Skip to content

Wearside stories you might have missed

BBC Rachel Lockerbie, Kathryn Jobes and Emily Turnbull are standing in a line and smiling brightly at the camera while holding up the children's books and the boxes they come in. Stickers on the boxes read: "Donated by Women's Cancer Detection Society".BBC
Rachel Lockerbie, Kathryn Jobes and Emily Turnbull hope their books will support families affected by cancer

Once again, there has been a mix of stories making the news on Wearside.

They include nurses who hope new books will help families affected by cancer, and a coat of paint for a well-known Metro station.

Plea to National Trust to help save Glass Centre

The multi-storey National Glass centre building is mostly made of glass and grey panels. It is by the River Wear and has a seating area in front of it. Two seagulls are flying in the clear blue sky above.
A public meeting over the future of the centre was held in Sunderland last week

City leaders have called for urgent talks with the National Trust about a potential option to save the National Glass Centre (NGC).

The venue in Sunderland is set to close its doors next July, but campaigners told a public meeting that the trust's proposed Safe Harbour scheme might provide it with potential lifeline.

Sunderland City Council leader Michael Mordey said he had co-signed a letter with Lewis Atkinson MP asking for a meeting with the trust to see if the scheme could be a viable option for the NGC.

Atkinson said he would continue to engage with all interested parties. The National Trust said it would respond to the letter as soon as possible.

Books help explain cancer to patients' families

Leanne is reading the children's book. There is an illustration of a woman with curly hair wearing a cold cap. Text around it reads: "Mammy didn't want to lose her hair, so the doctor gave her a cold cap. The cold cap was like a big, icy hat. It felt very cold. Mammy wore it on her head while she got her treatment. It is meant to stop mammy's hair falling out... Mammy said it gave her brain freeze like when you eat too much ice cream!"
The books detail treatments such as surgery and chemotherapy

Breast cancer nurses hope books they have written to help explain treatments to children will help the "whole family".

Authors and specialist nurses Emily Turnbull and Rachel Lockerbie wrote three stories aimed at primary school-aged children detailing procedures "mammy" went through, including surgery and chemotherapy.

They will be given free of charge to patients at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead, which also treats people living in South Tyneside, Durham and Sunderland.

Mother-of-five Leanne was diagnosed with breast cancer in July. She said: "These books just explain everything in such a easy-to-understand, child-friendly way."

Care home gets crafty with pompom Christmas tree

Grampian Court Care Home Vera Todd and Colette Roscamp are standing on each side of the colourful pom-pom Christmas tree with big star at its top. They are pointing at pom-poms they have made. Vera is wearing a red cardigan and a grey skirt and has shoulder-length white hair. Colette is wearing black trousers and colourful striped cardigan. She has short grey hair. Both are wearing glasses. The rest of the room is decorated for Christmas with lights and red stars hanging from the ceiling. Grampian Court Care Home
Residents Vera Todd and Colette Roscamp made pompoms for the tree

A care home has spent almost a year crafting its own Christmas tree out of hundreds of pompoms.

Residents and staff at Grampian Court in Peterlee unveiled the 8ft (2.4 m) decoration, which has been described as a "labour of love" by those working on it since January.

Wellbeing co-ordinator Lisa Stephenson said some pompoms had been made by residents who had since died.

"It's kind of a tribute to them as well and a memory for them," she said.

Metro station gets red-and-white makeover

Nexus Councillor Leonard, Ian Gallagher from Nexus, and Roberta Redecke, sit on a metal bench on a metro outdoor platform. Behind them is a red and white panelling, with a football emblem to the right, and a map to the left. A sign to the left, reads 'Stadium of Light'.Nexus
Councillor Lindsey Leonard, Ian Gallagher from Nexus, and Roberta Redecke from Sunderland BID, say the fresh red-and-white paint has improved the station

A Metro station branded in the colours of its nearby football club has undergone a makeover.

Sunderland's Stadium of Light station has had its popular red-and-white stripes repainted as part of an improvement programme running across the network.

The station, which is located next to the home of the Black Cats, had its panels hand painted and the club's badges re-added where the previous had flaked away.

Ian Gallagher, head of building service maintenance at operator Nexus, said: "A few of our team members who carried out the work are Sunderland fans themselves, so they're particularly proud to see it completed."

Greyhound races continue after traps investigation

Premier Greyhound Racing Three people leaning over the racing traps as they try to help the dogs. Premier Greyhound Racing
Sunderland Greyhound Stadium said the dogs involved were deemed fit to travel after a veterinary assessment

Greyhound races have continued after traps malfunctioned twice in five days.

Fixtures at Sunderland Greyhound Stadium were cancelled following the incidents towards the end of November.

It said investigations found sand contamination had caused an intermittent fault in the system via which the traps work.

A spokesperson for Arena Racing Company (ARC), which operates the venue, confirmed racing had resumed after new airlines, components and compressors were installed.

Follow BBC Sunderland on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.

More on this topic
Trending Now