Three new modern, all-weather, floodlit tennis courts are now open for budding Wimbledon stars at Heigham Park in Norwich.
Norwich City Council have installed the courts and aim to build on the success of other Norwich Parks tennis schemes at Eaton and Waterloo parks by providing high quality, accessible, affordable sports facilities that will be available for 52 weeks of the year.
Norwich City councillor Adam Giles, cabinet member for community wellbeing said: “The city council is proud of its record for improving facilities for our residents and investing in our much-loved parks. These courts, along with others across the city, form part of the council priorities to improve health and wellbeing, which has become even more important since the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s been quite a journey to get to this point and a lot of hard work in the face of some tough obstacles to deliver these fantastic affordable community facilities.”
Additional benefits of the new courts include affordable annual membership and access to high quality coaching programmes through Norwich Parks Tennis programme.
This latest chapter of the Norwich Parks Tennis project, which also includes the new tennis facilities at Lakenham Recreation Ground, is being entirely funded by a combination of capital funding from the city council, community infrastructure levy funds from the Greater Norwich Development Partnership and Section 106 funds for the Lakenham courts.
Booking and training will be run through Norwich Parks Tennis and are available on the Norwich Parks Tennis website.
The next phase of improvement work at Heigham Park will be looking to complete the rebuild of the pavilion which was damaged by fire in 2019. The council is also looking to install a new modular toilet facility to include disability access soon.
People are being invited to kick start the New Year by signing up to Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life in Norwich and King’s Lynn.
The charity’s much-loved events are returning to Norfolk and anyone who joins this January can claim 50 per cent off the entry fee, as part of a half-price sale, by using the code RFL23NY*.
This is the 30th year of Race for Life and participants will receive a special medal to mark the milestone.
Every year around 36,600 people are diagnosed with cancer in the East of England**. Money raised at Race for Life enables scientists to
Norfolk based discount retailer QD Group, has donated hundreds of chocolates and chocolate bars to the Social Supermarket run by Norwich social enterprise The Feed.
The Feed originally opened its social supermarket on Hall Road, Norwich, in the summer to provide food to people who were struggling to afford it. The supermarket offers a wide range of affordable groceries to help people eat well despite the increasing cost of living. It works with local food producers and suppliers to provide products at a lower cost than many other supermarkets. With Christmas just around the corner, QD has donated kilos and kilos of chocolate goodies for the supermarket to help ensure that everyone can enjoy a special treat during the festive season.
Andrea Auburn, Social Supermarket hub manager, said: “A big thank you to QD who donated a mountain of chocolate to The Feed’s Social Supermarket. Donations like these provide a much-needed treat for families at a time when money is tighter than ever. It’s lovely to see parents get advent calendars for their children, for instance, when grocery shopping could otherwise be a real source of stress right now.”
St Martins Housing Trust has been given Honorary Freedom of the City of Norwich, following more than 50 years’ service and support to people facing homelessness. The honour was awarded by Norwich City Council at a special meeting of council.
After starting out in a garage shed in the Cathedral Close half a century ago, St Martins has grown into an established charity which provides not only hundreds of beds and homes to those in need, but delivers education, training, psychological intervention and partnership work with other city organisations.
St Martins is now a key partner in delivering Norwich City Council’s rough sleeping strategy, which seeks to break the cycle of homelessness through prevention, intervention, recovery and systemic support.
Local charity Alive UK, which aims to provide emergency support for people in crisis in Norfolk, has launched a gifts and treats appeal to give local children and parents a gift this Christmas.
The charity is asking people who would like to support the appeal to donate an unwrapped new gift, toy or chocolate treat, such as selection boxes, at a collection point by the sleigh on the lower ground floor of Chantry Place before Friday 16th December 2022. It is also looking for donations of wrapping paper.
The charity will deliver the unwrapped gifts and wrapping paper to the parents of children, so that they can enjoy wrapping the gifts themselves to give to their children. They will be given to families in desperate need in Norfolk.
A local young people’s charity is celebrating after winning a prestigious Reuse Network award. The accolade recognises the work of The Benjamin Foundation, in partnership with leading waste and resource management company, FCC Environment, to promote reuse and prevent waste, while creating social value and raising funds to support young people in Norfolk and Suffolk.
The charity was presented with the Reuse Network’s Innovative Project of the Year award at a ceremony last month to recognise and celebrate the success of the Norwich Reuse Drop Off Centre which opened in June 2022. The Innovative Project of the Year award recognises originality, inspired ideas and acknowledges those who have worked hard to implement them. The Benjamin Foundation has transformed the former local authority operated recycling centre on Swanton Road, Norwich to an innovative, first of its kind for the UK, reuse drive through and drop off centre, making reuse in Norwich more accessible and convenient than ever.