The Friends of North Lodge Park have been selected by Waitrose North Walsham to be one of their charities for March, which means we will get a share of this month’s £1000, based on the ‘votes’ made with their token scheme. I don’t need to tell you that the more tokens in our box the bigger our share of the cake, and we all like big portions of cake.
Skating Week February 2019
A huge thank-you to all the volunteers who stepped up to help out at this year’s skating event in the Park. For 5 days the park was full of happy families taking advantage of the synthetic ice rink provided by Wonder Ice.
This wouldn’t have been possible without the exceptional support from the community, both joining in the fun, and their ongoing support for the cafe – it’s the profits from the cafe that underwrite such big cost events and make them happen – and North Norfolk District Council.
Chinese New Year 2019 in North Lodge Park
On Tuesday 5th February we hosted a giant Chinese Dragon in the Park to celebrate Chinese New Year. There were lots of children’s activities – making dragons and Chinese lanterns – with Chinese food very kindly domnated by the Kanton Restaurant in Cromer.
Photos by Malcolm English
Chinese New Year Celebration
Tuesday, 5 February 2019 from 15:30-18:00
A Giant Dragon, floating lanterns, art activities & Chinese snacks.
Come to North Lodge Park for this free event to celebrate the Chinese New Year. See the amazing floating dragon on the boating pond; make your own Chinese themed art; enjoy delicious Chinese finger food kindly donated by the Kanton restaurant. Come along from 3.30pm, the Cafe will be open until 6pm.
Synthetic Ice Rink in Cromer – February half term 2019
Synthetic Ice Rink in Cromer North Lodge Park
IT’S BACK! With a NEW and IMPROVED skating surface!
Are you a budding Natalia or Alexei? Get your skates on and come down to North Lodge Park in Cromer. For one week only skate your way into Spring! February half-term 2019 brings you another chance to ice skate in Cromer. This year we have upgraded to the best quality synthetic surface available, from Wonder Ice – from International Ice Dancers Alexei Kislitsyn & Natalia Pestova!!
If you already love ice skating, want your children to try something new, are just looking for a fun activity for family and friends then come along to the synthetic ice rink at North Lodge Park.
The rink will be in North Lodge Park from Tuesday 19th February until Saturday 23rd open from 10am to 5pm every day (late night Friday until 8pm)
There will be 45 minute sessions which will give skaters a full 30 minutes on the rink.
Pre-booking tickets is recommended but tickets will be available on the day
Advance tickets are £6 (10% discount when booking more than 4 for the same day at the same time)
Tickets on the day will be £7.50, family ticket £25
The rink is suitable for people of all ages and is wheelchair friendly.
Children who are not confident on the ice can use ice skating penguin aids.
Make sure you take advantage of this skatetastic facility
and a chance to practise your pirouettes!
Advance tickets below.
Please note there is NO PARKING in North Lodge Park. It is a short walk from the railway station, and served by the following buses:
- Routes 5 and CH2 – stop at the main entrance to the Park
- Routes 6A, X40, and X44 – stop at the church or opposite Henry’s, depending on direction of travel
- Route CH1 – most becomes a CH2 at the bus station.
You need to book each day separately. Select a day to book below,
North Lodge Park Cromer Gardening Festival May 18th 2019
In 2018 we launched a new event to the Cromer calendar as an addition to the popular Crab and Lobster Festival: the CROMER GARDENING FESTIVAL. This festival fringe event, built on the enormous success of the Crab and Lobster Festival, providing the thousands of visitors with an extra focus during the weekend. Across the day there were numerous gardening themed events for all from experienced gardeners to young (aspiring) gardeners, with a range of gardening related stalls, including many plant specialists, selling a range of plants and other products for the garden. Several thousand people came making it a really successful launch year.
May 2019 will be the 90th anniversary of the formation of North Lodge Park and the 10th anniversary of the Crab and Lobster Festival so as well as a GARDENING FESTIVAL on Saturday May 18th 2019 there will be lots of birthday celebrations making the day a much bigger event.
If you would like to take part in this exciting festival please get in touch with your proposals for the day. We are looking for creative ideas around the gardening theme to make the day really special.
