Helen Amess has been working with the team at 成人论坛 Look North and 成人论坛 Radio Humberside to launch an outreach project to celebrate a housing estate on the outskirts of Hull as it celebrates its 50th birthday.
‘Every single person was unfailing in their pride about living on Bransholme’
It’s a story which has been repeated in so many of the UK’s cities - World War II left a large swathe of Hull’s centre destroyed by bombing and the condition of the remaining housing meant much of it was uninhabitable.
So it was decided to create a new estate on the edge of city where there would be modern housing and a better quality of life for the people who lived there. And that’s how the Bransholme estate, on the northern outskirts of Hull, was built in 1967.
Now Bransholme has reached its 50th birthday; it’s fair to say the estate’s had its fair share of issues over the years – many people were initially homesick for the inner-city communities they left behind and the quality of the first phase of housing didn’t meet everyone’s expectations. But as the years have passed, the estate has flourished.
It was a Thursday morning when I made my first visit a few months ago, yet the North Point shopping centre (in the middle of the estate) was busy and its cafés were full. Outside, vehicles jostled for a place in the centre’s expanse of car park.
and plan to celebrate Bransholme’s golden anniversary with the people who live there and because it coincides with Hull being the UK’s City of Culture, there is even more of a focus on the estate and the people who live there.
In partnership with 成人论坛 Outreach, they have commissioned Bransholme at 50, a film which will feature somebody from the estate who has a link with each of the 50 years since 1967 – it could be the year they were born or the year they arrived to live in Bransholme; for others it will be the year they opened a business on the estate or the year they started one of the local schools.
It was a pleasure to join the local 成人论坛 team as they spent the day in Bransholme with the 成人论坛 Radio Humberside bus which is out on the road every day throughout 2017 to mark the City of Culture – Radio Humberside’s Phil White presents his show each weekday from the bus. Our aim was to find more people who have a story to tell about living on the Bransholme estate.
It was a cold, grey and slightly damp January day when the bus pulled into North Point’s car park and I remember feeling slightly concerned that everyone would be making a mad dash between their heated cars and the warm shopping centre and no-one would have the inclination to spend anytime chatting to us on the bus.
But I was wrong!
A steady stream of people came to speak to us, each with their own tale of what Bransholme means to them. We heard the story of a local minister who came from Sierra Leone to study in Hull and loved it so much that he stayed and opened a church on the estate.
We met some primary school children from one of Bransholme’s primary schools who had always lived in the area and were full of dreams and aspirations for their future. And every single person we spoke to was unfailing in their pride about living in Bransholme and none of them had any desire to ever live anywhere else.
At the end of the day I left the estate and travelled back to Hull city centre with my mind buzzing with memories of all the people I had just met. If the people I met on the bus offered just a taste of the people who feature in the film, then Bransholme at 50 will be a fascinating way to celebrate the estate’s 50th birthday.
成人论坛 Outreach & Corporate Responsibility brings the 成人论坛 closer to its audiences - particularly those audiences we have identified as harder to reach - with face-to-face activity, community support and staff volunteering.