Dispatches from the North: A Journey from Hartlepool to America

I was reading the local paper the Hartlepool Mail last week and came across this fascinating story. Anyone who has seen Titanic (which is just about everyone in the world, right?) knows that Liverpool and Southamptom were major shipping and transport hubs in the late 19th and early 20th century. What many people don’t know is that Hartlepool also used to be one of Britain’s biggest shipping ports. This story from the Hartlepool Mail reports the discovery of a century-old diary detailing a journey from Hartlepool to New York in 1881:

The journal was written in 1881 by a William Shirley Day who was setting out on a journey on the Elpis ship from West Hartlepool to New York in the USA.

The iron steam ship was built at the town’s William Gray and Co shipyard in 1878 for Ropner and Company.

It was launched in 1879, but reported missing at sea in 1903. Chris, a 56-year-old teacher and keen historian who lives in Reading, said the diary covers a journey from Hartlepool to New York and then overland to Texas.

To read the full story “From Pools to New York in 1881″ in the Hartlepool Mail, click here

It reminded me of a story I heard from a friend of mine, Fred. Fred is soon approaching his 85th birthday and has lived in Hartlepool his whole life. Before I passed my driving test in October Fred used to give me rides to choir practice and during these rides he would always tell me the most fascinating stories from his life. One that sticks in my mind was a story he told me about when he was working for one of Hartlepool’s shipping companies. As a young man he worked in the records office of the shipping company and his job was to run from ship to ship collecting fees.

He told me an interesting tale about going through some old record books from the late 20s and early 30s while at work one day and he discovered that during prohibition in the United States that this Hartlepool-based shipping company had a fleet of ships in the Great Lakes, all which had been aprehended and seized in the act of bootlegging and bringing alcohol illegally from Canada to locations all over the Great Lakes. It is amazing that he remembered this one detail from perusing record books so long ago and that at the time it was interesting enough for him to remember it, not knowing that one day he would meet a young lady from the very place those ships were operating in. Being from the Great Lakes region I grew up hearing tales of bootlegging all throughout the region and the unique role that Metro Detroit and Chicago played in the prohibition era and Fred’s story really brought those local legends full circle for me.

I would love to do some research and find out more about the transport routes between Hartlepool and America and also about other links between the Hartlepool shipping industry and the US. Sadly, I think much like this story many of the details were probably written down in old ledgers that are long since lost and these stories may only live on in the oral tradition of Fred’s generation.

Dispatches from the North: Wait, the Winter Olympics are on?

I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t realize the Winter Olympics had started until about two days after the opening ceremonies. I still haven’t even watched a single minute of them. Coverage of the Winter Olympics is being aired live on BBC2 but I haven’t tuned in even once. I used to love watching the Winter Games as a kid, especially the figure skating and ice dancing competitions. The Winter Olympics just aren’t a big deal for most Britons and I don’t even see reports about the games in the news. Its a huge contrast to the summer of 2008 when the country was abuzz with “Team GB” spirit. It seems to me that the only time that Britain pays attention to the Winter Olympics is when there is a competitor in with a good story or good chance of winning, like Torvill and Dean at the 1984 Winter Olympics or “Eddie the Eagle” in the 1988 Winter Olympics.

Eddie the Eagle has a fascinating tale which really would only happen in Britain (or the movie Cool Runnings). Michael “Eddie” Edwards was a downhill skier who didn’t make the team for the 1984 Olympics, but since winter sports aren’t a huge deal in Britain it gave Eddie an idea. He switched to an event that had no other competitors in Britain- ski jumping. Eddie was completely unfit for ski jumping being a bit pudgy and not very aerodynamic and severely far sighted requiring him to wear glasses while competing which fogged up and made him barely able to see. Eddie still managed to squeak by and qualify for the Olympics and after less than 4 years training as a ski jumper he competed in the 1988 Winter Games and finished last in every event. The ski jumping community wasn’t very happy about Eddie’s show at the Olympics or the media coverage because they thought it made a mockery of their sport. After his embarrasing show at the 1988 Winter Olympics, the IOC introduced a new rule , known as the “Eddie the Eagle Rule” which tightened entry requirements and stipulated that competitors finish in the top 30% or top 50 competitors in an international event to qualify to compete in the Olympic Games.

This year Team GB has sent 50 athletes competing in 8 sports, compared to 216 American athletes that are competing in 15 sports and the 311 athletes that Great Britain sent to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. So far Team GB has only claimed one medal by Amy Williams who won the gold in skeleton

Dispatches from the North: Becks Faces Man U

A special Tuesday edition of Dispatches from the North can only mean one thing: David Beckham v Manchester United.

