NEWS | Hull’s communities set to benefit from maritime community grant scheme

The third round of Hull Maritime Community Grant Scheme launched in January received a record number of applications from community groups and residents from the city and surrounding areas.

Ten grants of £1,000 have been awarded to projects that draw links between our maritime past, present and future.

The latest round has awarded 10 grants and include:

• Hull Community Theatre to create a theatre piece, Time and Tide: Songs and Sketches from Holderness, Hull and the Humber. The project will involve community research and reminiscence sessions and the development of these ideas into a production celebrating lesser-known maritime stories and songs from the region.
• Elloughton-cum-Brough Playing Field Association for a community archaeology project which volunteers can get involved with. The project will expand on historic research around the important role Roman Brough (Petuaria Parisiorum) played in the region's maritime history.
• Groundwork Hull to work with residents and workers past and present from the Hedon Road Docks area, collecting stories and images which will be used to design and create information boards for a pocket park on a section of the Holderness Drain.
• BAMEEN for a project working with community members from Sub-Saharan Africa to produce new fish-based recipes related to their heritage, telling the stories of Hull's migrants through cooking and culture. The project will also aim to use locally-sourced seafood and will open up discussions about the food we eat and where it comes from.
• Hull Fostering Community Hub for a series of maritime themed creative activities, open to looked after children and their carers in Hull and the wider region.
• Yorkshire Waterways Heritage Society to run drop-in Heritage Workshops at Goole Museum exploring the history of Yorkshire’s waterways, open to all throughout the spring and summer.
• Dance in Company to deliver seated dance sessions for a range of community groups around Hull, providing inclusive and accessible movement sessions celebrating Hull's heritage with maritime music and reminiscent favourites.
• Pocklington and District Local History Group to research Pocklington's connection with the sea. This maritime research project will investigate the Pocklington Steamship Company set up by Charles Steels, research the connection of the town to H.M.S. Volage and spotlight the stories of historical nautical people from Pocklington and the surrounding area.
• Rewilding Youth to run maritime themed workshops for children and young people exploring the history of knots and their use on ships, sea monsters and their origins and maritime music.
• Hedon Viewfinders will explore the maritime stories of Paull, gathering community stories and photographs about the shrimp fishing industry, boat building, lighthouses and maritime safety.

Councillor Mike Ross, Leader of Hull City Council, said: “This round of the Hull Maritime Community Grant Scheme has had an excellent response, with a range of creative projects led by our residents covering a vast range of themes including storytelling, dance, photography, theatre and exciting events.

“The selected projects will connect our communities with our maritime past, present and future, support skill development and improve wellbeing, as well as helping people to learn more about our maritime city.”

Dance in Company, one of our successful grantees for 2024, said: “We are delighted to have received support from the Hull Maritime Community Grant Scheme to deliver seated dance sessions in a range of community groups over the summer. The project will promote our ethos around the city, that dance is for EVERYBODY, by providing inclusive and accessible movement sessions in minority communities, while also celebrating Hull's maritime heritage in a creative and welcoming space. The sessions are based around maritime music with follow along movements, percussion instruments and props!”

Another successful grantee, Hull Community Theatre, said: “We are delighted to have received the Maritime Community Grant. The funding will allow us to work with other organisations to collect memories from local people about our maritime heritage that we hope to incorporate in our production, and it will enable us to share little known maritime stories and songs in communities across Hull and Holderness.”