Cycling Cultures: Hull

Research fieldwork in Hull is now complete.
See the website for updates on current fieldwork.

Bob’s Bikes is a friendly bike shop in Hull and owner Stu, also a Sustrans officer, has been organising some fantastic bike rides for charity. This year an adventurous group managed to cycle the Transpennine Trail both ways – a total of 430miles. Congratulations to Stu and the many volunteers who made it possible. They raised £3000 for charity. More about the 2010 ride here.

Stu has just announced details for the 2011 event:

Hi all!
The time has come to launch my charity ride for next year. It will take place on the weekend of the 26th August and will finish 450 miles later on Monday 8th september!

We will be departing Tobermory on the Island of Mull, West Scotland on Sunday 28th August and travel through Glasgow, Kilmarnock, Dumfries, Gretna, Carlilse, Penrith, Bowness on Windermere, Skipton, Harrogate, York,Sselby and finishing in Hull in East Yorkshire on Monday 8th September.

The route is road biased this year, to accomodate for more riders and a gentle ride. But it is routed so we can have challenges through the mountains.

This is not a race! This will be marshalled and supported. I am in talks with hotels and production companies as we speak, so I can post more info when things are signed and sealed.

The monies raised will go to a charity of your choice.

There will be costs involved, but I am begging and pleading for freebies to make it as cheap as possible for all. Any interested peeps, give me a shout!

This year we completed the Transpennine trail both ways! 430 miles mainly off road, so this should be a doddle! LOL

I had heard about the local “Rag and Bone man” from several interviewees in Hull. They mentioned him when I asked what happened to their old bikes. While many people pass them to friends or family, others send them off for recycling and the way this happens in Hull is via this particular and unique method.

Rag and Bone men (and they were mostly men) are a century old fixture in Britain. They would travel by horse and cart through neighbourhoods collecting rags and bones. They practised the first entrepreneurial form of recycling and are interesting barometers of the shifts in what is viewed valuable/ waste in a society. From rags and bones, they moved into gathering metal, furniture and anything else people were happy to part with.

From wikipedia:

Rag and bone man is a British phrase for a junk dealer. Historically the phrase referred to an individual who would travel the streets of a city with a horsedrawn cart, and would collect old rags (for converting into fabric and paper), bones for making glue, scrap iron and other items, often trading them for other items of limited value.

I serendipitously met a Rag and Bone man on one of his neighbourhood tours during my last trip to Hull. I heard the sound of horses hooves on the road surface and a strange guttural call that sounded nothing like “Rag and bone” and more like “RaaaaaaaBooooooooonnnnne”.

They would use a distinctive call to alert householders to their presence, and/or ring a hand bell. The call was something similar to “rag-and-bone”, delivered in a sing-song fashion. Long usage tended to simplify the words, for instance down to “any raa-boh”, even to the point of incomprehensibility, although the locals could easily identify who was making the call. This was satirised by the comedian Marty Feldman in his “Ay-oh frye” sketch, where he played a rag-and-bone man who, when asked, had no idea what his call meant.

I ran along the quiet suburban street off Spring Bank West towards a brightly painted red and yellow wooden cart, complete with painted wheel hubs. It had no sides or seat for the driver; only the wooden back of the wagon and the slow speed of the vehicle prevented things from falling from the platform. The driver perched on the front of the platform. It did not take long for me to catch him up and stop him for a quick chat. The deliberate meandering speed of the horse and cart gives ample time for people to hear the call and accomplish exactly what I had done. The man said that he much prefers this method of transport in comparison to a van for this reason.

The back of the wagon was covered with an assortment of items. There was a child’s bike, parts of a car exhaust system, some steel gates, the inside of an old gas heater and other things I could not easily identify. The man said his family had been in the trade for as long as anyone could remember and that he knew many of the other Rag and Bone men operating in the city.

Bike Portrait #18 – Gary, Terry & Peter

Bike Portrait #19 – Margaret & Ron

Simon Green of Hull has very kindly and expertly compiled a fascinating list of dialect words used in Hull and given permission for us to use it within our research and publish it on the blog. This document arose in response to an interesting conversation we had a few weeks ago. Rachel and I were stumbling over a number of curious local terms such as tenfoot (back alleyway) and more familiar words that had alternative meanings in Hull such as fussy (to be pleased. eg: ‘she was really fussy about your present’).

I am heading back up to Hull next week. I’ll be interviewing more cyclists, spending time with the Critical Response Unit officers (that would be ambulance workers or ambo’s to you and I) who get around town by bicycle, re-visiting the Hull History Centre and taking a few more Bike Portraits. I’m looking forward to it.

I received this press release from the Humberside Police:

Multi-Agency Approach Attempting to make Cycle Theft a Thing of the Past

A NEW multi-agency strategy to tackle the problem of cycle thefts in Hull is being launched by Humberside Police and its partners.

In a joint initiative with Hull City Council, Citysafe, Hull BID and other partner agencies, the strategy will be unveiled at the ‘One Hull Market Place’ Event on Thursday 22 July 2010.

Whilst the agencies in Hull want to encourage more people to use pedal cycles to get to work and for leisure purposes in the city, it is important balance this against the fact that each year more than 8,000 cycles are stolen.

