SUNDERLAND

2007-09-11T13:50:00.001-07:00

Sunderland is on the Northeast coast of England on the banks of the river Wear, mid way between the River Tyne to the north and the River Tees to the south. It is the largest city in the North between Leeds and Edinburgh, with a recorded population of almost 300,000. Sunderland used to be the biggest shipbuilding town in the world, at one time building over 50% of new ships in the world, with sometimes as many as three launches in a single hour. Now it would be hard to find any evidence of the great shipbuilding past at all, except for the Sunderland Maritime Heritage Centre in Church Street East, where volunteers work daily to restore old ships which they can acquire. The public are welcome to view this fascinating work on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Being a coastal city allows visitors to Sunderland to benefit from all that the
seaside has to offer by way of water based sports at the marina with over 200 moorings and wide public walkways, Adventure Sunderland, the new Water Sports Centre overlooking Roker beach, offering water-sports activities such as sailing, canoeing and kayaking, and a very active yacht club
The National Glass Centre is a short walk from the marina, along the sculpture trail of public art, reflecting the cities history and heritage, a riverside ribbon of sculptures in glass, concrete, wood, stone, brick, bronze and steel. In the Glass Centre, you can watch skilled craftsmen make a variety of items in glass, workshop demonstrations, and even try your skill at blowing glass. There is a rolling programme of exhibitions and free gallery talks. You are invited to walk on the glass roof.
St. Peter’s Church next to the Glass Centre was built in the year 674, one of the first stone built churches in England, which houses fragments of the oldest stained glass in the country. It was here that the Venerable Bede wrote the first history of England, the art of glass-making was first introduced to the UK, and where the renowned Saxon Bible, the Codex Amiatinus was produced. The church has been nominated for World Heritage Site status.
The Stadium of Light is just a short walk away, home to Sunderland Football Team which has recently gained promotion to the Premiere Division. Guided tours of the 49,000 seat stadium are offered daily. A 50 metre Olympic size swimming pool is being right next door. Named the Sunderland Aquatic and Wellness Centre, it will be one of many new landmarks in modern day Sunderland. Nearby, in Newcastle Road, is a bowling alley.
The city centre is less than a mile away across Wearmouth Bridge, with The Bridges Shopping Centre, a modern covered complex of over a hundred of the big name stores, as well as smaller independent shops, and a covered indoor market. Here also is the Crowtree Centre, a large indoor leisure complex offering an indoor bowling green, swimming and other indoor sporting facilities.
Seaburn and Roker are the twin seaside resorts of Sunderland with miles of wide prime sandy beaches and promenades to walk along. Seaburn is home to a seaside
fairground, a leisure centre with a fitness suite, many indoor sports facilities and soft play areas and an annual singing competition. Roker Park is a Victorian park with a bandstand, a lake for model boats, play and picnic areas and a miniature scale railway. During the summer season, entertainment is organised for children, a bowls competition, and bands play in the bandstand. Roker is the venue of the annual International Air Show run by the City Council, the biggest free event of it’s kind in Europe watched by over one million people, the Great Women’s Run for cancer research and the Pier to Pier Run, a scenic coastal run of 10km.
The city is served very well by mainline train services and a regional metro train service which both run right into the heart of the city, and a new bus interchange.
The Museum and Winter Gardens are just off the city centre, set in the
beautiful Mowbray Park with its small lake, flowered gardens and almost a dozen
statues and works of art. Housed in the Museum are galleries documenting the great industrial past of the city in pottery, glassmaking, shipbuilding, natural history, archaeology and natural science, and an art gallery with a programme of temporary exhibitions and computer interactive displays.
In the Winter Gardens, view over 2000 exotic plants, flowers and trees in individual micro climates, take in amazing views of the tropical rainforest and 30 ft high water feature from the treetop walkway and explore the Fern Gully. The Civic Centre is nearby, a modern building built in the figure of 8 in decorative face
bricks.
Sunderland boasts no fewer than five golf courses, as many leisure centres including the indoor and outdoor Puma Tennis Centre next to Silksworth Sports Complex, which boasts a 165m long floodlit dry ski slope, two nursery slopes, and a park for wheeled sports catering for skaters, boarders, bladers and BMX bikers, and a further 5 skate, boarders and bike parks around the City.
Fulwell Windmill, a fully restored 200 year old working windmill just north of the city centre, is open to the public. Explore the five floors with a demonstration of corn milling and there is also a visitor centre.
Sunderland Greyhound Stadium is a great venue for a meal and a night out, and this is just a mile from Fulwell Mill.
Back on the coast is Souter Point lighthouse, where visitors can climb the steps to the top to get a close-up view of the light, and look far out to see and up the
coastline. Another windmill is nearby, but this is not open to visitors.

