‘Hessle Road was the beating heart of the city’s fishing industry but it was under attack – from the cod wars and the council. The people in this picture were all moved out’
I saw these women leaving Marr’s fish-processing factory in Hull one Friday lunchtime in December 1977, wearing headscarves and carrying shopping bags, their white overalls underneath their coats, after a morning of filleting and packing fish. I expect many of them were thinking about their Christmas shopping, but who knows? I liked the reflection in the puddles, the row of chimney stacks behind, even though I had to stand in the mud to get the shot. Looking back, I can see how it relates to the whole history of Hessle Road, which was the beating heart of Hull’s fishing industry.
Deep-sea trawling, which is the basis of the city’s fishing fortunes, was the most dangerous industry in the world: they used to say for every miner killed, four fishermen died at sea. Less than a decade before this photo was taken, after three trawlers sank, killing 58 men, Lillian Bilocca from Hessle Road led a women’s movement that became known as the “headscarf revolutionaries” to improve safety at sea.
