00:00Well, it's my own idea to map the story, the history and heritage of the Humber hovercraft.
00:07So I was born in 1981, the year the Humber Bridge opened.
00:11So I've always had this like deep interest in the Humber and how to get across it.
00:18And just growing up, having that interest in the Humber and what makes the place and
00:23its people, I'd never heard about this Humber hovercraft until I think I discovered it on
00:27social media and it just got me so interested because it's such a different, weird and futuristic
00:34idea that I just wanted to know more about it.
00:36So yeah, I set up this summer to explore this hidden history and heritage.
00:42And for those who haven't heard about it, what is it?
00:45So the Humber hovercraft was a way that people travelled in between Grimsby and Hull.
00:52It was an idea that was born in the 1950s but became a reality in 1969.
00:57So it was an amazing kind of high speed hovercraft that left Grimsby docks, travelled across
01:06the choppy brown waters of the River Humber and arriving into Hull city centre.
01:11So travelled at 35 knots, which is about 30 miles an hour, I think.
01:17And the journey took about 30 minutes.
01:18So one of the things I think is really, really exciting about this idea is that the journey
01:2450 years ago was like half the time it is now.
01:29And it just got me thinking, you know, a lot of the economy of places is based around how
01:35they're connected.
01:36And it just seems mad to me that, you know, we're in the era of levelling up, but a journey
01:41can take twice as long.
01:43And then you think actually, people complain there's, you know, there's not enough businesses,
01:48there's not enough jobs in places like Hull and Grimsby.
01:51Well, if you can't get between them, well, that's no surprise.
01:53So I just, I really wanted to explore like this idea of like connectivity and what it
01:58means to the place.
02:00And do you feel like we should bring back the hovercraft?
02:03Yeah, definitely.
02:05So this, I think this heritage and history story is part one of my idea.
02:10I think part two, let's give it a go, people of Humberside.
02:13Let's bring back the Humber hovercraft.
02:16And tell me about what you are doing this summer.
02:19Yeah, so it's a participatory community storytelling project.
02:23So I'm running a series of workshops in Grimsby, doing sessions in Hull.
02:29So I'm working with two parts of the community really, older people who might remember the
02:34Humber hovercraft, but I'm also specifically working with younger people in Grimsby and
02:41North East Lincolnshire to discover like what kind of travel and transport they need.
02:45Because a lot of people, young people, you know, they can't afford to run a car and trains
02:49get dearer and dearer every year and also can take a long time.
02:53There's a lot of cancellations.
02:54So I kind of thought a really interesting aspect of the project will be using this like
03:00creativity and arts led participatory storytelling to find out like what young people in
03:07Grimsby and North East Lincolnshire want from their travel and whether this like madcap
03:13dream of the Humber hovercraft and bringing it back is a reality or not.
03:16And what is life like from the research you have done for people in Hull and Grimsby when
03:22it comes to actually being connected to places?
03:25Well, the project is just getting started, but I think the reality is that people love
03:29where they live, they're proud of where they are and they want to be part of the
03:34community. But I think just from these initial conversations, people get really
03:38frustrated when they feel like they're a bit stuck or at the end of the line.
03:42There's no, you know, there's no late trains, there's no late buses, it's slow,
03:48there's more and more traffic jams, more and more congestion.
03:50So I think people feel like there's an untapped potential and they love living in
03:57Hull and Grimsby and they're really proud of being from from that region.
04:01But also these places could be better, you know, and in the 1960s, people were really
04:07ambitious and they wanted to make it better.
04:09And actually, you know, why not bring that ambition back?
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