Sunderland A.F.C. Reserves and Academy

The Academy of Light is the name of the UEFA five star certified training facilities and youth academy for English football club Sunderland A.F.C. Officially opened in March 2003, the Academy of Light is a state-of-the-art training facility in Cleadon - just north of Sunderland. It covers an area of 220 acres (0.89 km2) of which 60 acres dedicated to football. It replaced the aging Charlie Hurley Centre, located nearby. The site is used as the primary training facility for the first team, but is also used to train the youngsters in Sunderland's U23 and U18 teams, it's the location of Sunderland's U18 home games, and is also the home of Sunderland A.F.C. Ladies.The academy plans were the focus of protests from local residents who were angered at the development on a green belt. After withdrawing initial ambitious plans, the club submitted new plans in 1999 which were rejected by South Tyneside Council. Following a public inquiry, Sunderland launched a successful appeal, and work began on the Academy in 2001. Before building work was complete, Sunderland submitted plans for expansion to the site, to include indoor training facilities, which The Football Association had added to the list of necessary facilities for academies to achieve Category 1 status. Plans were rejected, and a further appeal was also rejected, meaning Sunderland were forced to use a disused ice rink in Sunderland City Centre for indoor training. Indoor facilities were finally added to the Academy of Light in an expansion completed in 2012.The initial site cost over £10 million to build, with the indoor training facility expansion costing an extra £3m.

Monkwearmouth Academy is a state secondary school in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England, for pupils aged between 11 and 16. The most recent inspection report was in October 2013 and resulted in a judgement of good in all four aspects of the inspection.

Seaburn Dene is a northern suburb of Sunderland, England, located about one mile inland from the North Sea, near the boundary with South Tyneside. The first part of the development (Shields Road) was laid out just before the war but building resumed in the early 50s by a company called Lane Fox (part of Grasmere estates) The oldest houses in Seaburn Dene are those in the bottom half of Shields Road spreading into Grizedale and Staveley. The majority of housing was completed by 1958 with later developments in Dovedale Road and Torver Crescent completed in 1962. The names of the local streets recall villages and valleys in the Lake District of Cumbria and Peak District of Derbyshire. Examples of this include Staveley Road, Martindale Avenue, Alston Crescent, and Dovedale Road - the main road through the area. Recent expansions to the estate include The Square development on Shields Road, on the western edge of the estate. These executive homes are amongst the most expensive ever built in Sunderland, with some selling for £750,000. Amenities on the estate include two churches, a newsagent, an off-licence, a takeaway, a sandwich shop, a beauty salon, a glass-blower and a dental surgery. Educational facilities include a lower school, Seaburn Dene Primary, and the main secondary school for north-eastern Sunderland, Monkwearmouth Academy. Both schools are on Torver Crescent. Public transport links include the 23 Stagecoach bus service to Thorney Close via Fulwell Road, Sunderland City Centre, Sunderland Royal Hospital and Thornholme Road. The last number 23 leaves the estate at 2240. From early 2009, the route is served by wheelchair accessible buses. Seaburn Dene is also bypassed by the 20, 20A and X20Go North East bus services at Shields Road, running from South Shields to Durham via Sunderland, Park Lane Interchange, Houghton-le-Spring and Belmont. Seaburn Metro station, on the Green line of the Tyne and Wear Metro system, is a short walk to the southwest. The area lies in the Fulwell ward on Sunderland City Council, and is currently represented by three Conservative Party councillors.

Cleadon is a suburban village in South Tyneside in the North East of England. Prior to the creation of Tyne and Wear in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, the village was part of the historic County Durham. In the 2011 UK Census the population of the South Tyneside ward of Cleadon and East Boldon was 8,427. Nearby population centres include East Boldon, Whitburn, and Jarrow. The village is located approximately 5 miles (8 km) from the city of Sunderland and 5 miles from the town South Shields. It is situated on the south west of Cleadon Hills, an example of a Magnesian Limestone grassland home to a number of regionally and nationally rare species. For much of its history, the economy of Cleadon was based around agriculture. Now it is largely residential and has developed as a commuter town. The village has two churches, a primary school, and a commercial core with shops and pubs.

