1159 Northern Rivera Begins

I have lived, and worked, close to the Rivers Tyne and the Wear, and the seven miles of picturesque coastline for thirty years, half my lifetime, and during this period I have witnessed the attempts of the local authorities to meet the challenges created by the demise of shipbuilding, coal and steel, and which together with the River Tees made the North East of England, the industrial capital of the world. I am not an economic or social historian or claim to have studied the history of the North East and its peoples in any depth, but I am confident that academics of the future will applaud the action taken over the past decade to begin the transformation of the region into one of the most interesting and exciting cultural, educational and tourist areas for young people and their families.

I believe I can demonstrate through pictures and simple words that commencing with the ancient Cathedral and University city of Durham, to the former industrial port of Sunderland beside the banks and mouth of the river Wear, and then along a coast to rival that of Devon and Cornwall, and then inland once more with the twin beacons of the ruins of Tynemouth Castle and Priory on the north bank and the now hidden ruins of the what was once the biggest Roman supply fort in Europe on the other, and onto what has already become the great tourist city centres outside of London in the United Kingdom, Newcastle with its twin local authority Gateshead this area can now claim to have become the Northern Rivera.

Durham, Sunderland, South Shields, Tynemouth, Newcastle and Gateshead, are all also excellent places from which to explore the region with to the North, the deserted coast of Northumberland and the film set Castle at Bamburgh, overlooking the dawn of British Christianity at Lindisfarne and the other Farne Islands, and in land the vast forests and sheep lands, and the grand reservoir lake of Keilder, merging into lowlands of Scotland, with its capital city, an hour away by train, and to the immediate west the Cumbrian Pennines and northern Lakes, with in the south west the country towns and wild open hill lands of Durham on over the mountains to Southern Lakeland, while in the South there are pretty villages of the North Yorkshire Moors, the land of Heartbeat and leading to the picturesque Robin Hood's Bay and Whitby, with the former Northern Rivera seaside spectacular of Scarborough, and the extraordinary city of York Minister to South, also an hour away by train.

For 2007 I have concentrated on the northern bank of the river Wear from main road and pedestrian Bridge into the City centre, to the new Roker Marina Village at its mouth, stopping first at the new university of Sunderland Campus, then the National Glass Centre and then the proposed world heritage sites of Wearmouth St Peters-St Paul's Jarrow where the journey will end, then along the beaches of Roker and the perfect Victorian style Roker Park, and then to Seaburn, where I lived for three decades, with a detour to Fullwell Mill and onto to the picturesque former mining community of Whitburn, and its coastal park from where over one hundred men and boys as young as twelve perished under the sea before the creation of the National Coal Board, in 1948, passed the Souter Lighthouse to the former Smugglers hideaway of Marsden Grotto where there are several bird sanctuary Rock stacks, with detours inland to the Cleaden village and hills, and to the vast Temple Park with its indoor leisure complex, and then back along the two miles of sweeping cliff topped grassland, the Leas, to the mile long sandy beaches of South Shields with its three month summer festival of free entertainments from local rock bands at the beachside amphitheatre to international entertainers commanding crowds over 10000 in one of three attractive adjacent parks, on up to the Lawe Top and the Arbeia fort where I live, and then back down the Tyne River bank to the new Ferry landing and the theatre cinema arts complex created from the former Custom's house, and on through the imaginative and boldly planned redevelopment of the riverside to Tyne Dock and Bedeworld at St Paul's.

In future years I will travel and part walk the length of the Tyne, stopping to cover the extraordinary developments at Newcastle and Gateshead all the way to Keilder, and then concentrate on the City of Sunderland to Durham.

These walks and travels are part of a contemporary art installation project 101 in which I am reflecting on my lifelong experience in the form of A 4 size cards, one for each hour until the age of 65, over 600000 cards in over 20000 sets representing each day, with between a quarter and a third of the work completed, divided between material which will be accessible and that which is confidential and will remain private, plus photographs with 260000 completed, 100 audio tapes and over 20 hours of unedited digital film.

1158 Sunderland Old Town and Docklands

My purpose in investigating the southern bank of the river Wear from the Wearmouth bridge to the docks was to take photographs of the buildings from the northern shore at a distance. I parked close the skyscraper flats and then could not immediately how to get down to the riverside. The first effort took me down only a few stops to a viewing platform where the evidence suggested a haunt for winos and druggies. The next half hidden stairs were steep with some of the flights without a handrail. I eventually made the embankment a short distance away from the skyscraper and one end of what I believe are two large blocks of attractive accommodation for 275 university students, the first development project of the Old Sunderland Riverside area. There is a small unused docks and the seaweed to the side showed the high and low tide marks.

Along the embankment there was a man at the railings in his thirties who invited me over to confirm how low the river had dropped with the tide. I suspect this was to deflect my attention for the young woman, at least from the hair peaking from coverings which wrapped everything except the head. The next build was at right angles to the river the former Wylam Wharf which has been converted to five floors of lofts where one the second floor the is a florescent sign the Spice of Bollywood A plaque reveals that used to be the Rose Line building which came into disuse in 1986 and was renovated in 1995. Also at right angles to the river is a new designed building Quayside House, occupied by the Port of Tyne Authority and an office based firm, with behind this a large terrace of luxury flats with penthouses on the top sixth floor,. The next building is the new fish quay building divided into two areas, the left is wholesale and the right the retail shop with large signs saying we do not haggle and we do no accept Scottish notes because of fakes. There is also an Italian restaurant Don Giovanni.

The quayside ends where the port land begins so I climbed the steep grass bank where a development of new attractive housing, provided I believe by a housing association sweeps up a continuation of the embankment to a hill. On the left there is a small local shop and a pub which extends down the embankment to form a boxing gym. There is then a newly decorated pub restaurant under new ownership before the road swing to entrance of the port. The gates are half a mile from the city centre and the railings marking the boundary of the port lands continue for at least a mile with large stretches of unused land to cleared land before the railway lines part of the rail freight business and then the series of interlocking docks. I investigated the area by car after walking back after reaching the large Victorian pub, the Welcome Tavern.

Running parallel to the riverbank and the port behind the new estate is a vast open stretch of grassland at least half a mile in length. I made my way further southward at one point to investigate a courtyard with marine flag standard suggesting a sea going connection where each dwelling had colourful array of patio plants. Next to the courtyard there is a development described as the Donnison restoration and re-se project for Living History North and where parked outside was a Jaguar car. I was on my way to look at the Church of Trinity the 1719 Parish Church of Old Sunderland now redundant. The build used to house the Town Council Chamber and Library. Next to it is the large cleared church yard.

