Breakfast with Bristol24/7: Kerry Bailes

Kerry Bailes switches the conversation effortlessly from politics to fantasy video game land, as she pauses mid-flow to respond to a question from her son, Cody.

She gently reminds the six-year-old not to forget the uneaten sandwich in front of him before continuing her impassioned speech about challenging stereotypes and what needs to be done to improve the lives of people in her community.

“If I could change one thing in Hartcliffe it would be self-confidence,” she states.

“I want to make it equal between the people who live in Clifton and those who live in Hartcliffe. Why is there such a difference?”

Kerry Bailes is setting out to prove that you can do well no matter what start in life you have. Illustration by Anna Higgie

Kerry, a community activist and Labour candidate for the upcoming council elections in the ward where she has lived all her life, has learned the hard way that you don’t get things without persistence.

Meeting in the Withywood Centre’s Megabytes Café a recent sunny Thursday morning, with young Cody in tow, Kerry has a busy day ahead. As she settles her son at the table with a game on her phone, she admits that she is used to juggling being a single mum with her many other commitments.

Had her formidable combination of determination, eloquence and passion been recognised sooner, teachers might have encouraged a young Kerry to have higher aspirations. Instead, it was assumed she would just become another statistic before she took destiny into her own hands.

“I didn’t do well at school, I stopped going at about 12, my teenage years weren’t a particularly nice time in my life. Then I got pregnant at 16 so stopped doing my college course then,” she tells Bristol24/7, over a cup of tea and an egg sandwich.

“I wasn’t really naughty or anything in school, but my older brother was a bit of a delinquent and got into trouble, so teachers tarred me with the same brush. They wouldn’t let me see a careers advisor. I didn’t really have aspirations to be anything when I was a kid.”

Yet, even when she applied for her first job at Asda, Kerry proved her resilience. Initially getting turned down for the role due to lack of experience, she challenged the supermarket as to how she was expected to gain this unless they employed her and eventually landed the job.

“A lot of kids when they go for jobs get nos and a lot, especially from this area, don’t have the confidence to fight back,” says Kerry.

“If I get a bee in my bonnet about something, I will campaign. I left an abusive relationship and got a council flat that was in really poor condition. I got pregnant so I started getting on to the council and I managed over the course of the year to campaign until they did the work.”

This cemented the view that fighting for your rights will, eventually, yield results. Earlier this year, Kerry campaigned against a parody song by a BBC Bristol radio presenter that contained misogynistic and disparaging lyrics about women in Hartcliffe.

She says that reinforcing stereotypes and stigma of the area is hugely damaging.

Kerry is also a passionate campaigner for women’s rights, from fighting for better support for domestic abuse survivors or better education around breastfeeding.

Reflecting on her move into standing as a candidate in the Hartcliffe and Withywood ward, Kerry tells Bristol24/7: “My friends kept saying I should join the Labour party but I was not very happy about the cuts, especially in my area.

“We have had so many organisations come in and do great work over the years, then funding gets cut and they go. One example is the Teenage Parent Programme – we had some of the highest rates of teenage pregnancies but they did some really good work and reduced the numbers so much the council cut the funding.”

Kerry says she wanted current mayor Marvin Rees to win the election but that’s not held her back from campaigning in the face of sweeping cuts. She ended up being offered a chance to do work experience in the mayor’s office.

“I almost turned it down,” she admits. “My friend Steven [the late Steven Norman, a prominent community activist] sat me down and said ‘you can do it’.

“I was petrified because sitting in a room when you know everyone is really well educated is really intimidating.”

As Cody looks up from his game to take a bite of sandwich, Kerry mentions that he now waves at the mayor whenever he sees him in meetings. The six-year old firmly believes Marvin is an arm wrestling champion – and Cody has beaten him twice.

Finishing her tea and gathering up her things to go, Kerry adds: “I really want to prove to other people that even if you didn’t have the best start in life you can still do well.

“At the end of the day, it shouldn’t matter where you’re from or what kind of life you lead.”

Megabytes Café, Withywood Centre, Queens Road, Withywood, BS13 8QA
0117 987 8400
www.withywoodcentre.co.uk/cafe/

Tea: 85p
Can of Rio: £1
Coffee: £1
Egg sandwich: £2.50
Bacon sandwich: £2.50
Veggie breakfast: £4

Total: £10.85

Main illustration by Anna Higgie

Read more: The heart of Hartcliffe