Mentioned Part 40

By: Rob Sedgwick
Date: 02/02/2003

"No disrespect to the likes of Grimsby..."

Fishy Business at Asda

From the BBC.

UK supermarket chain Asda is going fishing. The company has launched its own fleet of trawlers that will supply fresh cod directly to its stores. The four fishing boats operating out of Grimsby will work exclusively for Asda.

Asda says it wants the freshest fish on offer Satellite phones on board will alert the crew when supplies in the shops are running low, so they can return to port to unload their catch.

The Asda deal is worth £1.5m to the owners and crews of the four vessels, providing the fishermen with a guaranteed income.

The Eventide, Jubilee Quest, Lockharn and the Beverley will set sail from the Lincolnshire port to supply more than 100 Asda stores with British cod.

Every fish caught is guaranteed to be purchased by the supermarket.

Chris Hodgson, Asda's chief fish buyer, said: "The deal means we will sell the freshest cod and give a boost to the British fishing industry."

Andy Allard, managing director of the trawler company, added: "The deal offers us stability, flexible landing times and we will no longer need to spend long hours fishing in difficult conditions for highly unstable returns."

The four skippers of the vessels have 116 years of fishing experience between them.

Each boat plans to land 200 tonnes of fish each year.

The trawlers will fly the Asda flag from their masts, but the traditional green and white colour has been changed to blue and white as green is thought to be unlucky at sea.

Spotted by Grim Rob.

Seaside shangri-la goes upmarket

From the BBC.

A cluster of chalets nestling on the banks of the Humber is soaring in property value, thanks to a flood of incomers from Yorkshire's industrial towns.

The Humberston Fitties were built East of Cleethorpes on the quiet stretch of land named after the Lincolnshire term for a salt marsh.

In the age of the railway, it was a home-from-home for miners and factory workers from South Yorkshire who began to put up simple huts and caravans on the dunes.

Now in a conservation area, the chalets' traditionally low prices are rising fast as more people choose them as second homes.

Estate agent John Hood said his firm, Jackson, Green and Preston's in Grimsby, was having no problem selling the properties.

"The prices have gone up to £40,000 - a few years ago it was more like £15, 000.

"Humberston is a lovely area to live in.

"A lot of people with cash for second homes are seeing it as a good alternative to the continent."

When electricity replaced the Fitties' wind generators, just two years ago, many predicted the flood of wealthy residents.

"From being shantyish, many have become nice homes with a lot of money spent on them," said Mr Hood.

The Fitties' most famous resident is rock musician Robert Wyatt.

The former drummer with Soft Machine and his wife Alfie are part of a unique community where artists and redundant coal miners live side by side.

"It's not just a nostalgic thing, though it does remind you of how things might have been done in the past, coping with things without all the mod cons.

"It's also true that it might be a way forward.

"It's like something from a different era - the word freedom comes to mind." The Fitties are a magnet for retired people

Trevor Ellis moved to the seaside hideaway from South Yorkshire.

"I feel a lot better now than I did when I worked down the mines. Life's a lot easier and I really like it here."

"Everyone seems to know everything that's going on - not in a malicious way - just interested in each other, and that to me is not something you'll find in suburbia."

Another great fan of the Fitties is the Barnsley poet, Ian McMillan.

"To me, these are just as important as some second home in the South of France because it's people stating their independence.

"They're saying, 'I might live in a terraced street somewhere, but I can make my own bungalow and make it as fantastic as I like'."

Spotted by Grim Rob.

If you see a "mention" mail them to rob@grimsbyfans.com and we'll put them up here.

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