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ONCE the champagne ran dry and the hangovers subsided, there was a problem that Steve Bruce could not ignore ahead of Hull City's Premier League return in August.

Nine different goalkeepers had been used during three years in the Championship and not one had been able to propose a long-term solution.

David Stockdale, the dependable figure who had helped win promotion last term, found himself priced out of a permanent move by parent club Fulham, while a pursuit of Leicester's Kasper Schmeichel never got through the front doors of the King Power Stadium.

That left Bruce with his gaze drawn to Istanbul, Besiktas and Allan McGregor.

Convincing the Scotland international to leave Turkey just 12 months after his arrival from Glasgow Rangers, Bruce was finally able to end his arduous search for a new number one for the princely sum of £1.5m.

If there was ever any doubt over a 31-year-old new to English football, McGregor has quietly and quickly proved himself worthy of the Premier League stage. In 13 starts for the Tigers he has conceded just 14 goals and made mistakes that would struggle to fill a hand.

A fourth clean-sheet of the season (understudy Steve Harper secured City's other) was his best yet.

In a drab contest that the Tigers had edged for an hour without taking their chances, McGregor was eventually the difference between his side escaping with a point and nothing at all. Just as City had rued the heroics of Asmir Begovic, Stoke cursed those of McGregor.

Two exceptional saves inside the final 20 minutes spared the Tigers from a deflating defeat.

First McGregor got down low to deny Peter Crouch's point-blank header, rendering Stephen Ireland offside despite converting the rebound, and then he found the agility to turn Crouch's low drive around the post. Ryan Shawcross headed against the bar from the resulting corner, but McGregor had earned his fortune.

Although a goalkeeper is never far from a crisis on the tightrope they walk each week, McGregor is earning his corn as City's number one. Curtis Davies and Tom Huddlestone have earned most plaudits of the summer arrivals, but McGregor has so far offered the greatest value for money. The fact Bruce and supporters no longer fret about the number one shirt says all you need to know.

Relegation anxieties, too, are being kept from the door. A 19th point of the campaign was as ugly as the weather that swirled around the KC Stadium on Saturday evening, but represented another step along the road to safety.

For City, the gap above the bottom three is stretched to six points. With just this weekend's trip to West Brom, a club without a manager following Steve Clarke's weekend sacking, to come before Christmas, there is every cause to enjoy the festivities that lie in wait.

The Tigers are hardly galloping towards safety and never will so long as goals remain so hard to find, but this survival campaign is proving to be a triumph for defensive strength. Just three goals have been leaked in eight games at the KC Stadium now. Even the invincibles of Manchester City have shipped five on home soil.

The Premier League's best two defences overall, Everton and Southampton, have conceded 15 as opposed to City's 19. In 16 games, only the Saints have found a way to score more than two past Bruce's men. So long as that continues, the Tigers will not have a relegation worry in the world.

City are a predictable yet effective group and a stalemate with Stoke underlined as much. There were chances to win it and opportunities to lose, but having lost to Crystal Palace three weeks earlier, lessons had been learned. Make sure something comes from these games, anything.

The opening hour suggested one winner of a fixture that Sky had inexplicably chosen to beam around the nation. It cannot have taken long for the broadcasters to regret their decision, just hours after rivals BT Sport had screened a nine-goal attacking feast between Manchester City and Arsenal.

Here it was scraps, but all were falling off the table into the home side's lap early on. Ahmed Elmohamady, much improved since his switch to right wing-back, brought a fingertip save out of Begovic with a volley bound for the top corner, before teeing up Yannick Sagbo to be denied by the keeper low at the near post. Davies, rising above all around him, should have done better when heading Tom Huddlestone's free-kick wide.

Begovic again denied Elmohamady after the break with a scrambling save to keep out the Egyptian's back-post header, a move that proved to be City's last attacking hurrah. And that was with half an hour remaining.

It was then that Stoke, to their credit, found an urgency and drive that had been absent from their approach. A spurned counter-attack set up by a misunderstanding between Jake Livermore and Maynor Figueroa provided the impetus and the Potters grew.

Shawcross missed a golden chance when failing to connect inside the six-yard box, while McGregor stood up to be counted after an hour that had barely seen him make a contribution of note. The offside flag correctly denied Ireland from close range once McGregor had saved brilliantly from Crouch.

Fifteen minutes from time, Shawcross struck the crossbar with a looping header but to see either side emerge with three points would have been an injustice. A point was all either side warranted from a game that struggled to leave an imprint on the imagination.

