Looking back at 2025...

Here’s a look back at some of our favourite moments…

• 30,000+ people directly engaged with Colliderfest daytime activities over the weekend festival.
• 578 people attended performances of 'When Cannons Were Roaring: The Story of Hull’s South Blockhouse'
• 116 people attended engagement events including creative workshops and talks to accompany the Ravenser Odd touring exhibition.
• 2,221+ people spoke to the Hull Maritime team at large outreach events across the city including the summer parks playdays, Big Malarkey and Pride in Hull.
• 731 people visited the ‘Cannon, Crown and Clover’ exhibition, showcasing community groups and secondary school students artworks. 

Colliderfest

A highlight of 2025 has got to be Colliderfest (Hull’s science and arts festival) in March. Organised by University of Hull, Hull City Council and Hull Maritime in partnership with Hull Culture and Leisure, this year's festival exceeded all expectations. Thousands of people enjoyed captivating performances, engaging workshops, thought-provoking discussions led by industry professionals and world-renowned scientists and mesmerising nighttime light and sound installations turning the city centre into a vibrant, nocturnal playground. Highlights included performances by award-winning presenter Maddie Moate and inspirational speaker Matthew Tosh.

ESOL visits

We continued working with the Hull Training and Adult Education team in 2025, organising tours of Hull Museums and Gallery (with a Maritime focus, of course!) for their ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) learners. Two tours took place in early 2025, engaging 18 adult learners plus 3 tutors. The tours introduced learners to Hull Museums and Gallery and showed that they are welcoming and accessible free spaces for everyone to enjoy. 

North End Shipyard wildlife project

In Spring 2025 Hull Maritime worked with residents to celebrate the rich biodiversity along the River Hull through creating artworks of wildlife to go on display at the new North End Shipyard. Information boards will highlight the wildlife that can be spotted along the River Hull, showing some of the species that might be seen by visitors to the new North End Shipyard, where the Arctic Corsair will be berthed. To bring this vision to life, Hull Maritime worked with 25 local residents from Ings and Derringham to talk about wildlife and the environment and collaboratively create artworks of the chosen creatures, some of which will go on the boards. 

Theatrical performances 

Hull Maritime and The Northern Academy of Performing Arts (NAPA) joined forces to bring the fascinating history of the South Blockhouse to life through a series of immersive theatre performances, called “When Cannons Were Roaring: The Story of Hull’s South Blockhouse”.

The project which weaved drama, music and dance together into a compelling narrative exploring key moments in the history of the South Blockhouse, featured performances from NAPA’s diverse groups, including the VIPs (Visually Impaired Performers), the over-55s group, and other students from the academy.

19 actors from NAPA took part in the project with 578 people attending performances at Hull Minster, Hymers College, NAPA and Victoria Dock Village Hall. 

Ravenser Odd exhibition 

Following on from the original Ravenser Odd exhibition at Hull History Centre in 2024 (a partnership project between Hull Maritime, Hull History Centre, Professor Emily Robinson from the University of Sussex, Dr Kathryn Maude from The National Archives and Square Peg Hull) a smaller touring exhibition has been developed. The touring exhibition, Ravenser Odd: The sunken island of the Humber, has toured around the Humber from Spurn Point and Withernsea in the East Riding of Yorkshire to Cleethorpes and Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire.  

Travelling across the Humber in 2025, the exhibition went on display at Cleethorpes Library in March, returning in June - August, back by popular demand! A series of engagement events took place alongside the exhibition, including creative workshops with Square Peg Hull, talks by Professor Emily Robinson and ‘Tales of the Tides’ interactive workshops. From Cleethorpes, the exhibition went on to Grimsby Minster from October – November 2025. 

 Maritime Tales comics

2025 saw two new volumes of Gareth Sleightholme’s Maritime Tales comics released.  

The fourth volume, A Tale of Three Things: A Medieval Wall, A Tudor Castle, and a 17th C. Citadel continued the adventures of Lily and Jacob, the dynamic duo who have captivated readers with their explorations of Hull’s rich maritime history and folklore. In this new comic, Jacob and Lily embark on a historical journey through Hull’s Old Town, accompanied by Lily’s grandfather. As they walk through the streets, they uncover fascinating stories behind the city’s fortifications, including the medieval city walls and the South Blockhouse, located on the East bank of the River Hull.

The fifth volume is titled Removing the (G)rime of These Ancient Mariners. In this latest adventure, Lily and Jacob embark on a special behind-the-scenes visit to Hull’s Maritime Museum. As curators, volunteers, interpretation designers and other specialists prepare objects for future displays, Lily and Jacob offer a unique glimpse into the museum’s transformation.

Outreach at events

The Hull Maritime team have been out and about at various large events around the city, talking to people about the project. From summer playdays in Hull’s parks to the Big Malarkey and Pride, we've been engaging people with our city's maritime story using object handling, crafts and the power of a good old chat! In 2025 we spoke to 2,221+ people at these events.

South Blockhouse creative taster workshops

Community groups were offered a unique opportunity to discover the hidden history of the South Blockhouse through a series of creative workshops led by Square Peg Hull. Using a variety of artforms and experimental media, over 80 participants from Sight Support, Special Stars Foundation, Matthew’s Hub, Brainkind and the Got Something to Say disabled artists group had the chance to explore this important piece of Hull’s past.

‘Cannon, Crown and Clover’ exhibition

'Cannon, Crown and Clover' marked the culmination of a years worth of creative works produced as part of Hull Maritime's expanding engagement work around the South Blockhouse. 

A wide range of people across different secondary school and community projects took part and were given the opportunity to develop invaluable new skills whilst creating innovative and thought provoking works of art creatively exploring this significant yet often overlooked aspect of Hull’s maritime heritage. The exhibition was a vibrant showcase of these projects and was on display at the Pier Street exhibition space for two weeks in August 2025. 

731 people visited ‘Cannon, Crown and Clover’ during this time saying that the exhibition was “joyous” and “really creative [and] colourful. Great to see the work from local people in the community.”

Take a look at the full gallery here.

Outreach with Ings residents’ group

An environment and wildlife themed project with residents from Ings (and the surrounding area) has continued since the end of the original project in 2024. Hull Maritime and the Ings Neighbourhood Coordinator have worked together to organise quarterly workshops at Ings Library including making Sea Grass seed bags with the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, exploring Hull Maritime's handling collections, creating artworks of wildlife which may be found along the River Hull, and an exploratory watercolours workshop with local artist Lauren Saunders. 

Thanks for all your support and involvement. Planning for 2026 is well underway!