Katie Bulmer-Cooke: Great to see Sunderland in a positive light on TV

On Thursday I tuned into BBC 2 to watch a full hour of TV dedicated to our city.
Northern Spire Bridge.Northern Spire Bridge.
Northern Spire Bridge.

The series, entitled Sea Cities, was shining a light on Sunderland and what it’s like to live and work in a city by the sea.

Unlike some other fly-on-the-wall style documentaries that have been filmed here, this one was extremely positive and showcased our city’s landmarks, events and people brilliantly.

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Some of the main highlights of the programme included the airshow, the seafront, our shipbuilding heritage and our new Wear crossing, Northern Spire, and while many may say I have a biased view as a Sunderland resident, I challenge anyone to watch the show and not see Sunderland as an excellent place to live, work and play.

The positivity surrounding Sunderland continues this week as my two favourite royals, Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge, will make their way to the city this week, meaning that all eyes will be on Sunderland.

I have no doubt they will be impressed by the new bridge, as it is very striking and in my opinion a real delight to see as you drive past.

During the naming of the bridge I read a number of negative comments about it online, and while I appreciate that not everyone in the city would ever be able to agree on the same name, I think it’s important to look past that and see all of the positives surrounding the project.

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Upon completion more than 2,000 people will have worked on the bridge site over the past three years, providing job opportunities and a significant amount of work.

Better still, it was reported this week that it has been delivered on time and within budget, and to top it all off, it’s attracted a royal visit.

I also learned some really interesting pieces of information this week about the new bridge, such as it stands taller than Big Ben at 105m, and is twice the height of Nelson’s Column and Gateshead’s Millennium Bridge.

It is a £117.6million project and has drawn upon the expertise of partners and specialists from across Europe.

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To quote Paul Swinney’s Mackem Dictionary, there is no doubt that it is ‘wass’ (of great scale) and absolutely ‘topper’ (something that is thoroughly excellent) … wouldn’t it be great to see the Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William leaving with a copy of the Mackem Dictionary!

Here’s to a super successful week ahead for the city.