The strategy was developed by the multi-agency Cycle Theft Strategy Group established by Humberside Police in Hull. The aim of the strategy is to set out ways the partner agencies can minimise the theft of cycles and subsequently reduce crime in general in the city. It utilises the expertise and resources of a wide range of partners and is delivered through three main strands:

· Education and Prevention
· Intelligence
· Enforcement

The education strand refers to the things that can be done by the public to protect their cycles through simple crime prevention techniques. These include: how a cycle is locked, what locks should be used and where the bike is left locked.

In order to present this information the Neighbourhood Policing Teams (NPTs) and partner agencies across Hull will be holding regular cycle marking events. Multi-agency staff will be available to discuss how the public can protect their cycles from would be thieves.

At these events members of the public will be offered the opportunity to have their cycles marked with postcodes free of charge and in addition have their cycles registered on www.immobilise.com. The details of the cycle marking and registration will be given to participants on a re-designed cycle passport.

By marking the cycle and registering it on-line police will be able to identify a recovered stolen cycle more effectively. This will ensure it can be returned to its owner and assist in the prosecution of those responsible for thefts or handling stolen goods.

Signage to direct members of the public to Hull City Centre Cycle Storage areas has also been improved, directing members of the public to the safest places to store their cycles. In addition the other existing cycle racks where bikes can be locked are being reviewed and analysed to make them more secure for cyclists to use.

Advice has also been added to the Humberside Police website in the Crime Reduction section and on the Citysafe website. Furthermore local multi-agency publications are being used to provide further details on protecting cycles from thieves.

Colouring competitions and leaflets are also being used to develop a greater awareness of cycle security.

The next strand of the strategy – intelligence – focuses on how the public can assist authorities bring those people to justice for stealing cycles.

This involves liaising with the public, businesses and the media to ensure that anyone who has information about cycle thieves contacts the authorities so perpetrators can be caught

To assist in this process the local partners will be distributing Crimestoppers ‘Bag a bike thief’ leaflets in targeted areas to identify offenders and urging members of the public to call either Humberside Police on 0845 60 60 222 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

The final strand of the strategy – enforcement – focuses on arresting those involved in the theft or trade of stolen cycles.

Police will take all measures possible to target those linked with the crime by utilising local community intelligence and the resources of Hull Police.

Cycle thieves will be dealt with by the Criminal Justice System and where appropriate officers will apply for Crime Related Anti Social Behaviour Orders which will allow police to impose prohibitions reducing the chance of further offending.

Inspector Bill Grieves, who headed up the Cycle Theft Strategy Group said: “In the inter-war years Hull was described as the UK’s Cycling City. I would like to see this in the future as it would result in a better environment and a healthier populous.

“I feel that in order to achieve this people must feel they can use their cycles with out fear of them being taken by thieves and as a result of this strategy I hope we can go some way to achieving this. It is important that the public assist us in this goal by protecting their cycles by utilising crime prevention advice, but also by informing authorities about cycle thieves living in their communities who think nothing of taking other peoples property. Together with our partners and help from the public we can make Hull a true cycle city again and a great place to live, work and visit.”

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The launch will take place at the Citysafe Trailer on Queen Victoria Square at 1000hrs. Inspector Bill Grieves, Allan Davidson (Hull City Council Sustainable Travel Officer) and Phil Overfield (Hull BID) will be available for pictures and interview. In addition seven of the specially trained Police cyclists will be in attendance.

The One Hull Market Place event will include some of the organisations working together from across the public, private, voluntary and community sectors tackling key issues around crime, health, jobs and learning. There will be stalls in the Hull City Hall and in Queen Victoria Square. On the day, local people will be able to get:

- Support to quit smoking or in making healthier lifestyle choices;
- Support on diabetes and breast screening
- Sign up for potential work placements and careers and skills advice
- Receive information on summer time sport and leisure activities for young people
- Receive advice from family support services and on good parenting
- Receive crime prevention support and how to tackle anti-social behaviour; and
- Receive fire safety advice.

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Cycle Crime Prevention advice

Basic security rules

Do not leave cycles in isolated places.
- Make sure you secure your bikes to proper cycle stands or robust street furniture (do observe any requests not to use certain items of street furniture and be sure not to cause any damage).

Always lock your cycle up when leaving it unattended – even if it is only for a few minutes
- Lock cycles through the frame, and secure or remove wheels. Also remove smaller parts and accessories that can’t be secured, especially lights, pumps and quick release saddles
- Purchase a quality lock
- Lock strength can vary enormously and you generally get what you pay for. Essentially any lock can be broken, but having a lock will definitely deter opportunistic thieves and using more than one type of lock will make stealing your bike even harder.
- Sold Secure (a non-profit making company which assesses security products) have developed a security grading system which is used by many insurance companies. Gold rated locking devices give you maximum security but may be too heavy or expensive for the average user. The Silver and Bronze levels may be lighter and cheaper but should still deter the thief. When purchasing a lock for your cycle you need to think about how much your cycle is worth, where you will be leaving it, and how often and for how long it will be left unattended. For a range of locks assessed by Sold Secure see www.soldsecure.com
- A large number of bike thefts take place from the owners property, so please make sure your sheds and garages are well secured and never leave your bike unattended outside your home.

Register your cycle
- Keeping a record of your cycle frame number could help the police identify and return your bike back to you if it is stolen. You can register your cycle frame number on the Immobilise website

Insurance for your cycle
- We recommend that you take out insurance for your cycle. You may be able to add your cycle to your home contents insurance, but you must ensure that you will be covered for a theft which occurs away from your home. If your cycle is particularly valuable you need to get separate insurance.