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Hull Minster Tower Tour

View from: The top of Hull Minster

On a clear day, you can stand at the top of Hull Minster tower and see all the way to North Lincolnshire on the south bank of the River Humber. Turn north-eastward, and you could see Spurn Point on the East Yorkshire coast; look north and you might be able to spot Beverley Minster.

If you’ve got a head for heights, and you’re not fazed by the prospect of climbing a couple of hundred steep, medieval steps, you’re in for a treat.

Guided Tower Tours run fortnightly at Hull Minster, at 5pm, 6pm, 7pm and 8pm. The next available dates are July 19, August 9, August 23, September 6, September 20 and October 11. Tours can be arranged at other times of year by appointment.

If you check sunset times when you visit, you might even be able to time your tour to coincide with a sunset over Hull’s Old Town, or an atmospheric twilight view of the marina and rivers.

James Symonds, events coordinator at Hull Minster, says the Tower Tours provide an unrivalled perspective on Hull. “It’s the tallest public-access building in the city,” he says.

With the viewing platform at 150ft above the ground, you get a unique perspective from the 13th-century minster.

Each Tower Tour begins with a warm welcome, a talk about the minster’s history and a health and safety briefing. The halfway mark of the climb takes you past Hull Minster’s clock mechanism, bells and carillion bells.

Sounding every 15 minutes, be sure to stop, listen and see if you can work out what tune the bells are playing.

Steve says: “We control the carillion bells via a keyboard. The music reacts to the news, for example, when Carrie Fisher died, we played the Star Wars theme tune in memory of her. We’ve played the Harry Potter music in the past, and we’re currently playing Mozart’s Canon in D Major. It always gets people talking.”

If you’re lucky, you may even see – and hear – them in action.

After the halfway point, another 100-plus steps take you up to the rooftop viewing platform at the very top of Hull Minster, where you can soak up those breathtaking views. Enjoy.

  • Tickets cost £4/£5 for the tour only; £7/£8 for the tour, plus drinks and cake in the minster’s café.
  • Please note that children must be aged 10 or over to take a Tower Tour, and under-17s must be accompanied by an adult.

 

 

Volunteers on the Humber Bridge - Chris Fenton

Ask a volunteer

If in doubt, ask a volunteer. Whether you’re a visitor to Hull or you’ve lived here for years; you need directions to your hotel, or just want to know what’s happening this week, the Hull UK City of Culture volunteers are on hand to help.

And they really do get asked everything, says 52-year-old volunteer and University of Hull lab technician Debbie Mowforth, from “do you know what time my bus is?” to “why do you volunteer?”.

Debbie was inspired to sign up after seeing the friendly faces of the volunteers at the London 2012 Olympics. Making her think “I could do that”, she wanted to help provide an initial positive impression of her city. Since then, she’s made lifelong friends, partied in the streets at Pride (pictured, with Debbie on the right), performed as an extra in the Hull2017/Slung Low live outdoor play, Flood Part 2 – “Where else could you get artificially rained on for a week and actually look forward to it?!” – and danced in Freedom Festival 2017/ Southpaw performance Rush – “I’d do it again in a heartbeat”.

She says: “My favourite city centre sights that everyone should see are: The Deep; all of the museums are worth a visit and have their own unique experiences – Streetlife Museum, Wilberforce House, Ferens Art Gallery and the Maritime Museum.

“But my personal favourite is the marina area and Humber Street Gallery. Before I became a volunteer, I knew very little about contemporary art. Humber Street Gallery opened my eyes to a whole different side of art and culture for me (with the added bonus of a great bar!).”

For 24-year-old Rhys Plater, who volunteers in his spare time in addition to working as a marketing officer at East Yorkshire Coaches, the buzz from volunteering at large-scale events is second to none.

Rhys says: “My main reason for volunteering was to give something back to my city in its biggest year. It was important City of Culture was a success and for that to happen it needed as many people as possible to get behind it – that’s exactly what the volunteering programme did.  I had previously volunteered at Hull’s Freedom Festival for numerous years, so I knew the excitement and buzz you get – I didn’t want to miss that with the vast range of City of Culture events.

“My highlight so far has got to be Land Of Green Ginger Unleashed. Over 2017, the mysterious story grew, engaging everyone in the city in some way. The build-up with thousands of people eagerly anticipating the unexpected was something that doesn’t happen in Hull every day, then as the procession passed, you could hear the joy and wonder from all ages in the crowd.”

