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Wearside stories you may have missed

PA Media Roker pier battered by huge wavesPA Media
Roker Pier will be repaired next year

A blind duck being rescued from bullies, a shop's flooding fears and the news Roker Pier will be repaired next year.

Here are some stories you may have missed on Wearside this week.

Blind duck rescued after getting 'bullied'

Pawz for Thought A white duck in a cage looking at the camera. It has orange feet.Pawz for Thought
Geraldine was being bullied by the other pond ducks, an animal charity said

Geraldine, a blind duck from Whitburn Pond in South Tyneside, had to be rescued by an animal charity after being "bullied" by other ducks.

The bird was reported by locals to Sunderland animal charity Pawz for Thought after being seen "stumbling about" and getting attacked.

Lorraine Thornton, from the charity, said when they took her in, they quickly realised she was either "blind" or had "very poor eyesight", hampering her ability to survive in the wild.

Luckily for her, two volunteers with a "soft spot for disabled birds" saw her just minutes after arriving and adopted her.

But Geraldine was not the only animal to get her photo in the news this week.

'Taking my dog inside cathedral was lovely'

Hazel Isgate A woman in a red jacket with a red hat and a dog on a lead with a black and white fur. They are standing inside Durham Cathedral.Hazel Isgate
Hazel Isgate said it was "lovely" to take her dog Wilson inside the cathedral

Durham Cathedral recently started allowing people to bring their dogs along on a trial basis.

Hazel Isgate, who moved to Durham three years ago, said she had been to the cathedral several times with her husband, but he had always had to wait outside with their dog Wilson.

"But then you feel guilty, so you are rushing around because somebody is stood outside," she said. "This enables you to all go in together and enjoy it together."

Chief visitor officer Andrew Usher said the move was to help everybody "feel welcome".

Storm-damaged pier to be repaired next year

Getty Images Roker Pier. Large waves are crashing into the pier and it's lighthouse. The pier curves to the right and has railings along each side. The lighthouse has a white and red dome.Getty Images
Roker Pier was damaged during Storm Babet in October 2023

Roker Pier is due to be repaired next year, 18 months after it was damaged by Storm Babet.

The pier was deemed unsafe and closed to the public, but now Sunderland City Council has submitted a planning application to repair it.

The work cannot start until April to avoid disturbing birds, including the ruddy turnstone, which nest along the structure, the council said.

The proposed work will include replacing corroded and missing steel components, repairing concrete and fixing the decking, railing and support structures.

Blocked drain 'making floods worse'

Mr Ali standing outside the Sultan Halal Superstore. The shop is painted green and has pictures of food in the windows. Mr Ali has black hair and stubble and is wearing a blue coat.
Mr Ali said water was just a few centimetres away from flooding his shop

Shopkeeper Bakhtiar Ali fears his business faces flooding "over and over again" due to a blocked drain.

Chester Road in Sunderland was closed on Tuesday due to a burst water main at Western Hill junction.

Mr Ali, who owns Sultan Halal Superstore, said his shop had "luckily" not been flooded, but had been deluged four years ago when a different pipe burst.

Mr Ali said £3,000 worth of shop stock was ruined during that flooding.

Northumbrian Water said it had replaced the pipe, while Sunderland City Council said the gully outside the shop was cleared in December 2023.

Sycamore Gap sapling given to autism charity farm

North East Autism Society Dave Wilde, who has a ginger beard, is wearing a claret jumper and blue jeans. John Phillipson is wearing a green/brown blazer and a black round neck top with dark trousers. They are standing next to each other in field.North East Autism Society
Farmer Dave Wilde and charity boss John Phillipson said being given the sapling was an "honour"

A sapling from the felled Sycamore Gap tree will be planted on a farm which will be staffed by autistic people.

John Phillipson, the head of the charity North East Autism Society which runs the site near Chester-le-Street, County Durham, said it was a "real honour" to be awarded one of the tree's 49 saplings.

Mr Phillipson said: "Hopefully [we will] see it blossom into the kind of tree that we saw the Sycamore Gap tree was."

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