A sense of place - Hilary

A sense of place -     Hilary

Set in the leafy backwaters of the Hull suburbs, Newland Park is peopled by individuals who have an innate belief that if life had dealt them a different hand, they would be living and meeting in the streets of a far more hip and happening place such as Islington or Notting Hill.

Many of the inhabitants are locals who have managed to climb the very greasy poles within the local council until they finally haul themselves to the top to become a ‘head of project team’ or ‘service lead’ for this or that.

Their shrill, east Humberside tones have acquired an air of officiousness, the pronunciation having a studied ‘poshness’ designed to conceal the distinctive Hull burr. This trick was learned from the Masters who preceded them in their council posts until, like coconuts, those Masters were knocked off their poles giving the prizes to their apprentices. In turn the disciples grasped the baton and proceeded to remove themselves from the lesser areas of the city such as Anlaby Rd or Skulcotes Lane to the resplendent Edwardian, Mock Tudor or edgy, architect designed dwellings that settle behind high hedges in the wide and tree -lined avenues of Newland Park.

These ‘locals-made-good’ sit somewhat uneasily with the other inhabitants of this pinnacle of Hull living; those non Yorkshire 'outsiders' who have by dint of circumstance been offered, and accepted, posts as professors or lecturers at the University of Hull which sits at the entrance to the Park or it’s poorer sister, Humberside University which has to make do with a lesser site on the Beverley Road. The University of Hull has additional cachet having had poet, Philip Larkin as it’s librarian. His modern residence sits within the confines of Newland Park

They just about rub along together, these two oddly paired groups, mostly ignoring the somewhat superior air which the locals imagine the outsiders possess, and which the outsiders smugly try to hide, only occasionally letting slip, some telling anecdote which only they, as ‘outsiders’ could possibly have experienced.The locals are proud to have reached this nadir of Hull society and are themselves fairly condescending in a lord or lady bountiful way to the rest of the local population. They do not ignore them they merely speak as if they hold higher office.

Into this prestigious, quietly confident backwater, arrives Ellen Jameson and her family of three daughters.

She fits into neither the first or second category, being what is known as a ‘self made woman’. In other words, her degree and a large divorce settlement, has given her the opportunity to start her own business consultancy. The business has thrived over the ten years since she started it, and she has grasped the opportunity to open two further branches in Manchester and Newcastle.

 U -  Focus became one of the largest agencies in the North East, eventually floated on the stock market, making Ellen a very eligible single woman, with several hundreds of thousands sitting idly in her personal account.

Being a Hull girl at heart, she refused to move from her home city, capitulating, eventually, to friends and a lover’s advice, by moving out from her three bedroom council house in the centre of Bransholme, the largest social housing estate in Europe, to a double fronted property of Edwardian splendour, just next door to the modern property which had belonged, until his death to Philip Larkin.

A determined woman, she does not hold back with her opinions or her praise. A breath of even fresher air was about to descend, with the scent of Dior, into the Park.