Wednesday 16 May 2012

The story of Lisa Hassell, the most amazing person on earth

For those of you who don't know her, you need to know the following... Lisa Hassell is iron woman!

She's not only the strongest person I know, but she is loyal, driven, focused, generous, beautiful, creative and fun! She's an incredibly talented artist, a very independent young lady, and she's also at the top of the list for the dude who hands out karma.

The details of why are not really relevant here, but about a year ago, Lisa found herself in a less than desirable situation which meant that she had to leave the city she had come to love, and also leave all her Bristol buddies who had come to love her just as much.

Despite the life-changing events that resulted in her departure, Lisa's resilience and optimism prevented her from crumbling, and she is now not only all of the wonderful things I described her as previously, but also an incredible mum to a gorgeous baby boy.

Before Lisa left us to move back to the Midlands, I made her a leaving book to document some of her amazing memories of Bristol. Alongside the obligatory photographs of all the Brizzle fun times, I wrote her a fairytale built around some of the people she had met whilst living in the city, and featured the work of some of her favourite artists as well as her own creations.

Here's the fairy story that was featured, and some of the pics to go with the tale (keep your eyes peeled for the future edition 'When Lisa and Ryder moved back to Bristol and made our dreams come true!'):


There was once a young lady, Miss L B Hassell,
Who lived on a mountain in a beautiful castle,
But not out of choice, I must hasten to add,
As something had happened that was awfully bad.


Lovely Lisa

This is the tale of how our girl Lis,
Was snatched from her world of joy and peace,
And was trapped by a monster who caused her much pain,
Who ensured that her world was never the same.


I’ll start at the beginning, a very good place to start,
When Lisa was a child, a girl with a big heart,
Who lived in a land far away with her mum,
A funny little place all the locals called ‘Brum’.


She had a head of blonde hair (sometimes dipped in pink)
Was happy go lucky and never kicked up a stink,
A girl who would scribble wherever she went,
(It was only when drawing that she was truly content.)

Copyright freeboprich photography 2010


She was always so smiley and made many a great friend,
Like Finders and Petey, the Ginge and McBellend,
There was Grimbo and Larry and the rugby head case,
All who adored Lisa’s shiny, happy face.


But then one day, whilst chomping a bacon baguette,
Lisa created a character that she would live to regret,
A creature that would go on to cause a right kerfuffle,
The (now notoriously evil) creation… Mr Shuffle!

Mr Shuffle from the L Hassell collection

“But how can a drawing be evil?” I hear you say,
Because this one had an agenda, and wanted Lisa to pay!
He was feeling hard done by as Lisa’s career was soaring,
And Mr Shuffle didn’t get a look in when Lisa went off touring.


From Belgium to Berlin, Lisa took her latest work,
But where was Mr Shuffle? At home like a berk!
So feeling cast aside like a manky old shoe,
Mr Shuffle started sulking, and feeling really blue.

Coraçãozinho de Merda | Little Shitty Heart by Maria Imaginário

Thursday 3 May 2012

Avril Wilson leaves IOP (and a hole in our hearts)

When I'm not writing, eating, watching British comedy or running riot around Bristol with my South West homies, I can be found in the Marketing Department at my lovely work place, IOP Publishing.

I'm very lucky to have some super awesome colleagues, and one of the most super I've ever had is Avril Wilson (soon to be Wilson George!) Being a clever cookie, Av was a great asset to our team but was also destined to move on and up pretty quickly, so it was with mixed emotions that we waved her off to an exciting new job last year.

A baguette, a beret and a blimin' big bit of bling!

As well as being a bright young thing, Avril has a tendency to be rather active during the night (by this I mean walk, talk and sit in baths of cold water in her sleep!) If she's not wandering around the house or trying to convince her fiancé that there's a strange girl in the corner of their bedroom, she's recalling tales of when Dracula 'sucked her to death'. She also says some pretty nonsensical randomness that always has me in stitches when she plays back the recordings (see sentence marked by * for details).

Here's Avril's leaving poem:

There was once a young lady called Av,
Who was the best that we’ll ever have,
She was bright, she was witty, intelligent and pretty,
To find better takes more than Sat Nav!


She liked history and read lots of books,
Loved Brian Cox (but for more than his looks),
She was lovely, she was kind, *had my menu on her mind*,
And to lose her just utterly sucks.


But the opportunity fairy came a-knocking,
Which with Av’s talent was hardly that shocking,
But it’s caused a slight hitch, cus I need a sales pitch,
So that fairy deserves a good socking!


Best of luck in your new working place,
Let’s hope they deserve having your face,
You’re bound for success, like the trial process,
Cus you’re brighter than the stars up in space!


© Holly Purcell 2012