How Scotland's First Minister was inspired by her Mackem granny
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced she is stepping down as First Minister of Scotland after nine years in the position.
Sturgeon, who was the first woman to hold the post, took over from previous Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond in 2014.
Here we take a look at the First Minister’s links to Wearside, and how they have helped shape her views on Scotland and the North East.
Margaret Mill, the daughter of Nicola Sturgeon's greatgrandfather, shipwright Joseph Mill, was born in Arthur Street in Ryhope in 1920.
It was a time when Wearside’s ship-building and coal mining industries were thriving, with the area sharing an industrial heritage similar to parts of Scotland.
Margaret grew up to marry Robert Sturgeon, a gardener from Ayr, at St Paul's Parish Church in 1943, and eventually the family moved back to the south west of Scotland, where the now-first minister was born in 1970.
Ms Sturgeon has previously admitted ‘family footballing loyalties’ to Sunderland AFC, having spent happy holidays in Wearside. She has said her family ties meant she didn’t have an “anti-English bone” in her body.
After being elected SNP leader, Ms Sturgeon highlighted the similarities between Scotland and the North East of England, and said she hoped to build stronger ties between the two.
“My gran was from just outside Sunderland in the North of England, so I have got a particular personal affinity to that part of England,” she said in an interview in 2015.
"I think there is huge scope to strengthen the links between Scotland and the north of England.”
She said Scottish independence would never be about “cutting links – social, and cultural and family links – between Scotland and the rest of the UK”.
And addressing the North East England Chamber of Commerce in 2017, she told the group Scotland and the North East had much in common, with both having suffered disproportionately from the loss of traditional industries.
During her time in office, Sturgeon has led the campaign for a second Scottish independence referendum and been at the forefront of many significant points in Scottish politics.