The Restoration of Wellington Street Swing Bridge By Tony Waddington Photographs By Tony and Mo

Photograph    Gallery 1,   Gallery 2,   Gallery 3,

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

Over the past 4 weeks work has been underway, dismantling this ancient bridge and after many years out of commission, and derelict, much work is needed to get it back in running order. The first bridge over the entrance to Humber Dock was installed around 1824 but replaced in the 1840's. Due to damage, worn or rotten structures, expenditure on the swing bridge and dock area, up to 1848 was £16,000; a lot of cash in those days.

Today, the restoration work is undertaken by Davey Markham Heavy Engineering of Sheffield, estimated at a cost of at least £800,000 but rising as more structural wear is discovered. A miserable, wet Sunday, 12th February 2006, at 1.30pm, saw the 60 ton span being lifted and placed on its carriage for transit to Sheffield. A delicate operation with so little room for manoeuvre. Much credit to all the crews involved and without a hitch (it was a piece of cake!).

Well done to the Davey-Markham crew of Mr. Smitham, Tony, Kevin, Paul and Graham who, in cold and wet weather did all the hard graft to reach this stage in the restoration of this relic. We shall be looking forward to the return and reinstallation of the swing bridge in fine working order in about 5 months time.

Photograph    Gallery 1,   Gallery 2,   Gallery 3,

Articles - Memories of Hull By Frank Storey

I was most interested to read the article by John Firth regarding the fish shop owned by his grandmother in Redbourne Street. I worked at Gordon Street Police Station in the ranks of Constable, Sergeant and Inspector during the period 1947 to 1966, I well remember the Beatles visit - they used my office to get changed! I had a great leg pull with a young girl who was an avid Beatles fan, - we gave her a cigarette end Read more...

Articles - The Thames Whale By Michelle Dee

Sometime on Friday 20th January a bottle nosed whale was spotted in the Thames River. This unusual event caused quite a stir in the capital later that day the 18ft whale tried to beach itself in the shallow waters by Westminster Bridge. Volunteers and specialists alike tried to encourage the whale back the way it came into the deeper parts of the river. On the Saturday it was thought to have gone back towards the mouth Read more...

Articles - Partners In Parallel At Law Firm By Julian Woodford

	The truth really is stranger than fiction. Who'd have believed that the lives and careers of two young women lawyers could have followed such remarkably similar and parallel paths - and without them knowing it. Claire Ramsden and Jane Longhorn, who have just been made new partners at the Hull firm, Williamsons Solicitors, both started their education at the same Read more...

Articles - More Famous Than Christmas By Jim Higo

	You can guarantee that some things never change. Sickening over-indulgence, excessive eating and drunken abuse of your work colleagues, followed by obnoxious obscenities, mindless violence and the inability to string together a coherent sentence. Yes, that's John Prescott for you. This Christmas I have managed to stay as close as possible to the true and original meaning of Read more...

Articles - Consolation Prize By Lydia Rivlin

I came to Hull at the beginning of the year, to run as the Conservative Candidate for Hull North. I am a Leeds girl and would have loved to have got back to Yorkshire (yeah, I know Hull is supposed to be a separate entity, but as I said, I'm a Leeds girl). Well, I didn't make it. Labour got the seat and what I got was the consolation prize. Although we are all familiar with the expression Read more...

Articles - I'm Dreaming Of A Weird Christmas By Maurice Fairfield

I spent roughly half my life in Hull and the North of England and I could count the number of White Christmases on one hand. Cold, yes. Wet, yes. Bitterly cold, yes, but rarely white. Yet most of the cards featured gabled houses with icicles dangling from the eaves. Horses pulling sleighs, and always masses of that frigid white stuff. Most of the yuletide snow I have seen is artificial Read more...

Articles - Made In Hull: Stories 1969 - 2005 Part 4 By Rich Mills

	Through the large glass double doors I could see a number of other residents. All were transfixed by the pretty flashing lights emanating from the box in the corner, but I knew they were all fully aware of Laura and I approaching. We stood for a moment watching the specimens through the glass, briefly examining their static behaviour as they gave nothing away except a sense of loss. Read more...

Articles - Made In Hull: Stories 1969 - 2005 Part 3 By Rich Mills

	Waiting in A&E. Too much time spent sitting, waiting, hour upon hour. I wanted to get up and leave so many times, but I knew that I had to stay and keep waiting. For all our sakes! The intensity of the situation made my head ache, but I breathed through it and sunk my head into my hands, still waiting. Among the drawn-out periods of waiting there were breaks, Read more...

