'ull with an H

The final presentations are being made this week ahead of the announcement of the UK City of Culture for 2017.

The original list of candidates has been whittled down to four, Dundee in Scotland, Swansea Bay in Wales, Leicester and Hull in England.

Each and every one has its merits and worthy claims to the title and the bids have been hard fought and in the best spirit.

I admit to harbouring a special interest in the Yorkshire representative having lived in the East Riding for the past 34 years, therefore 64% of my life to date.

True, I admit, I have only lived in Hull itself since 5th September this year and so in the hierarchy of laying a claim to residency I am a bit like a refugee seeking asylum.

I nevertheless feel very much at ease and at home in the city and it has been a welcome return for my wife, Hull born and bred although as I continue to remind her, she comes from east of the river whereas we now live centrally but, importantly, just to the west of that wet divide. At one time and perhaps still in the perception of some good citizens that narrow muddy tidal watercourse is as much a physical barrier as the Wall was to the occupants of Berlin.

My own family moved to Beverley, some 9 miles north of Hull in 1979. The town is one of those picturesque ones found through Yorkshire, a market square, narrow lane like streets, a cathedral-like edifice, Marks and Spencers Simply Food and the Edinburgh Wool Shop dominating the high street.

It is as far detached from the character and identity of Hull as you could get. From just about every point in Beverley the big bad city, about 10 miles across and 5 miles deep gives an artificial glow to the southern night sky. Its worst excesses and follies have been tut-tutted at by the Beverley folk but there is actually a grudging admiration and pride for the place because Hull has proven to be a resilient and resurgent neighbour, the sort you would really like to live next to although you might not want to admit it in public.

All of the four shortlisted cities have had a momentous past but a rather uncertain and shaky time in the last few decades. There are high hopes and expectations for the multitude of benefits in being successful in the process. Most hope for a renaissance, a kick start and an arrest to decline and dereliction.

There are valid claims to fame from all of the candidates be it on behalf of notable sons and daughters, world beating commercial products, architectural wonders and attractions for visitors.

I can only speak for my eight week old adoptive home town in endorsing that Hull has all of these things but arguably trumps them all with its quiet and unassuming ways. The city has been an easy target over the years for ridicule and criticism but generally by those who have never bothered to set foot within its boundaries.

You may judge the cultural value of a city by its galleries, museums and theatres, and the usual benchmarks of what it has offered to its population and the wider world but there has to be an indomitable spirit behind it or else it stands for just window dressing.

The result comes out next week.

The campaign, even if not ultimately victorious in the eyes of the adjudicators, has served to remind the people of Hull of their heritage and diversity just in case these attributes had been forgotten in the everyday pressures of getting on with a busy life and not being a burden to anyone else.