Whitburn Church of England Academy

Whitburn is a village in South Tyneside in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear on the coast of North East England. It is located 3 miles (4.8 km) north of the city of Sunderland and 4 miles (6.4 km) south of the town of South Shields. Historically, Whitburn was a part of County Durham. Other nearby population centres include Seaburn, Cleadon and Marsden. The village lies on a south-facing slope, part of Durham's Magnesian Limestone plateau, which overlooks Sunderland. The population for the combined Whitburn and Marsden Ward in the 2011 UK Census was 7,448. For much of its history, Whitburn was a fishing and agricultural community. The village contains three schools, three churches, cricket club, recreational grounds, a pub and a variety of shops.

Whitburn Lifeboat Station is a former Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) station, which was located in the village of Whitburn, in the county of Tyne and Wear. A lifeboat was first stationed here in 1818, by the Sunderland Lifeboat Committee (SLC). Management of the station was handed over to the RNLI in 1854. After 100 years service, Whitburn lifeboat station was closed at the end of April, 1918.

Seaburn is a seaside resort and northeastern suburb of Sunderland, North East England. The village of Whitburn borders the area to the north. To the west and south-west is Fulwell and to the south the coastal resort of Roker. Virtually all of Seaburn consists of low-density private housing interspersed with open parkland, laid out in the middle of the 20th century. Much of the housing is amongst the most expensive in Sunderland, with many large mansion houses situated along the coast, and on adjoining streets. The seafront is home to a sandy blue flag beach, seaside promenades, two amusement arcades, children's playgrounds, fish and chip shops, small guest houses and two 4 star hotels, The Grand Hotel and the Seaburn Inn. The main shopping street is Sea Road, which runs from the seafront up through Fulwell to the Seaburn Metro station. The area around Queens Parade hosts a 'strip' of restaurants, with three Italian, two Indian and two Chinese restaurants in operation as of 2009. Also trading are several pubs and coffee shops. In the late 1980s, the old Seaburn Hall site was redeveloped, with a Morrisons supermarket, new amusement park and leisure and fitness centre. Previously, Seaburn Hall had been a dance hall and live music venue. It was built in 1939 as part of a development scheme which also included the seafront and a funfair.Seaburn was a favourite place of the painter L. S. Lowry. A large Lowry painting is displayed in the local Morrisons supermarket. The area was close to the Sunderland A.F.C. stadium Roker Park and was the origin of the hooligan firm the Seaburn Casuals.The Sunderland International Airshow is held on the coast at Seaburn and Roker and is the largest free event of its kind in Europe, with a variety of aircraft, civilian and military aircraft on display.On the Tyne and Wear Metro Seaburn is served by its own station. The suburb is part of the Fulwell ward on Sunderland City Council, and is represented by three Conservative councillors.

The Sunderland International Airshow was the biggest free annual airshow in Europe, held at the Roker and Seaburn seafronts. It takes place over the course of three days, usually the final weekend in July (Friday to Sunday), and attracts around 2,000,000 spectators every year. The airshow features a large number of planes, including the Red Arrows and the Eurofighter Typhoon. In addition to the planes, the seafront plays host to a range of food counters, stalls and fairground games. The Royal Navy traditionally have a warship off the coast every year, usually HMS Ocean, the adopted warship of Sunderland, however in 2007, HMS Albion made an appearance instead as HMS Ocean had other commitments. The airshow was first held in 1989 as a single day show, and was planned to be a one-off event, when it attracted 250,000 spectators. Due to its success, from 1991 it became a two-day show, and subsequently three days. Due to thick fog and mist in 2008 the airshow was cancelled. The display was also postponed in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some aviation fans stayed the whole weekend. The Friday night launch, which started back in 2010, shows sunset displays for the majority of the night, but the night is rounded off with gliders with sparklers (used in fireworks) during the "settling down" period, and then a large firework display ends it all.Sunderland City Council announced in October 2022 that it has "no plans" to hold the airshow again, after officially cancelling the 2023 airshow, citing the "global climate emergency" and the city’s desire to be carbon neutral by 2040, despite owning nearly 10% in the nearby Newcastle International Airport.

Spottee’s Cave is a cave formed in a limestone-magnesium ravine on the seafront of Roker, North East England, between Sunderland (to the south), and Whitburn (to the north).

Roker Park is a recreation park in the Roker area of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England. The land on which the park stands was donated by Sir Hedworth Williamson, 8th Baronet and the Church Commissioners, and opened on 23 June 1880. The park is roughly an upside down reversed 'L' shape. It is bounded by Park Parade to the south, Roker Park Terrace to the east, Roker Park Road to the west and Side Cliff Road to the north. The northern part of the park is the widest and fronts onto Roker beach via a ravine, which passes under a wooden footbridge. In the centre of the park is a large freeform boating lake which is used for remote-controlled model boating. In the northwest corner of the park is a model narrow gauge railtrack which was built in the 1970s. There are two bowling greens as well as tennis and multi-purpose sports courts.

Roker ( ROH-kər) is a tourist resort and affluent area of Sunderland, North East England, bounded on the south by the River Wear and Monkwearmouth, on the east by the North Sea, to the west by Fulwell and on the north by Seaburn. It is administered as part of the City of Sunderland and lies within historic County Durham. The majority of the houses in Roker are terraced or semi-detached. Further west, to the part bordering Fulwell, are cul-de-sacs with semi-detached bungalows, these being owned mainly by members of Roker's sizeable elderly population. On Roker Terrace (Roker's main street) are exclusive apartments and hotels which overlook the seafront. In addition to Seaburn seafront, the coast at Roker seafront plays host to Sunderland International Airshow, the biggest free airshow in Europe, which takes place each year, usually over the last weekend in July.

St Andrew's, Roker (1905–7), is a Church of England parish church in Sunderland, England. It is recognised as one of the finest churches of the first half of the twentieth century and the masterpiece of Edward Schroeder Prior. The design of St Andrew's drew together many of the strings of Prior's philosophy and approach to design and building. Three years before commencing St Andrew's, Prior had written that the architect's first purpose was to provide; "a dignified distinct building dedicated to the service of the Church. Church architecture, least of all, has been able to go beyond the trivial efforts of traditional picturesqueness; least of all our building it has been monumental". At St Andrew's, Prior achieved a monumental church free from style. His experiments in structure, concern for materials and means of building reached their apogee at St Andrew's. The church was listed Grade I in 1950.

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.

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.

Sunderland Lifeboat Station has two locations in the port city of Sunderland, which sits at the mouth of the River Wear, in the county of Tyne and Wear. A lifeboat was first stationed here in 1800 by the Sunderland Lifeboat Committee, followed by a succession of privately operated lifeboats. Overall control of all Sunderland lifeboats finally passed to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) in 1871. The station at North Dock Marina currently operates both Inshore lifeboats; the B-class (Atlantic 85) Wolseley (B-817) since 2007, and a D-class (IB1) Thee Andy Cantle (D-879) since 2023.

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.