Yourself a Mackem little Christmas
photography, said: “A lot of the ideas started off from a Power Point presentation in which we looked at traditional Christmas sayings and words which we mixed with Sunderland words.”
Nadia Heron, 17, from Houghton, who is studying art and design, added: “The market is very much part of the community and as it’s Christmas at the same time these are sayings a lot of people can relate to.”
Hollie Marshall, lecturer in art and design, said: “The students were inspired by the City of Culture bid and its celebration of Sunderland and they wanted to reflect that in an artistic way using typography, while also learning new techniques such as screen printing.”
She added: “It all started with Project 100 which saw the students clean up the market and brighten up the stalls.
“On the back of that they were offered a stall to thank them for their hard work.
“They all got together and decided that a Mackem Christmas stall would be a great idea.” Once a thriving market, Park Lane has suffered a fall in visitor numbers in recent years which led to just a handful of stalls remaining.
But Sunderland BID have worked closely with local businesses and independent traders to breathe new life into the site over Christmas.
Each week, from Thursday to Sunday, there’s a host of independent traders in the market, selling everything from Christmas decorations and artisan coffees to brownies and homemade jewellery.