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I have received a letter from the House of Commons, sent by Diana Johnson MP for Hull North, it reads….

Dear Chanterlands DIY @ Hardware,

I am delighted to let you know that you have been shortlisted for my competition for the best small business in Hull North Saturday 2021.

This year, more then ever, it is so important to show our appreciation for our local community small businesses, so thank you for all that you have done for our community. The pandemic has been a rough time for us all, so please let me know if there is anything I can do to assist you.

The final voting stage will now begin, and the winner will be announced on 5th December, Small Business Saturday. In order to encourage customers to vote, I have enclosed a poster to display in the window of your business, or to share on your social media. I will also be posting regularly on facebook and twitter about the competition, so please feel free to share this content.

Yours sincerely,

Diana Johnson MP.

Labour Member of Parliament for Hull North.

….

I am delighted to received this nomination for the seventh year in succession and I thank everyone who has nominated me again. It truly is an honour for a small one man band like mine to be recognised in this way and I am up against some big concerns/businesses with many members of staff, all of whom have friends and family voting for them.

It is also an honour for Chanterlands Avenue and I’m sure everyone will be delighted to hear this news. There may be more nominees on the avenue too.

Thank you again.

Gary.

 

Alan was the tenant above my shop, Chants DIY. He has been living up there for well over  25 years, in fact all the time I have traded on the avenue. Alan sadly passed away, aged 80, over the week end of October 30th.

He was a very private man who enjoyed nothing more then his daily pint (s) in The Avenue, where he was well known, and of course his garden and fish pond.

Ex Royal Navy and Merchant Seaman.

He has been the ideal tenant and a good friend to me over the years and I will miss him as I’m sure many more will in the area

I have no idea when the funeral will be as his son, Mike, is dealing with everything.

RIP matey.

 

Every morning just at five,

Gotta to get up, dead or alive,

It’s hard times in the mill, my love,

Hard times in the mill.

Every morning just at six,

Don’t that old bell just make you sick ?

It’s hard times in the mill, my love,

Hard times in the mill…

Ain’t it enough to break your heart ?

Especially when there’s no room to park

Your horse and cart,

And having to work all day and night till it’s dark,

It’s hard times at the mill, my love,

Hard times at the mill.

Charlie Dickens.

 

Its been a while since I scribbled anything down for you to pick to pieces so with it being a bit quiet in shop today I thought I’d wile away a few minutes….

Car Parking ? Is it a problem or not ? Obviously it is judging by the amount of comments on the community facebook pages. This was before Hull Fair as well. Especially down the Avenues with loads of complaints about cars parked up on double yellow lines and blocking access to tenfoots and such. So it is a problem although I continually get shouted down by some individuals if I say it is.

I had an instance last week outside my shop. The people next door were getting a kitchen delivered, you’d have thought that would be straight forward enough ? No not on Chanterlands Avenue. He had to put out a police no parking bollard to save a space for the delivery van at first light, this was shoved out of the way several times by the front bumpers of cars wanting to park in the space. The guy was out all morning prancing up and down on his mobile, looking at his watch trying to save just one space so he could unload his kitchen. Talk about stressful, I thought he was going to have a heart attack.  I asked him how he thought I managed when I sometimes get several deliveries in one day ? So it is a problem for everyone.

Last Saturday night I had the misfortune to be on Spring Bank West/Chanterlands Avenue at 10.00 pm on the last night of the Fair. Honestly I’ve never seen car parking like it in my life. They were everywhere, on the pavement, on the dual carriageway, down ten foots, double parked and just dumped. It looked as though all the occupants had just abandoned their cars and done a runner.

God know knows what would have happend if there had been a fire engine of an ambulance required in an emergency. Which happened late afternoon on Chants during Fair week. The avenue was grid locked both ways with an ambulance, siren and flashing lights stuck in standing traffic for a good five minutes or more before vehicles could edge to once side to let it through. It really was a dangerous situation.

It is a problem, we all know it and not just at fair time so don’t you think it’s about time it was taken seriously and something was done about it ?

 

 

It’s been a while but to be fair not a lot has happened to write home about. We had a little flourish of media attention when Diana Johnson was highlighting the problem of anti social behaviour in the area. We featured on Look North and in the Hull Daily Mail, then like yesterdays chip paper, it is quickly forgotten about. I know Diana has organised a petition or sorts asking for peoples views which can be found on her website and on the Avenues and Dukeries facebook page.

I can see this problem being brushed under the carpet completely when Diana and her team move out of the Avenues Centre to Bransholme which they are to do any day now. I’ve heard of a couple of attempted break in’s and I had my shop shutters smeared in graffiti recently, not for the first time either. But besides the odd drunk or druggie staggering past I cannot say I have seen much anti social behaviour on Chants. I know Princes Avenue and Pearson Park suffer from the all day drinking crowd but to be fair I think we are quite lucky on Chanterlands Avenue, for the time being.