I then made way back to the riverside cutting through what appeared to be the only remaining street of housing with a history, perhaps to late Victorian England and with nearby there three fifteen story tower blocks with an integral pub! In the same road parallel to the river are two interesting buildings. The first is the Eagle building This was a three storey seventeenth century Inn topped by a large stone Eagle. Sunderland born Kate Adie OBE was due to open the renovated building together with the adjacent Exchange building in 2004 after £5.6 million development for its owners the North East Civic Trust. However days before there a break in where all the individual businesses, including the Children's Hope Foundation was robbed and ransacked. After two break-ins in one year one firm moved out and I noted for rent notices. According to a local press article two young men were convicted of the burglary from the YMCA and nearby at the end of the road is the modern Salvation Army hostel.

In the 19th century this area of old Sunderland was the High Street and the Eagle building and Exchange were part of a complex which included a covered market, meeting and reading rooms and then inn 1836 they were used as Sunderland's Town Hall. From 1960 the area spiralled into decay and the area down to the docks developed a bad reputation as the economic base of the city also crumbled. The Exchange now has two faces. From the opposite bank it has the appearance of a civic mansion house and from the High Street it has a modern link an exhibition conference facility on the first floor, now marketed also for wedding receptions and banqueting, a music bar on the first floor and a restaurant in the basement. Thee third building component in this High Street Terrace provides post graduate accommodation.

On returning to my vehicle I decided to revisit the area adjacent to the docks which parallels a peripheral road out of Sunderland to the village of Ryhope and the A19 to Hartlepool, Middlesbrough and onto York and to London via the A1M and A1. I rarely ventured into this area, although when I rebuilt the front fences and entrance gates I purchased the wood from one of the merchants. There are several derelict buildings close to the docks and others with an air of decline matched by lots of small business ventures. There are more fashionable commercial business parks along the banks of the river to the A19 and at Doxford Park, and I came away with the feeling that the area is at the crossroads. However overall the development of old Sunderland riverside is impressive.

This completes the 2007 project except for a detour to Fullwell Mill and to Cleadon hill and Cleadon Village and back in South Shields a 2007 riverbank walk to the Custom House theatre cinema arts centre and then to St Paul's and Bede World Jarrow, and Jarrow Town Hall. In 2008 and 2009 I will undertake visits and walks along the banks of the Tyne to Newcastle and Gateshead and those of the Wear to Durham. I have already commenced to write the 2007 masterwork which will include over 1000 photos to which will be added some Winter weather shots at key sections, although the Seaburn area has already been photographed on Boxing Day and on New Year's Day, in snow time and on rough seas breaking over the Promenade. I am confident I can already make the case for recognition of the coast and its cities as forming the Northern Rivera.

1157 St Peter's and National Glass Centre

Today Bank Holiday Monday I completed the mile walk from the new Roker Marina Village to beneath the road and railway bridges which cross the Tyne into the City centre. It is far from picturesque yet it is one of the most important and interesting stretches of river banks in the UK, because included is the dawn of British Christianity, the first creation of stained glass in the UK which led to the largest glass making works in Victorian Europe, and a city rising to challenges of surviving in the 21st century with the development of a new university and a science business park. There are upmarket developments of riverside flats overlooked by refurbished local authority tower blocks.

I recommenced the journey back in time and into the future from the footpath at the Esso garage and now cooperative convenience store. The store has changed in its function and ownership several times, for several years it provided an inexpensive copying service with fax facilities, alongside a small baguette and other breads sandwich delicatessen, the original concept developed by the Subway network which has colonised every town and city, and which still continues also offering hot pieces of chicken. The sale of alcohol has developed into an extensive off licence, and there is now everything from fresh fruit and vegetables to frozen meals and household essentials. I give thanks at having a large supermarket and access to the range of other stores within the distance which those who now live on the riverbank or in the tower blacks have to travel to the garage unless they wish to make the additional journey across the Bridge into the city centre.


Along the pathway there is a second new housing development, built before the Roker Marina developments, St Peters Riverside and here by the towpath is another interesting work of art, this time the remains of a cottage, without roof and walls. Half a sideboard with a pile of plates, am open door with a coat hanging by. A roll top bureau, part of a fireplace, part of a settee, a chair, a table with some books, all made from a redish stone, and alas some graffiti. A little way further is the impressive building of the National Glass centre. When you approach from the roadway all you can see is the glass roof. This is a two storey structure within a single glass frame. At ground level facing the river is a good restaurant and coffee shop the Throwing Stones which offers for £10 and £12 a two or three course award winning lunch time menu, or try Eggs Benedict weekend breakfasts or live music with tapas on Friday evenings for £5 if booked in advance or a special Saturday evening do with the highlight a £60 champagne five course seafood bash held on August11th. Also on the ground floor is a shop and the lower glass factory and glass studio workshops There are exhibition areas on part of the first floor which also includes an amazing board room suspended on a frame of steel.

Most people often query the location of Sunderland, always regarded as a poor relation to Newcastle and Tyneside although hopefully this ignorance is changing, especially when a direct train line to London opens as an alternative to the GNER route via York and Durham to Newcastle, Edinburgh and Inverness. What is even less known is the unique part Sunderland has played in the history of glass making in the UK. It began with the first use of stained glass windows when in AD 675 Benedict Biscop, Abbot of Wearmouth Monastery brought over craftsmen from Gaul to train local people to make stained glass for the church of St Peters, and later glassmakers from Mainz assisted in making glass vessels. For a period of 400 years to 1600 glass making then flourished in southern England making use of the forests then covering Surrey and Sussex until banned by James 1st and attention switched back to North East England because of coal. The production centred on Newcastle with Sir Robert Mansell gaining rights covering the whole of England. Gradually after the civil war the craft developed once more in Sunderland with in 1836 James Hartley developing his works a little further along the bank of the River Wear at Deptford. The site had the advantage of coal from the Wearmouth Colliery which opened a year before and is now the Stadium of Light, home of Sunderland AFC with a large miner's lamp the remaining indication of 150 years of beneath ground toil. By 1860 this factory produce one third of plate glass in England ideal for the new railway stations and factories. The factory lasted until just before the commencement of the twentieth century when a member of the Hartley family joined forces with Alfred Wood to develop traditional stained glass making which remains in international demand to this day, with work provided to Westminster Abbey, St Paul's and the House of Commons.


Recently the Jopling's departmental store in the town centre survived yet another threat of liquidation but in 1885 Jopling's made his name by taking over the Wear Flint glassworks turn it into the one of the largest glass making factories in England and then in 1921 he acquired the UK rights from the American Corning-Pyrex to develop heat resistant glass ware for the UK and the factory has produced every piece of British Pyrex tableware.

Another factory concentrated on the need for glass bottles where one local bottle maker could produce 4000 in a week. With this background of large scale glass making production and specialist stained glass making it is not surprising that studio glass making has flourished and that the former Sunderland College of Technology and then Polytechnic should have pioneered courses in aspects of the craft, until with the creation of the university what is said to be the most comprehensive degree course in Europe has been established attracting students from all over the world.

Having concentrated on part of Sunderland's industrial and commercial heritage it is time to take a detour away from the river bank back towards the main road leading to the city centre. For set in a pleasant area of Parkland is St Peters 2009 nomination with St Paul's and Bede world Jarrow South Tyneside as a World Heritage site and if successful one cannot get bigger than that!

