Our First Three Years

2016
Year Three
A Great Night Out
Spring 2016
A Great Night Out was
the culmination of months
of workshops held across
Sunderland and South
Tyneside and celebrated
the area’s rich heritage and
amazing community spirit.
It was delivered on May 31
in The Point, Sunderland,
by WildWorks, a respected
theatre company that
has delivered site specific
performances in towns and
cities around the world.
For months before the
performance, WildWorks
worked with Wearsiders
and South Tynesiders,
collecting extraordinary
stories from ordinary people.
Accompanied by speciallycommissioned
music,
performers brought these
stories to life in a moving and
often funny performance.
The venue was transformed
into a, ‘Glittering Dream
Space’ full of community
talent and local heroes who
all arrived in their best attire.
Greeted with champagne and
canapés, guests enjoyed a
projection of 1930s film the
Swings before the stories got
underway.
The audience was plunged
into darkness as a former
miner told of the time he
was trapped in a pit after
the shaft collapsed in on
itself. He dreamed of the
Northern Lights and sea, a
dream which came true when
he was freed from the mine
and sailed to Thunder Bay,
Newfoundland and Chicago.
Former soldier turned teacher
Len Gibson told his incredibly
powerful story of his years in
captivity as a Japanese POW.
With friends dying around
him, he created a banjo in
an attempt to raise morale.
Overcoming sickness, disease
and surviving the camp he
married his nurse, Ruby, who
took care of him when he
returned home. Len, now 95,
played his banjo and sang
On The Street Where You
Live, a song he used to sing to
Ruby who had recently passed
away.
Other performances came
from Ross Millard, who led
the house band, the Hylton
Ukes and George Shovlin
and the Radars. Ray Spencer
expertly hosted the evening.
David Bowies Heroes
provided a fitting sound track
to end the night which was full
of laughter, tears and pride.
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