Hull - City of Culture 2017

If you’d asked me 12 years ago what I knew about Hull, the honest answer would have been “not very much”. The city which was only 35 miles down the road from where I had lived for the past 15+ years might as well have been on the moon, or in deepest Peru. My only encounters with it had been travelling along the A63 to the ferry port.

In the summer of 2002, I was invited to a wedding reception of two friends of mine that I played in a brass band with. The band was based in Leeds, but they lived just outside Hull, and so, for the first time, I found myself heading to Hull as a destination. At the reception, I met Sarah and we've been together ever since. Sarah is Hull born and bred, and defiantly proud of her city. I quickly learnt that this is something that she shares in common with so many people in the city. Hull born, Hull bred and proud of their roots.

I moved here in 2006 and over the past few years, I have found myself growing increasingly protective of my adopted home. When I heard Phil Spencer and Kirsty Allsop on Location, Location declare Hull to be the Worst Place to Live, I sprang to its defence. When it was declared Britain’s Crappest Town, I decried the book from the rooftops. Like so many migrants to the city, I found myself more vocal than so many people from Hull. Maybe this was because Hull has been the butt of so many jokes that people stopped paying attention, or stopped caring.

When it was announced that Hull was bidding to be City of Culture, people said “Well, we won’t get shortlisted”. When it made the shortlist “We won’t win, we never do”. Now, Hull is to be the City of Culture for 2017. It will show case it’s talent to the world. Sadly, I've heard people questioning the decision today, including  the Leader of Swansea City Council who has shown less grace in defeat than the manager of Swansea City Football Club. The perception seems to be that Hull is famous for Phillip Larkin. Like so many other perceptions of Hull which have been formed by people in haste, this is wide of the mark. Hull has been home to playwrights such as John Godber and Alan Plater, actors such as Sir Tom Courtenay, Maureen Lipman and Reece Shearsmith, musicians, poets, architects, scientists, sportsmen and politicians. Hull’s sons and daughters have made a contribution not only to the contemporary world but have changed the face of the world. William Wilberforce, instrumental in the abolition of slavery was born in the city in 1759 and represented the city for 4 years before becoming MP for Yorkshire.

Hull has the chance to alter people’s perception of it, to raise its profile and to showcase itself. I hope it seizes the chance with both hands.

I'm excited to see what will happen to the city over the next 4 years and what the end result will be. I truly believe it will be spectacular, having seen the Freedom Festival grow over the past 5 years. As Larkin wrote ""Hull has its own sudden elegancies. People are slow to leave it, quick to return. And there are others who come, as they think, for a year or two, and stay a lifetime, sensing that they have found a city that is in the world yet sufficiently on the edge of it to have a different resonance."If you get the chance in 2017, swing by and you'll find he was right.