Roker Cliff Park — Attraction in Sunderland

The lighthouse was originally built in 1856 on Sunderland's South Pier. In 1983 it was dismantled to allow for harbour improvements, and then re-erected in Roker Cliff Park, between Roker and Seaburn. It is a Grade II* listed building on the National Heritage List for England.

The Sunderland International Airshow was the biggest free annual airshow in Europe, held at the Roker and Seaburn seafronts. It took place over the course of three days, usually the final weekend in July (Friday to Sunday), and attracted hundreds of thousands of spectators every year. The airshow features a large number of planes, including the Red Arrows and the Eurofighter Typhoon. In addition to the planes, the seafront plays host to a range of food counters, stalls and fairground games. The Royal Navy traditionally have a warship off the coast every year, usually HMS Ocean, the adopted warship of Sunderland, however in 2007, HMS Albion made an appearance instead as HMS Ocean had other commitments. The airshow was first held in 1989 as a single day show, and was planned to be a one-off event, when it attracted 250,000 spectators. Due to its success, from 1991 it became a two-day show, and subsequently three days. Due to thick fog and mist in 2008 the airshow was cancelled. The display was also postponed in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some aviation fans stayed the whole weekend. The Friday night launch, which started back in 2010, shows sunset displays for the majority of the night, but the night is rounded off with gliders with sparklers (used in fireworks) during the "settling down" period, and then a large firework display ends it all.

Sunderland City Council announced in October 2022 that it has "no plans" to hold the airshow again, after officially cancelling the 2023 airshow, citing the "global climate emergency" and the city’s desire to be carbon...

We really enjoyed this little fair on the seafront, if you have a small child you've got to let them on the lightning mc Queen ride - the joy I seen coming from every child's face was amazing - when the little cars glided round the corners like a real lightning mc Queen style skid, it was great! My little boy never expected it, as didn't others so the laughter and joy was great. He also enjoyed the zip line and other rides, I think he tried them all.😊 lovely little addition to the seafront at this time of year and the weather was very mild, lots to enjoy its great to see sunderland with its illuminations on. Years ago we had the best illuminations around, it brought so many people from all walks of life to our city - this is something that should resume - bring back sunderland...

Very nice afternoon today at roker park. The festival of light was on display and we saw lots of vibrant illuminations in a beautiful setting. They had scheduled an hour especially for anyone wanting to experience this is a more quiet/calm setting, which was ideal for my daughter's needs. Some enticing looking bratwurst stalls, seating areas, ice cream vans and other vendors. Lots of helpful staff on hand to direct the way or help with any questions. Easy to see why this was a sold out event. Only £3 per ticket. Only challenge was parking and we ended up quite a distance from the entrance trying to find a suitable...