Cars

One of the mainstays of Cottingham Day is the display of old ( I won't say vintage ) cars. Here are a few of those on show. I don't know much about cars, however I do recognise the Ford Consul as my dad had one back in the early, very early sixties, it was red as I recall. If you're into two-wheeled vehicles I have motorcycles lined up for tomorrow.

Ain't No Cure for the Summertime Blues ...

The parish council website informs us that this year's Cottingham Day will have a distinct 1950's feel. So on stage we have what is described as a jive band complete with Elvis. Well, actually they were better than Elvis, but then that wouldn't take much. They went through a whole bunch of fifties and early sixties stuff, I left when they attempted Summer Holiday, the human body can only take so much pain.

I put my little Fuji to video mode and came up with a short video.

Playing with fire

It's that time of year again, when the main streets are closed and people come from all around for the thrills and spills of Cottingham Day. Here a unicylcing juggler entertains. More tomorrow.

The Holderness

Next door to yesterday's offering is the Holderness, a public house. It's a fairly old building appearing on maps going back to 1830s. However it is most certainly not a Tudor building as the external appearance might suggest. Apparently there was a fashion to decorate pubs in this mock-Tudor style in the early years of the last century (see also the Rose and Crown, Beverley).

Holderness, in case you were wondering, is the name given to an area of east Yorkshire running roughly from the river Hull to the North Sea. Click here and let Wikipedia tell you more. 

Hull's Angel

Came across this odd little figure above a workshop doorway on Dansom Lane. The windows suggest that the building may have had a religious function but I can find no information about it.

Update A friend has suggested that this building was once a Foreign & British school or to give it its full title British and Foreign School Society for the Education of the Labouring and Manufacturing Classes of Society of Every Religious Persuasion built sometime in the early 1800s. [ 1 ]

Underneath the arches

Tucked away behind the Mount Pleasant shops is an odd assortment of small businesses. A monumental mason, a scuba diving centre, a motorcycle and scooter dealer and last but not least a computer shop. The latter, Peckhams computers, is where I bought my reconditioned machine and I'd recommend anyone wanting a cheap machine to try here.

Holdy Road Blues

A recent article in the local paper suggested that the western end of Holderness Road needs some TLC.  I think it will take more than a bit of sprucing up and redecorating to brighten up this old road. And it's not as if it's a new problem. This road looks pretty much like it did when I first saw it nearly 30 years ago. It's always been a run down mix of used motor sales, greasy spoons and dodgy enterprises and night clubs you really wouldn't want to go to. Even when times were good they were never that good round these parts; the recession didn't make much difference to this area as it was never in growth to begin with, it simply speeded up the decline.

Mount Pleasant Retail Park

Something about the name Mount Pleasant conjures  up a vision of a gentle incline with trees and a bucolic ambience. In Hull, however, Mount Pleasant is a nasty cut through connecting the infamously horrible Hedon Road with the equally nasty Stoneferry. It is neither a mount nor pleasant. At the point where it crosses Holderness Road this architectural monstrosity has sprung up. As it is served by two main roads there's a large car park and it's almost always busy. These stores should be contrasted with the old shops I posted the other day which are just on the other side of Holderness Road and due to be replaced with the twin of this place.

Swallows

One swallow does not make a Summer and neither , it seems, do four or five. Rain totals show it's been the wettest second quarter on record and quite possibly the wettest June ever; although it's not been too bad in Hull other places have had flooding and even tornadoes! 

As it's the first of the month it's theme day for City Daily Photo with 'chimneys' as the chosen theme. Click here to see other participants. If that link doesn't work try here or the Facebook group here.

The Wind Mill Hotel, Witham

Witham is a road that runs from the river to Holderness Road. I suppose at one time it was a prosperous place but now it's totally depressing. The main business apart from the large Council offices seems to be the used car trade with its attendant 'Arthur Daley' dealerships. Stuck on the end of Witham and looking a bit the worse for wear is the Wind Mill Hotel. It was built towards the end of 19th century as was much of this area. Its chief attraction is the fine tile work the surrounds the ground floor walls. It's a Grade 2 listed building and I have read that it's the best night out in Hull for the over 35s which I find difficult to credit.

Books and Baths

Another stitch up (maybe I should get a really wide angle lens). This time we have on the right the old James Reckitt library now closed and moved to new buildings further up the road. On the left the East Hull Pools which boasts heated swimming pools, the very height of decadence. Both were built towards the latter end of the 19th century and stand in splendid isolation on Holderness Road.

Ghosts on Holderness Road

I've stitched three shots together here with the result of strange ghosts in the final image. This is the western end of Holderness Road and it's in a pretty dire state. That whole row is due for either demolition or redevelopment of some sort (see link here). The only shop still trading is a pawnbrokers cum body piercing shop; it's that kind of area. In the dim distance is the building I showed you here. 

Wet day in Hull

This is the view from the Streetlife Transport Museum. As you can see it was a very rainy day. The trawler you can see is the Arctic Corsair which I've shown before here. You can go and look around the boat with free guided tours, details are here.

