Archive for September, 2010

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Hunstanton scoops Silver Gilt in RHS Britain in Bloom awards

Thursday, September 30th, 2010

Posted by KL&WN Council

Hunstanton has been presented with Silver Gilt in the RHS Britain in Bloom campaign, one of the largest horticultural campaigns in Europe. The awards ceremony, hosted by BBC Gardeners’ World presenter Alys Folwer, was held last night at the Centennial Centre, Birmingham.

This is the second year running that Hunstanton has been invited to join the prestigious competition. Over 1,100 communities across the UK participate and this year Hunstanton was amongst the 66 finalists chosen to represent their region in the UK finals. Each entry is judged on achievements in horticultural, environmental responsibility and community participation.

Over the past 12 months the seaside town has been digging into planting, pruning, and clean-up activities to make the most of its beautiful seafront location, celebrate its heritage, bring wildlife into the area and improve the appearance of less attractive spots.

Cllr. Elizabeth Watson, Chairman of the Hunstanton in Bloom Committee, said: “People really got behind the campaign this year working hard to make Hunstanton shine, despite some rather unpredictable weather at times! I am delighted to be able to take home a Silver Gilt as a reward for this effort.

“This award puts Hunstanton on a par with some of the best coastal resorts in the country and I’m really proud of what we’ve achieved.”

The Hunstanton in Bloom Committee includes: the Borough Council of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk; Hunstanton Town Council; Hunstanton Civic Society; Hunstanton Allotment Holders’ Association; Hunstanton Gardeners’ Association; a representative from the Royal British Legion; a representative from Silfield Gardens, local business representatives and residents. The committee works with a range of community groups including, local schools and the Rainbows, Guides and the Trefoil Group.

For more information about In Bloom projects taking place across West Norfolk visit: www.westnorfolkinbloom.com

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Shop Hunstanton – 50% off at FUNKtional Clothes

Tuesday, September 28th, 2010

Posted by Stella Gooch
Photo by Chris

FUNKtional Clothes Shop in Hunstanton

Interior of FUNKtional Clothes Shop, Hunstanton

Located on the Green opposite The Golden Lion Hotel with a great view of the sea you will find the little shop which is known locally as “The Pink Shop” because of the pretty pink  girly items in the window (but they also try to cater for the boys too).

FUNKtional Clothes sell children’s clothes, from baby through to 10/12 yrs old with a range of tops and jeans that you wouldn’t see in the High Street stores but the main side of the business now is the printing.  FUNKtional Clothes offers Fruit Of The Loom T/shirts, Polo shirts and Hoodys in a variety of colours and sizes ( T shirts from 1yr and hoody’s from 5/6 yr).  Your garments can be personalised for your stag/hen party, Christmas presents, workwear or just fun.

NOW WE OFFER A FANTASTIC 50% SALE
From now until 31st October 2010 FUNKtional Clothes are holding a 50% sale on all of children’s clothes (excluding Hoody’s & polo’s).
So come and grab a bargain, its fantastic quality and when its gone – its gone!

Don’t forget FUNKtional Clothes also sell quality school trousers for girls and boys.

FUNKtional Clothes are open every day from 10.30 to 4/5ish.

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Titchwell Marsh path re-opens

Sunday, September 26th, 2010
Posted by Dave Hawkins
Photo courtesy of RSPB

After more than fifty days of being closed, the main path to the beach at Titchwell Marsh RSPB nature reserve re-opened to the public on Saturday, 25 September.

Purple Sand Knot, Sep 2010

Purple Sand Knot, Sep 2010

The beach path had been closed during the second year of work on the Titchwell Marsh Coastal Change project. Work has been completed ahead of schedule – a reflection of the careful planning from the reserve team at Titchwell, the hard work of the contractors and the dry weather during July and August.

The project, which started last year, is designed to save the reserve’s valuable freshwater habitats from the effects of coastal erosion.