News broke today about a new cycle lane from the city centre through to Cottingham. The council had tendered the work out and the scheme comes in at a cost of £900,000. The route is from Bond Street, Fountain Road, Pearson Park, Victoria Avenue, then crossing Chants to Bricknell Avenue onto Cottingham, where it ends. I imagine much of this cycle track is already in existence, the Fountain Road bit certainly is, crossing Beverley Road and following the old Railway Line, then I’m assuming they are going to follow the ten foot behind Victoria Avenue, onto Ella Street then down St Ninians walk onto Bricknell where the cycle lane will be on the road but separated from the cars by bollards. £900,000 sounds a lot of money for a system that in the main is already in existence. I wonder if any public seating or racks to park and lock up one’s bike are included in the plans ?

Andsalls corner is triggering a bit of local debate. Dorothy Lee from the Thursday Volunteer Ladies is getting asked why her team isn’t doing anything about it. Its not her job, and she and her team are volunteers anyway and have enough on. Andsall’s Corner is a project from another team of volunteers and is supposed to be a wild garden. Seems the trouble is it is getting too wild.

So if anyone knows who has taken on this corner of Chanterlands Avenue could you remind them the area is getting overgrown and needs some attention ? Likewise the four planters at the Spring Bank end of Chants. They were taken on by a firm called Interior Gardens, or similar and in return for having their advertising logo on the sides on the tubs they would keep them filled with plants, in the case plastic ones. They have been empty all year and people are now asking in the firm are still operational. I don’t know.

Heard about an ‘exciting’ new trade/service was considering coming to the Avenue, until they changed their minds, I wonder why ? and my shop now only trades from Monday to Friday.

That’s all folks.

Cheerio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chinese restaurant, Hallgate, Cottingham. Saturday night in July.

I have to admit this restaurant is on my doorstep and I hadn’t visited it for well over ten years until a week last Saturday, then again with friends the following Saturday which tells you a lot.

The earlier visit was for a charity fundraiser, set menu about £25 a head. From memory every table was taken and a few more had been crammed in the maximise the fund raising, which is fair enough and to be expected. One lasting memory was seeing one young lady carried out, horizontal and head high by the staff. She’d obviously had one or two many tiger beers. Nothing special about that and no lasting memory of the place hence the lapse in visiting again.

But being one who keeps one’s ear to the ground I had heard some good reports about Woksoever and being rather keen on Chinese food myself I stored the information away until the opportunity arose. This occurred a week last Saturday after a rather pleasant afternoon sampling various drinking establishments in Beverley. We couldn’t get a table anywhere to eat, well anywhere we fancied so decided to catch the train back to Cottingham instead which is when I had the brainwave to try Woksoever again.

We hadn’t booked ( two of us), this wasn’t a problem and although the spacious restaurant was packed, a nice table was found for us. I didn’t know this at the time but they operate a all-you-can eat menu at £20.99 a head. That’ll do for me thought I as we browsed through the extensive menus. The attentive waitress showed us the ropes, pick what you want and as many dishes as you want, write it down on a note pad placed on the table and leave the rest to them. One part of the menu was for starters and another one was the mains.  This we did, and the waitress whispered in our ears ‘you should order more then that’, so we added a couple of dishes to our array of starters.

They arrived within minutes along with our drinks order and a side dish of prawn crackers and dip, and it was beautiful, tasty, fresh, inviting and authentic Chinese food. I can honestly say it was up there amongst the best Chinese food I have ever had and I’ve eaten in some classy Chinese restaurants in my time. I cannot list everything on the menu or what we had because I’d be here all night, just that the choice of dishes was extensive and of no trouble or fuss to the many waiters who served on our table. Superb all round. Final bill with a couple of rounds of drinks was about £60. I’ve paid more then that at a take away before today.

Needless to say our second visit a week later with friends was just as good, if not better. I had to book this time and did so the day before, reserving a table in the conservatory. Beautifully set out, plenty of room between the tables, good lighting, great ambience, and like the week before the food and service was spot on. There was also no apparent rush to get us out so they could get another booking in like some places do. We were there as long as we wanted and could have ordered as much food as we liked. This time we also went for the sweets which were about £3 or £4 a person extra on top of the £20.99 per person charge. So four adults, all you can eat, excellent food too, with drinks including gins, was about £120. I cannot recommend Woksoever enough and I could kick myself for not ‘finding’ it on my doorstep sooner and giving it a second chance. 10/10

 

 

The Covid restrictions have put a stop to this years very popular Open Gardens in the Avenues as a result Dove House Hospice will miss out on some serious fund raising which this popular event provides for them. To compensate a plant sale will be held down the avenues on the week end of September 5th with all proceeds going to Dove House.