Seaburn is a Tyne and Wear Metro station, serving the suburbs of Fulwell and Seaburn, City of Sunderland in Tyne and Wear, England. It joined the network on 31 March 2002, following the opening of the extension from Pelaw to South Hylton.

Sunderland Greyhound Stadium is a greyhound racing track situated at Fulwell in the City of Sunderland and English county of Tyne and Wear. The stadium is owned by ARC and racing takes place every Wednesday and Friday evening as well as an additional BAGS meeting on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. The circumference of the track is 378 metres.

Carley Hill is a suburb of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear in North East England.

Fulwell is an affluent area and former civil parish in the City of Sunderland. The parish was abolished in 1928 as a result of the Sunderland Corporation Act 1927, and the area incorporated into the former County Borough of Sunderland. It borders Seaburn, Southwick, Monkwearmouth, and Roker, and the district border between Sunderland and South Tyneside. Fulwell ward, including South Bents and Seaburn, is the least socially deprived of the city's 25 wards.Fulwell has long been an area popular for dining out and social drinking, with a substantial number of restaurants and watering holes in the vicinity, including Alishaan Cafe, the Blue Bell, the Royal Marine, and the Grange Hotel. Mill View Social Club, on Station Road, is one of the largest social clubs in the United Kingdom, boasting live music five nights per week and over 3,000 members. Housing in the area is varied. A network of streets in the southern area of Fulwell contains many nineteenth-century terraced houses, with a large amount of Victorian architecture. In the northern part of Fulwell, housing consists mostly of semi-detached, inter- and post-war dwellings, with many of the most popular streets constructed in the 1930s. House prices, particularly in the area's eastern and western edges, bordering Seaburn and Newcastle Road respectively, are amongst the highest in the city. Due to Fulwell's role as an overwhelmingly residential area, economic activity in the ward is mostly restricted to the retail and leisure sectors. Local services centre on the main thoroughfare of Sea Road, where a large shopping parade has been established for many years. A mid-sized Sainsbury's store opened in 2006 at Station Road. Fulwell's fire station closed in September 2015, when services were transferred to the new station at Marley Pots. Other services include a Community Library, which is open 10 am until 4 pm on Mondays, 10 am until 5 pm on Wednesdays, 10 am until 4 pm on Fridays and 10 am until 1 pm on Saturdays, a GP clinic, two dental surgeries, and a veterinary surgery. The area is served by local bus services 23, 99, E2 and E6 as well as by the Tyne and Wear Metro, at Seaburn station. Mainline trains no longer stop at the station. Fulwell was primarily a farming village until it became part of the urban sprawl of industrial Sunderland in the nineteenth century. Relics of this agricultural past still survive in the form of three windmills, including the 19th century Fulwell Mill, the only working windmill in the United Kingdom featuring a stone reefing stage (a design-feature peculiar to mills in north-east England, equivalent to the gallery found on other mills). The mill, built in 1808, was restored to working order between 1996 and 2001 after over half-a-century out of use, and celebrated its bicentenary in 2008. In late 2011, however, the sails and cap suffered severe storm damage. A further restoration, which included the fitting of a new fantail, cap and sails to the original dimensions, together with an overhaul of associated machinery commenced during 2017 and was completed in May 2018. Politically, Fulwell had long been regarded as a staunch Conservative ward in a region of traditional Labour strength. Since the ward's creation it has always had at least one Conservative Party councillor.

Monkwearmouth Hospital is a mental health facility on Newcastle Road, Monkwearmouth, Sunderland, England. It is managed by the Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust.

