Wearside stories you might have missed

A bronze or rust-coloured statue of two figures sitting on a silver steel park bench. The left-side one of the two represents an old former shipbuilder, wearing a cap and leaning both hands on a walking stick in front of him. He is looking towards a girl - his granddaughter - sitting alongside him and who looks back. She has a bobble hat, coat, knee-length skirt and long socks. Her ankles are crossed but her feet don't quite reach the ground. She is holding an cone that has a full swirl of ice cream and a flake.

Two sculptures honouring shipbuilders were revealed in Sunderland this week

A worker remembering the last days of the shipbuilding industry, an important Iron Age find, and a new mental health hub.

Here are some Wearside stories you might have missed this week.

'Unprecedented' Iron Age hoard

A man wearing glasses and purple rubber gloves holds a decorative copper alloy finial that has been cleaned up. Durham University

Tom Moore, head of the department of archaeology at Durham University said the size and scale of the hoard was "exceptional"

Durham University archaeologists have helped uncover one of the "largest and most important" Iron Age finds in the UK.

The Melsonby Hoard was discovered in a field near the North Yorkshire village.

It 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 ago.

Read the full story here.

'Desperately needed' mental health hub

Tori Hetherington who has blonde hair and is wearing clear glasses and a chequered coat, is holding her son, Nate, who has black hair and is wearing a black puffer jacket. Tori is standing next to her partner, Lee, who has grey hair and is wearing a purple short-sleeved shirt with tattoos showing.

Tori Hetherington and Lee Nicholson decided to help provide speedy support locally

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 support.

The hub, which is inside the centre and staffed by NHS counsellors, is taking existing referrals but is soon to open a walk-in centre.

Read the full story here.

Bonus for every year of work

Lenore Mason, second from left, in a grey dress and with long blonde hair, is holding her hands up in the air. She is standing with three other women who are wearing orange scarfs and the Hays Travel uniform. Two of the other women have blonde hair and one has black hair. They are all smiling and putting their hands in the air. They are standing in a Hays store. Hays Travel

Lenore Mason, second from left, has worked at Hays for 37 years

Staff are set to receive a £100 bonus for every year they have worked at a travel agency.

Sunderland-based 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 year.

Company 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, wearing a black cap with white text saying Windstar Cruises, kneels down and points to a plimsoll line at the Sunderland Maritime Heritage Centre. The marking is a horizontal line running through a circle and was added to ships to ensure they were not carrying too much cargo.

Alex Sherriff spent years at Austen & Pickersgill shipbuilders in Sunderland

Alex Sherriff was among the last batch of employees to build vessels in Sunderland before the final yard closed in 1988.

Mr 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 yards.

Read the full story here.

New business improvement district

Sharon Appleby at Sunderland seafront. She is standing in front of the beach and smiling at the camera. Her hair is shoulder-length and blonde and she is wearing glasses, a light-brown coat and a red top.

Sharon Appleby will be chief executive of the seafront BID

A business improvement district (BID) will be launched on Sunderland's seafront after it was backed by traders.

The new BID will begin its first term in May after a ballot in which almost 91% of votes were in favour.

Chief executive Sharon Appleby said businesses had recognised the value the scheme could bring to an area.

Read the full story here.

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