The greater spectacle came from campaigners against the proposed name change to Hull Tigers. After close to 500 supporters attended a public meeting at Tigers Lair ahead of kick-off, the peaceful protests continued with a volume that increases by the week.

That momentum behind the City Till We Die group is building and so too is City's points tally. Owner Assem Allam and his vocal opposition can at least agree to raise a festive glass to the latter.

LIKE many soldiers returning from the horrors of the First World War, Jack Drake did not talk much about his experiences.

There were snippets, of course. A few vague anecdotes as to where Jack and his brothers in arms had served as part of the 1st Hull Heavy Battery. But few of the stoic heroes who came home after "the war to end all wars" went into huge detail about what they had seen and endured.

It says something of the fate that awaited many of the Hull men, part of the Service Battalions of the East Yorkshire Regiment, who set sail from the banks of the Humber bound for East Africa in 1914, that many would later claim they wished they had been sent to the front in Europe.

There, they said, "at least you knew what you were going to die of", instead of long, lingering, deaths from diseases such as malaria, typhoid and the blackwater fever that befell many East Yorkshiremen dispatched to the southern hemisphere.

For the main theatre of war on the Western Front, where soldiers perished in their hundreds of thousands on infamous battlefields such as the Somme and Ypres, there are reams of information, diaries and archive material for historians to pour over.

But for those who volunteered for the Hull Pals – and were then drafted into the first subscription-raised heavy artillery division – much of what they did had been lost to the mists of time. Until now.

A new book following the soldiers written by Rupert Drake, the grandson of signaler Jack, is seeking to shed a light on what the Hull men achieved.

Called The Road To Lindi: Hull Boys In Africa, the book is the result of nine years of research by globetrotting engineer Rupert, 54, who lives in Vietnam.

Intrigued by his grandfather's story, he decided to dig further into Jack's wartime exploits – a labour of love that has flourished into a history of the whole Hull company and its colourful cast of characters.

But it nearly did not get off the ground at all.

"My grandfather was a man of few words," says Rupert.

"He was an old man when I was born and, as was the way with old soldiers, he never really talked much about what he did in the war.

"He had a notebook with details about it but when he died, it was accidentally thrown away so I wasn't sure whether I'd be able to find out any more.

"When I started to look into the history of the unit, I found there is actually very little written about it. But I was determined to try to fill in some of the blanks.

"Luckily, I was corresponding with some cousins in America and it turned out they had a photocopy of his notebook. That was my starting point."

Starting his epic research journey in 2004, Rupert set out by finding out the names and serial numbers of everyone in the unit, and then sending 600 handwritten letters to people with "unusual names" he thought might have links with it.

"I'm the king of the long shots," says Rupert.

"But it was surprising how many replies I got back. Many people wrote back with information, diaries and some fantastic pictures.

"Although I wanted to write a history of the unit, I wanted to focus on the story of the men who served in it as much as possible. I wanted to get as many first hand accounts as I could."

The Hull Heavy Battery played a vital role in East Africa, working its way through what is now Tanzania and Kenya and battling against a determined German guerilla campaign.

The African campaign's importance is still debated by historians but without its actions many of the trade routes that supplied the allied war effort, such as the Suez Canal, may have been under threat from the Germans.

On a more human level though, fighting the enemy was only half the battle for the Hull soldiers not used to the hot, dusty and uncomfortable climate.

Disease was rife. Rupert estimates that in excess of one third of all troops in East Africa were permanently unfit for duty during the rainy season due to illness. Jack Drake himself suffered frequent bouts of malaria while the Chigoe flea and ticks were a constant disease-bearing nuisance.

No one was immune. The men who made up the unit represented a wide cross-section of Hull's community.

While Jack Drake was a tenant farmer, of Goxhill, who would regularly travel by paddle ferry to sell his produce in Hull's teeming markets. His comrades included people from all walks of life.

"It was a typical mix, people from all walks of life," says Rupert.

"There were solicitors and professional people, trawlermen, a rat catcher and even one man who was a bouncer in a brothel – and a fair few deserters.

"But, by doing the research, I feel like I've got to know the men and especially my grandfather. It's been a fascinating experience unearthing this part of Hull's history that had been a little bit forgotten."

Although born in Newark, author Rupert Drake feels strong affinity for Hull. His grandfather Jack worked a tenant farm at Goxhill, on the south banks of the Humber, and was a regular visitor to the city, travelling by paddle-driven ferry to sell his barley and vegetables.

It was for this reason that Jack enlisted in Hull in December 1914, following the outbreak of war, rather than into other nearby Army units being formed in Lincolnshire. Due to his skills with horses, learnt on the farm, he was posted to the 1st Hull Heavy Battery still being formed at the East Hull Barracks in Holderness Road.

