The organisers of the award-winning Lowestoft Heritage Open Days Festival, featuring Community Rail Norfolk, recently hosted a special information event for groups and individuals looking to participate in the 2022 festival.

The Lowestoft Heritage Open Days Festival is an annual independent event that coincides and works alongside the national Heritage Open Days in September. The festival is coordinated by a small volunteer steering group and as part of their work they offer advice on safely staging events, produce and distribute the festival guide along with numerous other promotional activities as well as liaising with the national Heritage Open Days organisation.

Last year, Lowestoft Heritage Open Days attracted a phenomenal 18,000 visits to buildings, events and exhibitions during the festivals’ nine-day programme, an incredible achievement coming after the pandemic had reduced opportunities to offer a full-scale event in the preceding year.

On 24 April, at the Parcels Office Exhibition Space at Lowestoft Station, the steering group spoke to those from the community that were interested in participating in the festival. The group offered ideas of different ways to get involved, details of free marketing support and more information about how their activities can be included in the official publicity materials.

Diana Moore, Chair of Lowestoft Heritage Open Days Steering Group, said; “The Lowestoft Festival has become hugely popular, attracting thousands of visits to a host of events. We are proud of the number and variety of activities celebrating our towns illustrious history, with our Lowestoft festival in the top ten nationally. This year we were keen to meet with those willing to host their own events, in order that we can give guidance on what is required to provide a safe and enjoyable activity and, for those that engaged with us, we were able to offer free inclusion within the official festival brochure and further support through our extensive marketing activity.”

Keep up to date on the plans for the Lowestoft Heritage Open Days Festival here and see more information about the work of Community Rail Norfolk on their Wherry Lines and Bittern Line websites.