Headlines: Tower block fire and eerie shipwrecks
Here's our daily pick of stories from across local websites in the West of England, and interesting content from social media.
Our pick of local website stories
Footage of firefighters tackling a blaze at a block of flats near Castle Park features on Bristol Live. Surrounding roads were closed while crews got the blaze under control.Eerie pictures of long-sunken boats being raised from the bed of the River Avon near Bath appear on Somerset Live. The five vessels were attached to salvage airbags and towed away earlier this month.TV crews have descended on Marine Parade Weston-super-Mare to film the latest season of long-running BBC show Father Brown, the Weston Mercury reports. Elsewhere another production company has been using West Street as the backdrop for an undisclosed drama.Four students at special educational needs college National Star, based near Cheltenham, have won an award for completing 200 hours of volunteering in the community, Gloucestershire Live reports. The four have now been invited to Buckingham Palace.
Our top three from yesterday
What to watch on social media
A post from Avon and Somerset Police about 14-year-old Ryan who has been missing since 9 May has been widely shared. The force say he may be using an electric bike to get around.A common parking scam has already been been employed in a car parks operated by South Gloucestershire Council, Yate and Sodbury Voice reports, just a day after charges were introduced. A QR code sticker is posted on signs and payment machines, directing smartphone users to fake payment sites.Gloucester's MP Alex Mcintyre MP has written to NHS Gloucestershire about "dental desserts" in the county. He says the south west is one of the areas "hardest hit" by lack of access to dental care.Ahead of their play-off match on Wednesday, Forest Green Rovers put out a statement warning people the unauthorised sale of football tickets is a criminal offence. The club wrote on Facebook: "Any tickets found to be on sale online or elsewhere can be cancelled by the club without a refund."
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The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
My cultural awakening: a shock at a Shakespeare production made me quit the bank for theatre
I was a working-class kid who'd failed my exams and done a series of nothing jobs before I discovered Shakespeare in my 20s. I was bored out of my head most of the time, working nights in a bank as a computer operator, watching tapes going round. A respite came three times a year when my girlfriend at the time, Sandra, and I would drive from our rented flat in Ealing to Stratford-upon-Avon and queue at the RSC for cheap returns or standing tickets. The plays were so good it made life bearable. In June 1978, we went to see Jonathan Pryce as Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew, with David Suchet. The sunny Saturday matinee coincided with Scotland playing in the World Cup and as the audience made its way into the Royal Shakespeare Theatre foyer, a Scottish supporter with a six-pack of lager was getting rowdy and rude, singing football songs outside. He grabbed me, saying, 'Have a drink with me, brother', and did a double-take as if he recognised me. I turned away, feeling I'd die of embarrassment in this posh and genteel crowd focused on the business of being civilised and arty. As we entered, he continued shouting abuse, putting his fingers up and telling us where we should go stick our English, stuffy-nose, Shakey bollocks. No sooner was he ushered out and we'd taken our seats than he burst back in, got on to the stage and knocked down the whole set to horrified shouts. We were gobsmacked; the show ruined by a moronic football fan. Actors tried to stop the damage until, suddenly, with one final shout of: 'Why don't ye all fuck off?' he collapsed. Then, very slowly, the house lights dimmed, a spotlight fell on the drunk and it dawned on us all that it was him: Jonathan Pryce, as Christopher Sly, a character in Taming of the Shrew's lesser done prologue. It was a magical moment, shocking and breathtaking. I was captivated. The play was brilliant and I turned to Sandra frequently, whispering: 'I want to do this.' 'You can,' she said. I saw my future in front of me. After the production, I enrolled in an arts degree with the Open University, left the bank and started running creative arts projects in prisons, working with lifers in Wormwood Scrubs. Just as the Shrew confronted me with the transformative power of theatre, this work made the invisible visible, even in unexpected places. I did similar work with disadvantaged teenagers in New York, took acting evening classes and finally went to a proper drama school in London. I set up my own theatre company, mainly for people who could not go to conventional drama school, and taught and directed in community theatre for 32 years. I have put on so many shows – all, I'm sure, influenced on some level by Pryce and that incredible matinee. I've used that framing device many times and when I directed Trevor Griffiths's play Comedians 10 years ago, in which Pryce once famously starred, I cast an actor who reminded me of him on that Saturday afternoon when theatre changed the world a little bit. In the years since, I've thought about why he might have done a double-take. People often commented that we looked alike. My daughters first noticed it in Pirates of the Caribbean and message when he's in Slow Horses with 'Dad, you're on TV'. In December, I attended a British Film Institute screening of Comedians introduced by Pryce. As he finished, I walked up the aisle and told him how he changed my life. 