About

An Alphabet of Hull is a community craft project conceived and coordinated by Hull-based creatives Miranda van Rossum and Hanna Lutkin. The aim of the project was to create 26 individual pieces, one for each letter of the alphabet, each representing a Hull person, place or thing, and to bring them together in a city-wide Alphabet Trail.

The alphabet

The project was soft launched in September 2025, with a request for suggestions for the alphabet via social media and groups of our acquaintance. Over 100 people responded, and we finalised our alphabet in November 2025.

The pieces

The pieces measure ca. 2m x 1m, and for the most part use wire mesh mounted on a wooden frame as their base. This base was decorated with the capital letter, the rest of the word and a visual representation of the theme. This was done using a variety of techniques, including cross stitch-style weaving, knitting, crochet and quilting, as well as adding other decorative elements.

Each piece was created by a different community group or organisation, and it's been great to see how they took the basic premise described above and made it their own.

The groups

Groups were recruited from the start of 2026, for the most part via social media. There were no selection criteria or complicated selection processes - anyone who was willing to take part was welcome to do so. Letters were allocated on a first come, first served basis.

As may be obvious from the above, we didn't set out to ‘target’ specific groups, but we are really pleased with the range and variety of participants we managed to attract: craft groups, visitors to The Big Malarkey, Hull Fostering, Malet Lambert School, Matthew's Hub, Friends of Alderman Kneeshaw Park and Scrapstore, to name but a few. More info about the groups involved can be found under each letter.

The locations

When choosing locations to display the finished pieces, we strove to find ones that had some relevance to the theme of the piece. In a number of cases, that meant that pieces stayed where they were created, as the groups in question had deliberately chosen letters with which they had a connection.

The trail

The trail is on for at least three months from Saturday 24th October. Pieces are located across the city (mostly indoors) and are free to access. Please see individual letters for addresses and opening times.

Thanks & final words

This project was entirely unfunded, with all groups supplying their own materials, with the exception of the mesh (supplied by us).

We are grateful for a number of contributions in kind:

• To Men in Sheds, for creating nearly half the wooden backing frames;
• To the Makerspace at Central Library, for hosting the workshops to create the signs accompanying each piece, and producing these signs;
• To Ron Lutkin, for helping to transport frames and finished pieces;
• To Stan Lutkin, for support with creating the website; and
• To The Deep, Hull Libraries, Princes Quay, the Tigers' Trust and the University of Hull, for hosting a number of pieces.

We would also like to thank our amazing participants for putting their heart and soul into creating what we think is a wonderful celebration of all things Hull.

We really hope you enjoy our Alphabet Trail!

Miranda and Hanna