In 2009, a new sea defence to the north of the reserve was built. This year’s work has concentrated on the sea defence to the west along the top of which runs the path to Titchwell’s fabulous sandy beach.

Dave Hawkins, visitor officer at the reserve said: “For me, having no access to the beach this summer has been hard. It is my favourite part of the reserve and I can’t wait to renew my acquaintance with all the fantastic birds and wildlife it supports.”

Dave continued: “Migrating birds arriving low overhead from Scandinavia; exotic seabirds wind blown by an autumnal gale; the mussel beds alive with waders and gulls at low tide and divers, seaduck and grebes on a wintry sea all await my gaze! Personally….I can’t wait….I’ll see you down there!”

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New operator announced for Hunstanton’s Princess Theatre

Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010

Posted by KL&WN Borough Council
Photo by Stella Gooch

Box Office at Hunstanton's Princess Theatre

Box Office at Hunstanton's Princess Theatre

The future for the Princess Theatre is looking bright following last night’s decision by the Borough Council’s Cabinet to lease the venue to C & R Cinemas.

Proposals for the operation and management of the venue were sought as a result of the council’s efforts to safeguard the future of the theatre, whilst reducing the cost to council taxpayers.

Cllr Roy Johnston, Cabinet Member for Performance and property portfolio holder, explained: “The Princess Theatre is highly valued by residents and visitors alike.  It was originally opened as a cinema in 1932 and was taken over by the Borough Council in 1981.  We have continued to invest in the theatre and have run it as a live entertainment venue and cinema.”

“But, with increasing pressures on local authority budgets, we are having to find ways to make our money stretch further and to look for opportunities to make savings whilst protecting services.  Leasing the theatre to a new operator has provided just that opportunity,” he added.

Cllr Nick Daubney, Leader of the Borough Council and resources portfolio holder, added: “The Princess Theatre is a wonderful asset for Hunstanton and I’m confident that this new arrangement will be great for the theatre and for the town.  C & R Cinemas is a family-run business with an excellent track record of delivering the very best in good entertainment.  Today marks the start of the next exciting stage of the Princess Theatre’s story.”

C & R Cinemas was recommend to Cabinet as the ‘preferred bidder’ for the lease of the Princess Theatre, following a competitive process in the summer.  C & R Cinemas is known locally for its management of the Majestic Cinema in King’s Lynn.

Cllr Elizabeth Nockolds, Cabinet Member for Sports, Arts and Open Spaces, said: “Following a series of consultation meetings with local groups, we developed our requirements for the operation of the theatre.  I am really pleased that we have found an operator that will continue with a programme of live entertainment through the summer and make the venue available for use by community groups, continuing a tradition that we established.”

Paul Jervis, Managing Director of C & R Cinemas, commenting on the announcement, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have been offered this exciting opportunity. The Princess is a beautiful building that has given great pleasure to the local community and tourists alike. It is our aim to emulate the live programme of entertainment that the council has been so successful with over the years and to introduce a new programme of cinema. We hope to work closely with local community groups to provide a diverse package of entertainment and drama to both amateur and professional organisations.”

Now that the decision has been announced, the Council’s Property Services department will commence detailed lease negotiations with a view to finalising the lease agreement so that C & R Cinemas can take over the operation of the Princess Theatre in the New Year.  The new arrangement will result in an initial saving of more than £160,000.

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Tour of Britain passes through Hunstanton

Monday, September 20th, 2010

Posted by Clive Insley
First two Photos by Clive Insley

Front runners

Tour of Britain front runners pass through Hunstanton

Stage 6 of the Tour of Britain, following much hype in the media, finally hit Norfolk on 16 September 2010.  The event attracted a large crowd in Hunstanton who were all lined up to cheer them on.  Having said that, I was astounded by the large number of police motorcycles – I had no idea that we had that many in Norfolk, there were at least 30 or 40 and then there were another 10 private bikes from the race organisers acting as race marshals.  They were very efficient at imposing the rolling road block, driving quite fast and filling the blocking positions in rotation, quite impressive to watch and done in a friendly way so as not to upset the one or two elderly ladies that insisted on trying to drive against the flow! And yes I saw at least two do just that!

