Rugby World Cup, Ilona Maher and Gromits

13 hours ago

1 2 minutes read

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Julian Preece Photography Five people, two men and three women, cheer and raise their arms in the air. They are all wearing the same outfit of multicoloured polka dot plastic skirts over dark shorts and white T shirts with small coloured dots on them. They are all holding what looks like pints of beer and behind them Bristol's harbourside ampitheatre is visible — Rugby fans have been enjoying the world cup fanzone on the Harbourside

All roads led to Ashton Gate this weekend as tens of thousands of ticket holders prepared to watch two quarter-finals in the Women’s Rugby World Cup – with England coming to town on Sunday.

It may have been a week ago, but people living around Victoria Park in the south of the city are not likely to forget the Krazy Races event in a hurry.

At Cribbs, staff have been preparing for the ‘greatest dog show on earth’ as the various sculptures that were part of the Gromit Unleashed 3 trail are now assembled together before being sold.

And a special reading challenge involving thousands of pupils in South Gloucestershire schools has come to an end.

PA Media A wide shot showing the whole of the inside of Ashton Gate Stadium in Bristol during the England v Scotland women quarter final at the Women's Rugby World Cup. The stands are packed with spectators and in the match, England players are attacking very close to Scotland's try line

Red Rose romp: On Sunday England’s women beat Scotland 40-8 in their Women’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final in a match watched by an impressive crowd of more than 25,000 at Ashton Gate. We’ll do it all again next week for the semi-final with France…

Getty Images American rugby union player and social media star Ilona Maher stands with her arms wide, and is holding a drink with a straw in her left hand, as she reacts to her face being shown on the big screen at Ashton Gate. A small group of other women are laughing as they sit around her

VIP: Former Bristol Bears star and social media phenomenon Ilona Maher was in the house to watch England’s win over Scotland.

Getty Images Two female supporters of the Canadian women's rugby union team sit in the stand at Ashton Gate in Bristol. They are both wearing red headgear shaped like a maple leaf. One of the women is looking down while the other, who has dark brown hair and glasses, is looking off to her left and smiling

Into the semis: On Saturday it was the turn of Canadian and Australian fans to head to Ashton Gate for a quarter final that Canada won 46-5 in front of more than 16,000 spectators.

Krazy Races A large group of people, many of them in fancy dress costumes, stand under a finish line hoop which has a purple check pattern. A row of straw bales is seen on each side of a tarmac path leading up to where the people are standing. The event is a Krazy Races meeting in Victoria Park in Bristol.

Krazy Races Four people in inflatable grey mouse costumes are seen with a home-made kart which is shaped to look like a piece of cheese. One of the mice is sitting inside the kart so only their head is visible. Behind them some spectators can be seen milling about at the event, the Krazy Races, in Victoria Park in Bristol.

Krazy Races A solitary home-made cart, in the shape of a tube, with two people in it, races away from the camera as part of the Krazy Races event in Victoria Park in Bristol. Dozens of people can be seen either side of the tarmac track, which is bordered with bales of straw. There are also metal railings keeping the crowd back.

Off the wall: Hundreds of people gathered in Victoria Park last Sunday to watch the Krazy Races event, which saw many an eye-catching kart racing around between the trees. The event raised £20,000 for charities in Bristol.

Ambitious PR A young woman with brown hair and a grey scarf around her neck leans close to a sculpture of Aardman character Wallace, which is part of a display of Gromit Unleashed 3 at Cribbs Causeway in Bristol. The Wallace sculpture is wearing a green jacket and red bow tie and is holding a large cup of tea.

Paw-some: The Gromit Unleashed 3 sculptures are off the streets and assembled at Cribbs Causeway under the title The Greatest Dog Show on Earth until 28 September. They will then be auctioned to raise money for The Grand Appeal.

PA Media A group of male footballers wearing pink tops and black shorts stand in a circle as one player, who has dark hair and a beard, gives them instructions before a Downs League game in Bristol.

PA Media A player in a dark purple top and black shorts shoots a football across a goalkeeper in a white top with black shorts and towards a goal with a net. In the shot are other players from the shooter's team and their opponents, who are in orange tops and black shorts. The game is played as part of the Downs League in Bristol and several other matches can be seen going on in the background, along with a line of trees.

Historic: The multiple teams that compete in the Downs League are back in action now, carrying the weekly football contest that can trace its roots back nearly 120 years.

PA Media Two men, both with lots of tattoos and one with a shaved head and beard and the other with short ginger hair and no beard, grimace as they fight during a bareknuckle boxing event in Bristol.

Rolling with the punches: Bareknuckle boxers Paul Hitz and Dean Patterson were some of the competitors at BKB 45 at Planet Ice in Bristol last weekend.

Bristol Rovers FC Three Bristol Rovers players embrace tightly as they celebrate a goal during their match with Barrow at the Memorial Stadium.

On a roll: Bristol Rovers fans have enjoyed the arrival of autumn, with their 2-1 win over Barrow at the Mem on Saturday earning them a fourth league win in a row.

A grey statue of a man wearing a hooded top, trousers and trainers is seen inside an alcove in a stone wall. He has his head in his hands. Next to him, although not 100% visible, is a smaller grey statue of a bear.

An enduring message: Five years on after it was installed on Jacob’s Wells Road to mark World Suicide Prevention Day, the anonymous artist behind the artwork Bear With Me has said the message of the sculptures is as important as ever.

South Gloucestershire Council A group of primary school children and a handful of teachers line up in three rows as they face the camera. They are holding up certificates with yellow emblems on them that they were given at the end of a summer holiday reading challenge.

Book time: More than 5,500 children from schools across South Gloucestershire read an incredible 85,000 books between them as part of the 2025 Sumer Reading Challenge run by the council.

Bristol City Centre BID Two young women wearing blue jeans and dark tops crouch over grey paving stones on which they are creating an artwork with colourful elements such as different shapes and the outlines of hands.

Ground level: A new artwork called Our Common Ground – created by a team led by artist Oshii – is on its way to being completed in the city centre, where the fountains used to be. The art is being commissioned by Bristol City Council, the Bristol City Centre Business Improvement District and curated by the Bristol Legacy Foundation and Upfest.

RWA An art gallery with dozens of paintings on its walls and in the foreground on a small plinth is a collection of what appear to be dark ribbons meshed together in piles. The floor of the gallery - the RWA in Bristol - is of light wooden boards.

Save the dates: The RWA’s Annual Open Exhibition is now under way, with the work of multiple artists on display until 28 December.

A group of four people, three women and one man, sit around a plain white table as they crochet red roses as part of a promotion for the Women's Rugby World Cup. They are in a room with a grey carpet and are sitting on plain grey chairs. The table is covered in red roses they have made.

Up for the cup: People have been taking part in crochet classes at places like St George’s Hall, making red roses to show their support for England’s rugby players as the women’s tournament comes to the city.

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13 hours ago

1 2 minutes read