The leaving of Kingston-upon-Hull

"In 1995, I was in Year Three in school and at that time I was living up in Kingston-upon-Hull. My best friends were two boys called Kenneth and Gareth.

"One day my dad came home and said that he had had an offer of a job down in Wolverhampton.

"At that time, I hadn't done much local geography and I didn't know a thing about Wolverhampton or any of the surrounding area.

"As time went on, my parents and my brother and I went on trips down to Wolverhampton, to Penn and the surrounding area looking for a house.

"I also began to understand the implications of what was happening. I was to be moved a long way south to an area I hadn't even heard of before, because my dad was getting a new job.

"As well as this, I would most likely never see my friends again.

"Soon it was moving day and I left school that day with tears in my eyes, I would never see my friends, or the school, Estcourt Primary School, ever again.

"I walked home that day in a lonely silence and when I got home, I packed my bag and bid a sad farewell to the home I had grown up in and come to know and love.

"It was very cramped in the back of the car and I watched in a sad and gloomy mood as we left Hull.

"The drive down here was long, tiring and by the end of it we were all incredibly stiff and grouchy.

"It took me a while to settle in but I survived and I'm glad of it!"