Rhys says the most common question he gets asked by tourists is where to find the nearest pattie and chips – a must-try Hull delicacy for sure.

Ask him where to find the best sights in Hull, however, and like each and every one of the volunteers, he also has some great tips.

“Trinity Square is a must,” he says. “Its new mirror pools are stunning and unique, emphasising the fantastic Hull Minster. Sitting out there on a summer’s day with some food and drink is just fantastic. The refurbished Trinity Market alongside it is great too, with its choice of produce and street food.”

Luckily for visitors and residents alike, Debbie, Rhys and their thousands of fellow volunteers have no plans to stop any time soon.

“People always ask us for directions to events or activities,” says Rhys, “and that’s why having volunteers around is great – it’s a reassuring presence offering that extra help and support.”

“Why wouldn’t I do this?” asks Debbie. “It’s becoming one big family. I get sheer pleasure from telling the world ‘this is Hull’, come and experience it for yourself! Hull volunteers are the friendliest people you could hope to meet.”

Click the link to find out how you too can sign up to be Hull UK City of Culture volunteer.

Tour Guide Paul Schofield

Hull’s Old Town: Top 10 hidden gems

Cameras at the ready. Some of our city’s best-loved and most beautiful sights can be found in Hull’s Old Town. With stunning architecture, medieval streets and charm by the bucketload, there’s no wonder it features heavily in the daily walking tours run by award-winning tour guide Paul Schofield. But you might be surprised to discover which sights have the biggest wow factor – for tourists and residents alike. Here, Paul reveals his favourite sights and some of the city’s most delightful hidden gems, from the place where Charles I was turned away from the city – famously sparking the English Civil War – to the street from which an entire city sprung from.

  1. Beverley Gate: “Visitors are always taken aback when they see the ruins of the gate and we say that we started the English Civil War here! King Charles I wasn’t allowed into the city in 1642, a gesture of defiance that triggered the war.”
  2. England’s smallest window, Land Of Green Ginger: “This is one of the things that always sticks in people’s minds after they’ve take a tour. And of course, it’s in a street mysteriously called Land Of Green Ginger, which everyone loves.”
    © Christopher Pepper
    Smallest Window © Christopher Pepper
  3. Hepworth’s Arcade: “One of my favourite buildings in Hull. It was built in the 1890s and was named after Hepworth the tailor. It was also home to one of the earliest Marks and Spencer penny bazaars. It’s a rare L-shaped arcade with a lovely glass roof. I see it as a very ‘Hull’ arcade – it’s full of independent Hull businesses such as Beasley’s clothing store and Dinsdale’s joke shop, as endorsed by Reece Shearsmith and Derren Brown.”

  1.  High Street and the River Hull: “The oldest street in Hull, High Street dates to the 1100s. Without High Street, with the staithes and access streets running down to the River Hull, the city wouldn’t exist.”
  2. Scale Lane swing bridge: “My favourite bridge and one of my favourite things. At weekends, you can ride on it and listen to the sounds playing as it moves you across the River Hull. It’s the first footbridge in the world that allows people to do this. Check the Hull City Council website for times.”
  3. Truelove sculptures, River Hull, by the tidal barrier: “Whether they’ve lived in Hull all their lives, or are new to the city, people are always surprised to see the sculptures of the Truelove heads in the River Hull – they miss the plaque that’s on the railings.”

The plaque reads: “In 1847 Memiadluk and Uckaluk arrived in Hull close to this site aboard the Truelove, a local whaling ship. The following year the married couple set sail for their home in Cumberland Sound, Baffin Island. During this journey Uckaluk died following an outbreak of measles on board the ship.”

  1. Stage @The Dock: “A dry dock originally, it takes a lot of vision to turn a dry dock into a stage that has hosted everything from the BBC Proms, to rap and hip-hop artists, and festivals like Humber Street Sesh and Freedom Festival. I like the fact that it’s so accessible. It’s a public space even when it’s not in use as a venue.”
    Stage @ The Dock – Chris Pepper
  2. Victoria (Corporation) Pier and Oss Wash, Nelson Street: “Before the Humber Bridge was built, this is where people would catch the ferry to cross the River. It had a British Rail booking office and was one of the few train stations in the country where no trains ran. The nearby slope next to the De La Pole statue was known as the Oss Wash [horse wash].”
  3. Town walls, marina: “Look on the ground around the marina. The original town walls are marked out in red, so you can walk along them. It’s surprising to discover that the River Humber once came right up to Hessle Gate and along what is now Humber Street.”
  4. Prince Street and Trinity Square mirror pools: “You get a great view when you look down Prince Street towards Hull Minster in Trinity Square. Prince Street is unusual in that it’s a Georgian street with a curve – they tend to be either very straight or crescent-shaped. In Trinity Square are my other favourite things, the mirror pools.”
Hull Minster C Mike Bartlett
Hull Minster – Mike Bartlett

