Securing St Mark’s: How Sir Tom Cowie’s Support Saved a Local Lifeline

In Millfield, St Mark’s is more than just a community centre, for nearly forty years it’s been a second home for locals. It has been a place to exercise, get support, or just have a cuppa and talk to someone. It started out back in 1986 as a small youth club, now it’s a fully kitted-out space used by everyone from schoolkids to pensioners.

Martin Robson has been running the place for 15 years. He’s lived in Millfield most of his life and poured everything into making the centre what it is today, so when he found out the building was going to be sold, he was gutted.

Martin said: “Over the last 15 years I have passionately put my life and soul into making this a much better place for the community. Being local and living in Millfield, this was a dream job to help make a huge difference in the community I lived in.”

Martin added: “Personally, when I first heard that the centre was at risk of being sold I was angry as we have made massive improvements over the last 15 years.”

That moment could have been the end but, instead, it turned into a new chapter, thanks to help from the Sir Tom Cowie Charitable Trust.

He said: “When we received the news that the Trust were going to help and support us financially to buy the centre, there was a huge weight off everyone's shoulders, relief and more excited about the future.”

The support didn’t just keep the doors open either, it gave the team space to think long-term and, since securing the building, Martin has worked on cutting costs such as switching insurance, getting better deals on utilities, and bringing in extra funding which includes a full boiler upgrade and a £24,000 grant for new solar panels to help bring bills down.

Martin said: “The Trust has provided ongoing support. Most of the committee, including myself, have been brought up in Millfield and have strong links with Sir Tom Cowie, whether it be through the bike shops, Sunderland football club or his offices in Millfield, strong links have always been there.”

He’s seen small community centres like St Mark’s vanish across the city, not because people didn’t need them, but because bigger organisations are now applying for the same funding and they’ve got whole teams of people writing bids.

Martin said: “These organisations employ grant writers and that is their sole role, to get money in. It does look like these bigger organisations are doing great, but this is helped by going into local smaller organisations, offering one-off sessions, then taking away their numbers of attendees so it looks really good on paper to funders.”

He added: “One-off sessions for thousands across the city is nothing compared to smaller organisations supporting hundreds over a longer period, throughout the year.”

The team recently renamed the building the Sir Tom Cowie Centre, not just to thank the Trust, but to reflect their hopes for the future.

He said: “We are hoping we can continue to work together with the Trust to keep this needed resource well into the future.”