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The clock, which stands near the Wheatsheaf pub and the Stadium of Light, was unveiled in November 2014 to commemorate the bomb attack by a German Imperial Navy Zeppelin on April 1, 1916.

Twenty people, aged from 68 down to five, were killed in the attack and their names are recorded in the information board next to the clock.

However, the board has suffered damage in recent years, with the weather the most likely culprit, and none of the 20 names are legible.

The names of the victims are no longer legible. Sunderland Echo image.

The clock and board, funded by a £16,000 grant from Sunderland City Council, replaced a former concrete-plinth clock that was beyond repair and removed as part of the remodelling of the Wheatsheaf junction between 2012 and 2013.

Joy Lowry recently visited Sunderland from Australia on possibly her last trip to the UK. Her great-grandfather was JAS Thompson, who was among the victims, losing his life at 46.

"When we got there the clock and seat look great but the plaque with the names and details on has been very badly damaged, it looks like water got in,” she said.

"I was disappointed as we had to leave the next day. It is a long way to come to find something so damaged.”

The names of the victims on the information board are no longer legible. Sunderland Echo image.

Sunderland City Council said it has inspected the board and confirmed the damage.

A spokesperson said Mrs Lowry has been contacted to thank her for raising the matter. She will also be sent a copy of the artwork on the board, which interprets the event.

Both sides of the River Wear were attacked in the raid. At 11pm Millfield and Deptford were the first areas of Sunderland to be hit, before the airship, commanded by Korvettenkapitan Viktor Schutze, was ordered to hit Monkwearmouth. St Benet’s Church was also damaged.

Visiting grave to honour Sunderland soldier Pvt Lawrence Gillan, 107 years on

The clock was installed in November 2014. Sunderland Echo image.

Shutze himself said: “Keeping on the weather side, the airships dropped explosive bombs on some works where one blast-furnace was blown up with a terrible detonation, sending out flames and smoke.

"The factories and dock buildings of Sunderland, now brightly illuminated, were then bombed with good results.”

Wartime restrictions meant that the Echo was prevented from fully reporting the attack at the time.

Damage to sign marking WWI Zeppelin raid on Sunderland which killed 20