3 November 2024

Sark tale

It’s been a busy old few days, that’s for sure!

I really will try not to bang on too much about playing at (technically under) the famous Cutty Sark in Greenwich, especially as we’ve run a feature on it this week (see page 19).

And it’s really not just in the paper because I was involved in it! The story of the Triple Trawler Tragedy, and the Headscarf Revolutionaries who campaigned fiercely for better safety at sea, should resonate with anyone in our area, especially along the coast, and I’m sure there are many people around here who still have direct links to the old Hessle Road fishing industry and those who left the port of Hull, never to return.

Indeed, among the audience in London were numerous people from Hull, including some from the Fishermen’s Mission. One of the Mission’s representatives was from Withernsea, and she even did her work experience at the Gazette! It’s a small world…

We were shown around the ship before the show, and the whole experience was truly amazing, I have to say. The comments we received at the end were most humbling.

The following Saturday morning I was with the Green Ginger Garland Dancers again – this time for Hornsea’s first MayFest, and it was a beautifully sunny morning, which made for some great pictures by Michelle Horst (see page 4 of our Hornsea edition – which is available online if you are not in Hornsea).

The pictures also mask the fact that I was nursing something of a sore head from a school reunion do the night before. Apparently it is 30 years since we left secondary school, but I feel like this needs some sort of steward’s inquiry.

As the night wore on, I became more and more convinced that everyone looked at least 15 years older than me. When I posted as much on Twitter, some said that perhaps I had gone to the wrong reunion. That would indeed explain matters, but I think the booze might have had more to do with it.

Anyway, the headache soon wore off and MayFest was a lovely event that is set to become a fixture in Hornsea’s annual events calendar.

Over in Withernsea, it’s great news that Greene King – already a supporter of community events and organisations in the area – has been suitably impressed by the vision of those behind the Blue Light Weekend that it is to commit to a major sponsorship deal – one, it is hoped, will last at least five years.

I think the story here is less about drink sales during the event in August than a major national company coming to look at Withernsea and believing it has real potential, when too many times we hear people saying the town is constantly overlooked.

Its sales manager was taken aback by how expansive the prom is, and how big the Blue Light Weekend is set to be.

Let’s hope he’s the first of many to come to this realisation.