If you have paid any attention to British sport news you will have already heard that tonight David Beckham will face his old club Manchester United for the first time in seven years. Now if like me you pay more attention to the OK Magazine side of Becks’ life you might be wondering first of all “I thought Becks played for LA Galaxy, why is he playing for AC Milan?” and “Why is Manchester United playing an Italian football team?” Let me explain to you the unique aspects of Becks’ football career as it stands now and attempt to make sense of it all from my uniquely female I-couldn’t-care-less-about-football perspective.

The Major League Soccer season starts in mid-spring and runs through to November whereas a Premier League player in Britain has a seemingly never-ending year round season with only a couple weeks off in August. I found this out the disappointing way when my husband grumbled that his team Hartlepool United was playing the last game of the season and I had a glimmer of hope when I thought I had a couple months off from football. I was sadly mistaken.  The truth is that with the number of leagues in Europe football in England never ends. It is a perpetual cycle of regular season league games as well as Champions League games and of course World Cup qualifier games plus all-star games and friendly (scrimmage) games between seasons.

Playing for the LA Galaxy meant that Becks wouldn’t be playing competitively for about 4 months out of the year while the rest of the top players in England continued to play virtually year round. Also the level of play in the American MLS league is feeble compared to the skill level of the players in the Premier League teams of England which are generally regarded as some of the best teams in the world despite England’s inability to win a World Cup in decades.

In order to remain competitive, the England team manager Fabio Capello required Beckham to keep up the same level of play as the rest of the team and the solution is that Beckham is on loan to AC Milan during the MLS off-season.  It works out quite well for the Beckhams, Posh gets a few months to play in her fashion mecca and Becks can keep up his end of the deal to remain on the England national team.

As I mentioned above, European football seems to be an endless tangled web of leagues. This particular game tonight is a UEFA Champions League game. The Champions League is an association of all the top teams in Europe and the Champions League Cup is one of the most globally sought after prizes in football. I know very little about football and all the various leagues kind of confuse me, so I won’t reinvent the wheel and just give you the link to the Wikipedia article about this league if you want to know more about it.

The press has been buzzing for days speculating how Becks will behave at tonight’s game.  The papers are rehashing his history with Man U and manager Sir Alex Ferguson but I have a hunch that despite all the hype about tensions between Becks and his old club, tonight’s game will be relatively uneventful. First of all, Becks tends to keep his eye on the ball (pun intended) and takes his playing seriously enough not to let any bad blood or controversy off the field distract him during an important game.  Also, seven years have passed and as professionals who constantly have to play alongside rivals and against friends, it is more than enough time for them to get over it. I am sure the tabloids would love to see a spat at tonight’s game but I just don’t see it happening. Regardless, the eyes of England will be on this game tonight and Becks’ every move and word will be analyzed and reported in tomorrow’s papers.

Dispatches from the North: Deconstructing My British Job Search

I have learned a lot of lessons about looking for work in Britain, and I have done it at the worst possible time. I moved to Britain just in time to witness the bottom fall out on the British banking system and usually when there is financial trouble, marketing is the first thing to go. Still even in good times there are some things about the job market in Britain that present me with some challenges.

The biggest obstacle is obviously location, and for a couple reasons. First of all, the North East is a largely industrial blue collar area so marketing jobs are hard to come by. Also, I have found that the job market here doesn’t work the same as it does in the US, although I think London and the South East are an exception because its a very cosmopolitan region and my chances down there would probably be much better.

I think the most notable difference between the job market here in the North East and the job market at home is that it is incredibly difficult to make a career change. Moving here I thought I could use my previous experience and education to start a new career, but thats just not how people build their careers here. Most people go to school with a specific career in mind. They acquire the necessary accreditation to pursue that specific career and that is basically what they stick with. People very rarely change their career path and even remain within a given industry. I first noticed this trend just from reading the descriptions of job vacancies which almost always list very specific requirements related to a potential candidate’s work experience.

An American company will often hire someone who comes with relevant experience from another industry. For example, even though my experience comes from the hospitality industry, in the US I could work in the marketing department of nearly any industry from education to automotive. Certainly it takes some training and time to become familiar with a new company and industry but the beauty of American business is that people can apply lessons learned from other sectors and bring a fresh perspective to their new role. Here in the North East of England, people are generally expected to stay in one industry. If you start your career in marketing for a manufacturing company it is expected that you will remain on a career path within the manufacturing industry. This has been my single greatest obstacle, I don’t have any experience that is relevant to any specific industry that exists in the North East.

A year and a half and countless boilerplate rejection letters later, I have found that most prospective employers aren’t even willing to look at my CV (curriculum vitae, similar to a résumé) once they see I have no experience in their industry. Its something I have spoken to recruiters and advisors about and they have done nothing to dispel my fears that this area is going to be hard for me to crack coming from the corporate environment I have worked in. The other problem I have is that I am just not from around here. I have managed to get a few prospective employers to see me, and each time I hear back the same thing that my experience and education are impressive and that my interview went great but I “lack local experience and knowledge”.

