Sunderland is a city built from the dockyards up. A city that formerly thrived off the riches produced from the shipyards that bordered both sides of the River Wear.
The late 19th and early 20th century is arguably the most important time in Sunderland's history, where most men AND women left their families for the day, walk along the bridge and head to their jobs building and repairing ships.
Once the biggest shipyard in the world, Sunderland's docks would produce ships from as small as a wooden sailing boat to ships that weigh over 100,000 tonnes.
The Sunderland Antiquarian Society is overflowing with photographs, documents and memorabilia from Sunderland’s History, including almost two rooms on Sunderland Maritime alone.
Secretary Phil Curtis had all the facts about the Society, pointing out various pictures, flags and plaques that hung from the wall. "A lot of the firms that close down in the city donate their archives to the society. Recently we have been given hard copy volumes of the Sunderland Echo after they moved offices."
Entering another room, piled high with files and boxes, he indicated to the rows of books that lined one wall: “Over the last 115 years we have amassed a massive amount of archives here, some of which we are still sorting through.”
Nick Thompson, 75, flicked through file after file, reminiscing over old photographs of the shipyards along the Wear. He stopped and held up a photo, pointing to two men looking at a docked ship.
"That's one of the bigger ones but that chap there, sitting down, is my Father-in-law. This was taken from the Fish Quay."
But it wasn't just Mr Thompson’s father-in-law who worked in the docks. Mr Thompson worked in shipyard’s himself. Originally wanting to follow in his father’s footsteps as a seaman, Mr Thompson said: "I started my apprenticeship in 1956; I wanted to be a Marine Engineer, go out to sea. My dad was a seaman and he didn’t think it was a good idea."
He laughed at the memory before continuing: “I worked in the workshops until I was 59 or 60.”
During the Second World War, all the shipyards found a sudden rise in ship demand. Several ships began building army ships, such as tankers.
Ex-serviceman and ex-councillor Graham Hall chairs the Sunderland Armed Forces Network, a voluntary charity set up to deliver welfare and support Veterans and their families. The S.A.F.N also deal with Sunderland Maritime Heritage on a regular occasion.
He explained: "As a member of the, then, Culture and Heritage Committee, we looked at ways of preserving a record of the City's proud ship building heritage. Part of that was to look if it was feasible to have a Maritime Museum in the City."
Unfortunately, it was not to happen. The committee faced challenges of finances, location for the project and the upkeep: “We are talking tens of millions to bring this to fruition and then the question of sustainability would always be a challenging one.”
Sunderland’s thriving shipyards were not built to last however, with the rise of competition overseas and the three depressions that struck at the heart of the shipyards, in a matter of years the docks were shut down one-by-one.
Mr Hall explained: “Many industries, including shipbuilding, were not allowed to be subsidised under European law, but shipbuilders in the Far East were. It is an unfortunate fact that if you can’t keep costs to a low and keep up with technology at a competitive price you will suffer, and unfortunately shipbuilding in Sunderland was one of the victims.”
While the closure of the shipyards was a crushing blow to Sunderland's economy at the time, it wasn’t long before things began to look up for the city.
Mr Hall rationalised: "The whole area has been transformed into a place that now offers a better quality of life."
"The seafront and river way has been revitalised into a place that is pleasant to walk along and enjoy instead of being a dirty neglected area. Sunderland has had to reinvent itself and, at that point in time, the yards and other heavy traditional industries were closing for not dissimilar reasons."
