Wearside: Review of 2008

Roy Keane had been in charge at Sunderland since August 2006

Wearside football was dealt a blow as the year came to an end, when Sunderland manager Roy Keane quit after a string of defeats.

The former republic of Ireland midfielder, who joined the club in August 2006, stunned club staff and supporters alike with his decision.

Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn praised Keane's efforts, saying he deserved "huge respect" for his time in charge.

First team coach Ricky Sbragia was named as Keane's replacement.

During his first season as manager at Sunderland, Keane led the club to the Championship title.

In November, a mother who sparked an international search after going on the run with her five children, was eventually found safe and well in Germany.

Natalie Bracht, 34, who has a personality disorder, left her Sunderland home on 17 May with the girls aged between five and 13.

Following a search carried out by Northumbria Police with the support of forces across the UK and in Europe they were found in Munich.

It took a group of enthusiasts 18 years to build Tornado

In August the first steam engine built to run on the UK mainline for almost 50 years made its initial trial run.

Tornado was funded and assembled by steam enthusiasts in Darlington in an 18-year project costing �3m.

The 72ft (22-metre) engine is based on the Peppercorn A1 locomotive, which British Railways withdrew from service in the 1960s.

Three months later rail enthusiasts young and old lined the platform at York station to watch the train thunder off on its first main line run to Scarborough.

In July, Durham University experts were delighted by the recovery of a 1623 first folio of a collection of works by William Shakespeare.

The folio of what has been described as the "most important book in the English language" was stolen along with a number of literary works from the university in December 1998.

Police said that a man, who claimed to be an international businessman who had acquired the volume in Cuba, showed the folio to staff at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC and asked them to verify it was genuine.

He agreed to leave it with librarians, whose research revealed the book to have been stolen.

It was one of the first collected editions of Shakespeare's plays printed.

Only between 200 and 300 copies are thought to have survived around the world.

A man has been arrested in connection with the incident.

As Christmas approached, Nissan staff on Wearside were sent home when production was suspended because of the economic downturn.

The firm halted production of two models at its Sunderland plant in response to a decline in demand.

The car company said it was monitoring sales through the economic crisis.

The 3,500 production staff were expected to remain on full pay and return to work as normal in January.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version