Doxford Park

Doxford Park
Boarded up, flat-roofed houses in Doxford Park
Population	8,700
OS grid reference	NZ375525
Metropolitan borough	City of Sunderland
Metropolitan county	Tyne and Wear
Region	North East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	SUNDERLAND
Postcode district	SR2, SR3
Dialling code	0191
Police	Northumbria
Fire	Tyne and Wear
Ambulance	North East
UK Parliament	Sunderland South

Doxford Park (known locally as Doxy Park) is a suburb of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, located to the south-west of the city centre.

Doxford Park is also the name of a wooded area of land located within the suburb.

Doxford Park has been built up in stages from the mid 1960s onwards, original proposals calling the area "Silksworth Township". It is surrounded by the A19 to the west, farmland to the south, Silksworth to the North, and Tunstall to the east. It is bisected by the B1286 Doxford Park Way dual carriageway.

Many of the houses in Doxford Park were becoming unsafe and uneconomic to repair so Gentoo (formerly the Sunderland Housing Group) is undertaking a massive programme of renewal to redevelop the estate, which will be called 'Beckwith Grange', and has completed Phases 1 & 2 of the project (with 4 phases left to complete).

At the centre of the suburb lies a shopping centre built in the late 1970s and initially named the President Carter Shopping Centre, after it was opened by U.S. President Jimmy Carter during an official visit to the region in 1977. Following redevelopment in mid 1990s the centre is now a large Morrisons supermarket.

Doxford Park is home to one school Mill Hill Primary School and an adjoining nursery [Mill Hill Nursery]. The Portland School for children with special needs was opened in the nearby Chapelgarth area in December 2001 by Prime Minister Tony Blair. For secondary education, most children from the area go to Farringdon Community Sports College in the nearby estate of Farringdon.

The Doxford International Business Park is located less than a mile away from the estate.

See also

• Doxford Talent

BAU (or Barklayz Audio Unit) is a 3-piece musical collective from Sunderland, United Kingdom. The group’s founding members are MC Bamba, K-Dog and Scotty dUB. They are well known in their community for their ‘smooth flow’, ‘mean lyrics’ and desire to really buck the trend and create eclectic, genre transcending audio soundpieces.

Early History The group came together at their mutual place of work, a contact centre for Barclays Bank PLC, in Sunderland in the winter of 2011. MC Bamba had previously been collaborating with the highly renowned lyric-spitter Shepsy-G, but following his departure to tour Australia this partnership never came to fruition. In the lead up to Christmas, MC Bamba continued to work on laying down his sick rhymes; specifically a tribute to a colleague with a penchant for list-making to the tune of Santa Claus is coming to town. It was on this song that the 3 members of BAU first worked together, both in the writing stage and then later at the group’s first live performance, an intimate affair in front of a small crowd of colleagues.

A few weeks later the group would once again work together on the well known hit Steph Had Sex with Frankie Cocccccoooozzzzaaa IDMT. Originally the brainchild of K-Dog, the song wrapped a tale of whirlwind romance on a Greek island around a sweet, bouncing melody. It became an instant success among a small group of industry experts (also known as the Welcome 2 Business team), specifically the protagonist of the song, Stephanie Harrison. (For Legal Reasons we must stress that Miss Harrison vehemently denies the events portrayed in the song).

Christmas 2011 In late December 2011, the group, amongst others, attended a performance by a musician from a neighbouring community. The young artist backed by a choir of his colleagues, played a song about the eccentricities of his role within his community, all set to the tune of Jingle Bells. Whilst this format of reworking classic Christmas tunes into witty parody was obviously stolen directly from BAU’s early number Sarah Almond’s Writing Her Lists Down, the group decided not to proceed with legal action as the musician was probably unaware of his blatant copyright infringement.

The following week, during a regular community meeting, BAU were challenged by the leaders to create a song to entertain the masses on the final day before the festive period. The group immediately set to work and the initial plan was to cover the 1984 charity hit Do They Know Its Christmas remoulding it into a song about the enslavement of their fellow colleagues on the final working day of 2011. However part way through completion of this song, MC Bamba was hit by a stroke of genius. The group, now rushing to meet their deadline, got their heads down and came up with a song that was always guaranteed to become a Christmas hit. Can You Stop the Dialler Please is a 4 minute plea from an oppressed workforce begging to be finished for the festive period, set to the marching rhythm of Stop the Cavalry by Jona Lewie. A select few lucky fans were invited to a sneak preview of this song and then, following a few minor adjustments, BAU delivered their Christmas performance at one of the notorious regular Commie-B’s. Reviews of the track were universally excellent. It has been described (granted it was by the band themselves) as “one of the finest pieces of Christmas music since The Pogues shared with the world their festive story in Fairytale of New York” and the band have been urged to record the track so it can be shared outside of BAU’s community. Following this performance the group disappeared underground and that was the last that was heard of Barklayz Audio Unit.

Future Rumours have been heard throughout the community that BAU are in the process of writing new material. A purported appearance from Shepsy G could also be in the pipeline but this would not be until he returns from his Australian tour. Whispers have also been heard that Tini Towers may also be involved somehow in the new music which would indicate a move towards a more nu-office swing sound so watch this space.

In February 2011, MC Bamba was photographed entering a rehabilitation clinic in Aberdeen. The Priory is well known for treating other celebrities such as Amy Winehouse, Robbie Williams, Paul Gascoigne and Kate Moss. Upon further investigation it was found that MC Bamba was suffering from a chronic addiction to Flapjack (Choc Chip and Cherry or Caramel, he is not fussy), specifically those purchased from a local delicatessen known as Crumbs. While his family were not available for comment it is thought that the rehabilitation is going well and MC Bamba will be joining K-Dog and Scotty dUB in the studio soon.

After exiting rehab and finding his innerself MC Bamba re-invented himself as B-Cubed. This new persona has yet to be revealed to BAU's adoring public but as Scotty dUB revealed to local rag "The Globe "watch this space, as going forward BAU expect to continue on their journey and who knows what success will look like."

External links

• Venerable Bede School
• Benedict Biscop CofE School