Newcastle Road was a football ground in the Monkwearmouth area of Sunderland, England, and was the home ground of Sunderland A.F.C for twelve years, between 1886 and 1898. It was the sixth ground at which the club had played. Also called Ashville Ground, it was located between Newcastle Road, Eglinton Street North and Crozier Street. Sunderland AFC's first game at the ground was a friendly against Birtley on 10 April 1886. The game ended as a 3 – 3 draw. On 5 May 1888, the now-defunct Sunderland Albion F.C. played their inaugural game at Newcastle Road; a 3 – 0 victory over Shankhouse Blackwatch, although Albion would go on to play their home games at Sunderland AFCs previous ground of Blue House Field. Sunderland AFC became the main tenants of Newcastle Road, initially playing a mixture of friendlies and Durham Challenge Cup games. On 30 October 1886, Newcastle Road hosted Sunderland's first ever home tie in the FA Cup; a 2 – 1 victory over Newcastle West End F.C. Landowners, the Shipyard owning Thompson Sisters, charged the club £15 rent in the first year, and labourers from the Thompson yards were enlisted to help build the stands.Sunderland joined the Football League in 1890, their first home league game being a defeat against Burnley on 13 September of that year. Six months later, in March 1891, the first England International to be held in Sunderland was played at Newcastle Road, as 15,000 spectators watched England beat Wales 4–1.In their first season in the Football League, Sunderland drew an average home attendance of 6,091 at Newcastle Road. The ground had an estimated capacity of 15,000, but frequently admitted many more, including a then English record football attendance of 21,000 for an 1891 FA Cup tie vs Everton F.C. Over the course of the next decade, the club averaged crowds of 7,450 at Newcastle Road, peaking at 11,033 for their final season. Sunderland were hugely successful during their time at Newcastle Road, winning the league championship three times and embarking on a home run that saw them undefeated in 81 games and scoring 270 goals in the process. The success led them to be dubbed "The Team of All Talents", and Sunderland went on to be the first English side to be crowned World Champions By 1896, rent on the ground had risen to £100, and space for expansion at Newcastle Road was limited. Recognising the need for growth, the board set about finding a new home. Sunderland became a Limited liability company, raised financing through the sale of shares, and purchased farmland in Roker for a new stadium. The final league game at the Newcastle Road was a 4–0 win over Nottingham Forest F.C. on 23 April 1898 and in the summer of 1898, Sunderland moved to Roker Park, where they would remain for 99 years. The ground features in a painting by the artist Thomas M. M. Hemy, a brother of Charles Napier Hemy. The image depicts a game between Sunderland and Aston Villa F.C. in 1895, and is believed to be the oldest painting of a league football game. The painting was later placed in the reception area at the Stadium of Light, the current home of the club.

East Boldon is a Tyne and Wear Metro station, serving the villages of Cleadon and East Boldon, South Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It joined the network on 31 March 2002, following the opening of the extension from Pelaw to South Hylton.

Southwick is a former village and now a suburb on the north banks of the River Wear in the city of Sunderland in the county of Tyne and Wear, historically in County Durham. From 1894 to 1928, Southwick was administered by the Southwick-on-Wear Urban District Council, before being absorbed by Sunderland. Southwick borders with Castletown and Hylton Red House to the west, Monkwearmouth to the east, greenbelt farmland and the suburb of Carley Hill to the north, and the Wear to the south although the Queen Alexandra Bridge links Southwick to Pallion and central Sunderland. It is home to a police station that services the north of Sunderland. There is a primary school, but no secondary school. Sunderland A.F.C.'s Stadium of Light is visible to the east on the Monkwearmouth side. Southwick is centered on its village green, a commercial area containing three listed buildings; a World War II war memorial, The Tramcar Inn a public house built in 1906, and a memorial lamp-post built in 1912. [1] According to Indices of Deprivation published by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions in 2000, Southwick is the most deprived of the 25 wards in Sunderland, the fifth most deprived in Tyne and Wear, and the fifty-fifth in England. [2].