Rupert says his grandfather was not "overly keen" on soldier life but, like many young men in 1914, felt it was his patriotic duty to volunteer.

During the Second World War, Jack served in the Home Guard. He died in 1983 aged 92.

• The Road To Lindi: Hull Boys In Africa is published by Reveille Press priced £17.99 and is available from Amazon and Waterstones. Visit reveillepress.westernfrontassociation.com

RETAILERS are bracing themselves for an onslaught of shoppers in what is expected to be the busiest weekend before Christmas. Stores were already heaving with people looking to bag a bargain this weekend, in what was billed as the busiest nationally.

However, shops in Hull are expecting an even bigger windfall on Saturday and Sunday - dubbed 'shoppergeddon' - as schools break up and people finish work.

With more than 50 stores, St Stephen's Shopping Centre in Ferensway was brimming with shoppers taking advantage of the penultimate weekend before Christmas.

Jim Harris, manager of St Stephen's, said: "It's been a very good weekend.

"And I think it is going to get even better. I think in Hull it will peak next weekend so there is still more to come."

Mr Harris said, over the weekend, about 86,000 people visited the Ferensway centre, up 10 per cent on the same time last year.

And he says he expects next weekend to be the same with even more shoppers cramming the stores in the last weekend before Christmas.

He said: "Shoppers at say Meadowhall, York and Leeds tend to see the busiest time about now but, for us in Hull, shopping tends to be up towards Christmas.

"People are finishing work next week and the schools are off, so we are anticipating next weekend will be up 10 per cent on last year as well."

He says the number of Christmas bargains are also driving shoppers to the stores.

"There are some cracking bargains around," he said.

"Lots of shops have 20 or 30 per cent off so there are some great bargains for the shoppers and they are there now.

"Previously, people might have waited, knowing they were going to get more off in the sale, but those sales are out there now."

He says another driver is people who shop online will now not be secure in the knowledge their gifts will arrive for Christmas so are taking to the shopping centres and high streets.

"People also secretly love the hustle and bustle, seeing the decorations, having a Christmas coffee and having banter with staff in the stores."

EYMS buses reported minor delays on its services as the city centre was packed with shoppers.

It tweeted shoppers could not fit onto crossings in Ferensway as people clamoured to bag a Christmas bargain.

Staff at Jane Norman say trade has been brisk all week.

Katie Moulds, store manager, said: "We have been heaving. We are normally busy at this time of year but we have taken quite a lot of money.

"We have had quite a few promotions on and, at the moment, we have 25 per cent off everything."

The store is also expecting to begin its pre-Christmas sale this week.

Nationally, it was expected around £2.5bn went into tills at stores across the country on Saturday alone.

Forecasters said about nine million people were due to be out shopping at the peak time of 1.55pm.

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The former home of the Hull branch of the Royal British Legion has been sold at auction for £61,000. It is not known if the building on Beverley Road, which is in need of major repairs, will be renovated or levelled to make room for a new development.

Auctioneers Eddisons had put a guide price of £45,000 on the property, which comes with a tenanted workshop at the rear. The building had belonged to the charity for more than 90 years.

Some members of the branch were upset at the decision taken by the charity's London headquarters to quit the premises after a survey revealed damage to its foundations.

Early last year, the branch, which organises Hull's annual Poppy Appeal, moved to 78 Spring Bank. The legion has a three-year lease on the building, which is owned by the Goodwin Development Trust.

The auction was held at Leeds United's football ground, Elland Road. Tony Webber, head of auctions at Eddisons, said: "Market conditions have certainly improved since this time last year."

A MAN has been jailed for two-and-a-half years for stealing £8,000 from a woman he called his "second mother". John Fennell is said to have stolen the money from a safe belonging to Lesley Wright, 62, of east Hull, to help pay a drug debt for another member of his family.

Hull Crown Court was told how Mrs Wright will struggle to trust anyone ever again.

A statement from Mrs Wright, read by Prosecutor Jhana Jobes, said: "I was left the money by my mother and wanted to leave it to my children. I cannot believe someone I trusted would do this.

"He said I was like a mother to him. I am devastated. I will never be able to trust anyone again after this."

Fennell, who was previously in a relationship with Mrs Wright's daughter, Naomi Paddison, was allowed to remain in the house despite the fact the couple had separated. He tried to cover up the theft by swapping the safe with a similar one.

Mrs Jobes said: "The defendant helped fix the safe in the house. Sometime in April, Mrs Wright had taken £2,000 out for a neighbour.

