New Hull attraction

Vampire - The spray painted murals in the tunnel between Waterloo and the Old Vic are amazing, street art at its best.
Getting DGD from school over 10 years ago he asked me about the stencilled rats low on the walls. As we were near Smithfield in the City I said perhaps they were something to do with Dick Whittington. They were the first Banksys I'd seen. I wish I'd gone to the exhibition in Bristol!
Also, in the 1970s, there were some great murals in Upper Bangor, North Wales, by a man named Ed Povey. I wonder whether they're still there.

Last I heard it was three but he's only claimed one. There is the boy on the bridge which he's claimed. The Dead Bod which is so like his Blue Bird that it would be an amazing forgery if it wasn't. The last one is There must be more to life but some people doubt this one is his.

Is it true, vampirequeen, that there are now three Banksies in Hull?

After the Cod wars when the industry was devastated it was the owners that were compensated the men got nothing
In summary, promises made by MAFF have not been kept. Millions of pounds have been paid to trawler owners as compensation for the loss of their fishing grounds, but not a penny of compensation has been paid to the trawlermen who lost their livelihoods. I believe that, under the previous Government, MAFF paid something like £30 million to Spanish fishermen for the loss of their licences in 1996, but nothing has been paid by MAFF to British trawlermen who lost their livelihoods.

Time is running out for those men. We ask the Minister to ensure that what appears to be a game of pass the parcel between Departments stops. We ask for the promised meeting to be arranged quickly and we ask that that claim be settled, so that distant water trawlermen have some belated justice and dignity after being so appallingly mistreated by successive Governments over the past 23 years.
Alan Johnson MP fought for compensation and pensions for them for years.

I recorded and watched it last night, very moving and very sobering because it happened in our lifetime, not in Victorian times, and treatment of workers in such industries was common. Taking in context the time women were extremely brave to make a stand (even if they did get help vq) It struck me how very young many were. Look how strong women were also during and after the miners' strike.

Sadly, * vampirequeen* at that time and earlier safety wasn't paramount in the eyes of most owners for many of the hard manual labour jobs - fishing, steel works, mining to name just a few. Conditions were dire.

A lot of the trawlers were also rust buckets. Safety wasn't paramount in the eyes of the owners.

I’ve just watched Hull’s Headscarf Heroes and I have tears rolling down by cheeks - a radio operator on every trawler? How very dare they make such demands.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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'll let you off then, vampirequeen.

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

Me mam always said we 'ad to 'rite proper

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

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.

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

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.