Blog
As part of the National Trust’s Trees of Hope campaign, 49 saplings from the iconic Sycamore Gap Tree have been planted across the UK, with Hetton Country Park chosen as one of the locations. The Sycamore Gap Tree was illegally cut down in the early hours of September 28, 2023, prompting national outrage and concerns […]
A new café and bookshop, Books and Bakes, has opened in The Galleries in Washington, joining a small but growing number of bookshops in Tyne & Wear that also feature an in-house café. The shop sells a range of genres, including crime thriller, general fiction, translated fiction, romance and fantasy. Alongside this, the café offers […]
Every winter, people take part in sea dips to raise money for charity, and Tyne and Wear has several events taking place this year. Fausto Coffee, a café based on Roker Beach, is hosting a New Year’s Eve sea dip on December 31. The event will run from 7.30am to 10am at Roker Beach. Tickets […]
Football isn’t only a game between 22 players on a pitch – it’s also about the game of international power on this planet. Not to mention the love of a Sunderland-born author for his home club and city. Spark’s Ciaran Myers discovered this when he met Guardian journalist Jonathan Wilson. It’s perhaps not often that […]
MATCH REPORT Hyde United 1-3 Hebburn Town A late brace from loanee Kian Forman secured all three points for an on-form Hebburn Town, which added to Campbell Darcy’s equaliser after the Hornets conceded early to a Taylor McMahon goal. Manager Daniel Moore made one change going into the match, with Olly Martin coming into the […]
Oxford University Press has named ‘rage bait’ as its 2025 Word of the Year – but what does Sunderland think? Hannah Rooney went to find out. This year’s Oxford Word of the Year – ‘rage bait’ – describes a tactic where internet users purposefully inspire anger in others, to drive their profile on social […]
Two societies at the University of Sunderland came together yesterday (December 10) to host a fundraising event for Gaza and Sudan. Friends of Medecins Sans Frontieres Sunderland (FoMSF) and the Sunderland Plastic, Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery Society (SPARSoc) organised the fundraiser, which took place yesterday afternoon at City Space, on UoS’s City Campus. The event […]
Snowed In Sunlun is back, and this time it’s bigger than ever. Snowed In is a festive-themed charity gig, run by Sunderland University’s Northern Academy of Music Education (NAME) students. This year, they are expanding the initiative and putting on two shows, one at Pop Recs, Sunderland, on December 10th and the other at Vixen […]
When is a local football club more than a local football club? When it’s a lifeline – and life support – for the children and young people who live around it. Ciaran Myers discovers one such club on Tyneside. Newcastle Benfield is a Northern League football club in the heart of Walkergate, Newcastle – […]
A Tyneside nail technician has raised over £2,000 during a 24-hour nail-a-thon for the charity Tiny Lives. Lucy Walton completed 16 sets of nails, going without sleep for the whole period, and raised money through her Just Giving Page, a raffle, and appointment fees. Spark Sunderland visited a nervous Lucy at the start of her […]
