Bristol Adult Learning – Autumn Term Courses Starting Soon & Latest News
Hello everyone,
Welcome to the September edition of ‘in the loop’ and the first of the 25/26 Academic year!
I hope that you are all enjoying what had (until this week) been a very dry and warm summer.
Our enrolments were very busy when the courses launched in July, and we are now seeing a ‘second wind’ of enrolments as you all start to plan your activities for the Autumn months.
We have had over 1500 enrolments already! So if you have your heart set on joining a course and haven’t yet booked, do consider booking very soon to avoid disappointment, as many courses are full or almost full.
Autumn Term Courses starting soon!
New for 25/26 – Jewellery Making. Our first Jewellery making course of the year is
Beginners Silver Jewellery – Earrings
This 5-week course is running on a Friday 10am to 1pm and starts on 19 September with our fantastic new tutor Alice. We are delighted to welcome Alice to Stoke Lodge and can’t wait to see the amazing jewellery creations.
I also want to give a special mention to two autumn drawing courses that were accidently missed out of our course guide!
Starting on 19 September we have Life Drawing – Mixed Ability with the very talented Bill Guilding, the course is 6 weeks and runs on a Friday morning 9.45am to 12.15pm. Bill will also be offering Drawing Faces and Figures From Life – Mixed Ability from 7 November for 7 weeks again on a Friday morning.
We have so many courses starting soon it is always hard to pick out just a few to feature because they all sound so interesting!
You can enrol on all our courses online or if you prefer to talk to a real person give us a call on 0117 903 8844 and talk to the team.
We have over 100 courses starting in September alone so the course below are just a few examples of what is on offer…
History: Women in the Classical World – 10 wks from 23 Sept, Tue 10am to 12 with Richard Stride
History: The Spanish Civil War – 5 wks from 26 Sept, Fri 12.45-2.45pm with Gorka Diaz
Tai-Chi – Beginners and Improvers @ Cotswold Community Centre 12 wks from 16 Sept, Tue 11.30-1pm with Nen Crosby
Fabric Weaving @ St Pauls – 6 wks from 17 Sept, Wed 5.45-8.30pm with Libby Ballon
Tunisian Crochet – Beginners – 5 wks from 15 Sep, Thu 1-3.30pm with Cristina Valladares
Spanish Complete Beginners – 16 wks from 18 Sep, Thu 6 to 8pm with Julian Segura
Acrylics Beginners – 6 wks from 16 Sept, Tue 1-4pm with Mary Kelly
Just Charcoal – 6 wks from 18 Sep, Thu 10-12.30pm with Jenny Ibrahim
Watercolour -Mixed Ability – 5 wks from 23 Sep, Tue 6-8.30pm with Elham Talay Minaei
Creative Lino Printing– 6 wks from 17 Sep, Wed 9.30-12.30pm with Rebecca Plas
The Art of Dry Point Etching – 6 wks from 16 Sep, Tue 1-6pm with Rebecca Plas
Garden Design – 10 wks from 30 Sept, Tue 10am-12 with Jason Loh
Cookery: One Chicken, Five Ways – one day on 24 Sept, Wed 10.30am -2.30 with Sarah Alder
25/26 Course Guide
Our paper course guides have been distributed across Bristol through many local libraries and some postal deliveries. We are really pleased with the number and range of courses that we have on offer, and I want to say a big thank you to all staff and tutors for pulling together such a rich and varied programme of learning.
In terms of the design of this year’s guide, some of you may have seen that we have come under criticism for using AI to modify photos for our printed guide and I wanted to address that with you, our learners, and share with you that we have learnt from this feedback.
We usually use stock illustration images in the course guide and this year we thought we would experiment with using AI to personalise those images, so they looked more like our staff, building, classrooms and our learners.
This was done with the best of intentions, and it was absolutely not our intention, in any way, to devalue artistic or creative skills.
I have been contacted by a few Bristol creatives who have explained to me more about the impact of the use of AI and the effect it is having on their industries and shared how our use of AI for the guide made them feel their skills were devalued.
I am sorry that our use of AI sent that message to them, and I accept that I need to learn more about the impact of AI on the creative landscape. I am aware that having the best of intentions is not enough to ensure that you do not send the wrong message or cause unintended harm.
When you work in education one thing you learn pretty quickly is, everyone makes mistakes, and we all have things to learn. ‘Every day’s a school day.’
I want to assure you that I take this feedback very seriously and it will change the way we think about AI and its use going forward.
Cass Art Bristol – OPENWALLS SERIES 6
Cass Art Bristol, based on Park Street, have just announced their 2025 annual exhibition and are calling for artists to submit their work. The deadline for submissions is Sunday 9 November and you can find how to submit and more about the exhibition on their website. Bristol Open Walls
Cass Art Bristol is once again calling for artists to submit their artwork to exhibit in our public open exhibition in our very own Art Space. The public will be invited to vote for their favourite artwork in the exhibition, and prizes will be given to the winning artists!
“Openwalls is one of our favourite events of the year and a perfect opportunity for professional, emerging AND amateur artists to have their work displayed in Central Bristol completely free of charge. We always have a fantastic mix of styles and media and we cannot wait to see the wide array this year will no doubt bring.”
Heritage Open Days – 12-21 September 2025
Heritage Open Days is England’s largest festival of history and culture, involving thousands of local volunteers and organisations. Every year for 10 days in September it brings people together to celebrate their heritage, community and history. Stories are told, traditions explored, and histories brought to life. It’s offers the public a chance to see hidden places and try out new experiences – and it’s all FREE.
You can find out more about the locations and events taking part in in this year’s festival on their website.
We are really looking forward to welcoming many of you back this term, its not the same here without you!
Not joined us yet? What are you waiting for? – lots on offer and lots of fun to be had!
Kindest regards
Jenny
