In 2019 Churches Conservation Trust secured five-million pounds in grant funding to begin important restoration work to save the building, eventually re-launching the space as a hub for community gatherings, heritage learning and the arts.

Opening its doors in 2022 the project began breathing life back into the walls, inviting people to gather, discover and play. This project has given the people of Sunderland a reason to remember and provided a destination for the city’s farthest-flung diaspora to return to.

The variety and quantity of activities delivered in the space has provided lots of opportunities for local people to come together in community once again. The entertainment and events on offer have created a cultural lightning rod, bringing visitors from further afield here to discover the hidden stories of the East-End.

Seventeen Nineteen has re-integrated Holy Trinity back into the fabric of Sunderland through engaging with local initiatives, partnering with businesses in the city, providing engagement and volunteering opportunities and delivering high-quality events.

As the project reaches its initial planned end point, we are looking back on everything we have achieved and celebrating our successes. Having secured a six-month extension to carry on, Seventeen Nineteen will continue to provide for its established audience, building on the positive discoveries made and working to create a vision for a sustainable future.

The building, now carefully restored, may well stand for another 300 years, but the key to lasting resilience is in inspiring a community to call it their own.