With your tremendous support we have been busy fund raising to provide inclusive access to the Upper Lawn and improve the play facilities in the Park. I am pleased to report that on 1 June 2020 work will commence to install the fully accessible ‘playful bridge’ linking the two sections of the park divided by the sunken walkway.

We thought long and hard about whether to go ahead with this project in the current unprecedented times. After much deliberation, and with support from NNDC, it was decided to go ahead – so when the bridge is finished and we emerge from the other side of this pandemic Cromer will have something to celebrate

Inevitably it has taken time to research, develop and get approval for such an ambitious scheme, but the funding was finally in place just as the country locked down.

You rose magnificently to the challenge of helping the project financially by sponsoring a plank. Although successful grant applications contributed over £80,000 towards the project, with a significant contribution from Cromer Town Council and the Government Pocket Parks fund, most of the funding has come from the community, with a major contribution (£90,000) from café takings thanks to our customers, volunteer staff and bakers.

There was a fantastic response to our funding appeals, with over £25,000 raised from individual plaques for sponsored planks on the bridge, and from sales of our books of café cake recipes (Will You Marry Me?) and the Brief History of the Park.

Some of the periphery works - such as benches – are being delayed and still need funding: there’s still time to sponsor a plank or buy one of the books – see northlodgepark.org.uk for full details – to help complete the project.

With the current restrictions in place, we can't be definitive on dates, it depends how much the suppliers are impacted over the coming weeks. But the contractor, Modern Method Construction Ltd will commence on June 1st, although some of the play equipment and landscaping outside the main contractors’ remit will be implemented later.

The new zig-zag wooden bridge will allow explorers of all ages and abilities to easily access the new play area which will include a range of new play equipment as well as areas of wild flowers and pathways to open up access to the cliff top path. The bridge itself will include some elements of play and will take approx. 6 weeks to construct. During this time the sunken walkway will be closed to the public with diversion notices in place.

It seems that baking cakes has become a very popular lock-down activity with supermarket shelves quickly stripped of flour and icing sugar which made us wonder how many of you have been baking from our Cook Book?

One of our youngest fans has been in touch – Freddie from Harlow in Essex who was bought a copy of Will you Marry Me by his visiting Grandma, Liz, for his 14th birthday last September. She says that he has always loved helping her with baking but our Cook Book has really fired his interest because it’s so easy to use and has lovely tempting photos!

And Freddie has enjoyed some immediate success too as his first attempt at a Coconut and Raspberry Cake resulted in him gaining the highest marks at school in his Food Technology pre-GCSE course. He says he has cooked several more since being locked-in – another Jam and Coconut sponge for his other grandparents and a Chocolate and Orange Drizzle birthday surprise for his mum plus gluten free Raspberry Bakewell and Lime and Blueberry Drizzle for a very grateful Uncle who usually misses out on sweet treats with his allergy. Now he says he is planning to cook something that he really fancies trying – giant Sausage Rolls!

Shops might be shut but our Cook Book is easily obtained on-line so if you haven’t got a copy yet we still have a few left. A lovely gift for idle hands during this enforced home staycation!

Rapidly changing developments have led us to cancel this year's AGM scheduled for next week. This is disappointing on many levels, one being the opportunity to get together to share the highs and lows of the last year, discuss plans for this year and to give you the chance to ask questions.

To retain some of these benefits, next week we will issue a newsletter summarising the things we would have discussed at the AGM. If there is anything you would like to see included, or if there are questions you would have raised at the AGM please email them to friends@northlodgepark.org.uk by the weekend and we will endeavour to include answers in the AGM newsletter.

Come along to the cafe Thursday morning to chat about how you can help us.