It’s all part of the Local Government Chronicle (LGC) awards after a judging panel, made up of chief execs from other councils, travelled to Hull in January to find out how Hull has improved key services.

So, what did Hull CC do in particular to win the most improved award?

• reduced the level of crime and fear of crime to below the national average
• reduced litter, fly posting and graffiti
• increased recycling rates
• supported businesses through the recession
• improved education across the City

Something to be proud of? I think so.

You can read more about the LGC awards here

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you can virtually walk the streets with Google Maps and see your house, your driveway and all your local restaurants and bars in Hull.

Go to http://maps.google.co.uk and type in your postcode. Then drag the little orange man onto the map and you’ll suddenly find yourself transported to outside your home.

There are, of course, the usual problems associated with this… civil liberties, invasion of privacy, someone is BOUND to be caught out doing something they shouldn’t be doing (despite Google blurring faces and registrations)… But as far as I can see it, anyone can walk up your street so this isn’t wholly different.

(I did check though, and on the day the camera went past my house, I was definitely out. Which is good as it meant I was at work. Which is where I was supposed to be. Excellent)

All we ask is that you provide us with the charity details and we will create a 3 page eStart site. The websites themselves provide a great platform for the charity to gain visibility online and help promote the work of that charity.

Infoserve provide online services to businesses and included in the websites will be parts of the Keyword Management and SEO products, which we offer to local businesses for a price! However if you are a charity in Hull you will get this for FREE!

Take advantage of this offer by filling in the form below.

[contact-form 1 "Charity Contact"]

Opening on Monday 25^th January on Mason Street near Queens Gardens, it is a brand new spanking building and will be the new home to many a book, document and old bits of paper.

It will be the new home to the city archives, the local studies library, family history unit and university archives, and on top of this, you’ll be able to find a whole heap of historical papers including letters and speeches of William Wilberforce and the papers of Hull poets Philip Larkin and Andrew Marvell.

If you’re a bit like me, and every now and then actually get quite intrigued about Hull and its past, you can read a brief potted history of Hull here

But yes, the question on most peoples’ lips – how much did it cost? Well, it’s a partnership between Hull City Council and the University of Hull but was funded by a grant of £7.7m from the Heritage Lottery Fund – which was actually granted back in July 2006. Lucky old us.

Back in 2009 (is it really 2010 already?!), Hull was labelled the most enterprising city in the Yorkshire region, although it was pipped to the post by Lowestoft in Suffolk in these national awards in November.

So, what does it mean to be “enterprising”?

According to online dictionaries, it’s to be “good at thinking of and doing new and difficult things, especially things that will make money”

Does that sound like Hull to you?

In the context of these awards, it’s more specifically aimed at the work of Hull Enterprise Partnership which works hard to help businesses in Hull, and in this case, there are some good case studies of how jobs have been created and how communities have been transformed.

One of the examples quoted is The St Stephen’s development. Apparently, the scheme has created 1,268 new jobs against its target of 2,500, with 80% of the jobs created going to local people and 68% of jobs going to those in target areas. 

So, not bad eh? You can read all about Hull’s achievements here

And when you come to think about it, there has been quite a lot happening in recent months – the Freedom Festival and Clipper Race are two good examples.

There is a classic quote from Carl Minns extolling the region’s virtues, which include

“…our nine free museums… venues such as the Deep and Hull Truck Theatre, and in our rich maritime and social justice heritage.”

In other words, we have lots of information on William Wilberforce and are surrounded by fish?

As much as I would love to see it happen (the winner has the chance to host lots of high-profile events like the Turner Prize, the Brits and the TV Baftas), I think we may struggle. We’re up against the likes of Oxford and Manchester, so probably best to not spend all your time watching this space.

Anyway, you can’t totally deny that we do actually offer some interesting things to do in Hull and you can read the latest news article on it here

Does what we call our grand city bother you?

The Hull Daily Mail is reporting that Royal Mail will decide whether to drop the use of the defunct term Humberside from its postal databases by the end of the year.

There’s actually been a campaign set up to remove the term Humberside, because it angers people that much.

Not something I’ve ever got worked up about myself – after all, we still have Humberside Police and Radio Humberside don’t we?

What else?

Humberside airport? Humberside Fire & Rescue?

As long as my post still reaches me, it could pretty much say anything. I see the Royal Mail have sent me a Christmas card too. That’s nice isn’t it…

The data has revealed that searches for fancy dress shops in Hull is soaring in the run up to Halloween.

Hull has recorded 140% more searches compared to the average of the top twenty cities across the UK who have featured highly in searches for local fancy dress shops. In second place is the Isle of Man, with Liverpool coming a spooky third.

Which just goes to show that the residents of Hull obviously aren’t running scared of the recession and are gearing up for one of the best Halloweens yet!

I haven’t been to see its new home yet I have to admit, although it’s one of these things I keep promising myself to do.

Whenever I go to the theatre, or the cinema in Hull for that matter, I always think I should go more often. I think we’re very lucky to have the likes of playwright John Godber on our doorstep and his long association with Hull Truck, so as the nights start to draw in (I know, the falling leaves are making me depressed already), perhaps it may inspire you for an evening out soon.

As the Yorkshire Post questions, what exactly does the Humber have in common with the Caribbean? Hmm… Errm… Tropical fish?

Still, the article does list why Hull could be a pretty effective port of call – it has the capacity, Hull is central on the east coast with “a catchment area of 40 million people within four hour’s drive”, and it’s a ‘gateway’ to the very beautiful Yorkshire.

Plus, cruise passengers also apparently spend an average of £120 at each place they visit.

That’s an awful lot of fish and chips

Brilliant opportunity for us however to hop on a boat and explore the world. I’m all for it.