Benedict Biscop began St Peter's in 674 and St Paul's in 681. In the same era his travelling companion St Wilfred was building stone churches as Ripon, Hexham and York. The Venerable Bede, the earliest British ecclesiastical historian, born 673 on the lands of the monastery at Wearmouth is said to have been entrusted to the care of Benedict Biscop at the age of seven years and then to Coelfrith who in 681 was appointed Abbot at Jarrow Bede was then ordained deacon aged 19 and priest aged 30 but the extent to which he remained at Wearmouth or lived at Jarrow has been the subject of controversy although he described Wearmouth Jarrow as one monastery with to churches. After his death his remains were moved to Durham cathedral Unfortunately this earliest of monastery did not keep good records or any made have been lost so that apart from archaeological remains we now have to rely on Bede's Ecclesiastical History, his work on the Abbots of Wearmouth and an anonymous life of Abbot Coelfrith. My source for information has not been these original text but a gloriously illustrated a selection of his work by John Marsden with photographs by Geoff Green and translation of texts by John Gregory in a special Guild publishing edition of 1989. The Illustrated Bede. It has been my good fortune to have had the opportunity to have lived within walking of St Peters, passing every time I ventured into Sunderland City by car, but also to witness the creation of Bede World at Jarrow adjacent to St Paul's, but to have also live in the region of Durham and Hexham, to be able to visit York and to have a link with Beverley, to have been to Iona, staying at the community house for a month in 1961 while helping to organise the peaceful Holy Loch protest, to have had days out to Bam burgh and Lindisfarne, to Whitby, Melrose, Ripon, and Carlisle, cathedrals, minsters, churches abbeys and monasteries and spiritual centres.

My route back to the river wear took me through the new Sunderland university complex of buildings which dominate the riverside between the National Glass Centre and the Wearmouth Bridges into the City, although close to the Bridge is the conversion of a former warehouse in a six story development of St Peter's Wharf, Manhattan style Loft apartments commencing at £119,995, The best view of the University buildings at St Peters is from the opposite bank, because the individual buildings were too big for single photographs, let alone the complex of buildings. Across the river are several purpose built halls of residence enabling students to have north river banks perspectives.

The technical college was only established in 1901 and interestingly in the 1950's it was the first education centre to install a digital computer. Through the amalgamation of the Technical College, the School of Art and later the Teacher Training College, the Polytechnic came into being in 1969, and the University came into being in 1992. Lord Putnam became the Chancellor in 1998, retiring this year to become Chancellor of the Open University with degree ceremonies moving from the Empire Theatre to the Stadium of Lights since 2004.

The original Polytechnic and Campus buildings are on the West side of the city now with its own Metro train station, so that students are able if they wish to use the system with stops at the central bus and coach station and then the central train station before the stop at St Peters, by the Wearmouth Bridge so that students can then walk to the St Peter's campus or their residential accommodation. The popular students bars and eating places are on the central west side of the city.

At St Peters there is the School of Arts, Design Media and Culture along with a small base for Tyne Tees Television. The School also covers English, History, Politics and Religious studies.

A second school at St Peters covers Business, Law and Psychology. The Third covers Computing and Technology which in turn covers Engineering design and automotive technology. The Nissan car plant situation within the Sunderland Local Authority area is the most successful in Europe. There is a major Library, lecture theatre and restaurant cafeteria included in the five buildings, plus the Science Park and the Manor Quay building.

Dominating the promenade is a major work of sculpture which has a twenty foot or more many sided concrete base on which are at least fourteen large portholes enclosing white sculptured plaques about the river and the sea. On top of the base in a tall intricate metal tree with its trunk a shipyard crane. It sums up the regeneration of a city looking forward into the rest of the this century.

The traditional Wearmouth Road and pedestrian Bridge towering above the river, and towering over the Bridge is a new recently completed spectacular 14/15 storey block of flats, glass fronted towards the river and with a mixture of white marble looking stone and glass to the roadside. There is shop restaurant business ground level opportunity to be exploited as well as car parking levels.

Looking immediately under the Bridge there is a wilderness of green and decaying seating suggesting this is not area to visit in the darkness, High above on the opposite is another building which has won prizes for its design, a car park, and then there is a several acre site where the Vaux brewery once stood, acquired by a supermarket chain but which the City could is contesting seeking to extend its vision of the city future around its river. If what has been achieved far on its left bank at St Peter's is a guide then I hope the city wins the day, although admittedly I am yet to find it what has been planned.

1156 River Wearmouth

Memorable Bank holidays are usually dependent on the weather and most become blurred by the layers of subsequent experience. Yesterday was a good day with some writing, the washing up and the washing and drying underway, with a smoked salmon roll for half past tenses breakfast and away in the warm sunshine to the mouth of the river Wear.

The Bents park fields were full of young men playing football, as many as ten pitches, and there were add hoc groups on the Leas, one playing cricket. It was a long way in distance and time from the heightened perception of a Mediterranean morning but I was reminded, particularly as the whole Whitburn and Seaburn bay was shimmering freshness with sailing craft with colourful sails participating in the weekend Roker Regatta. At the park at Whitburn, the one I thought was called South Bents, there were paintings of local views hanging on the wire wall of the tennis court facing outward to the roadway.

I had hoped to park off the coast road by the Queen Vic but every space was filled so a dozen yards further I crossed over and turned into Benedict's road opposite the attractive new restaurant pub, the Harbour View which on weekend days offers a pensioner special roast for £3.95, and where opposite there was a previously unexplored pathway leading to an Italian restaurant at the top of the sailing training and experience centre, a four storey modern square of a building created as part of the development of the marina village on the two banks of the former North dock, and which also remains the home of the small Sunderland fishing fleet.

At ground level there are two single storey sideward extensions with the RNLB station store at one end and the Harbour newsagent store and teashop restaurant to the other.

I took the left route down several flights of steps to a pathway parallel to the river bank, taking a photograph of the Sunderland skyline before descending, and with to my left above the bank to the roadway there are tall blocks of flats twelve to fifteen storey, recently refurbished and transformed with pastel colours not out of place on a Mediterranean coastline. In the distance there are other blocks in the town shopping centre and towards the ongoing port of Wear on the seaward bank of the river. Two cranes signal a greater industrial past, reminders of which are evident with the pipework alongside the banking. From the higher level it is also possible to obtain an excellent view of the marina which contains over 100 craft, the majority ocean going, lined in a dozen rows facing the marina entrance and with others moored to its banks, and then with views into the main river basin which provides a wider stretch of water than that at the entrance to the Tyne. A further flight of steps leads me to the western marina promenade which is private property owned by the Marina Activities Centre and is not designated a Public Right of Way.

