Humber Hovercrafts: Let's bring back these futuristic ways of connecting Grimsby to Hull
Let's throwback to the 1960s when the iconic Humber Hovercrafts swiftly took people from Grimsby to Hull before the Humber Bridge was built. The hovercrafts took just 30 minutes but now by car it takes a lot longer to travel the distance. This artist from Impact storytelling wants to bring the hovercrafts back.
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00:00Well, it's my own idea to map the story, the history and heritage of the Humber hovercraft.
00:07So I was born in 1981, the year the Humber Bridge opened.
00:11So I've always had this like deep interest in the Humber and how to get across it.
00:18And just growing up, having that interest in the Humber and what makes the place and
00:23its people, I'd never heard about this Humber hovercraft until I think I discovered it on
00:27social media and it just got me so interested because it's such a different, weird and futuristic
00:34idea that I just wanted to know more about it.
00:36So yeah, I set up this summer to explore this hidden history and heritage.
00:42And for those who haven't heard about it, what is it?
00:45So the Humber hovercraft was a way that people travelled in between Grimsby and Hull.
00:52It was an idea that was born in the 1950s but became a reality in 1969.
00:57So it was an amazing kind of high speed hovercraft that left Grimsby docks, travelled across
01:06the choppy brown waters of the River Humber and arriving into Hull city centre.
01:11So travelled at 35 knots, which is about 30 miles an hour, I think.
01:17And the journey took about 30 minutes.
01:18So one of the things I think is really, really exciting about this idea is that the journey
01:2450 years ago was like half the time it is now.
01:29And it just got me thinking, you know, a lot of the economy of places is based around how
01:35they're connected.
01:36And it just seems mad to me that, you know, we're in the era of levelling up, but a journey
01:41can take twice as long.
01:43And then you think actually, people complain there's, you know, there's not enough businesses,
01:48there's not enough jobs in places like Hull and Grimsby.
01:51Well, if you can't get between them, well, that's no surprise.
01:53So I just, I really wanted to explore like this idea of like connectivity and what it
01:58means to the place.
02:00And do you feel like we should bring back the hovercraft?
02:03Yeah, definitely.
02:05So this, I think this heritage and history story is part one of my idea.
02:10I think part two, let's give it a go, people of Humberside.
02:13Let's bring back the Humber hovercraft.
02:16And tell me about what you are doing this summer.
02:19Yeah, so it's a participatory community storytelling project.
02:23So I'm running a series of workshops in Grimsby, doing sessions in Hull.
02:29So I'm working with two parts of the community really, older people who might remember the
02:34Humber hovercraft, but I'm also specifically working with younger people in Grimsby and
02:41North East Lincolnshire to discover like what kind of travel and transport they need.
02:45Because a lot of people, young people, you know, they can't afford to run a car and trains
02:49get dearer and dearer every year and also can take a long time.
02:53There's a lot of cancellations.
02:54So I kind of thought a really interesting aspect of the project will be using this like
03:00creativity and arts led participatory storytelling to find out like what young people in
03:07Grimsby and North East Lincolnshire want from their travel and whether this like madcap
03:13dream of the Humber hovercraft and bringing it back is a reality or not.
03:16And what is life like from the research you have done for people in Hull and Grimsby when
03:22it comes to actually being connected to places?
03:25Well, the project is just getting started, but I think the reality is that people love
03:29where they live, they're proud of where they are and they want to be part of the
03:34community. But I think just from these initial conversations, people get really
03:38frustrated when they feel like they're a bit stuck or at the end of the line.
03:42There's no, you know, there's no late trains, there's no late buses, it's slow,
03:48there's more and more traffic jams, more and more congestion.
03:50So I think people feel like there's an untapped potential and they love living in
03:57Hull and Grimsby and they're really proud of being from from that region.
04:01But also these places could be better, you know, and in the 1960s, people were really
04:07ambitious and they wanted to make it better.
04:09And actually, you know, why not bring that ambition back?