17th October 2024
Following the success of the Hull Maritime guided walks, free guided tours at the city’s museums and art gallery, led by 17 dedicated white badge tour guides are set to get underway.
Starting Thursday 7 November 2024, visitors can explore the rich collections and history of the city’s cultural treasures every Thursday at 2.30pm and Sunday at 11.30am.
Councillor Rob Pritchard, Portfolio Holder for Culture and Leisure, said, “The maritime guided walks have been a huge success and are shortlisted for a REYTA award for best visitor experience.
“Now, our dedicated volunteers are excited to expand the offering with a range of walks that will allow visitors to learn more about the treasures housed in our wonderful museums and art gallery.”
Each tour will visit either Wilberforce House, Hull and East Riding Museum, Streetlife Museum or Ferens Art Gallery.
Olwen Evans-Knibb, White badge tour guide, said: “I always enjoy doing the Hull Maritime walking tours – it’s really good to meet people and show them part of Hull whether they are local people or visitors. It feels really good when they say “I’ve lived here all my life and I didn’t know that was there” or “I didn’t realise Hull is so interesting – I didn’t know it was as good as this!”.
“I’m really looking forward to doing tours of the Hull and East Riding Museum over the winter. It’s my favourite museum in Hull and I’m sure it will be fascinating to talk with the visitors about the history of the area, and maybe to learn something about their area. I hope I can help people discover something they didn’t know before, and to find a deeper appreciation of some of the galleries.”
Don Knibb also said: “There's always something new and interesting to do when you get into volunteering. From 2016 on I volunteered for Hull's spell as UK City of Culture, and since then I've worked on the Freedom Festival several times and as a welcomer at the Minster. The role of Maritime Tour Guide was an exciting one to contemplate, and a very satisfying one to achieve. I learnt so much about the city and how to present it to visitors.
The Hull Maritime walks will conclude for the season on Sunday 3 November, and will resume on 15 February 2025. Meanwhile, preparations are underway for guided tours around the Arctic Corsair at her new home in the North End Shipyard, set to begin in 2025.
To learn more about the guided walks or to reserve a place, please visit here. Walk-ins are welcome.