The competitors were – predictably! – riding very fast as they came past us.  The whole thing did not last more than 20 seconds and the amount of noise the bikes generated was quite surprising - it was almost like a metallic grinding noise, so there must have been a lot of tension in the chains driving the bikes.

The Rest

The rest of the Tour of Britain passes through Hunstanton

I think the first competitor past us was the Australian guy who led the race until the last half kilometre when he was overtaken by the German who is the overall race leader.  That must have been very annoying for him! I nearly missed him because he was riding so close to the spectators on the other side of the road and again travelling very quickly.

This event is expected to generate £1.5m for the Norfolk economy but who can tell if this will be the case!

 

 

The rest of the Photos shown are by PH of Hunstanton

The cyclists get into their race

The cyclists get into their race

 

Hunstanton here we come!

Hunstanton here we come!

Boy are they fast!

Boy are they fast!

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Hunstanton RNLI’s busy summer

Friday, September 17th, 2010

RNLI LogoHunstanton RNLI station had a pretty busy summer season as you can see by the records of their call outs below:

Friday 10th September – 1.45 pm

Hunstanton Lifeboat DJS Haverhill was requested to go to the aid of a large cabin cruiser that had broken down three miles NE of Hunstanton and needed assistance.  Hunstanton volunteer RNLI crew launched at 1.45 pm and arrived on scene at 2.06 pm.  One crewman was put on board the cruiser with a hand held VHF radio as the vessel only had a mobile phone for communication.  The crewman made fast a tow line and a tow was started to meet up with Wells ALB which had also been launched.  At 2.59 pm the tow was handed over to Wells Lifeboat 2mls E of the Woolpack buoy.  Two persons were on board the vessel and were believed to come from London.  The had left Wells earlier intending to go to Boston when they had engine failure.  Hunstanton lifeboat was released to return to station at 3.16 pm.  Recovery was hampered by the exceptionally low water due to a big ebb, some of the biggest tides of the year.  The wash seems to dry out on these occasions and our recovery tractor had to go down to Holme beach to find enough depth and finally recover our Lifeboat and return to station at 4.50 pm.

 ———-

Sunday 5th September – 3.05pm

Yarmouth Coastguard requested launch of Hunstanton Lifeboat to go to the aid of a power boat with engine failure one mile south of the Wind farm off Skegness with two persons on board.  Hunstanton volunteer crew launched on service at 3.15pm and proceeded to search area, wind force was SE 4, sea state was moderate with a one and a half metre swell, vis. Good.  On arrival at last reported position Hunstanton lifeboat could not locate casualty, the wind had freshened and a few white horses were starting to break.  Yarmouth CG launched Skegness all weather lifeboat Lincolnshire Poacher  to assist in search and the power boat was asked to fire a flare to enable the lifeboats to pinpoint him, after three attempts to fire flares none of them worked, Hunstanton crew fired a flare but this was not sighted by the casualty vessel. Yarmouth CG were in contact with them by mobile phone and they reported that they had managed restart their engine and were heading towards Hunstanton.  A white power boat fitting the description of the casualty was sighted from the boat house window heading south, some distance from the reported search area, and later informed the CG they were now at the power boat ramp Hunstanton and were OK. All units were stood down to return to their stations. Hunstanton lifeboat returned to station at 4.45pm.  Sea safety advice to boat owners is make sure your pyrotechnics are in date and kept in a safe environment, charts are updated, carry a compass, plan your trip, know where you are so when things go wrong we can locate you.

 … and later in the evening….

