2013 TOP TEN in Hedon Blogging

2013 has been the busiest year yet for the Hedon Blog. But what were the most popularly read pages?

The following – in reverse order – makes up our Top Ten according to our official statistics:

10. Arrests made after Hedon explosion. This was the news on June 8th that three Holderness men had been arrested following an explosion on Market Hill two days earlier. 988 views.

9. Cannabis Factory in Hedon. This was the posting of a video on the Hedon Blog revealing the state of a rented house after tenants had used it as a drugs farm. 1,006 views.

8. New Mayor “Need to regain order and dignity”. Following the resignation of Jim Lindop as the 66th Mayor of Hedon in November, new 667th Mayor of Hedon Councillor John Dennis made clear his intention to restore public confidence in Hedon Town Council once again. 1,053 views.

7. View local planning applications on East Riding Council Website. Despite being originally posted in September 2009 (although updated as the ERYC council website has changed over the years), this remains a short popular article. It has appeared in our Top Ten every year! 1,056 views.

6. Vote for our Kelly for Miss GB! When 25-year-old Kelly Winter from Hedon, already a Miss East Riding, stood for Miss GB 2013 in October/November, then local people rung up and texted their support for her in the public voting section of the competition. This secured her second place in the public voting stage and a place in the final of the competition! 1,110 views.

5. “Beware the Burglar” warning! Local neighbourhood policeman PC Bob Pyle’s advice about securing our property against opportunist burglars and robbers really struck home with local residents. It led to that article being shared over 200 times on Facebook. 1,458 views.

4. Hedon’s Late Night and Hull’s Midnight Pharmacies. Another short notice written in September 2009 that remains popular. Search engines find this articles as people look for local information about chemists that are open late. 1,649 views.

3. Hedon Mayor Resigns! The shocking scenes at the Hedon Town Council chamber, when Councillor Jim Lindop, his Mayoress wife Sue and long-standing Town Councillor Ann Suggit resigned and walked out, were outlined on the Hedon Blog in a story that would soon be taken up by other media outlets. 3,208 views.

2. Hedon – Scene of Bomb Scare! When a small explosion took place at Market Hill car park in the early hours of 6th June, it led to Hedon becoming the centre of media attention. Nobody was hurt in the explosion, but it led to the car park being closed to the public as police conducted a forensic search of the incident area. Whilst three men were arrested, the police have still to release any public details about the type of explosive substance used, or the results of the investigation into the incident. 4,131 views.

…. And so to our most popular viewed article of 2013… << drum roll >>

1. Parcel Delivery Fraud Warning from Neighbourhood Police. PC Bob Pyle has secured the number one spot with his warning about a public scam being uncovered in the Humberside area. This might seem a surprising Number One as it’s not a news story just about Hedon, but we like to think it reflects the fact that the Hedon Blog aims first and foremost to be a public service conveying useful information to residents. Remarkably, this article was shared on Facebook 724 times and received our highest viewing figures ever for a single article of 7,327 views!

As well as the above, there is one story we particularly enjoyed doing, and that was the one about Wally the Ostrich escaping – this led to an international search being conducted with Hedon ex-pats from around the world reporting sightings of the fugitive bird! Great fun!

Many thanks to our readers for your continued support of the Hedon Blog and for continuing to supply us with your events news, notices and other items – these, whilst not appearing in the top ten – are the mainstay of the content on the Hedon Blog and ensures that people keep coming back to read more.

May your 2014 bring you good health and happiness!

Happy New Year 2014!