Charlie Jeffery’s Guide To Hull

Dear students,

It is the start of another exciting year at the University of York, and I know a lot of you are excited to get back to the more normal university life that, statistically, you have probably not experienced more than two terms of before. We are grateful for your continued support and lack of a coordinated campaign for tuition fee refunds throughout last year, and we cannot wait to have you back.

Like any university we are still facing some challenges as a result of the last 18 months, however, we have kept up our tradition of dealing with these in uniquely batshit-weird ways. To the students currently settling into their new homes in Hull, I say that I know this is not the start of the year that many of you may have signed up for, unless you are looking at this from a contractual standpoint, in which case we insist this is the start of the year that you signed up for.

However, living in Hull is still a fantastic experience, so fantastic that we have generously given back to you 10% of your rent so that you have more income to spend at the many attractions and amusements in Hull. I have personally spent a lot of time in Hull, me and my family make trips to Hull every weekend to enjoy the culture and people there. I wanted to take this opportunity to share my own favorite places in Hull, to show you why you should be grateful we have let you live in such a wonderful city.

If I had to pick a favorite place, it would be The Deep. The Deep is a public aquarium situated at Sammy’s Point, at the confluence of the River Hull and the Humber Estuary in Hull, England. It opened in March 2002. Billed as “the world’s only submarium”,[4] the exhibits contain thousands of sea creatures (including seven species of shark), 2,500,000 litres (550,000 imp gal; 660,000 US gal) of water and 87 tonnes (96 short tons; 86 long tons) of salt housed in a building designed by Sir Terry Farrell and built as part of the UK National Lottery’s Millennium Commission project.

Me and my family have also spent many happy days on The Humber Bridge, near Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, is a 2.22 km (2,430 yd; 7,300 ft; 1.38 mi) single-span road suspension bridge, which opened to traffic on 24 June 1981. When it opened, the bridge was the longest of its type in the world; it was not surpassed until 1998, with the completion of the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge, and is now the eleventh-longest. It is still the second-longest span in the Western Hemisphere.

And finally, what trip to Hull would be complete without seeing the Hull Minister, where you can see all of the Hull St John students enjoying their hard-earned graduations. You never see the University of Hull students complaining about that, do you?

And that concludes my guide to Hull. I look forward to once again seeing you all, in my newspaper, complaining about one scandal or another like the ungrateful children that you are.

Best wishes

Charlie.

As told to Daniel Bennett