What life was like in Sunderland in 1984, the year the Miners' Strike began

We're going on a journey to 1984 when all of these Wearside events made the headlines.

It's the year when a hot air balloonist, a tiger, and a massive new store shared the limelight.

Let's find out more.

A hot air balloonist made a forced landing in a ploughed field near Seaham.

Robin Batchelor, 35, was competing in the Trans-Pennine Cup flight from Cartmel, Cumbria.

“I was travelling solo at about 30 miles per hour and had crossed the Pennines at about 4,000 feet, ” he said.

“My balloon went into a whirl as I approached Dalton-le-Dale and I was a bit worried when I saw the sea so near. I just had to get down.”

Mr Batchelor thinks he won the contest for the balloonist getting furthest east as he saw his nearest rival descend near Bishop Auckland.

Trophies from the Wearside football world

Two of the oldest trophies in Wearside football went on display in Sunderland town centre.

They are the Sunderland Shipowners’ Cup and the Monkwearmouth Charity Cup, which were both donated to the Wearside League towards the end of the last century.

The three-feet high silver trophies could be seen in the window of the Britannia Building Society in Market Square.

The tiger who came to Crowtree

A 30-foot inflatable tiger held no fears for children who visited Crowtree Leisure Centre. In fact, the inflatable was a huge hit with children who paid to bounce around on a mattress beneath his tummy.

Two Washington firefighters made a bid to get their names into the Guinness Book of Records by wearing breathing apparatus for seven days.

Brian Turnbull and Peter Jennings were cut off from natural air for 170 hours.

The two men hope that as well as getting into the record books, the unusual stunt should raise them more than £2,000 for charity.

Road jams as huge new store opens

A last-minute hitch didn’t stop thousands of DIY shoppers flocking to the opening of Europe’s biggest hypermarket.

The 100,000 sq ft of shopping space in Washington had more than 30,000 different products on offer and around 3,000 shoppers could be welcomed at any one time.

Roads around the site were jammed as people journeyed from all over the North East to see the opening of Dicken’s third store.

The first sale was a tin of linseed oil, at 89 pence.

Tell us if we brought back great memories for you with these stories.

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