“It’s like riding a bike, you never forget”
Friday 19th October, a glorious autumn day, perfect for a trip down the River Hull on the MV Syntan with a terrific group of people who have shared enchanting memories of life working and living on the River Hull for Open Bridges: A River Full Of Stories.
Thanks to everyone on the trip this weekend: Allan Lister, Andy Richardson, Barry Freeman, Dave Allam, Dave Tulloch, Doreen Gillian, Janet Anderson (nee Webster) John Dean, John Medland, John Whittles, Keith Eastwood, Neville Killer Pinder, Phil Codd, Russ Litten, Ted Moore, Tony Coates, Trevor, Iain Campbell & the Beverley Barge Preservation Society.
We journeyed down the River from Beverley Beck, through open country, passed new developments at Kingswood, under Ennerdale and Sutton Road Bridges and into the urban landscape around Sutton Fields, Croda and the looming cranes of Midgeley’s Scrap Yard turning round at The Ship Inn near Stoneferry Bridges for the journey back. You can see from the photos what a lovely day it was. Highlights for me were smiles on the faces of everyone who had a go at steering the barge after many a year….in the words of Keith, “It’s like riding a bike, you never forget”.
Click on an image to see the full photo and scroll through the gallery…
The idea for A River Full Of Stories came about when many of the 2000 visitors to the Open Bridges exhibition inside Scale Lane Bridge told us fascinating tales of their lives working on and around the river. We’ve been collecting stories throughout July – September 2018 and are now preparing the River Full Of Stories film, exhibition and book. We’ll keep the website blog up to date with stories and memories as we go along.
Rich & Lou Duffy-Howard
Open Bridges made history when for the first time all 13 of the bridges over the River Hull in the UK’s City of Culture 2017 raised, swung or closed simultaneously splitting the city of Hull in two at 20:17 hours on 22nd September 2017. Historic vessels sailed down the River to be met by 21st century tugs.
Open Bridges is an independent Hull/East Yorkshire based project.