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digital stories made in Bristol, UK

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Sounds on a Boat

Anne Hooper

The Thekla was an important place to me when I was young. I couldn’t find any images that I could use for my story, so I had to improvise! I decided to use toys as it reflected the ‘youth’ side of things. The Banksy images also made it relevant to Bristol. I wanted to make a story as it was no longer in the place it had always been.

Further Info

This story was made on a four and a half day training workshop for library staff in Bristol. It was the first Bristol Stories workshop to use entirely Windows software.

It was led by Paul Matson, Sarwat Siddiqui and Paddy Uglow and was supported by Bristol’s Museums, Galleries & Archives.

Transcript

[Sound of bubbles and a musical box]

[Sound of a boat and fog horn] The Thekla was an old merchant boat sailed to Bristol from Sunderland by Vivian Stanshall eccentric leader of the Bonzo Dog Doo-dah Band. It was his home for a while. After he vacated it became a place to see bands. The Thekla was one of the first places I went to regularly to see music. Some of the bands went on to become quite famous and some were just friends. The thing is I can’t remember most of the names of the bands but I do remember the boats smell. There were leaks everywhere and you were often ankle deep in greeny brown dock water in the toilets. I wouldn’t have gone back if I had seen a rat.

[Pub background noise] It was freezing and draughty when you were arrived but as soon as the tiny stage area filled up, condensation would be dripping down the walls. I would wear two jumpers and then have to take them both off and tie them around my waist. There was a very basic bar - a bottle of Holsten Pils was the drink of choice for most people. In fact I think that that was the only drink sold from the household fridge in the corner. I didn’t mind. I was 14 so any alcoholic drink was a delight! I could only afford two most of the time anyway. I would walk here from Windmill Hill and home again so it almost was a local.

[Techno music and pub background noise] After moving away from Bristol in the 1990’s I went back there a few times. The boat had been refurbished and remodelled and seemed ten times bigger than when I went in my early teens. The friendly man on the door and been replaced by an unfriendly one. The leaks had gone too. DJ’s had replaced guitars. Now in 2006 the Thekla has disappeared completely. I wonder what Vivian would make of it all…

Credits

All media not otherwise credited created by the story author, or permission obtained, used under copyright licence.

Toy boat image created by Pascali Chouchou, used under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 licence.

Thekla picture created by ajay_j_k, used under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 licence.

Blurry guitar picture created by Imji, used under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 licence.

Modified toy orchestra created by Steve Maken, used under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 licence.

Banksy Rat with Stereo created by Niz Noz, used under Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 licence.

New sweater picture created by Acne D, used under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 licence.

Holsten Pils created by Pirategum, used under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 licence.

Toy drinking beer picture created by de.ef.ha, used under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 licence.

Toy windmill created by yogi, used under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 licence.

Mancunian Way picture created by Prenaqagr, used under Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 licence.

Bouncer baby picture created by Jiva, used under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 licence.

Toy rat picture created by Pete Ashton, used under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 licence.

Doll DJ picture created by Chotda, used under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 licence.

Guitars picture created by Dan 90266, used under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 licence.

Ghost Banksy picture created by Libby, used under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 licence.

Ship sound created by Ljudo.com, used under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 licence.

Music box sound created by Ljudo.com, used under Creative Commons Sampling Plus 1.0 licence.

Techno music created by Ljudo.com, used under Creative Commons Sampling Plus 1.0 licence.

Water sounds created by Ljudo.com, used under Creative Commons Sampling Plus 1.0 licence.