Our kid’s book reviewer Ally-mai dives into the world of mystery stories and emerges with her five favourites.

Grim doesn’t cover just how bad conditions were in Charity Hall, as our Dickensian template correspondent Angus Young reports.

In his book Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens starts his story with the young orphan of the title being raised in a workhouse in the fictional town of Mudfog. The children working there are poorly fed and eventually lots are drawn between them to find someone to ask for another portion of gruel. Oliver loses out in the draw, forcing him to approach the workhouse master and utter the famous words: “Please, sir, I want some more.” Dickens’ Mudfog was based on Chatham in Kent but his workhouse could have easily been inspired by one in Hull which was built in 1698 off Whitefriargate.

Constructed in a quadrangle, Charity Hall featured four-storey blocks with an open yard facing onto Whitefriargate. Today the HMV music store stands where that entrance used to be while another entrance onto Parliament Street was also later built on when a new police station was constructed in Alfred Gelder Street.

The surviving part of the old station still sticks out like a sore thumb between Parliament Street’s stylish Georgian town houses. The workhouse was originally the result of a parliamentary act incorporating two local parishes – Holy Trinity and St. Mary’s. The legislation gave them powers to provide a building to manage their own system of poor relief.

It’s probably worth noting that Dickens also used an alternative title for his novel – The Parish Boy’s Progress, reflecting the influence of the church in the operation of such workhouses at the time. Hull’s Charity Hall initially housed destitute children – usually orphans – who were fed and received a basic religious education as well as learning to read and write until the age of six. Those aged six and over were required to work. Later adults were also admitted and a report written in 1798 records 41 men, 84 women and 82 children living there.

Two rooms in the hall were equipped for spinning and this seems to have been the main work activity. All the inmates young and old were also required to attend regular Sunday church services and an additional Thursday afternoon service held in the main dining hall where a visiting clergyman from one Hull’s churches would preach.

Other rules in the workhouse were strict. Anyone caught swearing or “in liquor” was immediately shackled in a wooden pillory in the main yard for up to four hours. Other punishments for rule-breaking included reduced food rations, extra work and a requirement to wear coarse yellow coats or gowns to signify their status. 

Another rule stated: “The children shall not take God’s name in vain or use any profane language. Those who shall be guilty of such crimes shall stand on a stool in the dining hall with the crime written in large letters on a paper which shall be pinned on their breasts and they shall only have bread and water that day. Such as are convicted of lying shall stand in the like manner, with the words ‘Infamous Liar’ on their breasts.”

The gruel Oliver Twist lived on in the Mudfog workhouse was also on the menu in Hull. Porridge and bread was served daily for breakfast, rice milk was the dinner dish on three days a week and supper usually consisted of more porridge. Some dinners also featured herring, beef or ox stew.

A bell was sounded at 5am each morning during the summer to signal the start of the working day and rang again at 5pm when it ended. In the winter, the hours switched to 7am and 6pm. All lights – usually candles – had to be out by 9pm during the summer and 8pm in the winter. Entrance gates to the workhouse were locked at the same time. Charity Hall operated as a workhouse for an incredible 154 years until 1852 when it was replaced by a new building for 600 inmates in Anlaby Road.

Conditions in the hall were regularly criticised in its later years and a series of incidents hastened its eventual closure. One involved a heavily-pregnant woman seeking admission being brutally assaulted while waiting to be interviewed in an office at the workhouse. The other also featured a pregnant woman who was refused entry and then promptly gave birth on the workhouse steps.

Today, apart from the odd-looking disruption to the western terrace of Georgian town houses in Parliament Street, there’s no trace left of Hull’s first major workhouse.

Angus Young

Ever wondered what directing a play entails? Well wonder no more, as Paul Smith of Middle Child tells us all about it.

Lewis, the health and safety co-ordinator at the Freedom Centre Gym tells us his favourite exercises for getting you all fit.

There have been a few wild claims made recently, so we asked our mayoral responsibilities correspondent Angus Young to separate fact from fiction.

It’s fair to say that even as the dust settles after the first-ever Hull and East Yorkshire mayoral election, few of us actually know what the new mayor’s role entails. The same probably applies to the mayor himself. Ex-boxer Luke Campbell, who stood as the Reform UK candidate, admits he’s got absolutely no previous local government experience. So what can he do as leader of the region’s new combined authority?

Perhaps it’s best to start by listing some of the things he can’t do, despite comments to the contrary from some of his party colleagues over the last few days. For example, he can’t sack any diversity officers because there aren’t any employed at the combined authority. He also can’t demand that only a Union Jack be flown from the authority’s office because it doesn’t own the building it’s based in.

Forcing asylum seekers and migrants to live in tents isn’t an option either as it’s up to the Home Office to sort out their accommodation. Equally, he has no powers to change the way the two existing local councils deliver their day-to-day services. As such, he has no say over bin collections, adult social care, libraries or getting the fountains to work in Queen Victoria Square, even those they were used as a backdrop in one of his election campaign social media videos..