At the end of the steps there are several art works in wood and metal, some encasing a tree, one a fake stained glass door against a wall with portico while another is opening into a free standing door arch against which there is an oar. Further along towards the Activities centre there is a new mural fitted into the Victorian wall and at the centre itself is a blue plaque commemorating the C 2 C and which includes a bicycle emblem suggesting a different kind of activity, but to day I am not inclined to investigate further. There is a small car park backing the north side of the marina and three old men sit discussing the world and an overheard reference to yuppies suggests they are more likely to be local fisherman than residents of the village formed with a variety of imaginatively created terraced villas, cottages and flats are crowded with the smallest of outside spaces in three new streets on the eastern peninsular between the marina and original north pier.

Previously I attempted to explain that the old entrance to the River Wear has been retained with its two piers, the north retaining its lighthouse where as the southern has been removed in its entirety to Roker Cliff Park when the pier was shortened. The width of the entrance is sufficient for ocean tankers and cargo vessels, and naval ships to continue to visit, as they were once manufactured over mile inland up river. However in two outer piers were created, one the Roker Pier with its own lighthouse and the other the New South Pier, curbing towards each other at least half a mile out to sea thus creating an outer harbour breakwater to add further protection to the craft moored in the inner docks and which on the southern side of the river comprises of a series of major docks one leading to the other with locks and the Gladstone swing bridge and which run parallel to the sea, after which there are several oil depots, sewerage and gas works together with warehousing and other works along the coast, until some two miles and the edge of the city. Thus there is the contrast between an ongoing industrial and commercial southern coastline and that of the north, some seven miles, comprising two miles to Whitburn three and half to the Souter Lighthouse, four miles to Marsden Grotto, the two miles of the Leas and a further mile of the South Shields Beaches and which in total make up the Northern Rivera between the Rivers Tyne and Wear.

Returning to my walk on bank holiday Sunday, The new Marina Village is separate from the marina basin by tall red brick walls providing security and privacy but with the consequence that the walls form the view to the rear ground floor of dwelling ground floors of the dwellings. On the promenade at regular intervals sandstone murals have been inset each with a descriptive metal plagues e.g. "They held a grand party to celebrate. The wicked witch's castle was opened to the public and the good witch borrowed a broomstick to fly back to her island. While all the people cheered and danced on the beach," "These four carvings and story were created by the St Peter's riverside sculpture project." Another set were created by the sixteen members of the Monkwearmouth Local History Group. "Look back; summer, long ago. Playing on the beach; ice creams, Punch and Judy, bucket and spade, Ships always on the horizon, watched from the pilot house. Remember!" "Look out from an Autumn window; cobbled street, milt cart, washing on the line, Kids skipping and playing, while their parent's work. Pits, yards and kilns, remember them!" " Look in, coming home through the winter cold; Dad already in the bath, washing off the coal dust. A warm glow from the fire, remember that?"
At the end of the wall there is a promontory, one side to the marina, one across the river and the other towards the yacht club building across the North dock basin and across the main river basin to the entrance to the commercial docks. Here are three full size buoys, to coloured blue and one of blue and yellow squares. There are also three post mounts on which are three soaring seabirds made from metal. It is easy to sit and remember or just stand and look out at the skyline of fluffy clouds, tall flats, new marina housing and the commercial storage buildings and works.

I reluctantly make my way around the north basin, past the boat lifting crane to the storage and boat repair yard within the grounds of the Sunderland Yacht Club, past some fisherman try their luck within the river mouth to the point, the marker which signals the end of the promenade walk at the North pier. I have to make my way through the end of the car park to the end of the Pier View road so to be able to say that I have walked every metre from riverbank to river bank, but decided against the winding steep roadway to the Queen Vic roundabout but reverse back through the car park until one of the pedestrian cuttings between the village streets back to the marina promenade, and around to its Westside and then instead of taking the steps back to where the car is parked, I continue along the lower promenade to the second separate area of new marina housing up the roadway to the petrol garage on the riverside road into Sunderland city centre. I cannot resist take a brief look at the marked footpath which on my next visit I will hope to reach the older but also within my time in Sunderland housing development of St Peter's Riverside. There is also a pathway back around the marina village Westside and it is at this juncture I make discovery of an art work, which cannot be seen from the roadway, or those who take either path without first exploring amongst the shrubbery. Here on a base of stone there is a mounted telescope, a sea dog's chest and portmanteau, an oil skin, a ship's log, a map, a seat in metal and in stone.

I am sweating again, remove my shirt and travel home in my unzipped jacket, allowing the end of summer wind generated from the open window of the vehicle to cool my chest. This is daring, well for me it is.

1154 Roker Beach

Up at 7.30 it was evident the sea fret had rolled in and a second day of blue sky according to the weather forecasting seemed a distant hope but within an hour it had brightened and felt warmer, confirmed when I walked into town to buy £10 pounds of cherries, half for me, half for patients in the ward with my mother, and yes I thoroughly washed them before putting them in the sandwiches bags purchased at Asda on the return journey. Before departing I enjoyed my fourth three egg with ham omelette over the two weeks since rediscovering the art, although Mr Stein's Mediterranean food journey filled me once more with the desire to make lots of exotic dishes full of spices and sauces. Break off to check the BBC where some of the recipes are include and may attempt one or two, the first is a Greek salad for four which is something I could do and make into portions to be stored in the fridge and then eaten on consecutive days.

I also made up what was intended to be a late lunch of two salami rolls with lettuce, a few cherries, water and pepsi and set off parking by the entrance to Roker Park on what had become a glorious morning. With my camera I crossed walked to the wooden white Bridge, down the Eastern pathway across and up the West boundary again before taking the route towards the Park warden's Lodge, the Bandstand and into the bottom of the ravine. While the purpose of my second circuit within two days was to take photographs I had the opportunity to review my written recordings from yesterday. The main discovery has been to work out what I believe is a recent extension to the passenger carrying miniature railway covering the land where the rabbits had been allowed to become rampant. The second correction is that the Park Keeper's Lodge was much smaller from the brief perspective at a distance yesterday and my previous memory. The third is while several of the vertical floral displays centring the oblong and triangular beds had the tiered wedding cake structure a majority in the park contained not one but two vertical posts topped by large floral tree baskets. This reinforced my understanding of the relativity of perception with MD Vernon's book The Psychology of Perception the 1962 Pelican first edition and Ian Hunter's Memory, Facts and Fallacies a 1962 Pelican reprint of his 1957 my original source books. When I write for my own interest and entertainment and for future recollection when I can no longer walk the walks pin point accuracy is not of importance. Once the writing is published in any form and made available for one other person to read some day who might use the information to make a similar journey, quote a description, or create their own mental picture then there is responsibility to make the writing as objectively accurate, separating the factual information from individual judgements and impressions. It is also important not to assume the accuracy of the information provided by others however reputable the sources, with the recent example the BBC statement that the Whitburn Windmill had become the responsibility of South Tyneside Council several years before in fact the local authority came into being.

