I refer to Bob Price's letter (Echo, Oct 20) about the Music City bid and suggestions for an "iconic venue" in Sunderland.

In order to prove to the world and the music industry that Sunderland can host regular events to the calibre of other music meccas, such as Manchester and Tyneside, it is very important that we develop a place which provides for the country's biggest commodity – music.

For many years I have suggested that Sunderland needs an arena- type venue for music. Current places, while doing a great job promoting live music, are either too small or not prepared to invest in major concerts.

And why shouldn't we have an iconic purpose-built venue? It's the 21st century! Doesn't tax go towards arts funding too, Bob?

Surely, we can be proud of our city and create somewhere aspirational for young people to perform in and attract major artists from across the globe. Big gigs and festivals can and do sustain themselves. Get the right acts at the right time and tell everybody!

I proposed several ideas for major concerts at the Stadium of Light with my good friend Geoff Docherty, the veteran rock promoter and producer. It is now good to see Oasis will be playing there.

My thanks to Bob for acknowledging promoters. It can be a risky job but one that helps enrich the lives of us all.

Here's to an iconic music venue for Sunderland catering for all tastes and styles.

Steven Langley,
Crown Enterprises Events and Music Management,
The Oaks West,
Christchurch,
Sunderland

Old wives' rubbish

An old woman once said to me "Don't run for a bus with two pencils in your pocket – they may rub together and your trousers will catch fire".

Sadly, the old lady died and while I never heeded her words I remembered them, but based them on superstitious nonsense.

However, my caddy swears by old wives' tales.

Only last week on the fourth green he informed me that chewing gum gets rid of a nosebleed and that you should only eat shellfish when there is a R in the month.

By the time we had got to the eighteenth hole he informed me that if you sneeze with your eyes open they will pop out. He also reckons that apricot stones, if swallowed, will grow in your stomach. He is always coming out with things like this when he is doing the fetching and carrying.

Personally, I think it's a load of old rubbish and that these old wives have a lot to answer for.

The fact is you make your own luck, and I would advise anyone to take these tales with a pinch of salt.

Mick "The Pen" Brown

Learning from past

The Civic Society would like new members to promote civic pride.

So many heritage groups in the city expound on our great historical past, and that is good. It is not good, however, raking up the past unless you learn from it.

We use the word "iconic" a lot these days, but no bridge will continue to figure more prominently in history than our beloved single-span iron bridge.

Where else in the world would you find a few acres of land sweated over by thousands of platers, welders, crane drivers, sparkies and plumbers, ears deafened by the screeching of steel plates, shirts holed from welding sparks, building giant vessels – yet silenced so suddenly, almost overnight.

The gulls screech there now and a university straddles the site. It has returned to a centre of learning, well fitted to carry on with a generation of entirely new skills.

The Civic Society is not in the business of promoting icons. Rather, we transfer the advice of interested citizens to the relevant authorities.

For example, the subject of updating Sunderland Rail Station was discussed. The discussion said any amount of money spent on the station would not change the fact that it is just a "hole in the ground".

Sunderland's old station was once nearer to where the Civic Centre is.

The gateway is still in place opposite the war memorial. Why not bring
it back into the sunlight?

To join the Civic Society, tel: 548 6066
Dennis Bulmer,
Sea Road,
Sunderland

Mick's not clever

Could I just say to Mick "The Bin" Prawn, that your letter on the Aquatic Centre was the same as the letter that you submitted quite a few months back.

Could it be advanced senility, Mick? You do keep sending in these pointless letters that try to be clever but fail miserably.

I'm not being nasty, just helping you to stop wasting yours and our time.

I went to school with you and my one abiding memory of you as a schoolboy was you standing opposite Woolworth's in Fawcett Street, waving your denim jacket at people, asking: "Is this your jacket, sir?"
When somebody "bit" and said: "yes, I've just dropped it," you replied: "Ha ha ha! If you would just look in this window, you may just make out a camera because you're on Candid Camera."

Fun days indeed!

Old Bedan