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

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

Larry moves back to Bristol!

Anyone who's met my friend Laura 'Larry' Harry will know why we were so glad to see her return to our beloved city of Bristol. Not only is she one of the most naturally funny people I know, but she entertains us for hours with stories of all the bizarre situations she finds herself in.

The day Laura moved into her swanky new flat, an old man welcomed her to the neighbourhood by excreting on the street. Then on Halloween, outside the newsagents down the road, a bunch of local kids were celebrating the spooky occasion by throwing eggs at passers by. But not at Laura, oh no. When she was struck by a gloopy shell, it wasn't the kids who had launched it at her but one of their mother's in a moment of antisocial triumph.

Laura has since moved away from the area, but I'm glad to say is still with us in our beautiful city of Bristol in a more friendly locale.

Bubbles

Here's the message I wrote in her moving card:

They say a house is bricks and mortar, made from wood and beams,
And you turn that house into a home by filling it with your dreams.
But Larry’s dreams have now come true thanks to her super new job,
And now she’s back where she belongs there’s no longer a reason to sob!


May Larry’s new pad bring happiness, and exciting times galore,
Here’s hoping she won’t need to scream when her mates walk through the door!
May her home be just as beautiful as our ‘glamping style’ posh pitch!
And be stacked up to the ceiling with knickknacks all vintage and kitsch.

Me, Miss Gill and the St Ives Posh Pitch of dreams!

Welcome back to Bristol Welshy, it’s good to have you home!
And although you happen to live on your own, you never have to be alone,
Let’s hope your stay is now for good (and you keep your swanky pad neat!),
And you don’t have to see another old man doing a sh*t on the street!


© Holly Purcell 2012

Anna and Steve get hitched in Warwick

When my beautiful (but accident prone) friend Anna announced that she was going to marry her lovely fella Steve, I was absolutely thrilled and couldn't wait to witness one of my best friends in the world marrying the man of her dreams.

The happy couple

Then she asked if I could write a poem and recite it at the ceremony. AGH!

I was so stunned that I nearly turned it down altogether. "Well, it's a lovely idea, but..." Then nothing. No reason whatsoever why I couldn't do it, other than my own stupid nerves that if I let get the better of me I knew I would regret not doing it forever.

So to cut a long story short,  I did it. I was just as nervous as I had previously expected but luckily my mate Nicky was appointed as fellow performer on the day so I didn't have to go it alone. It was one of the best things I've ever done, and here is what we said:

God bless Nicky Brunt

There was once a young lady, Miss Anna Louise Wall,

Who had a tendency to trip, and a tendency to fall,

A girl so headstrong yet with it so sweet,

Who just had a problem staying up on her feet.

There was also a young geezer, Steven Philip Garratt,

Who was strong like an ox, and orange like a carrot,

Who impressed our young Anna with his wit and good taste,

But not on their first date when he tied a jumper around his waist.

As you can imagine, this must have taken some redeeming,

If I'd been in Anna’s position, I’d have run out of there screaming!

But Steven must have done something right to get their love to cement,

And clearly has talents beyond all measure, on which I wouldn’t like to comment.

So Anna overlooked this fashion mistake,

And decided to give Mr Garratt a break,

And from this point on they really like one another,

So Anna moved in with Steve and his mother.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was made to rhyme...

Welcome to my first ever blog post! Hurrah!

This would be the perfect time to explain a little bit about me and why I've decided to set up this little space to share my work with the world. So here it is:

My name is Holly, and I'm ginger. I am not a pumpkin but was nicknamed this by one of my best friends at school following a musical love affair with the Smashing Pumpkins, and it has sort of stuck ever since. But neither of these points are directly relevant to why I've created this blog.

For as long as I can remember, I have loved poetry. From my childhood obsession with Roald Dahl and nursery rhymes to my ongoing love for story telling, theatre and fairy tales, my interest in all things rhyme has transcended paper and stage into my own work that is mostly centred around all the lovely people in my life.

I started by writing limerick style odes for friend's birthday cards, and have since taken to writing poems for leaving books, weddings, baby births... in fact any life event that presented an opportunity to scribble my thoughts down in rhyme and create a poem for the occasion. I have also toyed with writing adaptations of fairy stories, something that I plan to get into a bit more in the future.

Now I've reached a point where the majority of 'My Documents' on my laptop are poems from the past, I've taken the plunge and set up this blog to share my work instead of just leaving it sitting on my computer with no love or attention from anyone.

I hope you enjoy!