by Cilla Wykes

www.thisisull.com

In my life the kitchen table has been a place of immense significance. The hub of what's going on in everybody's life. It's where problems are pondered and decisions are made. Serious discussion and dirty jokes. Party cakes in the afternoon and empty red wine bottles late at night.

Five years ago in May 2003 a discussion round the kitchen table changed my life. Four or five of us were having coffee while the kids were otherwise engaged. Hull was in the news - again. The worst place to live, have children, buy a house. We were enraged. Why was it OK to slag off our city? Weren't there even one or two good things going on? Although I came from Hull, I'd lived all over the place - and I'd made a deliberate choice to move back to Hull have my children.

Even the local paper seemed to show contempt, doing little to promote the city in a positive way. It ran a website - thisishull.co.uk - and we laughingly imagined creating an alternative. Somebody suggested thisisUll - that's how we pronounce it.

Each of us took on a task - to write a story, a food review, take some photographs. Mo, with his experience in software development and knowledge of website construction would be the webmaster. I took on the job of editor and general dogsbody.

It was a busy summer. Mo bought a camera and we started to take an interest in anything and everything that was going on around the city. With my four children in tow, we'd traipse around events, introducing ourselves to anyone who'd listen, and trying to persuade some of them actually to write something. If not, it was up to us to write the words to go with the photos. It was important to get a decent amount of content ready before we launched, so every waking moment was taken up with collecting it.

We launched on 1 August 03. Word of mouth spread the news and soon we were being approached by people who wanted to promote their events, local bands needing exposure with no finance to help, poets and writers who wanted desperately to see their work published in some form - rather than lining their dressing-table drawers. That's where my passion began - the writers. I couldn't believe how many of them there were - and how much they had to offer - it was astounding. Hull had fantastic creative talent waiting to be seen and heard.

By January 04, it had become clear that the idea of the site had struck a chord. We had we had 6,000 monthly unique visitors, and 13,500 page views. It was definitely working - there was clearly a need and desire for a platform to enable people, empower them, motivate.

We began to receive stories about Hull from ex-pats who'd found the site and wanted to publish their own memories of Hull and the life they had here. Publishing these encouraged others - we get news and contributions from all over the world including Canada, Australia, Iceland, and USA. For example Maurice Fairfield lives in Melbourne, Australia. He's a plumber, born in Hull and brought up during the war years. He'd always wanted to write his story, but thought that nobody would be interested. I convinced him otherwise and so, nearing 80, he started to write. The result was mesmerising.

Whenever Maurice sent a new chapter, I'd be off with a camera or straight to the city archive to search out something to illustrate his story in the most authentic way. If nothing else, the last 5 years have been worth all the work just to get his story - still unfinished - documented. And it's turned out that Maurice is also a fairly dazzling poet - what a find

By June 04 thisisUll was at 8,000 monthly unique visitors and 60,000 page views. The kitchen table had truly come into its own as the nerve centre. It hosted interviews, meetings with writers and frequent late night sessions where a lot of wine was drunk and many secrets divulged. I was also trying to have a normal life with four children. We reported on stories which happened in our lives: a burglary, telephone engineers replacing a telegraph pole outside the house. Although the contributors were (and for the most part, still are) anonymous strangers, some have now become firm friends, all with the same vision and motivation. Some of them wanted to work on the site, to contribute more than their writing by helping with the growing mountain of content which was coming through emails or the letter box. By January 2005, there were 66,000 monthly unique visitors and 291,000 page views.

The Tsunami struck South East Asia struck over New Year 2005. Michelle - one of the most prolific contributors to the site - organised a live music gig to raise money for the disaster appeal. We joined forces with a local pub-cum-music-venue and a local night club. The gig took place at three venues - it was a major success. It was also the biggest-ever live music event in Hull.

The evening raised £4152 for the Tsunami Disaster appeal. We had coverage to promote the event from local BBC TV and radio together with help from the local radio station, Viking FM. This event brought about closer ties with young people in the community and promoted the website to a wider local audience.

In May 2005 - 92,800 monthly unique visitors, 273,000 page views - we moved our HQ off the kitchen table into an office in the 'Creative Quarter' of the old town. We'd started publishing paid adverts on the site. The income from them was paltry, but at least it was something. The office had three computers - available to anyone who wanted to produce content for the site. They were in constant demand.

Balancing life wasn't easy. I was still a full-time mum, popping into town when I could. But I was still doing more in the evening when the kids were in bed than during the day, when I was endlessly occupied with domestics. I've never been all that good at housework, actually. I did neglect the household chores when I got involved in supervising several successful work-experience placements. These ranged from Year 10 school-children to second-year fashion-journalism degree-students. I think they all enjoyed themselves - once they got used to the unconventional way the office functioned. That included odd - sometimes very odd - people dropping in at any time: unannounced, for a chat, to use the printer, to use a PC. By April 2007, we had 178,000 monthly unique visitors, and 1,097,000 page views.

At the same time as the catastrophic floods hit Hull in June 2007, we had our own disaster. Poor Mo had a stroke, followed in May 2008 by a heart attack. Fortunately he recovered and is now, at October 08, in better health.

Financially, times were tight - tighter than ever, and what had kept us ticking over previously was no longer enough. Jane - our key person in the office - bid us farewell after two years, and the office had to go. The feeling of confidence we'd initially had about the site supporting itself was waning. We'd had so much positive feedback - a growing local readership and interest shown by local businesses - that we were convinced we could make the site generate an income. But without the skills or manpower to market ourselves, this has proved to be the most difficult goal to achieve. The site will continue, but we have to face reality. As a website we're second to none - April 2008 figures were 176,000 monthly unique visitors, 1,452,000 page views - and we've become an alternative voice for Hull. But as a company, we still have a lot to learn. We remain unfunded, independent and broke.

So here I am, back at the kitchen table, spending every moment I can, checking spelling, editing photos, answering the phone. Mo has thankfully recovered, and is webmastering again. And the kids have grown up. One of them has just left school. ThisisUll has become more than a platform - it's become a positive springboard. We've kept our independence and spirit. We're still doing what we set out to do - to give people on the street a platform for opinions, to help up-and-coming writers pursue their careers, to provide a resource for learning - and to promote the city of Hull and its people.

END

(c) Cilla Wykes 2 October 08

Cilla Wykes is publisher and editor of www.thisisull.com