On this week in King’s Lynn, Downham Market and Old Hunstanton: October 1 – 7, 2004
On this week: October 1 – 7, 2004
Lynn Museum will close its doors this week – and will not reopen for more than a year for a £1 million redevelopment. Staff and volunteers will initially be working to pack up and remove the collections into store, prior to the builders moving in next spring. The museum, next to the town’s bus station, has been awarded nearly £800,000 by the Heritage Lottery Fund and £125,000 by Norfolk County Council. The redevelopment will include new displays telling the Lynn and West Norfolk story in a lively and accessible way, and will include part of the 4,000-year-old Holme timber circle (Holme Henge).
Last week’s World’s Biggest Coffee Morning events throughout Norfolk have raised an estimated £100,000 for Macmillan Cancer Care. That would be enough to fund a Macmillan Nurse for three years, including their training. More than 570 people in the county registered to hold a coffee morning last week, including dozens from West Norfolk.
The benefits of a £500,000 makeover can now be seen at Lynn’s historic Duke’s Head Hotel. General manager Kevin Southall said all the ground floor and public areas had been totally refurbished. “The facilities have been upgraded to a more opulent standard to try and revive the Duke’s Head of old,” headed.
An £885,000 facelift to transform the former site of Rosebery Avenue First School in Gaywood into a centre for children who cannot attain mainstream education will get under way in November. The majority of the building will be used by the Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) team to work with youngsters close to exclusion for their current school. The PRU is currently based in premises in Providence Street, Lynn, which has capacity for just eight children; the new site will have spaces for more than 20.
Netto, the cut-priced food and home furniture chain, is the latest retailer to announce a move into the St Nicholas’ Retail Park development in North Lynn, creating 25 new jobs. The Danish-owned retailer trades on its no-frills approach, claiming it speeds up average shopping times and cuts customer spending.
Lawn-Boy at Downham, which has grown from modest beginnings to a business with customers all over East Anglia, is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year. Partners in the business are husband and wife Nick and Sandra Brett who run Lawn-Boy from purpose-built premises at Railway Road, a far cry from the modest workshop in an alley close to the town market square where they started all those years ago.
After a £20,000 makeover, the owner of the old coastguard lookout station, next to the lighthouse at Old Hunstanton, is letting it out to visitors such as birdwatchers and tourists. Mr Harry Lount bought the building from West Norfolk Council two years ago after it had fallen into disrepair and was empty. Originally a Marconi wireless station, it was used as a signal station during the First and Second World Wars. In 1943 it was visited by King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret.
A taste of Italy is coming to Lynn in the form of Prezzo restaurant. The chain, which has 38 restaurants across the country, including one in Norwich, hopes to open up in the former Woolpack pub’s premises in Tuesday Market Place in the middle of November. The building has been completely refurbished at a cost of around £800,000 and at least 20 new jobs will be made available.
Work is underway at Downham High School to cope with pupil numbers which are constantly increasing. So far, a cloakroom area at the Bexwell Road site has been transformed into an area of open space and this is the first part of the school’s expansion programme which will cost in the region of £1.5 million.
Lynn Warriors swim team was cheered on by enthusiastic home supporters at the St James Pool in Lynn for the B final of the Anglian League and by the end of the evening the club were crowned league winners. There was also success in the Fenland League final at Peterborough where the club finished third overall.
