Lyr Add: Humber Bridge (Christopher Rowe)

Subject: Lyr Req: Will they bridge the Humber
From: bill\sables
Date: 24 Dec 02 - 07:09 PM

Was back in the 60's I heard the song "Will they ever bridge the Humber" by someone called Chris Rowe of Radio Humberside I think. Do any of you Hull catters know this song. It had a line about "Going round by Goole"
Cheers Bill

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Will they bridge the Humber
From: Bassic
Date: 24 Dec 02 - 07:49 PM

Hi Bill,

I remember the LP. It was By Chris Rowe and Ian Clark. The LP I think was called "Songs of Humberside". If memory serves me correctly, at least one of them was a lecturer at Hull Technical College at the time. All I can remember is the chorus of "Will they ever bridge the Humber".

Will they ever bridge the Humber
Will they ever span it o`er
Is it always the exception to the rule

Is it such a priveledge,
not to have a Humber Bridge,
and to have to keep on going round by Goole!

Other tracks on the album included:-

"I`m the man that opperates the railway crossing"
"The Abercrombie Plan"
"Gloria Victoria"
"OHU2, that`s the code for me"

I remember the record being quite popular at the time and they made at least one TV apperance.

Hope this helps.

Seasons greatings to Rawcliffe!!

G.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Will they bridge the Humber
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Dec 02 - 09:40 PM

There is a request for songs about Hull in this thread (click) and Abuwood makes mention of the "Bridge the Humber" song and offers to post it. I sent him a request by personal message. In the meantime, take a look at the other Hull song thread, which garnered exactly one song, "Gloria Victoria." Good song, though...

-Joe Offer in California (but I went to Hull in August)-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Will they bridge the Humber
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 24 Dec 02 - 10:00 PM

I believe one of them was a police officer, it was recorded at The Processed Pea Folk club, in Etton near Hull, other songs on it include Hessle Road, I think Les From Hull might know the lyrics & history to this song, I wil probably see him in the next few days, so I will tell him to look at this thread, and post what he knows.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Will they bridge the Humber
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 25 Dec 02 - 05:11 AM

I remember Jackie & Bridie singing this in days gone by.
Giok

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Will they bridge the Humber
From: Peter K (Fionn)
Date: 25 Dec 02 - 09:08 AM

I remember someone singing it at Newark Folk Club around 1968 - can't remember who. (Not Jackie & Bridie; possibly a couple of guys from Lincoln called Taff & Ginge.)

I assume the songwriter has acknowledged somewhere that they actually did (bridge the Humber)? Quite a colossal achievement it was too. (Right up there with the Golden Gate eh Joe?) And no doubt as a direct result of the song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Will they bridge the Humber
From: GUEST,madwaff on my brothers computer
Date: 25 Dec 02 - 02:21 PM

I've still got a couple of Clark&Rowe LPs at home so if anyone wants words of titles mentioned by Bassic (or any others from the records), I could post them when I get back in the New Year (and get my cookie back!). I remember seeing them at Hull Folk Club when I was a lot younger!
Merry Christmas
madwaff

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Will they bridge the Humber
From: Willa
Date: 26 Dec 02 - 12:05 PM

have got the words/music of this, Bill. No time to post them now, as the fellers are on the way back from the footie and I'm getting the meal ready. (Well, couldn't resist a peek at Mudcat!)I'll post them later.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Will they bridge the Humber
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 26 Dec 02 - 12:15 PM

Bill...Cobble and Mrs Cobble have the record of the song you are requesting. We were listening to it at the beginning of this Month when we visited!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Will they bridge the Humber
From: bill\sables
Date: 26 Dec 02 - 02:58 PM

Thanks Y'All I'll get it from Cobble.
Cheers Bill

Subject: Lyr Add: HUMBER BRIDGE (Christopher Rowe)
From: Willa
Date: 26 Dec 02 - 07:19 PM

Love having my sons here, but they do hog the computer. Here you are, Bill

Humber Bridge
Words and Music Christopher Rowe

In our early history Julius Caesar crossed the sea,
To this island off the northern coast of France;
Then some other Romans came to treat us just he same,
And they stayed a little longer just by chance.
They came, they saw, they conquered everything that they could see,
Till they reached the River Humber, that noble estuary,
But they burned their boats behind them, not thinking it could be,
That the ancient Britons hadn't built a bridge.

Ch
Will they ever bridge the Humber, will they ever span it o'er
Is it always an exception to the rule:
Is it such a privilege not to have a Humber bridge,
And to have to keep on going round by Goole?

In a thousand years or more, there arrived on England's shore
A noble Duke who came from Normandy;
Duke William was his name and conqueror he became
For he conquered all the land that he could see.
But one day he came up North, and there to his surprise,
As he reached the River Humber he was made to realise
That while Romans could build straighter roads, and walls of every size,
They had never tried to build a Humber Bridge.

