Today sees the launch of Explore-a-book, a brand-new book bench trail, in West Norfolk.
The book bench trail has been funded by the Norfolk Strategic Fund, specifically to encourage people back into town centre areas and to help support those businesses adversely affected by the impact of Covid-19.
The trail has been organised by the Borough Council of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk in partnership with Stories of Lynn and Kick the Dust.
Duncan Hall, Assistant Director, said: "We are working hard to encourage people back into town once it is safe to do so. This trail has been launched to coincide with the first lifting of restrictions, encouraging people to come out, and walk around King's Lynn, Downham and Hunstanton, to discover the benches and to learn a bit more about each area. Then as we move towards the next trigger for lifting restrictions we hope more people will come to see the benches and visit shops and other businesses while they do."
The trail consists of seven benches, supplied by Wild in Art, who have produced trails in this country and abroad. Six of these decorated benches have been temporarily placed in landmark locations around King’s Lynn and one in Hunstanton. A further three benches have been decorated by local artists with designs submitted by local young people and these will remain as permanent features in King’s Lynn, Hunstanton and Downham Market.
A trail leaflet, available online, has been developed by the Kick the Dust group. They have contributed their ideas to how the trail will work, have chosen and researched the potential locations, and written the content, the aim is to get the maximum number of people engaged in the project.
Rachael Williams, Learning and Engagement Officer, said: "It has been a pleasure working with local artists and the Kick the Dust Group to get this project up and running and we are very pleased with the entries we received from the local community suggesting thoughts, ideas and designs for the benches. We hope people like them as much as we do and we look forward to seeing photos with the benches on social media, tag us with #ExploreABookWN."
Designs and ideas were submitted by Betty Hill, Ciara McNulty, Chloe Drew, Casper Robinson, Daisy Holland, Jonathan Pick, Jason Holland, Calleigh Welham-Smith, Ivy Whitmore and Astrid Radanke. These have all been incorporated into the finished designs by local artists. Madeleine Eggleston from Downham Market, who is a volunteer at Stories of Lynn and supports the Kick the Dust project, has produced the designs for the Downham Market and Hunstanton Benches and Savannah Andrews who is a member of Kick the Dust, has worked with Nicola Murray Woods to complete the King's Lynn bench.
The trail leaflet is available at https://www.storiesoflynn.
A new crazy golf game that’s opened in The Walks, King’s Lynn, close to the café is already proving popular.
Cllr Brian Long, Cabinet member for Corporate Services, said: “Our public open space team installed this refurbished crazy golf game at the end of last week and already hundreds of people have stopped to play it"".
“We have also integrated this into the borough council’s Summer of Play programme, where we offer a range of activities for children and young people by giving them something that helps them have fun, socialise and be more active. To play a round here, and hire a club, it costs only £1.50 per adult and £1 per child. This can be booked at the café".
Flags were waved, boats walked down the high street, there was dancing and sea-shanties sung in King’s Staithe Square, along with a festival regatta on the river as part of the 12th King’s Lynn Hanse Festival.
Cllr Graham Middleton, Deputy Leader and Cabinet member for Business, Culture and Heritage at the borough council, said: “The sun was shining and the crowd flocked to see the parade of flags through town and the entertainment on stage in King’s Staithe Square.
“I would like to thank King’s Lynn Hanse Group, Wells and King’s Lynn Coastal Rowing Club, Stories of Lynn, King’s Lynn Town Guides, the teams at the Minster, Hanse House, Marriott’s Warehouse, Clifton House Tower and The Place for making this a great event again and for encouraging people to visit King’s Lynn and enjoy what the town has to offer.”
A floral display has been created in King’s Lynn to mark the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty The Queen.
Created by Jason Wells with help from Sam Martin, who work for the Borough Council of King's Lynn & West Norfolk, a specially created badge bed in Tower Gardens marks the occasion with flowers. There are a mixture of plants such as Begonias, Pelargoniums, Marigolds, Dahlias and some Cannas as centre pieces.
Cllr Brian Long, Cabinet member for Corporate Services, said: “The message in the Tower Gardens display is to mark the historic occasion of the Queen’s 70 years of service and I’m pleased that everyone in the borough can visit and see it. These plants add a nice splash of colour to our green spaces. It looks stunning and should be in place for people to come and see until early November.”
Children from St Martha’s Catholic Primary School in King’s Lynn have been learning about the town’s history through a fun activity to recreate some of its buildings using recycled materials.
Developed as part of the five-year Heritage Action Zone (HAZ) project, the lessons aim to inspire today’s young people to learn about and protect their historic environment.
Speaking after a visit to see the children working on their buildings, Cllr Richard Blunt, the borough council’s cabinet member for development and regeneration and chair of the HAZ project board, said: “King’s Lynn has a rich and varied history that is important to preserve, from its associations with King John to its strategic importance as a medieval trading port. This project is helping to educate future generations about our local heritage and learn why it is important to conserve it, and I have been amazed to hear how much they know. These are also living buildings that remain part of our culture and they are still used: I was talking to one boy about the town hall and explained to him, ‘that’s my office!’”
Over 6,000 new trees have been planted near Lynnsport in King’s Lynn. A further 500 trees have been replanted in King’s Reach.
Cllr Paul Kunes, Cabinet member for Environment, said: “This is the first large-scale planting programme as part of the borough council’s strategy to tackle climate change and offset carbon dioxide emissions.
“We started the year by planting a small number of whips in The Walks, followed by more than 400 trees being planted in Sedgeford. It’s a great way of helping our environment, through planting native species, and will help towards being net carbon zero by 2030."