A LASTING legacy to a North-East football hero is taking shape in a run-down area of his home city.

The foundation stone was laid yesterday for what will become the Raich Carter Sports Centre, in Hendon, Sunderland.

Born Horatio Stratton Carter, in Sunderland in 1913, he was a member of his home town team's league championship squad of 1936 and its FA Cup winning side the following year.

He played 13 times for England, and later managed Middlesbrough and Leeds.

Carter died in 1994, aged 80, but is survived by his wife Pat, who will be invited to the opening of the centre, next May.

Yesterday's ceremony marked a milestone in the £6.125m project, which is backed by a £4.9m Lottery Sports Fund Award, plus contributions from Northern Electric and Gas, Barclays Bank and the Football Association.

The centre will include a 25-metre swimming pool, sports hall and full-size floodlit synthetic football pitch. On the site of the long disused former Sunderland Police Sports Ground, in Commercial Road, it is expected to provide a focal point for the community of Hendon and the neighbouring East End.

The foundation stone was laid yesterday by Dacre Dunlop, regional director of Sport England, and city councillor Eric Holt, who chairs the centre's board of directors.