Christs College Sunderland celebrates new restaurant opening

Christ’s College in Pennywell, Sunderland, officially opened The Lighthouse, a modern dining facility and community space, on Wednesday, March 4.

Designed by Howarth Litchfield and built by T Manners & Sons Ltd, the £1.6 million building includes a full kitchen, servery, accessible toilets, and enough seating for more than 800 students across three lunch sittings.

Christ’s College’s students working with Ron Lawson (Image: Supplied)

Julie Normanton, principal of Christ’s College, said: “The Lighthouse has already been a fabulous addition to our school premises, giving us a beautiful and contemporary room to have lunch, and a multipurpose space to benefit the school and wider community.

“We have already used it to host community events, parents’ evenings and coffee mornings, as well as welcoming two local community groups for weekend use.

Christ’s College’s students working with Ron Lawson (Image: Supplied)

“The marvellous work of the architects, engineers and construction team has combined to create this extension which complements the historical façade of our school.

“I am also honoured that our students have been able to work with local artist Ron Lawson in designing and creating a plaque for the building to mark its opening today.

“This building will be a beacon of light for the community for many years to come, and has already proved to be transformative in the way that we cater for our students’ daily needs.”

Unveiling of the Lighthouse plaque by Kevin Bowdrey, Christ’s College’s recently retired facilities manager (Image: Supplied)

The event also featured the unveiling of a copper plaque designed by students in collaboration with local Pennywell artist and sculptor Ron Lawson.

Mr Lawson said: “It’s been a real pleasure to work on this collaborative piece of art with the pupils of Christs College Sunderland.

“The Key Stage 1 art group and Year 10 art students showed amazing talent helping to create the design.

Mark Boyers (Projects, Emmanuel Schools Foundation), Kevin Bowdrey (Retired, Christ’s College), Ron Lawson (Artist), Julie Normanton (Principal, Christ’s College) (Image: Supplied)

“The 2m x 1m Copper Plaque to commemorate the opening of The Lighthouse was made using a traditional repousse technique of hammering the copper sheet from both the front and back to raise the design.

“This artwork took over a million hammer blows to complete.

“For a young lad from Pennywell with ambitions in the 1970s to become an artist, It has been a proud moment for me to create this artwork in my old stomping ground.”

The Lighthouse also serves as a community venue and is already in use by Northern Star Theatre Arts and Riverlife Church.

Geri Feeney, principal at Northern Star Theatre Arts, said: “We’ve really enjoyed using The Lighthouse for our weekend Northern Star Theatre School performance classes.”

Pastors Rebekah and Barrie Watson of Riverlife Church said: “We are delighted to use The Lighthouse as part of our Sunday service at Christ’s College.

“The welcoming, modern facility is perfect for helping us connect with and serve the local community.”