 

Paul Schofield is an independent, English Heritage-accredited tour guide. His walking tours of Hull city centre take place daily until the end of October, leaving from Hull City Hall in Queen Victoria Square at 2pm. Group bookings can be arranged all year round.

Illuminated Ferens - Urban Legends : Northern Lights

It’s time to introduce Absolutely Cultured. 

Absolutely Cultured has today been announced as the new name for the company that delivered Hull’s incredible year of arts and culture in 2017. Absolutely Cultured has also confirmed its renewed purpose as an arts organisation rooted in the city, and revealed details of some of the events to look forward to in the coming year.

Led by Creative Director Katy Fuller, who has been part of the Hull UK City of Culture journey since 2015, and with cultural specialist Lee Corner as Chair, Absolutely Cultured will commission a world-class arts programme of events for residents and visitors, working with partners inside the city and across the UK to cement Hull’s reputation as a centre for creativity.

Katy Fuller said: “In 2017, as Hull UK City of Culture, we invited the city of Hull to get absolutely cultured – and it did, but 2017 was only the beginning.

“We’re extremely proud of the roots of this company and its achievements during 2017. While we have a refocused purpose, at the very heart of that is the continuation of a programme of events which appeal to the huge audience we know we have in Hull, as well as being relevant and interesting to visitors and those watching from afar.”

The events, some of which have been announced today, will be ambitious, surprising and imaginative. Artworks will inhabit and animate Hull’s incredible outdoor spaces, bringing people and communities together, and building on the high levels of engagement achieved in 2017.

Their first major event will be happening this summer: Dominoes by Station House Opera is a large-scale, site-specific celebration for the whole city to enjoy. It will be free and unticketed, taking place on Saturday 11 August 2018.

Humber Street Gallery will continue, building its reputation through a high quality, engaging and thought-provoking future programme of exhibitions and events, which have also been announced today.

Absolutely Cultured will continue the award-winning City of Culture Volunteer Programme, working across arts and culture opportunities but also expanding to new sectors across the city with the support of two new partnerships with Nesta and Spirit of 2012.

In addition, The Hull Independent Producer Initiative (HIPI) will continue to nurture local artistic talent and artists from near and far will be supported to take risks and extend their practice through the commissions programme.

Katy Fuller added: “Any well-rounded arts organisation needs to ensure it is delivering on all fronts: jaw-dropping audience experiences; opportunities for learning and participation; and development opportunities for artists. Absolutely Cultured will be no exception.”

Want to know more?  Visit www.absolutelycultured.co.uk or follow Absolutely Cultured on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook using @abscultured

The secret life of The Deep

The piles of stones that appear in the Gentoo penguins exhibit each spring don’t look like much to the untrained eye. But believe it or not, they’re the perfect p-p-p-pick-up joint for penguins at The Deep, Hull’s award-winning aquarium.

“That’s Nessie,” says Helena Robinson, an aquarist and one of The Deep’s five-strong team of penguin keepers. She points at a Gentoo penguin who is meticulously searching for the perfect pebble to present to her potential partner, Shackleton. Discarding dozens of identical stones, she eventually finds the one. Shackleton seems to approve, and it’s added to the pile.

“When our penguin couples show signs of nesting, they bulk up for breeding season and begin to present each other with stones,” reveals Helena. “They then gather the stones to build nests where, hopefully, they will later lay eggs.”

Meanwhile, Attenborough and Lizzie – the 2016 chicks named after Sir David and HRH Queen Elizabeth who both turned 90 in the year they were born – come up to the exhibit glass to watch us, watching them.

“Attenborough and Lizzie are quite nosy,” says Helena. “They were born here at The Deep, so they’re very confident and inquisitive. They’re real characters.”

For penguin keepers like Helena and her colleagues, a typical day starts behind the scenes at 8.30am, 90 minutes before The Deep welcomes its first visitors through the doors.

Most of that time is spent cleaning up penguin poo.

