Preparing for the New Year big bang
- kerryevans1
- Dec 31, 2016
- 3 min read
So Xmas 2016 has been and gone. I had to rehome the family Dalmatian for 10 years Pebbles a while back. She had found a great new home with a couple in Sleaford. Sadly Pebbles had to be laid to rest over Christmas. I will watch the fireworks on 1st January from the Lincolnshire side of the Humber bridge near the spot I would regularly walk with girl.
Finding out there are no fireworks on New Year’s Eve I have decided to cancel my room at the Inkerman Tavern and spent it on the East Yorkshire side at The Brewer's Fayre instead. A week after my last visit to Hull I wander the streets of Hull City centre looking for clues as to where I can stand to see the fireworks if I don’t, like most people, have a ticket for the events at the marina.
We park near to where the gym of Luke Campbell, the Olympic Boxers, is and see the church there transformed. Gone are the old graves and ancient slanting wall. Now there is an open paved area, great for events, across from William Wilberforce’s old school. His statue is now on a small pedestal and still has the distinctive orange fencing around it which has been ever present in Hull over the past year. Craters appeared all over the city as streets and drains and electrics and businesses were all ripped up ready for 2017 events. As I walk up past M&S most of the fencing has gone now wooden benches are hastily being set into concrete. Some of them seem to dip a bit. I wonder is that intentional to give the effect of a wave? Workers in helmets and yellow jackets rush around frantically trying to finish things off.
I get to near the Ferens Art gallery shut for refurbishment. Near the Maritime Museum there are more men in blue waistcoats and helmets setting up globes which are part of the visual instillations which we will be able to enjoy on 1st January. I sit on one of the wooden benches still dusty with setting cement and watch the imported trees have lighting fixed near their bases. I start to get quite excited.
As I walk up Jamieson Street I admire the ship mural on the old frontage of BHS. In front of it there is some of that orange fencing again, surrounding rubble. There's still a bit of work to be done here. I ask an assistant in Greggs if they know where you can go to see the fireworks. They suggest I consult the Hull Daily Mail. I rush home to do this. It’s 29th December. Only three days to go now.
Only 25,000 with tickets in 4 designated zones handed out back in November will get to see the fireworks and hear the accompanying music to full effect. If you can’t get near the Marina area they suggest you look on Facebook as they will be filming live.
The Daily Mail do suggest Victoria Dock where side streets lead to the River Humber. But beware the parking restrictions. Hessle Foreshore which I often frequent for an ice cream in a car park overlooking the Humber is another good spot. Near The Country Inn which is under the bridge down Cliff Street. They are having a New Year’s eve bash too. If you fancy New Years Day in Belgium you could catch a P&O ferry and catch the fireworks which go off at 8.15pm on board the ship before it sets sail. Or be sneaky and book a table at a nearby restaurant such as Ask on Prince’s Dock Street. For that matter you could sit on the benches that connect the shopping centre and dry land and look up into the night sky. Alternatively do a bit of shopping at Kingston Retail Park and have a cup of coffee outside Costas. They even suggest The Honeypot Café at the Water’s Edge Visitor’s Centre on my side of the bridge where there are hot dogs and the like to ease the passage of time till the big bang. There are lots of viewing points around there though. You don’t have to go to commercialised spots.
Where will I be? Well my autistic son could not have coped with a wait to show a ticket even if we had one. Apparently portable chairs are not allowed in and I can’t stand for long periods. But the opening event for Hull 2017, Made in Hull, will kick off at 4pm on New Years Day and I would be there if only I could. But the bridge is being closed down to stop too many people swelling the sidings of the actual bridge and it collapsing. Now that would bring 2017 in with a bang.
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