Roker hotel transformed into an Alternative Night Market

 

On March 10 at Roker Hotel in Sunderland, a chandelier-lit room played host to an array of stalls that sold quirky handmade products, whilst live music was performed by Pek and Wanley.

The event’s organiser, Nicola Edwards, aims to provide everyone with “well organised and quirky fairs in the North East that are actually fun to be at!”

Nicola said: “Planning alternative wedding fairs led me to look around the area for alternative events and I couldn’t believe there really wasn’t much going on, hence Not So Average’s sister event company Luna Events, specialising in quirky events in the North East.

“This is the first Alternative Night Market and definitely won’t be the last.”

At every event organised, half of the proceeds are donated to charity. For this particular fair, the charity chosen was The Sophie Lancaster Foundation.

Sophie Lancaster died on August 24, 2007, following an attack in Stubbeylee Park, Bacup, Lancashire. The charity focuses on creating respect for and understanding of subcultures in our communities.

Nicola continued: “The charity do amazing work with the police, government and schools to raise awareness and try to reduce hate crime, they focus on creating respect and understanding of subcultures in our communities.”

The Tattooed Parents Club stall was hosted by Keilla Pearson, 26, and Keri Bethell, 27, and sold a variety of prints, graphic tee shirts and badges.

Keilla said she wanted to create something for all alternative parents to wear and hang on their walls and, in the future, wants to “venture out to baby clothes, tote bags and stick on tattoos for the youngsters.”

Keilla went on to praise how beneficial the fair was.  She said: “The event was very successful for my first one, it went really well and I’m so happy.”

As of yet, the next Alternative Night Market is yet to be confirmed, but said ‘to most likely be in June’ via the events social media page.

£459 was raised for The Sophie Lancaster foundation.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.