Life in 70s Sunderland – from power cuts, strikes and SAFC to cabbages

Letters that offer a snapshot of life in Sunderland in the 1970s form the basis of a new book by a city author.

- by Katy Wheeler

Over the course of 1974 to 1976, from his home in Aboyne Square, Farringdon, Stan Hills would write to his son, Stephen, who was a town planner involved in the development of Kuwait City.

Back then, letters were the only way Stephen could hear about what was happening back home on Wearside, 4,000 miles away.

He always kept hold of the letters and now sister Pauline Waters has compiled them into a book called Good Night, God Bless, which is how former Doxfords worker Stan would sign off all his letters.

Pauline, a former Farringdon Infant School teacher, said: “Back then, letter was the main form of communication and dad would always wait for a letter back before he wrote again, meaning it’s a continuous conversation between the two.