We formed a group that was especially interested in photography to make an initial research trip whilst a second group did online research to look at the Floating Harbour, the New Cut and the recent flooding in the city.
The photography group followed the Bristol Floating Harbour Heritage Trail, which brought us to the Underfall Boatyard - which is still a working yard for boat builders – one of the few remaining parts of the city that is largely unchanged from days gone by. It is also where the pump house is for the lock gates between the Avon and the Floating Harbour. This really caught our interest. When the research group found recent footage and photographs of the flooding that happened earlier in the year it made us think about why the floating harbour was created, the protection that it has given to the city for so long and the possibility that that protection is now no longer certain. A second whole group visit inspired us to write a poem and a song that we decided would be great to record and have as the soundtrack to the photographs that we had taken. Alongside our own photographs, we had the photographs of the flooding and old pictures of the floating harbour.