 Sunday 5th September – 8.36pm

Yarmouth Coastguard requested Hunstanton Lifeboat to launch, to go to the aid of an 11 metre motor cruiser with a person suffering from a severe bout of seasickness,  they also were having problems with the electronic plotter and were not sure of their exact position.  Hunstanton volunteer crew launched at 8.50 pm – this was our second launch of the day.  Skegness all weather lifeboat Lincolnshire Poacher  was also tasked.  Communication with the casualty was established and was asked to fire a flare, this was sighted by both lifeboats and they were soon alongside the vessel at 9.31pm.  A member of Hunstanton crew went aboard the vessel and checked out the sick person, it was decided to escort the vessel to a safe anchorage at Clay Hole to await the tide so that he could go into Fosdyke Marina and sort out his electronic problems.  This was an incident that was easily resolved as the vessel carried the right equipment and it enabled the lifeboats to locate them fairly promptly. The wind force was 6 to 7 SE.  Sea state rough. Vis. was good. The casualty vessel anchored at 11.25 pm to await the morning tide. Both lifeboats were released to return to their stations. The Hunstanton lifeboat had to make an 18 mile trip round the banks in rough conditions arriving back at 1.30 am 5 hrs after launching.  A service carried out by our volunteer crews in the true spirit of aiding mariners in distress.

 ———-

Monday 30th August – 7.35pm

Yarmouth CG requested launch of Hunstanton Lifeboat at 7.35pm to report of two persons cut off by tide at Scolt Head Island Brancaster.

H-003(Hovercraft)volunteer crew launched on service, on arrival made contact with two local sea anglers, who turned out to be the persons reported cut off.  They had a boat  moored at island and were not in trouble, this was confirmed with first informant, and H-003 was released to return to station at 8.58pm.  Weather: cloudy, wind NW 5 fresh breeze, vis. Good, sea state moderate. High water 10.30pm. The ILB B-749 also launched because of weather condition, but was recalled on launch having suffered damage to gearbox while launching.   

 ———-

Saturday 28th August 2010

Hunstanton RNLI station flag day held in the town broke an all time record the crew collected £1410.29 in the boxes, and souvenir sales were £863.09.  The boat and crew were on their way back to the station at 3.15 pm when Yarmouth Coastguard received a report of two nine year old boys cut off by tide at Hunstanton, the crew quickly donned their suits on the boat whilst returning to station.  Hunstanton lifeboat DJS Haverhill was launched at 3.24 pm and was proceeding to area when Yarmouth CG stated that the boys were now safe ashore at Hunstanton, the crew returned to station at 3.49 pm  It demonstrated to the public that our volunteer crews respond to emergencies whatever they are engaged in doing.

 ———-

Monday 23rd August –  5.30am

Yarmouth Coastguard requested launch of Hunstanton lifeboat at 5.30am 23rd August to medivac injured fisherman off  MFV Two Marks out of Kings Lynn.  Hunstanton volunteer crew of Hunstanton lifeboat DJS Haverhill launched on service and went alongside fishing vessel about two miles off the boathouse. and took casualty on board lifeboat, who had suffered an injury to his hand, having caught it in the shrimp riddle, he was brought back to the boathouse and transferred to the ambulance and taken to the Queen Elizabeth hospital Kings Lynn, injured person was a teenage Lithuanian crew member of Two Marks.

 ———-

Sunday 22nd August – 2.58am

Police requested Yarmouth MRCC to launch Hunstanton lifeboat DJS Haverhill to a man walking around in the mud at North Alexander Dock King’s Lynn.  The lifeboat was loaded with the hovercraft mud rescue kit by the volunteer crew and was launched at 02:58hrs Sunday 22nd August 2010.  The Police said that the man is intoxicated and in a violent mood and he was running about and does not want to be rescued.  The Lifeboat arrived on scene at 03:30hrs and stood by as the tide forced the man up the bank where the Police liaison talked the man into giving up and he was put into ambulance with severe cold.  At 05:08hrs the lifeboat was released to return to station. The Lifeboat returned at 05:43hrs and was washed down and refuelled etc and put back into the boathouse at 06:15hrs.

