Outdoor Activities

The Mayfly, burgeoning coffee and cultural High Street hub, is turning some derelict land into, well, something else. A community garden? A mini-wildlife reserve? Butterfly haven? Part of a grand scheme to upgrade the whole of the cliff-face? It'll be up to those who get involved, said Piers Colby, le patron of The Mayfly and community catalyst.

On what had turned out to be  General Election Day, The Mayfly Garden Group welcomed Dr Ian Bedford and Dannny Suggit, Production Manager of PlantGrow Ltd

The Shed continues. We regularly meet on Wednesdays at 10am on land next to Lowestoft Station carpark.

For many years, the piece of land was a siding and cattle dock for the railway. We've found eleven posts. They are very robust – huge steel bars (possibly rail track) embedded in concrete. We have tried many ways of chopping the concrete off. We have failed. Up until now.

Pictured are the larvae of the brown-tailed moth. There's several colonies on the Land of Hope and Dreams. They look like spider-web nurseries, but they are actually “ … a silken tent”. Some will be pleased to know they eat the young leaves of brambles, amongst others.

The hairs on the larvae can cause irritation to the skin, about the same strength as a stinging nettle, and on rare instances can cause severe skin reaction and rash. So best not to give them a friendly stroke.

Our Shed now has (limited) electric power.

On Wednesday 28th Feb the Solar Panels were connected to all the gubbins that makes their power useable, and we switched on a light.

Next step is to wire up the Shed interior.

The advent of power would not have been possible without a generous grant from the Enabling Communities Budget of East Suffolk Council, so a BIG THANK YOU to local Councillors Keith Patience, Janet Craig and Tess Gandy.

The History of the Land of Hope and Dreams

North Lowestoft Men's Shed is currently residing in a steel shed on the wasteland just to the west of Lowestoft Central Station's car park.

This is what we know of the land's history so far.

So far as we have discovered, there were no buildings on the land prior to the arrival of the railway in 1847.

However, the easternmost edge of Lake Lothing was there, and there may have been a quayside of some description – or maybe it was marshland?

Soon after 1947 siding was built

Local community group #We Are Here Lowestoft (#WAHL) has had a significant influence on our MP, Peter Aldous, and on this government's response to the Climate Change Emergency.

The Government has been forcing through parliament its Levelling-Up and Regeneration Bill. Some intense lobbying of politicians over several years resulted in several important amendments being inserted. In a classic to-and-fro between the House of Commons and the House of Lords the amendments were removed in the Commons and re-instated in the Lords. 

North Lowestoft Men's Shed (aka NLMS) continues to consolidate its base. In this case, building a patio.

Using gravel-mesh as the patio base our next step is to spread gravel over it all. This will create a solid and secure surface on which to put our donated garden and chair set to catch the last of the summer sun.

We've also been donated high-quality kitchen cupboards by Lowestoft Tile Company in Wilde Street. A piece of work-surface has been attached to a metal table frame found abandoned in the High Street to create a work table.

We have a flag, too.

Great progress being made on community garden

Learn more https://gofund.me/aa2cd224

Neighbours come together for a protest march... against broken street lights

Lowestoft Journal writes...For two years parts of the A47 in Lowestoft has been plunged into darkness.

Broken street lights have not been fixed by National Highways - despite numerous reports being raised by locals.

Now to highlight the issues a protest march of around one-and-a-half miles is set to take place in the coastal town.

A group of locals said the ongoing situation had become so bad that it was now "an accident waiting to happen."