River Wear’s hidden gems to be spotlighted in new talk

A diver’s fascinating finds will be spotlighted at a meeting in Sunderland tomorrow. A new series of illustrated talks has been announced by the Sunderland Antiquarian Society.

The first is on Tuesday, September 18, and will be given by Gary Bankhead who is an archeological diver. He will be talking about the finds from the Saxon period onward that he has uncovered from the River Wear.

He will also be bringing along some of the fascinating artefacts that he has recovered. The talk is titled The Durham River Assemblage.

It starts at 7.30pm in the main hall of Thornhill School. Doors open at 6.50pm and all are welcome. Gary’s talk marks the start of a series of Antiquarian Society events which continues on October 16 when Ian Mole will speak on Musical Memories of the Sixties. On November 20, Phil Curtis will put the focus on Roker and Seaburn and on December 18, a talk on Rare Photographs and Film of Old Sunderland will be given by Norman Kirtlan.

The talks are £1 to members with a £2 cover charge for visitors. They are held on the third Tuesday of each month and last around one hour.

Interested people can also find out more about Sunderland’s history by visiting the Society’s base at 6 Douro Terrace.

It is open every Wednesday and Saturday from 9.30am to 12pm and houses a huge collection of documents, maps and photographs.

To find out more about the society, which was founded in 1900, visit its website at http:// www.sunderland-antiquarians.org.