Later in the day…

Sunday 22nd August – 5.12pm

Yarmouth Coastguard requested the launch of Hunstanton Hovercraft at 5.18pm on 22nd August, to a report of persons cut off by tide at Thornham and Titchwell  marshes.  H-003 RNLI Hovercraft volunteer crew launched on service to area. On arrival to area crew picked up two people, a German couple a male and lady who was pregnant, and landed them on the beach at Thornham. They were happy to walk along the beach towards Hunstanton.  H-003 then proceeded to the Titchwell marsh area picking up one of the CG rescue team and were directed by the Coastguard mobile on to the other two people, these people along with the CG member were handed over to the CG mobile and taken back to Brancaster, all persons were safe and well, H-003 returned to station at 6.20 pm.

 ———-

Sunday 15th August - Yarmouth Coastguard requested the launch of the RNLI Hunstanton lifeboat at 12:50 on Sunday 15th August to reports of a person in the water after a dinghy capsized off Scolt Head Brancaster. The RNLI Hunstanton volunteer crew were launched on service. Wind was force six easterly.

While proceeding to the area the RNLI crew were informed the person had been rescued by others.  On returning to Hunstanton the crew were informed of another casualty report of a windsurfer in trouble off Old Hunstanton. A surfer had come to the boathouse and reported a surfer in trouble about a mile out from the boathouse.  The crew of the RNLI Hunstanton lifeboat DJS Haverhill located the surfer and got him onboard, along with his gear, and brought him back to the boathouse. He was not in need of medical treatment.

The RNLI Hunstanton lifeboat was recovered at 13:35.

 ———-

On Sunday (11 July) at 4.26pm -  Hunstanton lifeboat was requested to launch by Yarmouth Coastguard after reports of an inflatable dinghy being blown out to sea with two people in it.

 ———-

On Sunday (11 July) at 10.30am - A woman reported to the Hunstanton lifeboat crew that her two children – two girls aged four and five – had gone missing from the café.

 ———-

On Friday (9 July) at 6.40pm - Hunstanton lifeboat launched on the evening of Friday 9 July to assist two people on a jet-ski.

 ———-

On Sunday (4 July) at 2.48pm, Yarmouth Coastguard requested the launch of Hunstanton RNLI lifeboat, to reports of an object sighted off Thornham Harbour.

The station’s inshore lifeboat launched on service. On arrival in the area, they recovered a kite from the sea and took it back to the boathouse.

A female had come to the boathouse and the kite fitted the description of one she owned – she had apparently pulled the release cord and the kite had taken off with the wind and had blown out to sea, and she was unable to retrieve it.

She was from the London area and had come to Hunstanton for the day out. She had got her kite back but the lines were completely tangled.

Details of this and all recent ‘Shouts’ can be found on the Hunstanton page of the RNLI website.

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Macmillan’s Biggest Coffee Morning in Hunstanton

Thursday, September 16th, 2010

Posted by Angie Sandercock, Peacock House

Macmillian Worlds Biggest Coffee Morning is back again on Friday, 24th September 2010.

Why not pop along to:

Peacock House,  28 Park Road, Hunstanton (at 11am till 1pm)
 
You will find wonderful homemade cakes, tea, coffee and good company.
 
If you can spare  the time please come along & help us raise money for this good cause and please feel free to bring along a friend/s.

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Hunstanton Wins Gold and overall coastal category at Anglia In Bloom

Thursday, September 16th, 2010

Norfolk Lavender in bloom!

Norfolk Lavender in bloom!

Posted by Stella Gooch
Photo by Rob Topliss

Anglia In Bloom held it’s annual awards ceremony on 15 September 2010 at The Delphi Club – Sudbury and had around 400 people including Mayors and Civic Heads attending from the Anglia in Bloom regional 6 counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.  Representing our locality was Cllr Nockolds.