If you would like a stall to sell products, these are available under the same terms as the main Crab and Lobster festival, but with discounts for booking early:
- Standard 3m x 3m £35, book by 14 February 2019 for only £30
- Double 6m x 4m £60, book by 14 February 2019 for only £50
- Large 10m x 5m £100, book by 14 February 2019 for only £80
You can download the attached booking form here
Please get in touch should you need more information: friends@northlodgepark.org.uk
We look forward to another exciting fringe festival
Co-op Local Community Fund
The Co-op Local Community Fund helps to support local projects that Co-op members care about. Since its launch in 2017, Co-op members have raised £39 million pounds for over 12,000 local causes. We’re delighted that Friends of North Lodge Park will now be able to access this funding opportunity.
The Co-op High Street store in the centre of Cromer has a membership scheme (a modern form of co-op stamps…) which rewards you for shopping at the store. Every time a member shops at the Co-op, in addition to their personal reward, 1% of what they spend on Co-op branded products and services helps fund community projects.
Members can select a cause for their donations: for the next 12 months the Friends of North Lodge Park are one of the causes you can select. If you are already a member, log onto your account and select us as your cause (or you can do so in store). If you aren’t a member please join up – even little spends in the shop will help our charity.
High Street Co-op
The Co-op high street store in Cromer has been raising money for the Friends of North Lodge Park through sales of second hand books and at till collections. This money has been used to buy a new Park Bench which was formally handed over on Friday 26th October by Stuart Vail, manager of the store in Cromer.It was also announced on Friday that as from 28th October, Friends of North Lodge Park has been chosen for the next round of the Co-op Local Community Fund. From this date, Co-op Members can choose to give their 1% to the Friends when they spend on selected own-brand products and services.
This is great news for North Lodge Park and shows the passion local people have for the charity.
A playful connection
New ‘playful connection’ bridge for Cromer park’s 90th birthday?
The latest proposals for a new ‘PlayBridge’ in North Lodge Park were revealed this week on Wednesday by the Friends of North Lodge Park.
And if all goes to plan, it will open next year as North Lodge Park celebrates its 90th birthday – the park opened in 1929, after the Lodge and its grounds were bought by Cromer Urban District Council the previous year.
Adjoining areas, originally fields and apple orchards, were added during the 1930s, which meant the park came together in a largely unplanned, piecemeal way.
The planned new ‘playful connection’ bridging the main part of the park and the under-used Upper Lawn has been designed by landscape architects AREA, who were commissioned by the Friends earlier this year.
The brief, approved by the Park owners, North Norfolk District Council was to link the Upper Lawn with the ‘heart of the park’ – and provide more play and leisure opportunities for everyone.
“Our community surveys showed that new play opportunities for children were one of the main things people in Cromer want to see,” says Friends of North Lodge Park chair Samantha Annison .
“The new PlayBridge will incorporate play elements including a seating net and climbing wall, while other play areas around the Upper Lawn could include rope walk, buoy swings, climbing net, climbing poles, balanced beam, sliding poles, and monkey bars.”
There will also be seating areas and a central viewing platform in the zig-zag design – inspired by Cromer’s distinctive Hotel de Paris slopes and nearby Doctor’s Steps – to sit and admire the stunning, elevated views.
Materials such as the timber boardwalk have been designed to echo Cromer Pier, while the use of colour, thick sailing rope and buoys reflect Cromer’s fishing heritage.
New planting and landscaping will also reflect the history and character of the park and its clifftop location, with new access points from the East Cliff path and Cliff Drive.
“The proposed wide, ramped crossing over the sunken path is the only way to create a step-free link with the heart of the park, and this exciting new ‘playful connection’ brings the whole area together for probably the first time, with opportunities for play or just sitting and watching the world go by,” adds Samantha.
View the presentation by AREA.
EDITOR’S NOTES
The Friends of North Lodge Park formed in 2015 to protect, enhance and promote North Lodge Park, initially concentrating on the ‘heart of the park’, taking over the café and improving the Rose Gardens area around it.
Two years of successful open-air theatre and other events have established NLP as a regular event and entertainment arena, including ice-skating in February 2017 half-term week (to be repeated in 2019).
Surveys established community priorities, with activities for children near the top of the list, and detailed proposals were developed for a play area on the old bowling green which could not be taken forward.
Attention turned to bringing the neglected, disconnected Upper Lawn into use, ideally with play elements, and in February this year the Friends appointed landscape architects AREA to develop ideas and designs, taking into account the whole park.
North Lodge Park opened to the public in 1929 – the year of ‘Tiptoe Through the Tulips’, the ‘Flapper’ election and Ramsey MacDonald’s second government, and the Wall Street Crash. The Friends of North Lodge Park are looking forward to celebrating this special 90th birthday in 2019.