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.
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.
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