"She couldn't get into the safe in August and found out it had been glued to the wall and then noticed it came away. When it was taken to someone to access, it was found there was nothing in it."

Fennell was the only other person to have a key for the safe.

Mrs Jobes said: "Outside, she found a box of a new safe and under the bed the defendant was sleeping in, she found the old safe. The bed had been cut out and the old safe was there.

"He had gone to a lot of trouble to hide the safe. There was also a crowbar found under the bed."

Fennell, who appeared via a video link from Hull Prison, also pleaded guilty to the theft of a HTC mobile phone in May, and two counts of damaging car windows with a baseball bat.

Defending Fennell, John Thackray, said: "While this is a mean offence and a breach of trust, at an early stage he accepted responsibility.

"He still maintains his description of her as a second mother and he is full of remorse. He knows he let her down badly. If he finds work, he will repay her.

"He is still in contact with her daughter and he says they may renew their relationship in due course.

"There is no comfort in the reason behind the theft – paying a drug debt for another member of the family.

"There was a lot of pressure from family members about a debt. He became tempted and stole the money."

The father-of-two was sentenced to two years in prison for the theft of the £8,000 in the safe and was given a three-month consecutive sentence for the theft of the mobile.

Fennell was also sentenced to three months for each of the offences of damage to the cars – running concurrently.

Recorder Hirst said: "I have listened carefully to the mitigation. There has to be imprisonment. The theft of the safe was such a serious breach of trust."

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PLANS have been revealed for 200 homes and the transformation of medical facilities in the Anlaby area. Residents will be given the chance to look at the proposals for 20 acres of land in Lowfield Road when Lovel Developments holds a public consultation.

The plans, which can be viewed at Anlaby Village Hall tomorrow, from 4pm to 7pm, include additional hospital facilities believed to be at the Spire Hospital, and a new NHS medical centre. Lovel Developments managing director Philip Lovel will be joined by architects and planning consultants involved in the scheme tomorrow.

Mr Lovel said: "Central Hull has enjoyed significant investment in local medical facilities in recent years, but this has not been matched in the villages to the west of the city. One of the reasons for this is a shortage of suitable sites and we know from our own discussions with medical practitioners in the area that they see this project as a vital opportunity to improve what they can offer."

The new NHS centre would occupy 7,000sq ft on two floors and would include parking and improved waiting and examination rooms and the capacity to accommodate a wider range of specialist practitioners. The additional hospital facilities would occupy 9,500sq ft on two floors and would accommodate medical departments and administrative staff.

The housing element of the development would see the construction of 200 new two, three and four-bedroom homes, including affordable dwellings, plus public open space and play areas.

Mr Lovel, who said the land proposed is allocated for development, said: "We are inviting people to come to our public consultation session and look at our proposals as we prepare to submit the planning application.

"There is a need for additional housing in the area and we have worked hard to come up with a scheme that provides that.

"The construction of a new medical centre will bring a considerable improvement to NHS facilities."

AN EAST Hull café is hoping to provide free meals on Christmas Day to those who cannot afford to make their own. The Rovers Return Café in Holderness Road has been serving up Christmas meals for the past three years but, up until now, has always charged £8 to allow it to cover costs.

Co-owner Barry Kipling wants to provide the meals for free to help relieve the financial strain the poorest can feel at Christmas.

He said: "As the food banks and such like are taking a phenomenal hit at the moment, we are thinking of doing it for free. We are hoping that other businesses might sponsor us to help cover the costs."

He also wants to broaden the range of people who come into the café on Christmas Day.

At the moment, the festive clientele are mainly pensioners, with no family to go to, and the homeless.

Mr Kipling said: "We want to try to get a bigger cross- section of the area to come in.

"Any person who is on their own or doesn't have anywhere to go on Christmas Day is welcome, the more the merrier.

"It's just nice to give something back to the community.

"We would like to get some families in. If they are on benefits and can't afford to make their own Christmas dinner, then they are more than welcome to come."

Between 50 and 60 people have attended in each of the previous years and the overall cost for the day comes to about £400.

Normally, there two sittings, at 11am and 1pm. However, the plan is to try to add another later in the afternoon.

"It's so busy, we don't actually get to eat our Christmas dinner until about 7pm," Mr Kipling said.

The café relies on volunteers from the local area to run the day and, over the past three years, a real community spirit has started to form.

Mr Kipling said: "We always have a nice atmosphere in here and more people would just add to that."

Donations do not have to be financial, Mr Kipling would welcome anything that could help cover the costs of preparing the food.

