Spark News
Organisers of next summer’s first-ever Gateshead International Film Festival (GIFF) say North East creators and regional productions can submit their work free of charge. The inaugural GIFF is spearheaded by North Eastern filmmakers Steve Wraith and Neil Jackson, who are co-directors of the event alongside Portuguese writer and director Catarina De Cèzanne (pictured below). […]
Football is without doubt the sport which reigns supreme in the North East of England. So why is American football – certainly the lesser-known ‘football’ in the region – attracting international students here, to both play and study? Freddie Cowey reports. For Canada-born Sunderland University (SU) students Mohamed Ghanem and Kevin Hanna, the chance […]
As temperatures begin to fall a Gateshead knitting group, The Dunston Knit Wits, is doing their part to help those affected by the rise of homelessness in the North East. The Dunston Knit Wits group, created by Linda Ryan, 77, four years ago, brings local people together not only to socialise but to knit for charities […]
Football fans are being encouraged to seek help if they are struggling with their mental health after an increase in suicides in early 2025. Hartlepool was the only local authority in the Tees Valley to record an increase on suicide in the first half of 2025. The increase has caused Hartlepool United to team up […]
Council officials are investigating a former guest house in Whitley Bay which has been operating illegally as a house of multiple occupancy (HMO) for more than two years. The eight-bedroom property in South Parade, Whitley Bay, was converted from guest house to HMO at the start of 2024, but the owners didn’t apply for […]
A North East council is looking to use compulsory purchase powers to rid an area of an ‘eyesore’ property. North Tyneside Council is exploring to use the powers to acquire a former care home in Seaton Court, Whitley Bay. The property has sat empty for more than three years and fallen into disrepair. The council […]
A North Tyneside councillor has accused the area’s council chiefs of ducking their duty to lead the clean-up effort after July’s plastic ‘nurdle’ spillage into the Tyne – claiming that communities on the coast felt “very, very let down”. Instead, he claimed, volunteers had been left in the risky position of having to take the lead […]
Two pedestrians are being treated in hospital for serious injuries after a car crashed into the glass front of an M&S store. Emergency services were called at around 2:25pm yesterday to reports of a people carrier having crashed through bollards into the front doors of Marks & Spencers at Silverlink Retail Park, in Wallsend. Two […]
A leading North East university has reassured students that budget cuts won’t affect them. Sunderland University is aiming to save £40million from its budget before September 2027, as a major reduction in foreign students has significantly hit its income. In an email sent out to all students yesterday (Tues 13th), the university said it is […]
Many Sunderland residents have taken to social media to voice their concerns about the current NHS dental crisis. Sunderland community Facebook group has been flooded with users all trying to find the same thing, a coveted NHS dental appointment. Recently the UK, and especially the North East, has been going through a crisis, with very […]