Given the early morning solitude and the brightness of the sun was a splendid walk, albeit the prologue for the morning's new stretch of the two rivers coastal which I have decided to title "Northern Rivera." I have suggested that the public accessible coastline between the two rivers is equal to that available in Cornwall, and I believe it is possible to go further and question the claim off Torbay to be the English Rivera or that of Scarborough to be the Northern, despite both having more spectacular landscapes. In my judgement it is the concentration of coastal interest, diverse parklands, two historically important rivers and three cities, each with their unique and special characteristic all with thirty to forty five minutes of each other and then within a comparatively short drive beautiful, isolated, wild landscapes in every direction from sand dune backed beaches, majestic castles, to great stretches of forest, water, moorland and highland. Grand country house estates and picturesque countryside villages, all available within a day.

My first new task yesterday morning reaching the bandstand which marks one end of the ravine was to follow the sound of the waterfall which then appeared to be higher and falling with greater force than I remembered from previous visits. It is better than several of natural origin. I then made the short walk through the ravine to where the bright sunshine sea was framed by the opening in the Dolomite pale soft stone, darkened by Victorian era pollution and created in its present form with the ending of the ice age, comparatively recently, as these events go, and the coastal road bridge above. The entrances to caves now securely closed were as I remembered, one to my left and two my right, although the distance between the latter was greater. They were once opened to the public with a walk through lighted display. I believe when the Council attempted to create an East Coast illuminations similar to those at Blackpool over a period of a decade, before concluding that the annual expenditure to attract visitors from outside the area to make repeated short stay breaks or add to the local economy my making an evening tour became unjustified. Living locally the lights brightened the approach of winter and over the years of operation some relatives did come and stay, which they would have done anyone at different times of the year and it was evident that most vehicles were driving through and then driving away without stopping for a drink or some food.

Leaving the ravine the cliff here stops any view of the small Roker Bay and the whole of the Whitburn and Seaburn Bay. The main Roker Beach and lower promenade to the south has its own character. There is an all weather shelter and the beach information office before The Smuggler a long two storey pub restaurant which was at the end of an extensive external repainting. A short distance from the pub there is a second longer functional building providing fish and chips, an indoor café and a small amusement arcade. Between the small sea retaining wall there is a wide promenade, a vehicle road and then a pavement before the grassy banks which rise at least fifty feet to sixty feet to the coast roadway above, There are a couple of long winding pathways and one very steep set of steps for the hardy walker. On the left is the northern pier which curves inwards narrowing the entrance to the river. There is the North East Diving Training establishment by the entrance to the pier.
On the right is the two storey Sunderland Sea Adventure centre and then an exceptionally busy fish and chips, snacks and ice cream take away with picnic tables where I stopped for a cool drink. I had already removed my sweat soaking shirt, using my jacket buttoned and where I mistakenly reattached its sleeves, and fortunately it had dried out in the sun before I heard the fog horn signalling that the sea mist was rolling in to an extent that the lighthouse marked he the edge of the vertical screen. On the inland journey parallel to the coast as I made my way to visit my mother, there was evidence that the mist continued to toll in and covered Whitburn but this was a temporary development and the warm sun continued until dusk.

Between the northern pier and a shorter breakwater which marks the end of the beach there is a beachside children's adventure play area partially encased in brightly decorated concrete to protect the equipment from the sea. The beach road continues for another fifty one hundred years with beach side car parking and a new private estate of terraced housing and flat blocks which will be re-explored as part of the marina area as there are interesting murals built into new walling as well as walkways around the marina basin on this of the river Wear

Yesterday I ended the lower promenade by walking around the new Lifeboat building up the steep winding roadway, stopping briefly to look along the road into the estate from where part of the marina and surrounding buildings can be seen, and then up to the roundabout junction where the coast road becomes the riverside road and leads onto the bridge across the river into the city centre. Across from the roundabout is the Queen Vic hotel and restaurant, with the same name as the Eastenders pub. This real life establishment does an excellent inexpensive roast lunch with a multiplicity of vegetables and is popular throughout the week. As a way of maintaining smoking customers an attractive outside area has been created. As the road way reaches the roundabout there is the old life boat building now shuttered and Victorians toilets which are kept in good working order and appearance. The last building is the small harbour view restaurant which has gone through several transformations and owners over my three decades here and attracts visitors by car and motorcycle although there is only space in front for a few vehicles as well as the more ambitious foot travellers as it is still a long walk from here into Sunderland centre and between two and three miles to Whitburn.

There is an unbroken terrace of flats, hotels and private three and four storey buildings from the roundabout until the roadway entrance to Roker Park. The Roker Hotel offered as many rooms as the Seaburn before its redevelopments, and has also gone through its own transformations and owners. There has always been a separate public dining establishment within the hotel which attracted visitors who were not staying at the hotel, and now there are two. A Chinese restaurant on the same level as the hotel bar restaurant, and an new Italian which provides a pleasant environment and good food at a lower level, and which also runs the beachside railway carriage restaurant at South Shields. I will go there for a happy hour meal before Winter.

The weather forecasters are promising more sunshine for a full weekend of sporting and music events. I have already discovered an band appearing at the Reading Carling festival tonight where I want to hear more, especially if they generate the same energy and excitement outside a festival arena, called Reverend and the Makers, The headline Act tonight is Razorlight whose music I also enjoy. Tomorrow the enormous Leeds festival begins. It is an early start for me tomorrow with Sunderland hosting Liverpool at the Stadium of Lights at 12.45. I misjudged the time for the first home game. I have been under the impression that Newcastle at the Boro was also on Saturday at 5.15 which would have shortened the hospital to visit to about an hour. It is on Sunday at 1.30 so I will do a late lunch. The sky was again a cloudless blue as I corrected and amended the writing before 8am having abandoned the task to concentrate on the physical charms of Penelope Cruz in Jamon Jamon

1153 Roker Park

If you mention Roker Park to the majority of people in the North East over thirty they will immediately think you have made reference to the former home of Sunderland Football Club, tribal rivals of Newcastle and its Toon army. I have always reacted in the same way, rather that the perfect park located on the way to the ground from my former home, with is ravine under the main coast road which takes you directly on to the beach and beachside promenade and which continues until the northern entrance pier to the river Wear.

The plan yesterday was to attend a midday performance of the third film in the Bourne trilogy after a meeting at the hospital where I anticipated I would be told that my mother would not be returning to the residential home but would require a more intense and medically directed care regime than previously. This proved to be the situation. What changed the plan was the bright blue sky on waking and the feeling that it would be wrong to miss the opportunity for undertaking a further stretch of the two rivers coast walk, so I prepared a packed lunch of prawn and lettuce rolls, two plums and a banana, water and a pepsi and made my way to the hospital in time to eat the first roll with a swig of water before the meeting and then the second immediate on return half an hour later on return, explaining to my mother that I would come back for an afternoon visit.