Last year, one company donated £850 of meat, which the café used in the meals.

The lunch is two courses and people can choose from five options for both the main dish and the dessert.

While Mr Kipling organises the day, the majority of the cooking is done by his partner, Jacqueline Newson.

IF you think you can help the Rovers Return Café meet their aim of providing free Christmas dinners, call Barry Kipling on 07968 005626.

Donations do not just have to be money, they can also be ingredients for the meals or even just an offer of help on the day. Also, if you think a free Christmas meal is something that could be use- ful for you or your family, Mr Kipling encourages you to pop along on Christmas Day.

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A FISHING trip turned to tragedy when a man died after taking two 'ecstasy bombs'. An inquest heard how Steven Monks, 27, collapsed at the Manor Carp Lake in Wilberfoss, near Pocklington.

He had gone to the fishing lake with his friend Danny Baldwin.

Mr Baldwin told the inquest he took three "ecstasy bombs" while Mr Monk took two, late on Friday, August 23. But in the early hours of Saturday, August 24, Mr Monks fell ill.

Mr Baldwin told the inquest in Hull the bombs are made from a paste of MDMA – the ingredient in ecstasy – and wrapped in cigarette paper before being swallowed.

He said: "We took the bombs to chill out.

"Once Steve set up the fishing equipment, he had another one. He then started to pace up and down and do weird things with his hands.

"He began sweating heavily and I was getting very concerned. I asked if I should call an ambulance, but he said he was ok.

"Steve lay down and became unconscious which is when I rang for help."

By the time paramedics turned up, Mr Monks was already dead.

Pathologist Dr Jonathan Medcalf told the inquest a potentially fatal dose of the powerful hallucinogenic drug PMA was found in Mr Monks' system. He said the drug can increase the heart rate and elevate the body temperature.

Dr Medcalf said Mr Monks died from heart failure caused by PMA toxicity.

Mr Monks was a civil engineer who lived in Featherstone in West Yorkshire. In a statement read to the court, Mr Monks's father Carl said his son was active and enjoyed the gym.

He said: "I knew he had taken cannabis when he was younger, but I was not aware he was using drugs now.

"We were so sad and upset at the death of our son. It was so sudden and unexpected.

Partner Zoe Burrows, with whom Mr Monks had two children, told the inquest he regularly used cocaine at the weekends.

"On the day he left to go fishing, he seemed awkward and I suspected he was going to do drugs. He later sent me a text to say he loved me and apologised for his earlier behaviour.

"It was the last time I heard from him."

Assistant coroner Rosemary Baxter concluded Mr Monks's death was accidental.

She said: "PMA is a potent hallucinogenic drug which affects the nervous system.

"Mr Monks' death was caused by him taking the drug without appreciating or understanding the consequences.

"He lost his life as a result of accidental death caused by the abuse and misuse of drugs."

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BUSINESSES and motorists are bracing themselves for traffic chaos as a main road into Hull closes this week. Network Rail is replacing a railway bridge that crosses Spring Bank West that will see the road closed through to the start of the year.

Motorists and traders have already suffered months of disruption as the company seeks to replace the structure. The road had been due to shut today but the closure has been deferred until tomorrow and will last until January 1.

Ian Blowman runs Upholstery Design, right next to where the work is taking place.

He said: "With Christmas, this is a very busy time. People like to redecorate their homes in time for the festive period.

"We have made every effort to try to make it clear to customers that we will remain open during the works. We have put something on our website to let them know.

"We also have a lot of deliveries coming, so we have emailed all our suppliers to tell them how to get here and make sure they don't try to come through the city centre.

"We are as prepared as we can be, but this really is the worst possible time for us."

Network Rail has faced criticism for the timing of the works but it claims it was advised by Hull City Council to carry out the work over the Christmas period.

The company has urged motorists to be patient.

A spokesman said: "Spring Bank West between Calvert Lane and Albert Avenue will be closed to traffic for two weeks from tomorrow while we reconstruct the existing life expired rail bridge.

"We are doing all we can to minimise the disruption this closure may cause to motorists, local businesses and residents. We would advise motorists to allow extra time for their journeys and plan ahead using the diversions in place.

"There will be a footpath available for pedestrians and dismounted cyclists.

"We thank road users and residents of Spring Bank West for their continued patience during these essential works."

Temporary traffic lights and road closures have already caused disruption for commuters, residents and businesses in the area.

Work was put back by two water leaks during Hull Fair.

As a result, Network Rail allowed engineer Murphys extra time to replace the bridge.

Network Rail has a 24-hour national helpline available on 08457 114141 for anyone with queries.

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