Instead, Mayor Campbell’s remit is to work alongside the region’s two council leaders with direct responsibility to lead on strategic issues such as housing development, planning, regeneration, transport and job creation. Even then, he can’t do it on his own.

Under the new authority’s governance arrangements, most of the key decisions will be made by an executive board which he will chair. The board will also include four councillors – two from each local council. They have already been confirmed as Hull’s Lib Dem leader Mike Ross and his deputy Jackie Dad and East Riding Conservative  leader Anne Handley and her deputy David Tucker.

For any decision to be approved there has to be a simple majority voting in favour of it and the rules require the mayor to be part of that majority. Hypothetically, he could propose something and get outvoted. In that scenario, whatever his proposal was, it wouldn’t see the light of day.

How it all works out remains to be seen. Not only is it a brand new public body grappling with the complexities of working in tandem with national government policies and different pots of devolved funding, it’s also the first time a Reform UK politician has held a leadership role locally. Hopefully, the checks and balances which are incorporated into the authority’s decision-making architecture will prevail. The clue is in its name – it’s a combined authority and combined working between the different politicians on the board is a prerequisite.

If you want to see this new form of mayoral democracy in action, the first board meeting is being held at the Guildhall in Hull on May 28 starting at 10am and it’s open to the public. You can also watch webcasts of each board meeting via the authority’s website.

Angus Young

Actor Rachel Dale doesn’t just pick any old building, she picks the biggest building in Yorkshire.

It was released 55 years ago this week and went on to be a cornerstone of rock music. But, as Nick Quantrill explains, it just didn’t go our way.

Burnsy returns to Artlink to talk to artist Emily Oetegenn about how it feels to be exhibited.

There’s a floater stuck in the river. What is it? Why is it? Who’s going to fix it? Our runaway watercraft correspondent Angus Young reports.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a sunken crane barge dredger stuck in the mud wedged the wrong way across the River Hull.

Having slipped its moorings from a shipyard further upriver last week, the unmanned vessel  drifted downstream going under North Bridge and Drypool Bridge before eventually ending up stuck near the former Trinity House Buoy Shed. Efforts to refloat her were due to get underway this week. It’s the responsibility of the barge’s owner – working with the harbourmaster, council and the Environment Agency – to sort the situation. Divers will be pumping the ship out soon.

The sad sight, though, of the 75-year-old barge marooned on the mudflats at low tide and almost totally submerged at high tide seems to sum up the current malaise hanging over the river and the city’s waterfront in general. Let’s recap…

The same mud has caused a delay in bringing the former Arctic Corsair trawler back to the river in a new dry dock berth. The city council has yet to secure a dredging licence after concerns were raised over the disposal of silt needed to be removed from the river to allow the ship to reach the North End Shipyard. As a result, last year’s intended opening of the new visitor attraction at the shipyard has been pushed back to an as yet unspecified date in the future.

Meanwhile, nearby Drypool Bridge is due to close to road traffic for six months shortly to allow engineers to repair corroding concrete support columns under the main bridge deck. Without the work being carried out, it’s likely a weight limit would be required to prevent heavy vehicles from using it because of safety concerns.

Work has also yet to start at Chapman Street Bridge on a long-awaited repair project. The bridge is closed to road traffic in 2020 and is only accessible to pedestrians and cyclists.

Major repairs are also due to be carried out on Scale Lane Bridge with several bearings expected to be replaced. No date for that work has yet been confirmed.

In addition, there’s still no sign of the promised scheme at the site of the old Scott Street Bridge to mark the fleeting appearance of a Banksy artwork there in early 2018. Meanwhile, the artwork itself – Draw The Raised Bridge – remains under lock and key in a secret council-owned location. Maybe it will finally be put on public display soon. It’s been seven years since it was painted.

Back on the riverside, the council recently announced the wooden West Bank boardwalk next to the Museums Quarter will remain closed to public access for another two years while contractors carry out a structural survey before deciding on its future. It’s only been four years since it closed due to safety concerns. Had it been open, the boardwalk would have provided the perfect place to view the sunken barge. As it is, the public footpath on the opposite East Bank comes to an abrupt halt next to the former Dock House hostel with access to the riverfront blocked by a locked metal gate.

The old hostel and the adjacent empty Buoy Shed form part of the proposed East Bank Urban Village development. At the moment though, both buildings and most of the surrounding land remain derelict.

Then there’s Victoria Pier, closed to the public since 2020 on safety grounds and awaiting a similar structural examination before the 200-year-old landmark discovers its fate.

If all this wasn’t enough, repairs are still being carried out further upriver near Wilmington Bridge following the collapse of a large section of piling last December.

You might think that being Yorkshire’s Maritime City, our civic leaders might be keen on showcasing the ancient watercourse which the city is named after. Then again, maybe not at the moment.

Angus Young

Another of the backroom jobs at Humber Street Gallery that you may not realise exist but are so important. As Matt explains.