Articles - Ten Foot Titans By Rich Mills

	Long summer Sundays when I was a kid were spent running around, plastic machine gun gripped tightly in my hands, throwing myself onto the hot concrete as imagined bullets flew overhead. Rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat. Andy came running full pelt down the ten-foot, Uzi tucked close to his side, spraying invisible hot lead along the side of Brown Owl's fence. Jamie bursts out of his back Read more...

Articles - Charities - And Albert Foundation - Trading Roots at The Zoo Café

	The Zoo Café on Newland Avenue in Hull is currently selling goods produced by the And Albert Foundation ... The founder of the And Albert Foundation, David Murden has been working for almost 15 years to realise his vision of creating long-term ethical trade with villages in the developing world. Fifteen years retail experience has Read more...

Articles - Made In Hull: Stories 1969 - 2005 Part 2 By Rich Mills

	Much of the lower half of his face was carpeted with a dense mat of short-cropped wire. Stroking his hand across his chin, he evoked a long distant memory of adolescent profundity. Another's name floated into his mind, Pat, he'd always thought that was a girl's name, short for Patricia. However Pat was also the name of his former college lecturer, from when Read more...

Articles - For Those About to Rock...We Salute You...Again! by Joolz

	For those of a certain age and musical leaning, the name Trog Bar will hold great memories. For a goodly number of years, Trog Bar was the place to go on a night out if you liked your music Loud and Rockin'. The place itself seemed to act as a gravitational force to all with long hair, tattoos, denim jackets and a preference for patchouli. It wasn't the sort of venue Read more...

Articles - Made In Hull: Stories 1969 - 2005 Part 1 By Rich Mills

	A romper suit with plastic feet, dancing to the transistor radio placed high up on the kitchen shelf. We really did have a mouse that lived in the skirting-boards of the kitchen, didn't we? Lift the lid on the Danset, slap on the vinyl, drop the needle. Here comes the crackling sounds of my deep grooved and somewhat scratched Pinky and Perky LP, Jungle Book Read more...

Articles - Love Me, Love My Band By Kate Wood

	So I met someone. He was charming, well-read, funny and heartbreakingly cute. He liked my Yoko Ono jokes and my love of lab coats. I also think he could even put up with my snotty elitism when it came to music. This is it, I thought, Romance at last! And I love romance. If I could pick any line that describes my outlook on love, life and the universe it would be Read more...

Articles - My Saturday Nights By Harry Slater

We'd kill for the four o'clock stumble home at around one, when the cocktails are just about to kick in, and we're forgetting the indignity of cheap fucks bumming cigarettes off us. Acute nihilism's filling the air, the kind of repulsion that drags you away from sense, sends your head spiralling into the same unforgettable-dross filled rant about how we're all better than the people who are Read more...

Articles - There's Nothing Familiar Within 500 Miles! By Matt Hill in Thailand.

I finally managed to get a picture with some People in for you, this was taken yesterday in my favourite tea shop. The entire bill came to less than a pound, the tea's really thick and sweet, and they leave plates of cakes, buns and somosas on the table in a clever ploy to get you scoffing. So, I've hit the half way point of my time here and suddenly everything's changed - when, at first, I Read more...

Articles - Hami Kurd's Response to "At a Turning Point?" by Gary Craig 25/7/05

	This is a Hami Kurd response to the above report by Professor Gary Craig. This was a research report on race relations in Hull. It seems that Gary Craig has sentenced the research to be negative before he even started writing it. Below is what we think of it as a Kurdish community living in this city with normal people of Hull, not behind nice desks and offices. Read more...

Articles - Concerned About Africa? A Chance to Help Hulls Twinned City

	Hull is twinned with Freetown in Sierra Leone, a city which is trying to become a Fair Trade city like York. Fairmade is a new business employing 25 people in Freetown; a place where everything, every day and every penny is a struggle. It's trying to do its bit to reduce the devastating poverty of the war torn West African country. Help Sierra Leone Read more...

Articles - On 'At a turning point? The state of race relations in Kingston upon Hull' a report by Prof G Craig, 26 July 05

	'What do you think about the state of race relations in Hull? Your chance to express your views. Professor Gary Craig has been commissioned to conduct an enquiry into the state of race relations in Hull'. Prof Craig issued this invitation through the local press and radio and Hull City Council departments and other Read more...

Articles - "Funky's" Matt Hill writes to us from Thailand

Hey, Matt here :-) I know it's been AGES since I sent some pictures, so I finally made myself take some - you know what it's like, the weather's never good enough or you know the camera won't do it justice, but the time has come. OK, so you have to realise that these pictures aren't going to really impress you, this place isn't big or clever. Also, my digital camera disk keeps getting wet Read more...