I chose to park at Morrison car park Seaburn for two reasons. Having left my shopping notes at the hospital the previous day, I had remembered everything on the lust except for toilet rolls, to which I decided to add some bananas, and then some rose blushed pears. The intention was to retake some photo of those buildings whose function or ownership had changed over the intervening three years, although the latter did not happen because I discovered the camera had been left behind, just as a pocket of bank notes because I had change my trousers from a casual brown to a more appropriate grey. I fortunately discovered this mistake before reaching the end of the checkout queue and quickly returned the items to the basket and to another queue where I used the bank debit card for payment and to obtain a small amount of just in case cash.

The lack of the camera was annoying because here was a rare combination of sun shimmering on gently rolling waves, either coming in for high tide or my likely uncovering more of the sand after having peaked. Given the time and the intention to return to the hospital for my afternoon visit before 3pm there was no alternative but to rely on my memory and scribbled notes.

Crossing over the coast road I descended the steps to the promenade above the beach and noted that there were more people than could be seen from the car, and that there was queue at the ice cream and fish and chips kiosk with only the latter in demand, There was a cold breeze which led me to zip my jacket and wish I had remembered to add the sleeves, yet there were a few bathers, mostly children frolicking among the waves. I walked to where access directly onto the beach was still possible down steep steps, across from where a steady flow of customers returned from purchasing their fish and chip lunches from Minchella's and other kiosks, to sit on black repainted seats against the sea wall, facing outwards towards Seaburn Parade. I joined them, having invested £1.10 in a plain ice cream cornet.

At the end of the Seaburn Parade there are further steps, but here the tide was coming in, or had come in to lap against the rocks of the promontory which marks the end of the Whitburn and Seaburn beaches and that at Roker commences, out of view although it is possible to see all the Cleveland coastline some thirty to fifty miles down the coast. When the tide goes out sufficiently one can thread a way through the rocks around to Roker beach, but today it necessary to continue along the lower promenade which although twenty feet or more above the waves, becomes thirty to fifty below the cliff top walk which widens with the promontory. At my level there is also a puzzling large wide semi circle of promenade space backed by a building with two shuttered ends, suggesting that in former times refreshments and deckchairs were available, Nearby at the point the promenade brings a view of the Roker Beach there are public toilets located in a grim looking building which discourages anyone from using, but a necessity at certain times the waves lash over the rocks and over the promenade, hitting the toilets before sweeping back anything and anyone into its raging and frothy greyness.

Above me on the headland cliff is listed building 920/1/5/244 10.8.1978 the Old Pier Lighthouse now relocated at Roker Cliff Park after the decision was taken to shorten the southern pier in 1983, some 250 years after it been built. The lighthouse had been designed by Thomas Meil in 1856 and is now a tourist attraction, floodlit at night in a striking blue. For most of the year this stretch of grass a fraction of the width and length of the South Shields Leas is used to play ball games, although organised football takes place in the Seaburn recreational ground , and oblong of grass with a boundary of trees and shrubs opposite my former home of thirty years. The circus used to come here every two years and once I was paid well to run a cable from a second floor electricity point across the main road to run a couple or so of the domestic caravan homes. This weekend the North Bus Museum is holding a gathering in which one takes rides around the area in selected ancient vehicles. I mention this because having completed the walk and aware that I might not return to the hospital before 3pm I attempted to take a bus for the return journey, only for it to break down on reaching the stop!

At the end of July the Roker Cliff Park, as the cliff top area of grassed ground is called, was covered by working aeroplanes and a helicopter, and various other recruiting attractions, together with a VIP enclosure and public display area for such things as police dog training activities and parachute landings Below the rocks are named the Cannonball Rocks because of their distinctive spherical shape, formed from the burial of shallow sea sediments miles below the earth forming rock millions of years before. It looks like concrete but is an usual limestone formation.

Turning the corner of the promontory I was once more struck by how different is the view and feel of Roker Beach from the sweep open bay of Whitburn and Seaburn. There are in fact two Roker beaches with the first bay only be accessed from the promenade which ends with a gradual slope onto the beach, some sharp twisting steps to the cliff top or the Roker Park Ravine at its southern most end. Here there beach is backed by a vertical sea wall to prevent further erosion of the cliff which towers fifty perhaps seventy feet above, but my judgement ff height as of distance is not good.

The promenade here is a favourite spot for sunbathers in dew chairs on a warm day, or to sit on the provided bench seats, sheltered from any winds from the north and west, and north east. Given the time I could have continued along the sand to the ravine and then to the Roker promenade and vehicular roadway at beach level, or as I chose to do, ascend to the cliff top and continue along the coast road, to the north side coast road entrance to the Park.

To my left on entering the park there are cultured lawns where ball games are not permitted and oblong beds of busy lizzies and marigolds with at their centre a wedding cake construction barely visible with its coverings of flowers and greenery above the height of the average man, A short metal fence reinforces the wish for this area to be looked at admiringly. This is because the grass here is special, a rare Magnesian strain. There is the sound of a waterfall coming from below in the ravine.

Continuing along the pathway there has been a change since my last visit with the former children's adventure play area remaining, but the second area with rabbits running wild has been converted into an adventure area for younger children. There are now several large picnic tables alongside on the widened pathway from where families can consume refreshments brought with them or purchased from a mobile van, or just keep a watchful eye on the play areas.

In the western corner are two of the attractions which make it the perfect park and the best I have seen anywhere, compared even to that that at Scarborough also with its grander ravine, restaurant, activities and walks. The attraction is first the tiniest working model railway which enables small passengers to sit astride the carriages with legs dangling over the raised track. The club is only open at weekends and bank holidays. There is also a separate smaller track around an exceptional rectangle of shrubs and flowers where the model trains are operated for pleasure.

Trees, shrubs and flower form the western boundary of the park with first two sets of bowling greens with their individual club houses and both used on my visit for completive teams and their supporters.

The model boating lake is hidden from view by trees and shrubs until reaching its southern end. It is significantly smaller than that at Shields, but it is unusual not to find radio controlled model boats afloat as enthusiasts bring them here from throughout the north, commenting on the performance of each other and sharing information on their technology. There was a fast speed boat whose engine cut out in mid lake and which had not been rescued by its family of owners by the time I continued with the tour. I stopped to enjoy a naval destroyer whose owner kept the craft below full throttle and made smaller circles which kept the vessel to his side of the lake and would make retrieval easier if anything went amiss. There are more trees and shrubs on this side of the park until reaching a double hard court play area and then a single area, with the three courts used to play football, although one could be used for basketball. Across the Western and Southern Roads from the park are large Victorian villas with their tall ceilings and up to three levels costing in excess of £250000, and likely to be over twice as much in London and the South East. The houses are even grander along the private road which forms the Eastern boundary. The Park side road is usually quiet except on former match days where there was a continuous streams of cars making their way home at the end of the game from the famous ground which has since become a private housing estate.

On this side of the park is a kick about area two hard tennis courts all being used by families to play football. On left before reaching the lake there is a large enclosed by hedge surrounded by trees and shrubs rose and other flowers garden, and on my right four the large beds of busy lizzies and marigolds with their centre pieces of overflowing summer flowerings before making my way to the white wooden bridge over the ravine, the bank down at this point it 1 in or 1 in 2 at best.