Hunstanton more than held it’s head up when it was awarded Gold and was the overall coastal category winner at this year’s Anglia in Bloom.  In the Small Village (under 300 residents) category Great Ringstead also did well with a Bronze Award and Small Village (301 – 1,000 residents) saw Old Hunstanton take the Silver Award.  Boston Square, Hunstanton also gained two nominations both for The Biodiversity Award and for the Best Garden for Special Needs.   The Allotments, Old Hunstanton were nominated for the best Grow Your Own Award.  Heacham village gained a Silver Award and Norfolk Lavender (Heacham) was awarded Best Industrial/Commercial area winner.

Cllr Elizabeth Watson said: “We are absolutely delighted to have retained our Gold award in Anglia in Bloom and particularly to have won the Best Coastal Resort.  We were up against some formidable entries and this in a year of really unfavourable weather conditions for plants to flourish, it was a very satisfying win.”

Peter Mortin of Norfolk Lavender said:  ”We are over the moon with the award and the judges recognition of our achievements at the Norfolk Lavender site in Heacham.  Our team of staff have worked so hard over the last two years since the company was bought out of administration, by a local family, to transform the grounds, gardens and attractions on site. We have such a wonderful site here around the old water mill and the re-planted gardens and newly landscaped grounds with the new Rare Breed Animal Centre and new lavender oil distillery are something that we are really proud of.

We have great plans for the future with a new lavender field being planted which will allow visitors to actually walk through a lavender field here at Heacham for the first time ever opening in summer 2011.  A massive 8500 sq foot indoor childrens play area will be opening this Autumn making Norfolk Lavender an even more attractive place for families to visit: Whilst we have already started planning our plant displays for next year.

We would also like to thank the local people who have worked extremely hard in making Heacham and Hunstanton so attractive for visitors with all of their hard work that has gone into the local entries to the Britain in Bloom scheme, we donated some lavender plants to Heacham and Hunstanton but the residents are the real driving force, with great support from the local council and councillors.”

Bob Ollier, Chairman of Anglia in Bloom said: “Over the last few years we have become accustomed to the differing climate changes, and again this year we had the challenge of several weeks of hot weather, with the green grass disappearing, it was yet another great challenge for all the entries, who had the task of nurturing many tender bedding plants through these hot spells of weather. There were 66 entrants this year 12 achieved Gold standard and 28 Silver Gilt standard, quite impressive considering the weather.”

Mr Ollier went on to say: “All entrants are continuing to achieve more sustainable displays along with outstanding bedding displays, which are not possible, without the continued support from the many community groups engaged across the Anglia Region who are dedicated to enhancing their community in this prestigious Environmental Campaign.  I wish to congratulate all the communities and neighbourhoods in the East of England, for the enthusiasm, commitment and effort made to improve, develop and sustain local environments across our region, it is a great credit to you all, remember by taking part you are all winners – Well Done.”George Dawson Chair of Judges said: “I would also add my best wishes too and congratulations to not only the award winners but to everyone who took part in this year’s campaign. A community is a winner as soon as it enters into the campaign. It seems that every year the British climate tries to wreck all the efforts that the communities do to improve their areas.

However as the awards show, it seems it makes no difference as standards have actually improved again. Well done, may it long continue?

The campaign is not only about flowers, other things are taken into account by the judges such as  environmental quality, community involvement, biodiversity and the involvement of young people to name but a few. Community involvement seems to be the key to success, when everyone is involved the rewards are tremendous.

I, like Bob add my thanks to all the people who have helped to make 2010 such a successful year. I hope we can continue to expand on our entries in 2011 as I firmly believe in what the ‘in Bloom’ does. The region can only benefit if more people participate” .

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Hunstanton Town Centre & Southern Seafront Progress – August 2010

Wednesday, September 15th, 2010

Kings Lynn Borough Council logoPosted by Council of KL&WN ( Cllr Liz Watson, Cllr Jason Law, Cllr Richard Searle)

Seagate ‘Gateway’ and Beach Terrace Road

Despite the severe reduction in public spending as reported in the media over the summer, the scheme for Seagate and the Beach Terrace Road traffic scheme will go ahead during this financial year. 

