I was extremely honoured to be a part of my home city’s bid to win the title of the City of Culture for 2021 and for some of my ideas to be taken on board and spoken about. I was honoured on two fronts:
Firstly, Sunderland is my place of birth, where I grew up (eventually after a world wind tour) and where I now proudly reside (again after a world wind tour), so naturally I am honoured as this is my City.
Secondly, I feel honoured as I genuinely believe that Sunderland has a superb chance to claim this title. The cynic in me would allude to the fact that perhaps I would not take part in such a project, if I didn’t feel we could win. Is that bad, or sensible?
And why would Sunderland win I hear you ask?
For me culture is the people themselves. A fluid work in progress that ever evolves and changes with the times – that is culture. By no means are we perfect, is anyone? Yet the characteristics of warmth and trust shine through for any visitor arriving to our shores.
Famous sons and daughters have passed on, yet their legend remains to mould and shape new generations aspiring to be like their forefathers, setting the world alight (literally in Joseph Swan’s case – inventing the lightbulb and hailing from Bishopwearmouth – incidentally his first lectures on the subject were held on Fawcett Street, but that’s another story), setting sail around the world (as many of Sunderland’s sons have done with the town once the biggest shipbuilding town in the world) and setting transformation in place (from shipbuilding to the automotive industry (Nissan) and to the world of tech (Sunderland Software City being one example)).
And so it was with this in mind, to help celebrate the Sunderland culture, the idea of Wear The People was born. Wear The People is based on one of the city’s main culture points – The Stadium of Light and in particular the football club of the city – Sunderland AFC.
They say the city has no cathedral – some 48,000 red and white disciples would disagree, turning up as the congregation every other Saturday (in old money) to cheer on their footballing gods. Wear The People then, celebrates the football fan with a picture of a supporter and a quote every day for a year, starting on Friday 12th August. Placed on various social media platforms (mainly Facebook), the fan will recall a famous top flight memory in line with the football club’s tenth consecutive season in English football’s elite for many a year.
A bit of fun, with a serious edge, Wear The People is as simple as it comes – a celebration of our culture, with the best of banter to boot. A place where the fans are the stars and many in the area would say the Sunderland fan is like the twelfth man on the pitch.
And so I was delighted when Mr George Forster (aka Mr Sunderland) kicked off the project with his own recollections of match day antics, George now heading towards his 90th year sums up the idea of a city of culture. You visit his office for a quick natter and three hours later, you are experienced in the tribes of Africa (George having served there with the Army), the 1966 football World Cup (staged at Roker Park – George recounts a story of selling pin badges to Russian fans who paid in foreign coins and vodka, meaning he could not cash them in at the travel agents) to his thoughts on the current season and the new boss, David Moyes. George has seen many through the gaffer’s door on Wearside!
A picture paints a thousand words so they say and after a light bulb moment Joseph Swan would have been proud of, Wear The People was born and hopefully will recall and retain a plethora of stories personal to the fan, that no statistician can get anywhere near and embeds the simplicity of culture in us all.
Mal Robinson
Commercial Manager, University of Sunderland
17th August, 2016
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Visit the Wear The People Facebook page here: www.facebook.com/wearthepeople/
If you have any thoughts on Sunderland’s bid to be UK City of Culture 2021 and/or are interested in writing a blog post for us then please do get in touch! You can contact us at info@sunderland2021.com