The next fine day I will leave my car in the quiet southern road bordering the park and make my way to just before the white wooden bridge and take the pathway down to the bottom of the ravine where at one end is the Victorian bandstand and grassy picnic area where there are regular concerts throughout the summer. This Saturday the Sunderland Youth orchestra will play at the Cliff park, unfortunately coinciding with the rescheduled home match against Liverpool. There is also the large house which provides the administrative centre for the park, restored with European money. When I commenced to correct my notes made in the early hours the sky was grey, but has turned blue with radio forecast promise of a warmer day. Again I abandon the Bourne trilogy and plan an early walk, having washed and iron some bedding and my mother's bed dresses last night. I fancy a three egg omelette, abandoning the work programme and washing of the settee cover and making immediate tracks. I will be good and compromise. One of the seat covers will be started, I will have the omelette, finish dressing and go for some cherries if they are available and then do the walk, perhaps covering the park once more with my camera parking at a different entrance to enable a full circuit and just go to the end of the Roker Promenade and then come along the winding Road to the Cliff top, leaving the new marina and walk along the northern bank of a river colonised by the developing university, although there is still the working port at the southern end.

Having decided to bus back and the disappointment of the vehicle break down I walked back doing my good citizen act for the day explaining to those waiting the reason for the delay, giving the choice of taking in the longer inland route bus if they are making their way to the town centre at South Shields

I returned to visit my mother and to be able to report that over the coming week the decision will be taken to move her to a recently a built nursing home in south shields or a hospital nursing home in neighbouring Jarrow, a hospital I helped to save from closure thirty years ago. But more on that another day.

1151 Seaburn walk

After the dreadful weather of the weekend the sky was blue this morning, so I decided to continue my two rivers walk with the Seaburn promenade between Whitburn and the Marriot Hotel which is one end of the road which leads to my former home of three decades. I packed a lunch and arriving at the supermarket I could not ignore the cloudy threatening skyline or the chill wind which even with my jacket zipped did not make for an enjoyable walk into town to deposit a cheque and buy some of the large juicy cherries and plums from the stall under the Metro station bridge. At the car I debated what to do, even considering a return home, but chose to first check what it was like along the coast.

I stopped for an early brunch at the Whitburn Country Park selecting a space on my own and sheltered from the wind and enjoyed a mixed salad and two Ciabatta breads, and some water before testing the air sufficiently to contemplate continuing the planned trip, although first I went for some petrol and then a cup of tea at Morrison's supermarket, during which time there was opportunity to reflect on the change over the past thirty three years. I also could not resist a naughty naught treat, a packet of liquorice allsorts, the first for at least a year. Delicious.

I then failed the first test to remember when several of the South Bents fisherman's cottages at the southern end of the row were bought up and developed into attractive beachside homes with first floor verandas. There is a pleasant pathway between the cottages and the narrow sand dunes before the sand beach, although these do provide some screening for sunbathers and couples seeking a little privacy, although their behaviour can be overlooked from the roadway at the top of the bay next to the tea and ice cream kiosk by the Whitburn coast car park, especially as this is a good spot for the police to park one of their observation vehicles from time to time. I also once encountered a trio of cyclists from Gateshead station and was pleased to be able to advise a fourth where they were after they said he had gone astray, when I saw him looking for them at the nearby garage.

After the cottages there is wide bank of grass separating the coast road from the promenade alongside the beach. On the other side of the road, after leaving the Whitburn cricket ground and park here is farm land which stretches eastward about a mile to the main Sunderland Shields Road until the Sunderland Academy. Along the roadside there are pleasant private houses until the block of three story private flats where once the Bay provided a beach and sea view from its first floor restaurant or on warm days and nights to sit outside the ground floor bar to take a drink after a walk from home. The disappearance of the Bay reminds that in South Shields I notices that the Sand Dancer appeared to have made an instant recovery so stopped to investigation from my car. The restaurant bar is still called the Sand Dancer and around one side and two corners the facilities have been extended to enable smokers to eat and drink in the open air, under awnings. There is also a Crab seafood bar to be explored. The speed of the transformation is amazing.

Back to Seaburn Promenade I was pleased to find that the Little Italy restaurant and Bar has survived and appears to be thriving. This restaurant is directly on the promenade and built into the gassy bank above. It is the only permanent food outlet on the promenade side of the road at Seaburn, although there are others at Roker Beach which I plan to revisit later in the week.

Across the road the private housing ends with two restaurants. I have only been twice the Paradise Garden, I think. Once for their fixed price lunch and once, recently for party of three with one young person where a variety of dishes were sampled from the revolving tracks at the table centre. Given the quantity of soft drinks and after meal hot drinks and the selection of dishes, this is place for good food at a reasonable price and it is not therefore surprising that it was packed on both instances that I remember. After the Paradise Garden there is now the Waterfront Café and bar, under what appears to be a new transformation. This was once an Italian restaurant, and the a more traditional cafe after the Paradise Garden took over the tiny tea room which was sandwiched between the two. The tea room was popular for all those who did not want to walk all the way to the one at Whitburn,
By the Waterfront is a bus turning half circle for vehicles which do not continue along the coast to South Shields by two routes, one along the sea front and the other on a long tour of estates which doubles the journey time, but was useful when I moved my car to servicing at the AA garage after the garage/car sales firm which had serviced and provided vehicles for many years closed. Two years ago the AA garage was taken over by Nationwide recovery but they continue to be recommended by the AA.

Then there is the Seaburn Camp showground. This large enclosed grassed field appears to be used on only two occasions each year although it is available for hire. Durham Caravanning and Camping has recently made this an annual venue although previously it used the recreation grounds which separated my former home from the seafront, a home where the painter Lowry would take afternoon tea with the former owner on visits to Seaburn where he stayed at the Seaburn Hotel, now a Marriott. Irrespective of where the annual seaside trip is held the one certainty is that the weather will be foul. Almost as certain is that the weather will improve once the children have returned to school.

Immediately adjacent to the showground is Morrison's. I cannot remember when it was built. Everyone managed before two small supermarkets on either side of the main road through Fullwell, at the top of the hill which leads down to my former home and the seafront. At the other end of this road is Seaburn station once the railway stop before Sunderland. Now the trains only stop at Hewarth and run infrequently, continuing on to Middlesbrough. They have been replaced by the Metro which now stops twice before reaching Sunderland town centre at the new bus station, and then continues to other parts of the city, including the expanding university which has helped to transform the city. First one of the smaller supermarkets closed with the arrival of Morrison's, and then Morrison's bought the second which did not reopen after a fire, although it was reinstated, More recently it has been reopened as a mini Sainsbury. There was always open all hours convenience store and then a new outlet opened, and which has been taken over by the local chain of newsagents.

