Celebration Saturday for completion of Lowestoft heritage scheme

Posted by on 18 March 2024 | Comments

East Suffolk Council and Historic England are inviting local people and visitors to 'Celebration Saturday', a free event showcasing the work of Lowestoft's London Road Heritage Action Zone and its enduring legacy, as the programme comes to an end.

The event, on 23 March, is delivered by local PR and Events agency Magnus PR and activities include virtual reality experiences of historic Lowestoft, facepainting, exhibitions, Victorian stilt walkers, poetry recordings, and more. A children's dress-up station will be located within the Kirkley Centre, offering children the chance to dress up in eras from the past and have their photos taken, accompanied by a stall from the local Scouts club.

The Lowestoft host puppet, Sol, will also be making an appearance throughout the day along Waterloo Road.

There are two historic tours with Ivan Bunn during the day, each lasting for an hour, with 15 spaces available per tour. Spaces can be booked at Well Well Well on Waterloo Road in Lowestoft.

A special Poetry People pop-up shop in London Road South will exhibit archive photographs from the High Street Histories series and the Animating our Heritage film, an animated and recorded poem created by local schoolchildren.

Revitalising South Lowestoft

The London Road Lowestoft Heritage Action Zone has been a three-and-a-half year project promoting heritage-led regeneration, funded by Historic England and East Suffolk Council, delivered in partnership with Lowestoft Vision, Lowestoft Town Council, East Suffolk Building Preservation Trust and the local community.

The Heritage Action Zone has focussed on conservation-led regeneration to make the South Lowestoft and Kirkley area a vibrant place to live, work and visit.

Historic buildings have been restored, public spaces improved and better connections to other parts of the town created, combined with an exciting programme of cultural and community events to bring people back to the London Road area and to encourage pride among residents, business owners and partners.

Transforming historic buildings

The Heritage Action Zone has invested in 25 historic commercial properties across South Lowestoft and Kirkley, including the repair and restoration of the Grade II listed former Post Office, which, in 2023, won the Building Conservation category in East Suffolk Council's Quality of Place Awards and the Royal Institute of British Architects Suffolk Individual Craftsmanship Award in the Suffolk Joint Construction Committee Awards.

Landmark buildings revitalised throughout the London Road Lowestoft Heritage Action Zone include the former Cooks' unit, which has five newly restored shopfronts, and the former Tuttles department store, which has five repaired and restored units which are now all let to businesses.

Bringing people together - and partying with a giant fox

The London Road Lowestoft Heritage Action Zone has delivered a huge programme of cultural and community activities over the past three-and-a-half years, engaging with over 30,000 people (including 2,000 schoolchildren). Partners working together and the enthusiasm of 307 volunteers, who contributed over 900 hours, ensured the success of these vibrant and creative events.

Who could forget the sight of a giant curious fox called Farrah, visiting Lowestoft last summer at the start of First Light Festival? A joyous carnival parade was led by Sol, Lowestoft's host puppet, co-created with local communities and puppet makers Thingumajig Theatre, accompanied by urban animals and ocean creatures comprised of local schools and community groups. More than 1,000 participants brought this joyous production to life through music, dance and creative craft decorations.

In partnership with the Seagull Theatre, we travelled back in time to Lowestoft in the 1880s, 1940s and 1960s, bringing the past to life with music, entertainment and living history.

The 175^th anniversary of Lowestoft's railway station, and the impact of the arrival of the railway in the town, was celebrated with Mind the Gap, a community performance led by The Voice cLoud, inspired by research from Lowestoft Archives.

Marking the 70^th anniversary of the 1953 flood, the Marina Theatre Lowestoft led a community project, commissioning a new live drama, Norah's Ark, written by Lowestoft playwright John Hales.

This project collected stories and reminiscences from people who remembered the major flooding events of 1953 and 2013. Working with local schools, the project asked children and young people in the town to consider the impacts of climate change, imagining a future flood and how that may impact on them.

South Lowestoft was celebrated in Spread a Little Kirkleyness, a video poem from Poetry People, written and created by Dean Parkin. Featuring over 80 archive photographs alongside contemporary footage, this engaging film showcases the iconic shops, long-established businesses and characterful people of Kirkley.

In partnership with Historic England's Heritage Schools programme, Dean Parkin and Poetry People created High Street Histories, a series of films, free for all to see, featuring illustrated conversations between historian Ivan Bunn and writer Dean Parkin. The films showcase rare archive photographs of streets, shops and landmarks in Kirkley and South Lowestoft.

The Greetings from Lowestoft competition, run by Suffolk Artlink, encouraged people of all ages to celebrate Lowestoft with their own creative postcard design, with 171 postcards submitted. The winning designs were professionally printed and distributed around the town.

The Heritage Action Zone team worked with local residents on community-led initiatives such as street improvements, local history, poetry and memory recollection projects. The Kirkley Pocket Park Group transformed an area of disused land into a beautiful garden, complete with a vibrant mural, and won the community garden award from Lowestoft in Bloom in 2023.

Tony Calladine, East of England Regional Director, Historic England, said:

"The London Road Lowestoft Heritage Action Zone has achieved remarkable things in the past three-and-a-half years.

"The restoration of the former Post Office, a major landmark in the town, is rightly award-winning, and it's wonderful to see the restored shop fronts and attractive public areas that have made such a difference to the town.

"The brilliant cultural programme has done much to encourage people into London Road and Kirkley, and it's been a joy to see the passion and energy from partners and local people to make those events such a success.

"I'm looking forward to seeing what's next for Lowestoft and I'm sure this vibrant town will continue to grow, with its special character at the heart of future regeneration."

Cllr Toby Hammond, East Suffolk's cabinet member for Economic Development and Transport, said:

"We're excited to celebrate completion of the London Road Lowestoft Heritage Action Zone with the community which helped develop and drive this ambitious programme. We've seen the town's rich history brought to life through a series of heritage-led projects, including the restoration of important buildings, local community-led initiatives and cultural activities.

"This would all have been impossible without the support of Historic England and our programme partners, Lowestoft Town Council, Lowestoft Vision and East Suffolk Building Preservation Trust, and the hard work of our Regeneration Team. It's great to see what can be achieved by working together with a common goal."

Peter Aldous, MP for Waveney, said:

"London Road South is an historic thoroughfare in Lowestoft and its regeneration is vital to the town's future. The Heritage Action Zone has played an important role in helping achieve this, including the restoration of high-profile buildings and the hosting of events showcasing the street's unique history."

"Special thanks are due to Historic England and their partners for their tireless work over the past three-and-a-half years and we must now strive to ensure that their efforts leave an enduring legacy that fuels the revival which is under way; encouraging more businesses into the area and making Kirkley a special place to live, work and visit."

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