It is in Sunderland where Nissan built their award winning car making plant, and just outside the gates of Nissan is the North East Aircraft Museum with 20 aircraft on display, static displays of aero engines, a full size real cockpit with wheelchair
access, bombs including an atom bomb, and 3 hangars full of artefacts and
memorabilia related to flying. Pride of place is a fully intact Vulcan bomber. The Museum is staffed entirely by enthusiasts and volunteers, with very modest admission charges.
The Sunderland Empire Theatre is 100 years old, and the largest theatre outside of London capable of staging major west-end shows such as The Producers, 42nd Street, River Dance, Guys and Dolls, South Pacific, High Society, opera, pantomime and musicals. The Royalty Theatre is the largest independent theatre in the UK, hosting a programme of drama, comedy and pantomime. There is also a large multiscreen cinema complex near the City centre. The Arts are well provided for, with the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art housed in the City Library and Arts Centre, the Reg Vardy Gallery in the University of Sunderland, and the University of Sunderland Design Centre is open to everyone to view the displays.
From the arts to heritage, music and theatre, sport and leisure, the spoken and written word, Sunderland offers events for everyone. There are 20 public libraries, all with free internet access and a programme of events for the young.
Lovers of the outdoors can benefit from the many parks dotted all over the city, the largest being Herrington Country Park which has large lakes, home to breeding pairs of Berwick swans, ducks and other wild waterfowl, a large play park for children, an amphitheatre with a planned performance of a romantic comedy by Shakespeare, a skateboard park, and tracks for walking, cycling and horse riding.
Guided nature walks are offered. Annual exhibitions are also staged here such
as pop concerts, motor shows and the annual Durham County Agricultural Show.
Sunderland Heritage Guided Walk Programme also offers supervised walks locally on various days in different locations, and Sunderland Rambling Club meets for walking tours further afield.
Penshaw Monument, one of the North-East’s most prominent local landmarks built in 1844 in memory of Lord Lambton, modelled on the Temple of Hephaestus, standing tall on Penshaw Hill overlooking the park. Climb the hill to the top for
panoramic views of the area.
Sunderland has a strategic place in the National Cycling network. It is the start of the C2C route to the Irish sea, usually taken from West to East finishing at Roker, the Three Rivers Route between Sunderland, Newcastle, Consett and
Middlesbrough, The Coast and Castles Route to Edinburgh, The W2W route
through the Durham Dales crossing the Pennines to the South Lakes, as well as
being on the 3,500 mile North Sea Cycle Route linking Sunderland to Scotland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and The Netherlands. Peter Darke cycle shop at the corner of High Street West and John Street hires out cycles for £12 daily, and a tandem for £20 daily.
Washington Wetland Centre, managed by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, is
within the Sunderland Borough, also Washington Old Hall, the 12th century ancestral home of George Washington, first President of the United States of
America. Washington hosts the annual International Friendship Festival, where communities from around the world have come for over 20 years to attend the International Kite Flying Festival. Here too is Arts Centre Washington, with a
very active programme, art galleries and a monthly Art Mart.
Talking of arts and crafts, try pottery painting at Rosebud Ceramics near the Park Lane interchange. They supply the pottery piece of your choice, and you or your kids get to decorate it as you wish, then collect it 4 days later after it's been fired. Ideal for kids parties or just to fill in time on a rainy day.
The fashion conscious lady visitors to the City need to be aware of the open secret that all Sunderland WAGS know. There is a designer fashion clothes shop in Chester Road opposite the Royal Hospital visited often by locals, hospital staff and ladies from around the country looking for a real bargain in top quality
fashion. This boutique is called Kasimba, and being a dress agency, it offers quality fashion where everything is less than 50% of original ticket price.
So whatever your lifestyle or interests, be it the seaside, countryside or town life, come rain or shine, indoors or outdoors, Sunderland has programmes covering music, theatre, sport, the arts and heritage, and is ready and more than capable of providing for your every need.
The University of Sunderland is a tremendous asset to the City, with modern buildings and unequalled student accommodation, bringing the City to life with multicultural activity. The University has played a significant part in getting Sunderland recognised officially as one of the seven most IT intelligent communities in the world, and a recent study rated it one of the UK's top five places to do business with.
The Sunderland Echo is the local evening award winning newspaper, one of the finest in the Country and published 6 days a week. The editor is Rob Lawson, a Sunderland born family man, whose mission is to report local news to local People, leaving the big Nationals to report on National news. The Echo is a major employer in Sunderland, with over 450 local people working hard every day to cover local events, including all the news about Sunderland AFC and all the other sport that is happening in the region.
Whatever your lifestyle or interests, be it the seaside, countryside or town life, come rain or shine, indoors or outdoors, Sunderland has programmes covering music, theatre, sport, the arts and heritage, and is ready and more than capable of providing for your every need.
Having read this far into my blog, I presume you found it useful and informative. I thank you for your patience and interest. I invite you to post a comment now, and if you need any further information which cannot be answered by the links I have given, please just ask.

kasimba

SUNDERLAND