Another obstacle is the difference in the education systems. In the US most job seekers don’t include their high school GPA on their résumé, and you certainly wouldn’t publish your ACT/SAT scores. Here in the UK most job seekers post their entire school history and include their GCSE scores on their CVs. This is because unlike a high school diploma and GPA which is a comprehensive accreditation, GCSEs are achieved in specific course areas. Also, UK job seekers who go on to university will have to complete A-levels to gain admission to university, which again unlike comprehensive ACT/SAT scores are achieved in specific subject areas.

A UK job seeker’s GCSE and A-level scores paint a picture of what the candidate’s academic strengths are, something that American qualifications can’t quite demonstrate. When it comes down to it, most employers won’t understand your educational background as much as they would understand a British applicant’s qualifications. It is possible to acquire an official “translation” of what your credentials are equivalent to in the UK system. However, you have to provide all your transcripts and also pay about £45 to get a Statement of Comparability through UK NARIC. It is a requirement should you wish to pursue further education in the UK, but as a job seeker it is just a few more hoops to jump through to get this analysis, which after all the red tape you have to go through to apply for a visa and other processes you have to go through just to get to the UK, that extra step can be a bit daunting.

So certainly I can’t be doomed to perpetual unemployment, after a year and a half of fruitless searching I’ve considered my options. Firstly, as a spouse of a British citizen and a resident of the UK I could go back to school and pay domestic school tuition which is fixed for all universities in the UK at £3,290 for the 2010/2011 school year. I have looked into teaching courses as teachers are in high demand in my area and I would only need to go back to school for one year and then I could become a teacher.

I have also started volunteering at some local non-profit organizations. Its a way to get my foot in the door and also gain some “local experience and knowledge” and a great way to network in my area. Currently I am volunteering at the community radio station which has already led to some more opportunities to volunteer at a local community centre. I am hoping my volunteering will open some doors to gainful employment, or at the very least add a local element as I build my CV and references. I hope that as the UK economy recovers and I continue to build connections in my area that my long and arduous job search will finally come to an end and I will be able to start a new career here.

Dispatches from the North: The Tall Ships are coming to Hartlepool!

Hartlepool was chosen to be the final port for the 2010 Tall Ships Races this summer from August 7-10. The town has been organizing the event for the past two years and now that we are finally in 2010, preparations have shifted into high gear.

From the Official Hartlepool Tall Ships 2010 Website:

The Tall Ships’ Races are an internationally acclaimed annual competition organised by Sail Training International and held every summer in European waters. Each year between 70 and 100 vessels from 15-20 countries, crewed by some 5-6,000 young people from over 30 countries worldwide take part in this unique event that combines four days of activities in each port with racing or cruising-in-company between ports. The main aim of the event is to provide an opportunity for young people to develop their personal skills in a challenging and memorable sail-training environment and hence at least 50% of a Tall Ship’s crew must be aged 15-25.

This is a coup for Hartlepool as traditionally the final port for the race is a higher profile coastal European city. It is a great honor for Hartlepool to be chosen to host final ceremonies for this event, for a town this size it is like getting the Olympics. The four day festival is set to be the largest event the town has ever staged and I am really excited as all the ships will parade right in front of my flat and I will have the best front row seat to see them all coming in. I will be sure to give a full report here on Anglotopia as the race unfolds this summer.

The festivities couldn’t come at a better time for Hartlepool which has been hit very hard by the recession and was identified as a “hot spot” for unemployment. Hartlepool is expected to have around a million visitors throughout the four-day festival. Every hotel in the town and surrounding area is booked solid and it should be a great economic boost for all of the local businesses. Hopefully the influx of visitors will pump some much needed cashflow into the local economy.

The event should also attract visitors from all over the UK and it will be a great chance for Hartlepool to demonstrate how much the town has changed in the past decade. The hub of activity will be at the Hartlepool Marina, which until quite recently was the location of the docks. The formerly industrial area underwent a £60 million renovation and now houses the town’s best restaurants, shops and luxury flats all surrounding the lovely marina with amazing views out to sea. My little village of Seaton Carew is connected to the Hartlepool Marina via a wide promenade that runs along the seaside, so it is an ideal place for a stroll along the sea and to watch the ships come in. In the past Hartlepool has had a reputation around the UK as being a bit scruffy, so it will be a great chance to show off how the town has developed and attract some domestic tourism and alter attitudes many other Brits have toward our town.

As the event approaches I will be sure to post more updates here on Anglotopia about festivities and entertainment that are being organized for this exciting event.

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