Befriendees love having one off trips out of Bristol over the summer.

Use Journey Planner to plan specific public transport journeys.

Here are some ideas for local beaches:

Berrow and Brean, or Burnham-on-Sea (29 miles from Bristol)

get there: via the M5 (j22) or A38 and follow signs, or by train to Highbridge and Burnham (usually every hour or so, but check times and how you get to Brean from Burnham!)

ffi: www.burnham-on-sea.com

Beach: lots to do including boating. It’s great at high tide here, but be careful with the mudflats at low tide. Swimming is best avoided on Burnham’s South Beach because the currents are very strong.

Nearby: lighthouse on wooden stilts, pier with pavillion and amusement arcade, Apex Park Wildlife centre, 19th century shipwreck, Brean Down, Alstone Wildlife Park, Brean Down Tropical Bird Garden, Brean Leisure Park.

Clevedon (14 miles from Bristol)

get there: M4 (j20)

ffi: www.clevedon.gov.uk

Beach: quaint seaside (more retired people than kids with spades). Small and pebbly beaches but with rock pool opportunities. There’s a pier.

Weston-Super-Mare (22 miles from Bristol)

get there: M5 (j21) then A370 westwards and follow signs, or A368. Trains every half hour or so from Temple Meads.

ffi: www.weston-super-mare.com

Beach: mini Blackpool with donkey rides and all. The pier should be reopening this summer (Points West will keep us updated!).

Nearby: SeaQuarium, North Somerset Museum, Helicopter Museum, Weston Wheel (like the London Eye). You can take boat trips to Steep Holm (nature reserve island) from Knightstone Harbour.

Portishead (10 miles from Bristol)

get there: go over the Suspension Bridge and take the A369. Take the 357/358/359 bus from central Bristol (they seem to leave around every half hour and take about 45 minutes).

Beach: It’s a fairly sandy beach and the closest to Bristol. Just by the beach there’s an open air swimming pool and a boating lake.

To find out more about local beaches see: the beach guide website.

Parents should cover volunteer and child costs so consult parents about any big day trip plans (Time2Share has no activity budget this year).

Some of this information came from a recent edition of Venue.

The CEA Card is a national concessionary card developed by the Cinema Exhibitors’ Association for UK cinemas in order to allow people with disabilities to obtain one free ticket for a person accompanying them to the cinema.

 To apply for the card, you will need to meet one or both of the following criteria:

a) Be in receipt of the disability living allowance or attendance allowance;

b) Be a registered blind person.

The card is valid for 1 years from the date of issue.

Application forms are available from cinemas across the UK supporting this card. Alternatively, visit www.ceacard.co.uk and download a copy of the application form.

A processing fee of £5.50 is chargeable per card. This is to be sent along with the completed application.

RNIB can offer information about audio description services in cinema, on DVD, on digital television and in the theatre.
Visit the RNIB web site.

For information regarding subtitles and audio description for cinemas visit http://www.yourlocalcinema.com/
If you have any difficulty, please contact us at the address below:

The Card Network
Network House
St Ives Way
Sandycroft
CH5 2QS

Tel: 0845 123 1292
Fax: 0845 123 1296

www.ceacard.co.uk

On this page we try to provide information so that befrienders and befriendees can find interesting things to do in Bristol. Another good website for finding lots of different ideas for things to do is: http://www.goplacesdothings.org.uk/events/. This is particularly good for befrienders who visit on a particular day of the week, because you can view all activities on a specific day.

The SS Great Britain have taken the initiative to get in touch with us to update their disabled access details.

Carers go free with a disabled child / adult.  Young people aged 16 and under pay £5.95 and under 4s are free.  We have asked about concessions for disabled people which currently they do not offer (the discount is for the carer). 

They have specially narrow wheelchairs on site to allow access through cabins etc and a lift cleverly built in to the funnel!  It might make a good day activity for befrienders and befriendees. 

Deaf & hard of hearing visitors:

• British Sign Language (BSL)hand-held interactive video tours. Please ask at the Ticket Office. Pre-booking advised Choice of BSL video tour foradults or children 

Blind & partially sighted visitors

• Please ask at the Ticket Office for audio companion tours for blind and partially sighted visitors, and for the tactile model of the ss Great Britain. Pre-booking advised Guide and assistance dogs are welcome. A sighted assistant is recommended for your visit

Events

There are also lots of events on (the ticket for the SS Great Britain in annual, so you can keep going back to do activities there). Click here to see what’s on at the moment.

For example, in May you can:

May 16, 17 & 23
Dream boats
Create giant paper boats for the launch

May 23 to 31
Mr Brunel visits
Meet Britain’s greatest engineer (except May 26)

May 25
Dream boats launch spectacular 6.15pm & 9pm (night glow)
Watch the stunning paper boats take to the harbour

May 29 & 30
Sinbad’s sea chests
Transform card, paint, glitter, and feathers, into art

In June:

June 21
Father’s Day treat
Dads enjoy a FREE beer 

In the Summer Holidays:

July 25 to September 2

Sinbad the Ship’s Cat trail Explore the ship, with Sinbad

Mr Brunel visits (except Mondays & Aug 27)

August 1 & 2 Bristol Harbour Festival 

Join the fun with an authentic steam fairground carousel, plus Victorian games

August 1, 8, 15 & 29 Sticky ships

Make stunning collages, with an artist

August 22 & 23

Crimean troopship

Take cover! Soldier re-enactors from the Crimean War. Victorian surgeon Seek out medical advice from the ship’s doctor. Leech included! 

Venue details:

Brunel’s ss Great Britain, Great Western Dockyard, Bristol BS1 6TY

Opening times:

Open daily, from 10am, except Dec 24 and 25, and Jan 11, 2010. Closing times: 4.00pm (Jan, Nov & Dec), 4.30pm (Feb & March), 5.30pm (April 1 to Oct 23), 4.30pm (Oct 24 to Oct 31). Last ticket sales one hour before closing

General office, and bookings: 0117 926 0680