Lady Chesterfield's Sleigh

Here's the oddest thing I came across in the Transport Museum the other day. It's described as elaborately carved and highly decorative and apparently Lady Chesterfield used it for pleasure driving on her estate. Lady C. in case you are wondering was the daughter of Charles Henry Wilson, 1st Baron Nunburnholme. Now can you see the connection with Hull street life? No, neither can I.

Put Out More Flags

Here's the Railway pub in Cottingham all decked out in Ingerland flags for some football competition that's going on somewhere or other in Europe. 

Stop Press: England lost to Italy (on penalties as usual). Oh well, never mind, I wasn't that interested anyway.

Streetlife

 

What to do on yet another rainy day? Why not visit the Streetlife Transport Museum? I've shown you the outside but until Friday I'd never been in the place. What can I say? It's the sort of place that has immaculately presented exhibits of carriages and modes of transport with re-enactments of street scenes from days gone by. It's all very well done but, maybe it's just me, it felt a little dull and dated. As a child, fifty years or more ago, I saw more or less the same sort of exhibition in York's museum. However the museum has been named the city's best attraction on the travel website tripadvisor.co.uk so I'm probably just out of kilter with the rest of the world. Still if old buses and carriages are your thing you'll find lots to look at here. And one more thing, it's all free.

Don't quite know what a bi-plane has to do with street life, I guess they had to hang it somewhere.

Hessle

This is the view in the other direction from yesterday's photo. This is Hessle's All Saints Church with its impressive spire. Until the bridge was built it was probably the tallest structure round here. As we're on our way to record rainfall for June this picture is clearly not a recent one; no more blue skies and fluffy clouds just rain and more rain. Did I mention a drought back in April?

It's that bridge again

At over 510 feet in height the Humber Bridge does tend to peek into view now and then. At the beginning of April the toll on the bridge was halved to £1.50 and recent reports suggest that traffic on the bridge increased by 20,000 in the first month, which comes as no surprise to anyone really.

Climbing Bear

OK this is one of a pair of bears at the entrance to Albany Street just off Springbank. It's part of a series of animal 'street art' that runs the length of Springbank. And the reason for all this? Well, many years ago, before they built all the houses there was a zoological garden which was lost with the development of Hull. The memory of it lingers in the pub names on Springbank: the Eagle, the Polar Bear and the Botanic not forgetting the gloriously ramshackle Zoological now long gone to make way for the Hull Daily Mail offices, and finally the recently opened (10 or so years ago) New Zoological. 

It would be unbearable to show just one bear so here's the other.

Trees

These are on Beverley Westwood. If you peer closely you can just make out the black mill.

The Warren

These former dockside buildings are the Warren Project where 14 to 25 year olds do the sort of thing 14 to 25 year olds  do. I'm far too old to remember what that might be. There's a website as always here.

Expect Delays

For two hours today and an hour tomorrow parts of the city will grind to a halt as a series of pyjama clad buffoons jog slowly around waving an oversized cigarette lighter. Yes the idiotic farce that is the Olympic torch relay is in town to the delight of the hoopleheads and feeble minded. I wonder how many of those lining the streets realise that this is a direct throwback to the torchlit parades of the 1936 Nazi Olympics designed for the glorification of Hitler's Third Reich. Swifter, Higher, Stronger ... phooey. 

Small copper

When you can't think of anything to say it's probably best to say nothing, so ....

Uneven

The grammar on some signs in mediaeval church yards is uneven too! This Holy Trinity's church yard looking the worse for wear what with all those burials and a large tree buckling the surface.

Costa

I've always understood the name of this place to be a reference to it's prices. I may be wrong since I've never been in and don't drink coffee.

Chimney

This is East Park and in the distance stands the 450 ft Reckitt's chimney. This is now defunct since the plant it served has closed. Can't think why but I've just remembered that Reckitt's bought out the Durex company a while back ...

The other side of 13

Here's a view of the other side of the converted warehouse 13 that I showed you here. The black object in the foreground must remain one of life's mysteries, that is to say, I don't know what it is. 

P & O x 2

Did you know that over a million passengers use the port of Hull every year? No, nor did I. P & O have ferries to Zeebrugge and Rotterdam. The ferry terminal is way over in east Hull so everyone has to go through the city to get where they want to be.
Here's two totally different shots of roughly the same scene.

Arco factory

When, in 1890, the Leyland And Birmingham Rubber Company needed somewhere to distribute industrial asbestos and rubber supplies, they looked at Hull and thought that's the place for us. So was formed the Asbestos and Rubber Company or Arco. Nowadays they make over 22000 products with  a wide range of safety gear and industrial clothing and are a world wide company. You can find out what good guys they are at their very own website here.

Fiat Lux .... now pay for it.

Someone thoughtfully left the door open so I could get a shot down the length of St Mary's in Beverley. Then I stepped inside and took another one. As I did so I noticed a small sign suggesting that photographers should pay a small fee for the privilege of capturing photons. C of E thinks it owns the light in its churches. Seems even light is being monetised! 

Beware of cattle

Beverley Westwood is common land which means that commoners can and do graze their cattle. There's over 400 beefy beast on the Westwood and no fences so you've got to drive carefully.

As this summer has so far failed to load I'm showing you something from a couple of years back.