30-03-2025
Wearside stories you might have missed this week
A worker remembering the last days of the shipbuilding industry, an important Iron Age find, and a new mental health are some Wearside stories you might have missed this week.
'Unprecedented' Iron Age hoard
Durham University archaeologists have helped uncover one of the "largest and most important" Iron Age finds in the Melsonby Hoard was discovered in a field near the North Yorkshire includes more than 800 items, including cauldrons or vessels, horse harness, bridle bits, ceremonial spears and 28 iron tyres, believed to have been buried about 2,000 years the full story here.
'Desperately needed' mental health hub
A couple who overcame serious mental health issues have helped set up a support hub in an area where they say it is "desperately needed".Lee Nicholson, from the Building Blocks Community Centre in Concord, Washington, said some residents had to complete a 14-mile (22.5km) round trip for hub, which is inside the centre and staffed by NHS counsellors, is taking existing referrals but is soon to open a walk-in the full story here.
Bonus for every year of work
Staff are set to receive a £100 bonus for every year they have worked at a travel Hays Travel said it would hand out the money as it revealed record sales figures, having hit the £3bn mark one month before the end of the financial official Lenore Mason, who has been with the firm for 37 years, said she felt happy to work at a company that "continued to grow in the region where I grew up".Read the full story here.
Last shipyard worker remembers closures
Alex Sherriff was among the last batch of employees to build vessels in Sunderland before the final yard closed in Sherriff said it remained important the industry was remembered as he felt newer generations were "slowly forgetting" the impact of shipbuilding as old colleagues "pass on".To honour them, two sculptures have been installed on the banks of the River Wear - one of workers having their lunch and another depicting a former shipbuilder telling his granddaughter about the old the full story here.
New business improvement district
A business improvement district (BID) will be launched on Sunderland's seafront after it was backed by new BID will begin its first term in May after a ballot in which almost 91% of votes were in executive Sharon Appleby said businesses had recognised the value the scheme could bring to an the full story here.
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