Mark Black

Standing too high!!!

1st May 2013

So the weekend saw a great load of activity across Wearside with feel Good Sunderland, the Marathon of the North and the zip wire off the Wearmouth Bridge, the latter was the one I took part in!!

A few months ago the zip wire was mentioned and I agreed to do it. I had done zip wire's before, but nowhere near as high as this one and probably was a little cocky in agreeing to do it. It's one of those things that you agree to do and then as it get nearer you get more and more nervous. My time slot was 12 noon so I got there fifteen minutes beforehand to get all kitted out and then make my way up to the 'jump' point. Not only do you have to get over the fear of setting off from the Bridge you also look a little ridiculous in the kit, it's basically a big nappy. You step into the harness which then gets tightened around your waist and between your legs, even though this is a little odd you want it tighter than loose obviously! Also just to make sure you look the part there is a very fetching helmet to wear. Bearing in mind you then have to walk all the way from Pans Bank back up to the Wearmouth Bridge, with lots of people giving you a look as if to say..."rather you than me mate".

Once at the top I was met by the two guys who would have my life in their hands as they attached me to the wire. This was where it became very real and my legs did start to go to jelly a little bit. I had to climb a ladder onto a platform which was about half a metre wide and suddenly the reality of how high up I was hit. I let the guy tell me what I had to do as he attached me to the wire. I then carefully stepped down onto a lower platform and sat down on it ready to go. I did all of this carefully but as quick as I could so that I didn't look down. A couple of shuffles and I was off. This was amazing, the actual zip down was great. I had longer than I thought to take everything in and really enjoyed it as I twirled around all the way down the wire, until the break hit and jolted me to a stop.

There was a real sense of achievment at the end as I looked back to see what I had just done, and was really proud of myself. I genuinely would have gone back up to do it again but was needed across at the Stadium of Light to do my show from the Marathon of the North.

Thankyou to everyone who sponsored me, all of the money is going to The Rainbow Trust. This is our charity of the year so we are collecting in money all of the time and if you want to contribute that would be fantatstic. You can use our Just Giving Page.

Posted by Mark Black at 4:37pm

Moves Like Jager

19th February 2013

Who noticed I haven't done a Blog since Christmas then?? Noone...thanks!!

I have been busy, honest. I was invited down to be shown some moves by Sunderland street dance group Dance Jam. They are a fairly new dance group who have already had a lot of success and are going to a major competition in Glasgow in August. I've always been impressed with the dance troupes you see on Britains Got Talent and wondered how tricky it really was...turns out I'm not cut out for the street dance scene, but I think I entertained everyone there.

So here is how its meant to be done

 And this is how I look street dancing, the term 'dad dancing' has been used. You can hear the laughter in the background.

So has you can see I probably should stick to the radio!!!

Speak to you soon

Mark

Posted by Mark Black at 4:36pm

Listeners Christmas Spirit

28th November 2012

Today has unexpectedly become very Christmassy at Sun FM. Firstly Simon Grundy played a Christmas song, can't complain too much as it was Fairytale of Newyork, then our Christmas tree was delivered. We have a lovely tree from Thoburns but its in reception, I felt we needed something in the studio, especially as I was given this as the studio Christmas tree...

As you can see this is pretty pathetic and thought we deserved better. We will soon be playing lots of Christmas tunes and it just seemed wrong that we didn't have a tree in the studio. Luckily our lovely listners came to my rescue. Cindy said that she had a spare tree with decorations and that we could have it, brilliant problem sorted. She very kindly brought it down to the studio and we have now decorated it, ta..da!!

I had great fun decorating the tree, although apparently you can't just put baubles and tinsel on willy nilly, you have to have a theme according to the girls in the office. I think most of the baubles that I put on the tree were reposistioned, I have to admit though it does look better than where I had them.

So from not feeling in the Christmas spirit at all this morning I'm finishing the day with a lot more festive spirit than I had.

Posted by Mark Black at 4:12pm

Braving the Cold in the Name of Sun FM

26th November 2012

It's been a busy time of late with Halloween then fireworks and now Christmas light switch ons, these are all great to do and I genuinely enjoy them, but it can get cold! The coldest its been was in Seaham last Thursday, right on the sea front and the wind was fierce. Credit to everyone who turned out though to help make it a really successful night. I didn't get caught out either I had the scarf and gloves and plenty of layers, and most imprtant the big thick socks. We had Santa in his sleigh and paraded along the seafront to Byron Place then finishing at Church Street where Santa had his grotto. You couldn't help but get into the Christmas spirit with the kids taking part in the letter trail.

This weekend I was braving the cold again, this time at Dalton Park to give away perfume with the Fragrance Shop. It was a really simple idea. We had 4 perfumes and we sprayed smelling strips with one of them and asked people to guess which one it was just from the smell. Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best and we had loads of people trying to guess it. The only problem was by the end of the day I had a lovely mix of perfumes on me from spraying them all day. It's a good job my wife knew what I was doing otherwise there might have been a few questions when I got in.

We have lots more stuff planned over December, I might even see you out and about :)

Posted by Mark Black at 3:52pm

The Official Start of Christmas

19th November 2012

Last week was a busy one with some huge Sun Fm events. It started with the Christmas Light Switch On which is one of the best that we have done. It had everything with choirs, fireworks, celebs and even Santa on the big screen. There are certain points in the year that I look forward to and the light switch on is definetly one of those. More than 15000 people turned out to see the Mayor and Tom Lister flick the switch for this years illuminations. Before the switch on you do wonder whether the middle of November is too early to do the switch on, but once the event gets going there is a real sense that Christmas is close. If you want to check out all of the pictures you can here.

We also had our annual Local hero Awards on Friday which is always such a great night, makes you realise how many amazing people there are on Wearside. The awards get bigger and better each year and it gets harder and harder to choose winners, I'm glad I can just enjoy the awards and not be part of the judging to be honest.

This week I'm helping turn on the Christmas lights in Seaham it starts at 4pm with a parade if you want to come down.

Posted by Mark Black at 3:10pm