Ch

In the English Civil War, when they fought on Marston Moor
And the Royalists were scattered far and wide,
They disturbed the peaceful slumber of the quiet River Humber
But they knew that Hull was not the place to hide.
For the City favoured Cromwell and there they could not stay,
They headed for the river to cross without delay,
But on reaching Hessle foreshore they found to their dismay
That none had ever built a Humber bridge.

Ch

The year of nineteen sixty six found Harold Wilson in a fix,
With his overall majority down to two.
He just couldn't face rejection at the North Hull by-election,
Barbara Castle came to see what she could do.
"There is one thing I can promise" she assured us on that day,
"You'll get your Humber bridge, and there won't be much delay."
But she forgot to mention that a squeeze was on the way,
And we're still waiting for a Humber bridge.

Ch

Now they've built across the Severn, they've built across the Tay
And they've even spanned the mighty Firth of Forth.
But an increase on this number with a bridge across the Humber,
Appears to be more trouble than it's worth.
Gas may flow from the ocean, oil may spurt from the sea,
We could join the Common Market if the French would just say "oui",
Then in Whitehall and in Westminster, perhaps they'll start to see,
That at last we really need a Humber bridge.


1872 A Parliamentary bill providing for the construction of a railway tunnel under the river is narrowly defeated in the House of Lords.
1931 A Bill for a multi-span bridge is passed by the House of Commons but dropped for financial reasons.
1959 The Humber Bridge Act gives necessary powers for constructing the bridge and provides for the setting up of the Humber Bridge Board, which contains representatives from the Kingston Upon Hull Corporation and five other Yorkshire and Lincolnshire authorities.
1969 Peter Shore, Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, gives Government support for construction to start in 1972 with a view to completing the bridge by 1976.
1971 Peter Walker, Secretary of State for the Environment, announces a Government loan of £18.5 million (75% of the cost) towards the building of a Humber Bridge.

'A Humber Bridge costing well over £20 million …could be out of the red and making a healthy profit only 16 years after it opened in 1976'
Open to traffic 24 June 1981 Official opening by H.M. The Queen 17 July 1981

Bridge Finances
Construction of the Humber Bridge began in 1972, funded by Government loans. The cost (original estimate £28m) soon grew to £98m as a result of high price inflation during the construction period and delays caused by ground conditions, labour relations difficulties and adverse weather. By the time the bridge opened to traffic in 1981, loan charges had already brought the bridge debt up to £151m. Every year since opening the bridge has made substantial operating profit but initially this was insufficient to cover the loan charges, so interest was capitalised and the debt continually increased. In 1998 an agreement with the government led to the project being re- financed. It is now anticipated that the construction loans will be paid off by 2032. Despite the bridge's escalated construction cost, the user benefits (arising from mileage savings) are very large and exceed the cost of the project by a considerable margin.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Will they bridge the Humber
From: bill\sables
Date: 26 Dec 02 - 09:37 PM

Thanks Willa. I televised the opening 20 years ago with Yorkshire TV but prior to that I was on the bridge with one of the engineers up on the towers and inside the roadway. It is a hell of a construction when you get close up to it. We were given a souviner bottle of beer brewed by Hull brewery and as I'm not a drinker I still have that bottle still in it's origional box. YTV were on the air for one and a half hours with a crew of 35 men and eight cameras while the BBC did fifteen minutes with a crew of eighty and three cameras. Just goes to show where your licence money goes.
Cheers Bill

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Will they bridge the Humber
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Dec 02 - 09:56 PM

Sorry, Fionn, the Humber Bridge is a wonderful sight to see, but it's no match for the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. If you walk across the Humber Bridge, you see...the Humber. If you walk across the Golden Gate Bridge, you see one of the most breathtaking sights in the world.
I highly recommend walking the Brooklyn Bridge, too.

Bill told me the Humber Bridge toll so expensive, that many people still go out of their way to drive through Goole. How much does it cost? Can you walk across it? The Golden Gate is expensive now, too - five dollars southbound (into San Francisco), but free when you're going north. Walking is still free.

-Joe Offer, who loves to walk bridges-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Will they bridge the Humber
From: Abuwood
Date: 27 Dec 02 - 02:37 AM

Sorry Guys, I could have given you the words if I had been a bit quicker. We went to my daughter's for Christmas Dinner, I took her to the opening ceremony in her pram!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Will they bridge the Humber
From: Mrs Cobble
Date: 27 Dec 02 - 06:43 AM

We have it Bill . Do you want it !

Mrs C

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Will they bridge the Humber
From: bill\sables
Date: 27 Dec 02 - 07:09 PM

I'd like to borrow your recording if I could Cobble just to hear the tune again.
Thanks Bill

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Will they bridge the Humber
From: Noreen
Date: 30 Dec 02 - 09:48 AM

Yes Joe, you can walk across (or cycle, as Oakley and Skipjack do) for free, but driving is a fiver each way, I think?