When I first moved I missed Morrison's returning once a week as part of a visit which included the new cinema, casino, leisure complex completed in the city side if the main bridge. Now I visit only once a month for a shopping, although I have parked, had a quick meal or cup of tea, getting petrol, cleaning the, car or when as now promenading.

Until few years ago there was a traditional amusement arcade, sandwiched between one side of Morrison's internal roadway and the amusement park. This is now Go Bananas, and while I have read the notices about its new purpose, I have never looked inside until today. It has been redesigned as an indoor adventure and activity centre for children of primary school age. What is a good idea is that the internal café is located at the centre so that mothers can take refreshment and chat while keeping one eye on their offspring who can be kept always in view.

The amusement part is only open during the Summer season and because it is a couple of miles into the town centre, has not thrived as does the all year centre at South Shields. Today there was a solitary customer and her daughter in view, thoroughly enjoying having a ride all to herself. This weekend's bank holiday will be one of its busiest with the annual air display and exhibitions, the other. There is then a more traditional Arcade centre before Seaburn Hall When first arriving the hall was a traditional looking local hall which was subsequently transformed in the Bier Keller with disastrous result. Once I and a local policeman helped to sort out the fence of an elderly neighbour which had been knocked down by drunken youth. The constable told me of the incident when two youths and continued up to the top of the hill and then continued south along a quite road heading for the city centre parallel to the coast road. One had become so drunk that he had be left on the pavement while the other went to try and find a taxi. When he returned with the taxi hey found the companion lying in the middle of the road. Both his legs were found to have been broken as it appeared that in the dark a vehicle had run over him and driven on.

The old hall was knocked down where the area was redeveloped and replaced by a sports and fitness hall which can be converted into a theatre which ahs been used for performances of the Royal Shakespeare company and where this Friday there is to be the Sunderland version of the X Factor. The hall is used on Boxing day as a monster changing room when over 1000 people of all ages out on swimming costumes and fancy dress and fancy objects to then go in groups on to the beach where they are hosed by the local fire service before having a knees up in the sea watched thousands of onlookers out for a stroll before lunch. Local charities gain from the ever increasing event which sometimes makes the national news.

Next there is the purpose built Pullman Lodge Hotel. This has always been an interesting and unusual establishment. At the front are two restaurant carriages which serve as a restaurant only open evenings and at for Sunday lunch. The hotel is a motel on two floors, a building at right angles to the main road Behind the carriages was a two story restaurant and bar, with entry gained at the first floor level. This was once a carvery separate from the carriages, but now the building has been transformed into a large sports bar with meals, with the atmosphere of a Victorian railway station with at the centre an oval bar. IT is not clear how entry is made to the ground level banqueting suite above which was a Wintergarden type of sitting and drinking area and outside of this a veranda. The veranda continues for smokers but about half the Wintergarden space has been padlocked shut, I imagine since the smoking ban came into force because it would have been a good spot to have a quiet smoke and drink while still under cover. The other half of the Wintergarden now consists of a third railway carriage which I can only assume was purpose built within the existing building. Families can still sit at table within the carriage because there is access from the first floor gallery above the main area. Behind the Seaburn Hall and Pullman Lodge there is a purpose built outside play centre for children and across the internal roadway is the Lambton Worm.

The Lambton Worm is a legend about the battles between an heir to the County Durham Lambton estate and a giant worm which terrorised the local villages. The creature is comparatively small according to some legends but grows in size and becomes poisonous and grew to such an extent that it could encircle local hill renamed Worm Hill which is within the areas of Washington, Sunderland, the original place for Washington DC. The worm is alleged to have eaten sheep, prevented cows from producing milk and snatching away small children. The Lambton heir having returned from the crusades and discovered the havoc which the worm had caused, does battle with the creature on the advice of a witch, having found its new location wrapped around a large rock in the river Wear.

The Lambton Worm was made into a two act opera in 1978 and Ken Russell made a film in 1988, The Lair of the White Worm while adapting a Bram Stoker novel. About 20 years ago the worm was made into a physical form for the Gateshead Garden Festival and was then acquired by Sunderland Council and placed in purpose designed gardens in the space behind the Seaburn centre.

Next two the Pullman Lodge is another amusement arcade centre which also sells fish and chips. Backing in to this is a pool hall and with Italian restaurant which is an odd combination which I will explore further on a future visit. At this point on the beach side of the road the promenade also emerges at road level but out of view are ice cream and fish and chip kiosks, the life guard centre, a place to hire wind breaks and tent and toilets.

Between here and the infamous roundabout one upon a time European funded fountain roundabout, there is a continuous row of seat built into the sea wall and facing the roadway. This is ok except that there are times when the sea crashes against the base of the wall and rises up over the seating. On the opposite of the road, Minchella's has a combined ice cream and fish and chip kiosk along side of which is a second fish and chip kiosk thus make 3 within yards of each other an where during the summer there are regular all day queues.
On the main road corner used be the closes Arcade to my home, which was then closed and recently reopened as an Asian restaurant offering banquets at £22.50 a head, although there are lower cost deals. There is a doorway staircase leading to a first floor restaurant which over the decades has switched from Greek with music and plate breaking to Italian and now Indian. Santini's has also switched from American Tex Mex to Italian, as is now Gabrielle's although was it once French? The Seaburn post office used to exist at the corner where the rebuilt Seaburn and Marriott Hotel extension stands. It then moved to Seaburn Parade and it over a year since I have visited. It remains only as a memory with the newsagent, off licence, DVD hire, mini store expanded. There another Indian restaurant and a pub restaurant the Promenade which still serves inexpensive traditional Sunday lunches as well as combining with a Sunderland supporting sports pub on match days.

The final building is the Seaburn, now Marriott Hotel. I stayed at the hotel when I came for interview in 1973 for the job which brought me to live in he North East for over 30 years. It was so dark and misty that I had no idea there was a beachside sea view until the morning, when I had succeeded subject to Ministerial confirmation after interview before the full 66 members of the Council. Later I was eat Sunday lunch sometimes at the bar restaurant at the corner overlooking what was then an ordinary roundabout. This part of the hotel was then knocked to form the present leisure club with swimming pool, steam room, sauna and Jacuzzi plus fitness room, and where such was the initial demand that I had to wait for a vacancy before being able to first join in 1991. Later the three storey terraced housing used for administration and which included the post office was demolished to make way for one of two extensions. Later still the number of rooms was reduced to fit into the Marriott concept. The prices of the rooms, the leisure club and the restaurant have risen accordingly.

I ended this park of the Seaburn and Roker coastline by trying to remember what the roundabout was like before it became a large cake of a fountain with large chimney sweep broom head at the top. This rarely worked but provided great enjoyment every time packets of soap powder were contributed and suds flowed over into the roadway. It remained a controversial eyesore because the Council would have been required to pay back the Euro funding had significant changes been made within the first decade. When Sunderland City complete its mini Eden project tropical Wintergarden complete with a circular tree top walkway, exotic plants appeared at different levels of the fountain. Eventually the offending structure was partially demolished. I thought it was always fun.