Teenagers visit Sunderland's twin city

Harry Loraine, 18, and Mark Stoddart, 16, from the city's Southwick Neighbourhood Youth Project (SNYP) were among 30 young people at a week-long International Youth Meeting 2018 in the German city of Essen.

The young people all came from Essen’s twin cities which are in France, Finland, Israel and Russia.The pair have now met the Mayor of Sunderland, Councillor Lynda Scanlan, at a reception where they outlined and updated her on their visit. Harry has just completed his A-levels at Monkwearmouth Sixth Form and is joining the RAF

Mark has just completed his GCSEs at Redhouse Academy and will be going to study music at Sunderland College.

They were accompanied to Essen by project youth officer Ruth Oxley. Ms Oxley said: "The youth meeting was called Music.Melody.Makers.

"It was aimed at youngsters aged 16 -21 years who are interested in music and have basic musical knowledge – instruments or vocals - and who were ready to try new things and styles with other young people at dozens of different workshops. "The end result was about creating a connection between different musical elements and instruments and finally a performance on the the stage of the Weststadthalle in Essen. "The performance went very well, it was well supported and in a very prestigious local venue." The pair were supported by a grant of nearly £1,000 from the Wearmouth Community Development Trust Legacy Fund run by Voluntary Community Action Sunderland (VCAS).Speaking at the meeting on Wednesday, August 22, Mayor of Sunderland, Councillor Lynda Scanlan said: "Sunderland has long-standing twinning arrangements with Essen, and with other cities around the word."Harry and Mark with their visit have been excellent young ambassadors for our city and we can be very proud of them."