Beverley Houses Kids Hoodies

Beverley Houses, East Yorkshire

Terraced Houses In Beverley, Yorkshire, England

Beverley Road, Hull, England

House In Beverley, Yorkshire, England

The sound of the Minster bells is loud, throbbing almost, as though the air were alive and the ground vibrating, echoing and awakening childhood memories of half a century earlier. I love it here, my birth town, the place where my life began, the crucible of my earliest consciousness. I went to school here, had my first birthday cakes and Christmases here. It was my small world, safe and English and nice. The work is rich in light and colour, yet simple too. A wonderful souvenir of Yorkshire.

As an infant I was taken hand in hand down this street, wrapped up and scared of the Victorian infant school that was my destination. I could hear the bells of the Minster peel over the rooftops, soon to become my lost universe. I wanted to stay at home, or at least limit my outing to the delights of the ice cream shop in the North Bar, or the tudor tearooms where I would get cakes. I wanted to peel away to run around the supermarket that sold toffees and to Woolies for cheap toys. In later years I returned to this magical place, to paint, to explore. And I dream it might once more become my refound universe. The work focuses on the corner of Lady Gate, the name itself dripping with fascination.

Art by Andrew Reid Wildman, a pub in Hull's Beverley Road.