It’s C-Day –Ha’way the bid

More than two years of planning, hard work and dreams will culminate in a single moment tonight.

Wearside will find out if it has won the UK City of Culture 2021 in the full glare of national media as the winner is revealed on BBC’s The One Show in a live broadcast from Hull, the current holder of the title.

The team behind the city’s bid were this morning making their final presentation to judges, hoping to convince them to award them the coveted prize ahead of rivals Coventry, Paisley, Stoke and Swansea.

The cultural fate of the city lies in the hands of the panel of judges put together by The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS).

Arts and Culture Minister John Glen is due to announce the winner between 7pm and 7.30pm.

Should Sunderland win, the city would host a year of events in 2021 which would plough millions of pounds into the local economy and bring thousands of visitors to Wearside.

But either way, the bid is a winner.

Local and regional businesses, councils, MPs, colleges, universities, transport companies, health authorities as well as organisations like Sunderland BID, SAFC, Gentoo, the Echo and local celebrities –plus hundreds of individuals – have backed the bid each step of the way; from the thousands attending its official launch event back in September 2015, through to the rousing final social media campaign this week.

The bid has galvanised Wearsiders,whohaveshown a passion to put their city on the cultural map.

So good luck to everyone involved in this remarkable effort, and let’s say it one more time – ‘HA’WAY THE BID’.