Warsaw looked like it was on the receiving end of Little Boy and Fat Man after the Wehrmacht and Red Army were finished with it. It looks incredible now. Simply put, no post-war administration in the UK gave enough funding to local councils in cities like Hull and Coventry after the war. Coupled with the decimation of our fishing industry, there's no surprise Hull has been in the situation it has been for the past 70 years. Trying not to be political but our city, like many others, were left behind to rot.
Just watching Last Heroes of the Somme on C4, included a feature on 2 Hull Pals killed on this day in 1916 at Serre, and interviewed Hull relatives, RIP.
If only Labour had been allowed to govern our city...oops sorry forgot...they've had a virtual monopoly here for decades, plus Prescott as Dep PM etc This is not the thread for politics, but most other northern Labour cities have been regenerated, had the infrastructure whereas we haven't. Have they taken our support for granted?
I didn't get into town until 1pm today but it was pretty busy with lots of ex servicemen which is good to see. A lot of the food outlets and public houses where quite well populated which was also good to see on a Sunday.
I believe the Gerald Dennis on this video is my old Riley High maths teacher from the 50's known affectionately by pupils at the Boulevard school as GVD (V was Vernon?). He was the coach of the early football and cricket teams I played for at the school. He was also one of the teachers that took me and a party of other students on a 2 week school trip to Germany in 1954. I only found out a couple of years ago that he had served in and was a very passionate veteran of WW1, writing articles about his EY Regimental history. Ps Love his anecdote about instructions to people wearing kilts including " don't go upstairs in buses!" RIP GVD.
I always make the effort to get to Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday. Good turnout (as usual). I was stood on the small wall outside Royal Station Hotel when I took this.... please log in to view this image
Apart from the act of vandalism involved in standing on a wall, what about the health and safety implication if you had fallen off? It could have been worse than standing up in the West Upper. Good photograph. Nice to see so many younger people there.
I always make sure there is a fat woman in front of me in case I fall. What was particularly heart-rending, was a small boy, around 6 or 7 ish, with a chest full of medals, almost as wide as his body. His mum was in bits bawling her eyes out, but he stood proudly as the march went past. Don't know the story but can only presume his Dad was lost in Afghanistan......
I can imagine the sight, heart-rending indeed; what makes it even more so is when you watch a programme like todays Victoria Derbyshire show where severely wounded veterans, and the widows of veterans are relating stories of resorting to food banks when pension payments are held up and when injured heroes are told to seek help from charities to get replacement, specialised prosthetics - I don't normally like ''special cases'' BUT, these guys were badly maimed, or killed, in the service of their country, they, or their widows, deserve better treatment than what's being doled out today.
Today is exactly 100 years since the end of the Battle of the Somme. Over one million dead - British, French and German Result of battle - inconclusive... Lest we forget.