I saw it at various stages of construction, from the "visitors' centre" in a caravan on the carpark at Barton. I may still have the tea towel!

It's a splendid sight, when the fog lifts...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Will they bridge the Humber
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 30 Dec 02 - 11:11 AM

My mother took me accross the Humber Bridge in my Pram......can't remember it and I haven't been accross it since. I have been under it quite a lot......(the M62 to Hull runs under it!!)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Will they bridge the Humber
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 30 Dec 02 - 03:29 PM

norren is exactly right, you have to pay money to use the humber bridge, its a big rip off.john

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Will they bridge the Humber
From: Willa
Date: 30 Dec 02 - 03:42 PM

Humber Bridge Tolls
Prices Effective from 1st April 2002

CLASSIFICATION TOLL FOR A SINGLE CROSSING (DISCOUNTED PRICE PER BOOK OF 20 TICKETS )
1. Motor Cycles with or without sidecar. £1.10 (£19.80 )
2. Cars and Goods vehicles having a maximum weight not exceeding 3.5 tonnes
Motor Caravans £2.50 (£45.00 )
3. Goods vehicles having a maximum gross vehicle weight exceeding 3.5 tonnes but not exceeding 7.5 tonnes/
Vehicles within Class 2 above, with trailers.
Small buses (with seating for 9-16 passengers) £4.50 (£81.00 )
4. Goods vehicles having a maximum gross vehicle weight exceeding 7.5 tonnes with 2 axles/
Large buses (with seating for 17 or more passengers) £10.00 (£180.00 )
5. Goods vehicles having a maximum gross vehicle weight exceeding 7.5 tonnes with 3 axles. £13.40 (£241.20 )
6. Goods vehicles having a maximum gross vehicle weight exceeding 7.5 tonnes with 4 or more axles £16.70 (£300.60 )

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Will they bridge the Humber
From: Willa
Date: 30 Dec 02 - 04:05 PM

btw, there is a song 'Ballad of the Humber Bridge', written by Bill meek & John Conolly for the Yorkshire TV documentary 'A Bridge of Size' I'll post the words if anyone is interested.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Will they bridge the Humber
From: Peter K (Fionn)
Date: 30 Dec 02 - 04:57 PM

I was only talking about the bridges Joe - you've definitely got the better views (although Alcatraz is a bit of a blemish)! Cycling is free across the Golden Gate too, by the way, or was in 1996.

Astronomers used to love to hate the Humber bridge, on account of the 250,000 watts of floodlighting thrown at it, an estimated 95 per cent of which spilled beyond it to the night sky. But maybe they stopped doing that?

Hope you found time to explore the wetlands either side, as well as walking over the Humber, Joe - magnificent habitat for all kinds of beasts, and several so-called sites of special scientific interest.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Will they bridge the Humber
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Jul 05 - 03:17 PM

27 July 2005:
I came across this thread today, and I thought I'd add a boast that last week, I walked across the Charles Bridge in Prague and the Chain Bridge in Budapest. I also walked the Tower Bridge in London a couple of years ago, and I crossed the Liffey on the O'Connell Bridge.
Still haven't walked the Humber Bridge, though - is it still allowed? Is it worthwhile for me to make another trip to Hull for the experience?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Will they bridge the Humber
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 28 Jul 05 - 10:44 AM

After reading the above, I had to see a picture. You can too. Go to

http://www.ukattraction.com/yorkshire/humber-bridge.htm

Wow! Look at that span! No wonder it cost gazillions.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Will they bridge the Humber
From: Peter K (Fionn)
Date: 28 Jul 05 - 11:20 AM

Here's leeneia's link clickified: Humber Bridge. Yep, right up there with the Golden Gate, despite Joe's pitch. (I'm talking about the bridges, not what you can see from them.) I now realise they are both left for dead by the 17th century Ottoman wonder, the Bridge on the Drina, at Visegrad.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Will they bridge the Humber
From: gnomad
Date: 28 Jul 05 - 02:05 PM

And to answer Joe's question, yes you can still walk (or cycle) across, free.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Will they bridge the Humber
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 28 Jul 05 - 11:30 PM

Thanks for the picture of the bridge on the Drina. It is amazing to think that it still stands, given the torrents that such steep terrain (note the hill) must produce.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Will they bridge the Humber
From: Peter K (Fionn)
Date: 29 Jul 05 - 04:18 PM

leeneia, when the Austro-Hungarian empire took Bosnia-Hercegovina from the Ottomans at the beginning of the last century, they bored into the bridge and packed in explosives, which they detonated as they retreated shortly before WW1. This damaged one span, which was duly repaired.

In 1896 the Drina (which is indeed an exceptionally powerful, fast-flowing river) swelled till the parapets were 6ft under water, which must have ben a terrifying sight to behold. Most of Visegrad was washed away, but the bridge remained undamaged.

Ivo Andric placed this bridge at the centre of a historical novel, Bridge on the Drina, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature.