.30pm from Wednesday…
Bath Voice News: industrial unrest continues with teachers, rail staff and university workers taking action
MARCH 17, 2023 By Harry Mottram: This week has seen the industrial unrest that has affected Bath and the whole country…
Rapscallion Theatre Review: Bristol Old Vic Theatre School’s superb production of This House revives the vibes of brown 1970s suits (although there is one thing missing in Parliament’s dodgy back room deals in this play)
Review: This House at the Tobacco Factory, Bristol Order! Order! A bewigged and authoritative Louise O’Dowd as a very young-looking…
ICSM Business News: ripples from the SVB near collapse prompts stock prices to fall and other USA banks see share prices tumble as contagion spreads to the UK
By Harry Mottram: following Friday’s collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank and it’s propping up with help from the US…
Bath Voice News: Junior Doctors take industrial action at the RUH this week as more workers strike
MARCH 13, 2023 By Harry Mottram: The RUH have issued details over appointments, hospital visits and emergencies at the hospital as…
ICSM Tech Business News: HSBC buy insolvent Silicon Valley Bank for £1 and prevent hundreds of firms collapsing and a potential ‘existential threat’ to the UK economy as a late night deal is done
By Harry Mottram: HSBC have acquired the insolvent Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) for £1 after a frantic weekend of negotiations that saw…
ICSM Business Education News: shock as drama school Read College is set to close as more colleges struggle
By Harry Mottram: news that the famous drama school Read College is set to shut this summer has reminded the sector…
Bath Voice Sports News: This weekend’s fixtures and results including Friday’s games for Bath Rugby and Team Bath Netball and a win for Bath City FC
MARCH 10, 2023 Team Bath Netball. HOME Fixture: Friday, 10th March, 2023. 7.30pm. Team Bath 54 V Surrey Storm 80 Malawi…
Rapscallion Magazine Opinion: the Gary Lineker story is a self-inflicted PR disaster by the BBC who seemed to cave in to Government pressure
By Harry Mottram: There are certain sections of British society that politicians should be cautious about criticising. Nurses, dog walkers,…
Rapscallion Book Review: Emil and The Detectives portrays an innocent, busy and child friendly Berlin before the Nazis came to power in a what might have been world
Book Review. Emil and the Detectives by Erich KastnerThere’s an element of what could have been in Erich Kastner’s 1929…
Rapscallion Theatre Preview: dig those groovy 1970s suits – Bristol Old Vic Theatre School stage James Graham’s This House in Bristol
By Harry Mottram: those (like me) of a certain age will recall the politics of 1974 with the fall of…
Axbridge News: crucial meeting in the town hall to hear nominations for the next mayor and deputy mayor – to continue a tradition dating back centuries
By Harry Mottram: Axbridge Town Council will decide on nominations for the next mayor and deputy mayor of the town at…
Axbridge News: Friends of King John’s Hunting Lodge announce spring talks including the history of lead mining on the Mendips
The Friends of King John’s Hunting Lodge in Axbridge have announced a series of spring talks of interest to residents…
Rapscallion Magazine Theatre Preview: back in 1974 parliament was in crisis – Bristol Old Vic Theatre School brings James Graham’s This House to Bristol’s Tobacco Factory Theatre
UK politics is in crisis and the country is in economic peril. Fights break out in the Houses of Parliament…
BRISTOL VOICE FEATURE: From Homes fit for Heroes to council flats – and the forgotten housing estate now a park
By Harry Mottram: If you go down to Badocks Wood in Henleaze and head up towards the Southmead Round Barrow you…
Bath Voice What’s On in March: story time in the library, Elevate Festival, USA photography exhibition at the American Museum and Heathers The Musical
MARCH 6, 2023 Regular events in BathMondaysWidcombe Choir. Widcombe Social Club. 7.15-9pm. For details see the Widcombe Association website.TuesdaysCentral Library with…
Bath Voice Sports News: Six Nations Under 20s match comes to Bath’s Recreation Ground
MARCH 4, 2023 By Harry Mottram: England rugby players who are under the age of 20 take on France under the…
Rapscallion Magazine Theatre Review: Tink is fabulous, funny and true to life – Kat Kleve flies in Lizzy Connolly’s coming of age fairy fable
Tink. Review. Tobacco Factory. There’s a change between our heady days in Primary School when we confidently fly with ambition…
Axbridge News: work to fell trees hit by ash dieback disease ends at King’s Wood as carpark reopens
By Harry Mottram: Those intrepid folk who venture up to King’s Wood will have noticed the work to fell trees affected…
Bath Voice News: organise early your Coronation celebration street party (even if you’re not a Royalist)
MARCH 1, 2023 By Harry Mottram: It may come as a surprise for some that if you plan on staging a…
Bath Voice News: current listings and dates of industrial action in the city in March
FEBRUARY 27, 2023 By Harry Mottram: The winter of discontent continues with more industrial action on the way as workers across…
Bath Voice Theatre Preview: the National Theatre’s production of Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane set to open in March
FEBRUARY 28, 2023 Theatre Royal Bath sees the National Theatre’s production of Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the…
Axbridge News: gas pipe work in Jubilee Road set to last into March as the network is upgraded in readiness for hydrogen and biomethane
By Harry Mottram: Wales and West Utilities are currently updating gas pipes in Jubilee Road in Axbridge with the work…
Axbridge News Comedy Review: the Hartlepudlian on dogs, Nazis and being blind – David Eagle’s Flying Solo show wows in Axbridge Town Hall (but not everyone enjoyed it)
‘Being blind I have super powerful hearing’ says David Eagle as he steps onto the small stage in Axbridge Town…
Rapscallion Magazine Book Review: an epic story set during the Biafran war of independence where truth is fiction and fiction is truth in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel Half of a Yellow Sun
Review: Half of a Yellow Sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Those of a certain age will recall the Biafran war…
Axbridge News: major changes to bus routes announced by First Bus while the 126 service continues from Axbridge to Wells from Libra
FEBRUARY 23, 2023 By Harry Mottram: Bus operator First West of England has made major changes to bus timetables a services…
Axbridge News: update on Shute Shelve Tunnel on the Strawberry Line from Amber Hill of The Mercury
By Harry Mottram: The Weston Mercury’s Amber Hill (pictured) has given more details of the lights in Shute Shelve Tunnel in a…
Rapscallion Magazine Theatre Preview: a modern fairy tale at Bristol’s Tobacco Factory featuring Kat Kleve in Tink
DID YOU KNOW FAIRIES ARE BORN BIG? Tink was a BIG, brilliant, young fairy. Until one day, in a tragic…
Bath Voice News: nurses at the RUH to pause industrial action next week as talks with the Government begin
FEBRUARY 22, 2023 By Harry Mottram: Next week’s planned industrial action by nurses in Bath has been put on hold after…
Axbridge News: Annual Assembly set for Monday, March 6th, 2023, when the town’s organisations give their presentations
By Harry Mottram: Axbridge Town Council has announced that the town’s Annual Assembly meeting is to be held on Monday…
Bath Voice Business News: one in, one out – Southgate’s River Island is set to close although a competitor will take its place
FEBRUARY 21, 2023 By Harry Mottram: Bath has lost several retailers in the last few months with the latest one set…
Axbridge News: updates on the lights in Shute Shelve Tunnel
By Harry Mottram: Opened in 1869 and closed in the Beeching cuts of the 1960s the former Cheddar Valley Railway…
ICSM Insolvency News: they take the cash and go bust – a collapsed company backed by the PM’s wife Akshata Murty throws a spotlight on the millions of tax payers’ cash written off in Covid loans
By Harry Mottram: The business credit intelligence group ICSM has heard numerous accounts from its members that there’s a pattern of…
Axbridge News: the town council is set to discuss the housing development off Houlgate Way
By Harry Mottram: On Monday February 20th, 2023, the Axbridge Town Council will debate the plans for a new greenhouse…
Rapscallion Magazine Feature: don’t shoot the critic – it’s only an opinion – stories of vicious attacks on the writers of reviews (including me)
By Harry Mottram: Reports from Germany this month that ballet director Marco Goecke had smeared dog excrement in the face of…
Bath Voice Review: Georgian Bath was smelly, dangerous and dirty – so unlike the friendly characters in the Jane Austen Centre
FEBRUARY 13, 2023 By Harry Mottram: Like lots of people I’ve passed the Jane Austen Centre many times without having visited.Since…
Bath Voice News: Bath’s nearest airport will be allowed to expand after High Court ruling
FEBRUARY 6, 2023 By Harry Mottram: Bathonian’s nearest airport at Lulsgate has been given the green light to expand allowing more…
Bath Voice: when the most wanted criminal in Britain stayed in Bath while on the run for murder
FEBRUARY 12, 2023 By Harry Mottram: When notorious criminal Kenneth Noye (pictured) stabbed motorist Stephen Cameron to death in a road…
Rapscallion Magazine Feature: the weird night a stranger walked into our house and went to sleep in my our son’s bed – but it wasn’t a Goldilocks and the Three Bears story as the police arrived
By Harry Mottram: It will be 20 years this April since BBC Radio 4’s Today programme led with the strange…
Linda Mottram: new antenatal sessions available in Axbridge at Bella Bambini Antenatal
Hello and welcome to Bella Bambini Antenatal. My name is Linda Mottram and I’m a registered midwife, researcher, author, mum…
Bath Voice People: film director and (Bath City FC fan) Ken Loach talks to the BBC’s John Wilson about the horrors of back street abortions and Kes
FEBRUARY 11, 2023 By Harry Mottram: Ken Loach is perhaps known in Bath as a football fan first and a film…
Rapscallion Magazine Feature: My long night with posh Tory wife and diarist Sasha Swire (while her husband WATCHED)
This article was written a few years ago about how I spent election night in 2015 as as reporter for…
ICSM Printing Industry Insolvency News: decision day for Plymouth based outfit as it admits defeat and chooses liquidation following creditors’ meeting
By Harry Mottram: Pepper Communications in Plymouth has chosen to liquidate following a creditors’ voluntary liquidation today (Friday, February 10, 2023).…
Bath Voice News: NHS physio staff strike with fewer ambulances on Friday due to industrial action
By Harry Mottram: Members of the The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) will be taking action on the 9-10 February…
Bath Voice Theatre Preview: six women, six stories, six Lockdown Blues in a comedy drama by Polly Lamb
FEBRUARY 9, 2023 Friday, March 10th, 2023 Lockdown Blues: Fresh New Comedy Drama from Really Truly Theatre Company. Look out…
ICSM Sports Business News: shock as Worcester Rugby owner dumps the name, the creditors and the fans who are owed millions
By Harry Mottram: In a stunning interview with BBC Hereford & Worcester the owner of rugby’s Worcester Warriors Jim O’Toole said…
Axbridge News: the clock is ticking to register a comment on the Houlgate Way proposed housing development
By Harry Mottram: Sedgemoor District Council’s planning department has said anyone wishing to make a comment on the proposed Bellway Homes…
Axbridge News: the progressive supper joins up with Axbridge Action Group at the AGM
At Axbridge Action Group’s AGM held in the Lamb Inn on Monday, February 6th, 2023, committee members of the annual…