The Seagate scheme will include surfacing, lighting and planting to create a gateway to the seafront next to the Oasis, with the relocation of the beach patrol office to provide a vista from Seagate to the seafront.    Several responses to the leaflet inviting comments on the scheme asked how it would relate to the proposed development of the Kit Kat site and whether this development would go ahead.  The proposal for the Kit Kat site was not illustrated in the leaflet because it had not been through the planning application process.  The planning application was withdrawn in July and is being revised to take account of the comments received.  Whether or not the Kit Kat site is developed now or at a later stage, we are confident that the Seagate Gateway will make a significant improvement.

The new traffic layout at Beach Terrace Road is designed to improve traffic flow, reduce traffic on Southend Road and Le Strange Terrace near The Green and make the crossings safer. 

 Both schemes are to be completed by Easter 2011.  We also intend to renew the seating along the Promenade.

 Prime Minister’s speech on Tourism

On 12th August, the Prime Minister delivered a speech in central London about the importance he places on the tourist industry and the measures the government might support to strengthen tourism.  He said “Tourism is a fiercely competitive market, requiring skills, talent, enterprise and a government that backs Britain.”  The Prime Minister set a goal of putting Britain into the top 5 world visitor destinations.  For the most part, he emphasised the international sporting events that will take place in Britain over the next few years; however he also entioned heritage and the natural environment as assets to promote.  Potential policies outlined in the speech were:

  • A strong national strategy to back tourism
  • Allowing local authorities to invest a proportion of business rate income generated by tourism back into the industry: at present all business rate income goes to the government
  • Stimulating private sector investment through concessions in employment and corporation taxes
  • Reviewing other key policy areas that affect tourism, for example visas, infrastructure like broadband and major rail links.

Initiatives such as these may well favour the larger locations, events and enterprises; but we will keep an eye on the development of this new strategy and how it could benefit visitor destinations of Hunstanton’s size and character.

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Titchwell Marsh Coastal Change Project

Wednesday, September 15th, 2010

Posted by Dave Hawkins, Titchwell
Photos supplied by Dave Hawkins

RSPB Titchwell 1

Looking east from the west bank path with Island hide on the left. This whole area had become full of encroaching reed. It will now be a great area (close to Island hide and the path) in which to see waders!

We have been busy at Titchwell over the summer …

The west bank path to the beach was closed during the late afternoon of Sunday 25 July to allow this year’s Coastal Project work to commence.  At the south end, the path was closed at the junction with Meadow Trail and at the north end at the beach.

During the first few weeks of the path closure work has been taking place re-structuring the west bank path and improving the freshwater marsh. 

RSPB Titchwell 2

Looking south down the west bank path towards the junction with Meadow trail. The path has still to be added as well as the crest of the bank on the right hand side.

Work has progressed well and we are now hoping that we are now hoping that we will regain public access to the freshwater marsh and Island hide in approximately two weeks time with access down to the beach by the end of September/early October.

The foundation work for the new Parrinder hide has commenced and the new hide will be built during the month of October/early November. The Parrinder wall will also finally be completed in this period.

RSPB Titchwell 3

Initial construction work on Parrinder hide. This has to be done ahead of the main construction period which will be in October.

These timelines are dependent on the weather and a number of other factors  …let’s hope for an Indian summer!

During the path closure period, the visitor centre and shop, café, fen and meadow trails and fen hide will remain open as normal. Entry to the reserve will be free. Free guided walks to the accessible parts of the reserve occur on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Details on www.rspb.org.uk/titchwell

For more information about this major RSPB project please see their blog, go to the visitor centre and ask members of staff or volunteers and read the notice board outside the centre.  You can also get further information by calling 01485 210779 during shop hours or listening to the answer phone message outside shop hours.  In addition you can email enquiries to: titchwell@rspb.org.uk.

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