A nice young fella dropped some trade cards off in my shop a couple of days ago, Lee Barham of EGA locks who has started up as a locksmith. Then today I came to work, opened my door and my key snapped off in the lock. I’ve got a shop full of tools but I could not get the broken key out of the lock, so in flash of inspiration I rang Lee. He was down within 20 minutes. He took the full lock cylinder out, made the door secure for me and has ordered me a new part which he will fit of Friday. Remarkable service at a time when it seems the simplest of tasks can take forever.

Lee’s number is 07584455888. Highly recommended.

Had to laugh this morning when I saw Chris, the Chair of the Traders Association having to drive the full length of Chanterlands Avenue no less then five times before he could find a parking spot, beating his record of only four times one day last week. Now he knows what my customers feel like only they ( and other businesses no doubt)  do not drive the full length of Chanterlands Avenue five times, they simply drive off and shop somewhere else. But it’s not a problem according to some. I can tell you it is.

My youngest daughter Lucy opened up her shop in Dyer Lane, Beverley last Monday for the first time. Months and months of planning, work and a considerable amount of money has gone into turning the 200 year old building which last housed The Beverley Book Shop into a dog boutique called ‘Oh My Dog’. The response from the people of Beverley was amazing, she has been rushed off her feet every day since opening. I now have three daughters all with independent shops down Dyer Lane in Beverley. Some are already calling it Clark Alley.

Saturday July 31 st will be the last Saturday Chanterlands DIY will be open on a weekend. As from closing time today ( July 31st) we will be open Monday to Friday, 8.00 am to 5.00 pm and closed on a Saturday.

I run this business single handily now and have done  so since March 2020. Five days is enough for anyone and I am no exception.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tonight my one man business, Chanterlands DIY won, the ‘Retail Hero’  award in the Hull and East Riding People in Business Awards, this particular award being sponsored by P@O Ferries of Hull, in a spectacular visual event from Bridlington Spa and organised by Hull and East Riding People in Business.

This was for my service to the public during the Covid 19 lockdown and was totally unexpected.

I thank all the people who nominated me and also the panel of independent judges who considered my business a worthy winner over other equally worthy contenders.

It has never been easy running an independent business in this city, especially so over the last 18 months when it seemed everything and a bit more was against us. But it’s what we do and I am honoured to accept this award of recognition not only for Chants DIY but for all the independent traders on the avenue and all over the city.

 

 

 

One person thought I didn’t even deserve to be nominated,  tough, but to everyone else I thank you for your support from the bottom of my heart.

Reports coming through that some double yellow lines are being removed from the Dukeries, mainly Welbeck, Wharncliffe, Newstead and Clumber Streets. Let’s hope this spreads.

Source of information; Avenues and Dukeries facebook page.

Quote for the day, 11.20am Friday. Customer who had driven from Willerby after ringing first.

‘Its a wonder you get any customers at all, the car parking is horrendous around here, I’ve been driving round for 10 minutes looking for a spot. I’m parked across the road on double yellows’

 

I received a lovely unexpected thank you card today from Patricia Cope who now lives in Keighley. Patricia used to live down Muirfield Park, number 16 from 1975 to 1980, with her husband and family, dog Popeye and her father. They also lived in York before that and moved to Keighley after. She writes ‘..they were very happy times and everyone was in good health’

I remember Patricia  from her last visit to Hull some five years ago when she popped into my shop with her friend Margret who lived down Bricknell. Sadly Margret has now passed away and Patricia was quite emotional in my shop and found her visit to her old haunts on Chanterlands Avenue brought back so many happy memories. She was also over joyed that I remembered her last visit with her friend Margaret who she describes as ‘… a very good person, and she will not forget her in a hurry’. We exchanged pleasantries about poetry and I gave them both a couple of local poetry books to take home, which they did, Patricia remembered this.

She concludes her hand written card with ‘..what a glorious day in Hull, a little hot as regards the sun for me, yet, that was outweighed by your friendliness and kindness, thank you again so much…’

She purchased a pot of small pink carnations from me and I gave her a bunch of freshly cut flowers to remember her friend by, which she writes, ‘such a wonderful day, some very sad bits and others happy, that’s life ! Then she ends her letter by saying the carnations will always be her memory of happy times spent on Chanterlands Avenue in Hull.

‘In the Lord I put my trust’ Psalm 11;1.

Patricia Cope

Oakworth

Keighley.

July 5th 2021.