'I feel like you woke me up,' I said. 'I'm so delighted,' he replied. Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion You can tell us how a cultural moment has prompted you to make a major life change by filling in the form below or emailing us on Please include as much detail as possible Please note, the maximum file size is 5.7 MB. Your contact details are helpful so we can contact you for more information. They will only be seen by the Guardian. Your contact details are helpful so we can contact you for more information. They will only be seen by the Guardian. If you include other people's names please ask them first.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
I've been getting surgeries since my teens - now I'm sick of looking like a Barbie so I've spent £120,000 reversing all my operations
A mother who started getting beauty treatments in her teens is fed up with being an 'unrecognisable Barbie doll ' - having now spent £120,000 to reverse her surgeries and ditched the Botox and fillers for good. For years, Tracy Kiss, from Buckinghamshire, has battled 'soul-destroying stares' from women who think she is 'after their husbands' because of her 'super-sized doughnut breasts'. The 36-year-old also suffers unwanted comments and looks from strangers both online and offline - which meant going to the beach with her kids or doing the school run was always tough. Over nearly two decades, Tracy has undergone five boob jobs, a chin liposuction, an upper eyelid lift, a rhinoplasty, a BBL, labiaplasty, teeth straightening and more. She also got quarterly Botox and facial fillers, plus other beauty treatments like semi permanent make-up top-up or eyelash extensions. Tired of being scrutinised, Tracy has spent the last year stripping back her appearance. 'People judged me negatively and assumed that I would be self-obsessed and uneducated,' Tracy, who has 1.2m Instagram followers, said. 'They believed I was unhappy and hated myself so had to turn to surgery and aesthetics to feel 'beautiful' - which wasn't the case. 'What started off as a very innocent 'treat' to have pretty nails and a nice tan for summer in my teens ultimately turned me into an unrecognisable Barbie doll in time. 'But I feel that I had to reach that point of fake-ness in order to bounce back, wake up and return to my natural self. 'I realised my choices over my appearance were only taking me further away from my authenticity and personality, so removing it feels like returning home. 'Now I actually look like my own children and receive so many compliments for looking much younger without makeup and 'not trying too hard.' Tracy started in August last year when she got her breast size reduced - paying £4,500 for the operation in Turkey to go from 32H to 32C. Since then, she's also had her fillers - which she gets in her chin, jawline, nose and lips - dissolved. The mother has cancelled her Botox appointments and ditched her hair and nail follow-ups. Tracy said: 'It's all too easy to spend £60 per week on lashes and nails, which then becomes hundreds per month when you factor in hair appointments, tanning, Botox and fillers top-ups. 'Before you know it, you suddenly have huge thick eyebrows, big lips and a motionless face with the smallest of imperfections becoming blindingly obvious. 'I realised that the woman staring back at me in the mirror isn't the person that I know myself to be.' Now, she is more confident in herself - and feels good about being able to go out with her children this summer without being stared at. Tracy, said: 'I feel far happier and healthier rolling out of bed and enjoying life without spending hours in the mirror fretting over signs of ageing. 'I live life for myself, as an individual, without the need to impress or compete with anybody because of my appearance.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Bristol man Jardel Edwards jailed after gun found in drawers
A man has been jailed after a gun and taser were found in his chest of drawers. Jardel Edwards, 22, was sentenced at Bristol Crown Court after pleading guilty to two counts of being in possession of a firearm and ammunition. He also admitted being in possession of Class A drugs crack cocaine and heroin with intent to supply, which plain-clothed police officers found in his pockets when he was stopped on 6 February in Webb Street, then searched his home in Cotton Mill Lane, Barton Hill, where they found the weapons in his bedroom, as well as further evidence of drugs supply. Edwards was sentenced to eight years in prison on Thursday - five years for the firearms offences and three years for the drugs Insp Tom Tooth of Avon and Somerset Police said: "Edwards' evasive behaviour when officers first spoke to him led them to believe he had something to hide."It is clear from the amount of drugs that Edwards' had in his possession that he had intended to sell them, bringing further harm to our communities through drug use and drug-related crime."