“We start with a really big clean and a visual check of each animal and exhibit,” she says. “They poo a lot! It’s a never-ending job. The only thing that’s messier is when they’re moulting as well.”

Of course, there’s much more to aquarist duties at The Deep than looking after the animals in your specialist section. It is home to around 5,000 animals, 130 individual habitats and has 36 filtration systems to manage. Everyone has to muck in, and muck out.

Other duties include water analysis, food prep (every creature at The Deep gets human-grade food to eat, by the way), pump and filtration maintenance, record keeping, exhibit-building, research, breeding, vital conservation work and – everyone’s favourite – diving.

 

“The first time you dive in the Endless Oceans exhibit with the sharks and the rays is nerve-racking,” admits Helena, who first worked as a guide, then volunteered and eventually trained to become an aquarist. “I actually learned to dive as part of this job. I’d never dived before, so I did my open water qualification and loved it.

“The reality is not that glamorous though. Most of the time we’re under water, we’re cleaning – we do daily dives scrubbing algae off the inside of the main displays – as well as giving the animals a visual health check.

“We do a lot of jobs that people don’t expect – we’ve carved the rock walls in the lagoon, painted displays and put the corals in. We also look after any new animals coming into the quarantine area.

“It requires a huge amount of elbow grease, and you’re always on call,” say Helena, returning to the ever-growing penguin nests. “But you’re making a difference. It’s all worth it.”

Gipsy Moth

Gipsy Moth takes flight as it finds new home in Hull

Crafted by prisoners of HMP Hull as part of Hull 2017’s Creative Communities Programme, the replica Gipsy Moth has won hearts and minds over the last year.

Having been spotted by around 30,000 people a day in Paragon Station, including the Queen, Sadiq Khan and Goldie, the plane is now to set to move next door to St Stephen’s shopping centre for a year.

The model celebrates the legacy of Hull-born hero Amy Johnson, the pioneering aviator who was the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia in 1930, in a de Havilland Gipsy Moth bi-plane named Jason.

Gipsy Moth full-scale model at Paragon Station. Photo © Sean Spencer/ Hull News & Pictures.

Next month the plane will be taken down from its display in Paragon Station, cleaned and touched up, then relocated in St Stephen’s. There are also plans to create an interactive interpretation board to enable visitors to find out about how the model was created.

Jim Harris, Centre Manager at St Stephen’s Hull, said: “The model of Amy Johnson’s Gipsy Moth celebrates the creativity and culture in every single corner of Hull, and the incredible legacy of Amy Johnson.

“We are delighted to help the plane on the next leg of its journey, and offer it a place at St Stephen’s Hull. With 12 million visits a year the model will continue to be enjoyed, and tell its fascinating story, to all our customers.”

The idea to create this full-scale model of the straight-winged, two-seater aircraft was former prison governor Steve Murray’s. Steve and artist Leonard Brown joined forces and were named as one of 60 new projects which received funding through the Hull 2017 Creative Communities Programme, delivered in partnership with the Big Lottery Fund, a principal partner of Hull 2017.

Geoffrey de Havilland’s original design was brought to life in the prison’s engineering workshop. The project took seven prisoners 3,600 hours to make and formed part of the prison’s Reducing Reoffending initiative, giving everyone involved the opportunity to improve key skills.

Gary Sword, Head of Reducing Reoffending at HMP Hull, said: “We are always looking for new ways to engage the prisoners and develop their skills so when we found out about the Hull 2017 funding, we thought it would be a great opportunity to get involved.

“Due to security restrictions, the prisoners didn’t have access to the kind of tools you would use to build such an ambitious model in the outside world so it has been a real blood, sweat and tears exercise. They’ve not only gained transferable skills such as team-building which will help them secure future employment when they get out but they’ve developed an enormous sense of pride.

“When Hull was announced as City of Culture, I don’t think the prisoners could have dreamt of being part of it, so to have created something that has been so well received and is set to become part of the Hull 2017 legacy is just incredible.”

Martin Green, CEO of Hull UK City of Culture 2017, said: “The Gipsy Moth is a great example of how Hull 2017’s Creative Communities has involved people who might not otherwise think arts and culture is for them, to be part of Hull’s special year.

“We are delighted that the model plane has found a new home in the city. It is not only an opportunity for residents and visitors to learn more about one of the city’s revolutionaries Amy Johnson but also a chance to reflect on another milestone in Hull’s history – its tenure as UK City of Culture.”