New Hull attraction

Thank you trisher I knew it was something like that, defend or deliver, and I think the Halifax mentioned was an actual person and not the town.

The Halifax was the Halifax Gibbet.

People who were born in Hull thought that even Hull was too long to say, and usually called it 'ull.

When my mum wanted to pretend we were posh and I referred to living in 'ull she would say "Hull is the river. The town is Kingston upon Hull"
We used to have a book of Yorkshire sayings which included the Beggar's Prayer and the Yorkshireman's motto.
"Hear all, see all, say nowt.
Eat all, drink all, pay nowt
And if tha' does owt for nowt do it for thysen.

Posh or not the locals I met in Hull were great. What I was impressed with last year was the way so many, young and old became volunteers and ambassadors for their town and did it with such enthusiasm. Awake during the night and listening to the World Service I heard about an exciting initiative in Hull which they have been trialling, the "Hull coin" , which is a virtual currency (like Bitcoin). It is really innovative and unpaid community volunteers are given a few virtual hullcoins for certain duties. These are then used in (signed up) local businesses to obtain a discount. This enables them to buy things which they may not ordinarily be able to afford and boosts business. The hullcoin can then be passed on by the business to others they think are deserving. It's a bit more complex than this, but very interesting concept.

That does sound interesting, Lazigirl.
Hull used to have its own telephone network too - maybe still does.
Husband spent most of his first 50 years in Hull, and I lived and worked there for 25 years.
Jen mentioned 'ull - I was a remedial reading teacher for a while, and it was hopeless trying to persuade children to sound the 'h'. They even called it 'haitch'.
But in the most part, it was a good place to live.

I thought it could be a fake (plenty of that around these days) but apparently it is a genuine Banksy according to the Bristol Post:

The Bristol street artist Banksy has confirmed that a new piece of graffiti that appeared on a bridge is one of his.

I went to Hull High School for Girls. Imagine if I'd had to say Kingston upon Hull High School for Girls every time I was asked where I went to school.

One of the genealogy websites has had someone transcribe Kingston upon Hull as Kinston upon Hull.
That's very annoying.

There are some very odd transcriptions on some of the genealogy websites though - which makes it quite difficult to find people and places.
Perhaps that's how they said it.
We have family in Kingston-upon-Thames. Just known as Kingston, I suppose calling it Thames would have been confusing.

Only one councillor wanted it cleaned off. He was one of the few Tories on the council.

When I'm away from 'Ull, trying to sound posh or speaking to my mam I say Hull but when I'm home my city is always 'Ull.

That's posh, though, vampirequeen, 'ull with a capital U.

Me mam always said we 'ad to 'rite proper

I went to Kingston High School in Hull. Confusing isn't it!
My brother went to Hull Grammar School (which was all boys).

Yes, trisher, can you imagine what would have happened if Hull High School for Girls had been called Kingston upon Hull High School for Girls.
Mind, if it had, you wouldn't have been able to go to Kingston, would you, as we were there first, I think.
Hull Collegiate, now I think. I wonder why.

I'll let you off then, vampirequeen.

It is strange though, that so many people fall at his feet (Banksy) metaphorically speaking, when other ( quite good) art is condemned as graffiti and cleared away.

Yes, lemon I have often wondered about the appeal of Banksy and what makes him so precious. His sprayed walls are better than other sprayed walls? Is it because he does it secretly, stealthily? In fairness if he is one of the greats of the Arts scene, (debatable imo) many teenagers hanging around railways bridges with their aerosol cans of paint are being unfairly overlooked.

I am going to put the dead mouse. deposited on the back doorstep by the cat, in a cellophane box, drop it off at Tate Modern pretending it's an early Damien Hirst piece and hope I am richly rewarded.

As always, the value is in the eye of the beholder.

I intended to visit Hull last November during it's City of Culture year but had to cancel at the last minute. I imagine any improvements made and art works/installations and initiatives will still be happening/there? Now there will be a Banksy to track down too.

A lot of graffiti art is very good. Not tagging such as 'Baz wos ere' but the paintings can be amazing. There is an area on the South Bank in London that covered in graffiti art. It's brilliant and when a piece begins to fade or has lost it's edge it's replaced by another work.

many teenagers hanging around railways bridges with their aerosol cans of paint are being unfairly overlooked.
I think they are - some graffiti is done by very talented artists.

I won't rush to see you dead mouse though, Day6, but then I wouldn't rush to see a Damien Hurst either - Emperor's New Clothes comes to mind.
But if you can convince Saatchi then you might make quite a bit of money from it

Travelling into Waterloo there is a long stretch of ugly, depressing graffiti which disfigures many buildings. I can see no artistic merit or redeeming features in it at all and just see it as vandalism and criminal damage.

Tonight on BBC4 there's a documentary which charts how fishermen's wives from Hull campaigned to improve working conditions after 3 trawlers were lost in 1968 and 58 men died. They were led by Lillian Bilocca. Looks interesting.

The women were incredibly brave and attracted the necessary publicity but this was the 1960s and there is no way those women would have got to meet government ministers if they hadn't had a lot of help from certain men behind the scenes.

But like most legends the myth is more appealing than the truth.

We first moved to Hull in 1968, I was a remedial teacher in the fish-dock area of West Hull. Some of the childen's fathers had died in that tragedy, and it was a terrible time for many people.
I can't remember details, but it seemed that the powers that be wanted it swept under the carpet. I believe there were rumours of Soviet sabotage of our fishing industry.

The owners were happy to blame anyone but themselves. Fishermen were casual workers and if blacklisted would never work again so they kept their heads down and their mouths shut. Deaths and injuries were deemed to be acts of God and therefore no compensation had to be paid. A lot of trawlers were rust buckets. Men's lives were cheap.

Women belonged in the home and superstition meant they weren't welcome on the dock. They could work in the processing plants but not interfere with the men.

Union officers were chosen from the ranks of the fishermen until the late Sixties when they appointed someone from outside of the industry who saw the disgraceful state of the trawlers, the lack of safety in place and the sheer exploitation of the men.