Brian remembers his early life in Abbey Street and Wingfield Road in Hull. He talks about his working life with anecdotal memories. Brian also talks about the club scene in Hull in the 1960s and 1970s.

Time Code Notes

[00:00:05] Early recollections of Abbey Street in East Hull. Brian remembers the bomb damage. The house he grew up in was large and was next to a coal merchant who had to large horses. He remembers playing in the railway sidings and in a derelict house on land which was owned by his grandfather. At the top of the street on Holderness Road was Kent Street where there was a bombed out Methodist Church. It was a dangerous place to play. Brian remembers the man in the window who lived next door to the Doctors. He was bedridden and would wave to people as they passed by.

[00:02:28] Moved to Wingfield Road in East Hull, which was semi-rural. The end of the road was the countryside. They moved to the bigger house next door where his father kept chickens and grew vegetables. In the early 1950s Brian recalls the army camp near Preston. He remembers watching parachutists practising for the Suez crisis in Egypt. He thinks the planes were Blackburn Beverleys. He recalls the building of the Greatfield Estate. Brian remembers collecting trees for the Bonfire Night bonfire. They would have a battle with Lingfield Road and steal each other’s bonfires.

[00:05:40] Brian left school, Maybury School, and his first job was with Hull City Council in Electoral Services. Would visit people at home to register them to vote. His next job was with Maconochie’s Fish Processing plant on Hessle Road. He recalls buying suits to wear and travelling on the bus. No-one would sit next to him on the way home because he smelt of fish. At 16, around 1966, he went to work at Plumrose Food Importers in the centre of town and then at Papropak Paper Sack manufacturers on Hedon Road.

[00:08:58] Moves on to talk about clubbing in the 1960s. The main club was Gondola which was on Little Queen Street and was frequented by the mods and people who liked to dance. The DJ was Ricky Dobbs and they played imported American music. There was a live band on Sunday nights. Brian thinks he saw Boris Karloff and the Crypt-Kickers. There was a Wimpy Bar on the corner of South Street. A bit further up was the Centre Bar. Used to go to Sheffield for live music, Otis Redding, The Four Tops. They would organise a bus which cost 7s 6d. Remembers people taking ‘purple hearts’ which he thinks may have be bendrezine. Brian met his first wife in Gondola.

These time code notes are provided as a rough guide to the above recording. Untold Hull would like to thank all the volunteers who took part for their time and hard work in producing this information.