Press Releases

05/07/2017
One of the world’s largest remaining wooden tall ships is set to sail into Great Yarmouth’s South Quay.
Kaskelot, a Danish three-masted barque is the first boat confirmed for this year’s Great Yarmouth Maritime Festival on September 9th and 10th.
It will be the first time the vessel has ventured to the celebrated event, but she is no stranger to the limelight having played a pivotal role in the Poldark television series and a number of Hollywood movies.
Her appearance was confirmed to the event sponsors during the launch of this year’s festival at The Imperial Hotel in Great Yarmouth on Monday.
Representatives from sponsor companies Seajacks, Peel Ports, Great Yarmouth Borough Council,

Two free festivals for Great Yarmouth
Holidaymakers from Buckinghamshire are being encouraged to head for the region’s biggest tourist resort for two major free events on consecutive weekends.
Tourism chiefs at Great Yarmouth, one of the country’s most popular holiday destinations, are looking forward to a jam-packed extended summer season buoyed by two unique festivals, which illustrate the area’s rich and varied cultural offer.
The town will be celebrating all things nautical with ships and shanty singing one weekend, followed by audacious displays of circus skills and street arts the next.
The Great Yarmouth Maritime Festival, which takes place on September 9 and 10, will see the historic South Quay transformed into a showcase for the town’s nautical heritage.

Village scoops big grant to replace fading sign

The Fritton sign was first erected on the roadside close to St Edmunds Church back in 1986.A Norfolk village is set to showcase a new sign thanks to a generous grant.
But years of exposure to harsh weather conditions has seen it decay beyond repair.
Now, thanks to a £4,000 cash boost from the Greater Yarmouth Tourism and Business Improvement Area (GYTABIA), a fresh sign is being created using the expertise of north Norfolk artist Fiona Davies.
Ms Davies is producing the fibreglass sign to mirror the sophisticated carvings of the original – depicting the historical church, military associations and the wildfowling husbandry carried out on the lake at Fritton Decoy during medieval times.

Media Release

MAJOR INVESTMENT FOR SEASIDE HOLIDAY VILLAGE’S NEW SEASON

A Norfolk seaside holiday village has undergone a major £500,000 revamp of its facilities for the new season.
Seacroft at Hemsby near Great Yarmouth has transformed its main entertainment complex, including the Harlequin showbar.
It means visiting stars including Joe Longthorne, Bobby Davro, and Claire Sweeney will have new staging, lighting and dressing rooms.
And visitors also have the chance to stay in improved accommodation with an ongoing upgrade of a number of the chalets at the village which is part of the Richardson’s holiday company.
Seacroft Holiday Village is a former Pontins site which Richardson’s took over in the 1998,

Media Release

Traditional carnival fete to be introduced in Norfolk village
25th June 2017

Plans are under way to bring a carnival-style fete back to Caister on Sea.
The Caister Village Experience takes place on June 25 and will have all the elements of a classic celebration.
It revives an event that has been missing from the community calendar since it was cancelled several years ago.
Visitors to the King George V Playing Field in Allendale Road can expect much-loved sideshows, entertainment and activities.
It is the brainchild of the Caister’s Women’s Institute to help boost the funds of the playing field – and has been helped by a £2,000 grant from the Greater Yarmouth Tourism and Business Improvement Area.

Media Release

Seafront fireworks spark business boom

03/05/2017
The bang and crackle of summer fireworks not only brighten up the skies over two busy Norfolk resorts – but also boost the trade at businesses below.
A dozen displays explode in the skies above Great Yarmouth and nearby Hemsby, beginning at the end of this month.
They are sponsored by the Greater Yarmouth Tourism and Business Improvement Area as part of its drive to attract more tourists. But a survey has shown the events have a positive spin-off for a range of traders in the area from eateries to attractions.
A questionnaire among visitors to both venues revealed:

86pc were visitors to the area
73pc were staying in holiday parks,

NEWS RELEASE
Great Yarmouth open for business after blaze
Great Yarmouth’s holiday and tourism industry united today to send a message to holidaymakers and visitors planning to head to the resort: We’re open as normal.
Businesses and attractions along the Golden Mile and across the town centre are all working as usual today after a major fire in the early hours destroyed a bowling centre and indoor market on Regent Road.
Visitors planning to head to the resort were reassured their visits and enjoyment across the resort would not be affected by the blaze at Regent Superbowl and the indoor market underneath.
Gareth Brown, chairman of the Great Yarmouth Tourism and Business Improvement Area,

Movie star ship to sail into maritime festival
An historic ship that doubles as movie and TV star will be centre stage at Great Yarmouth’s Maritime Festival this year.
The 1940s sailing ship Earl of Pembroke has figured in more than a dozen films and TV series since it was restored in 1994.
They include the movie Cloud Atlas – starring Tom Hanks, Halle Berry and Hugh Grant – as well as
roles in Hornblower, Treasure Island, Alice in Wonderland, Wives and Daughters, and the Count of Monte Cristo.
She will be moored at Great Yarmouth for the two-day festival on September 10th and 11th, which regularly attracts about 30,000 visitors to the port.

Crowds replace crows as village gets “scary”
An artful army of crafty characters is preparing for its annual friendly invasion of a Norfolk holiday village.
A hundred scarecrows will line the streets, gardens and green at Martham near Great Yarmouth during the May Bank Holiday.
While crows will be giving the village a wide berth, crowds will be flocking there instead to see the festival which boosts local businesses and community causes.
And this year organisers are opening up the event to scarecrow makers from outside the village for the first time – with the lure of a £100 cash top prize.
Designers or businesses will be able to showcase their creations on the green to be seen on May 1st and 2nd by an estimated 10,000 visitors – three times the population of the village.

They are the white knuckle seafront rides that unleash a rollercoaster of emotions and memories across the generations.
But their timeless fairground fun is also playing a key role in the future of a leading UK holiday resort.
Great Yarmouth’s speedy smiling Snails have clicked, twisted and trundled through their jolly corner of the Joyland children’s funfair since it was opened in 1949.
Their brightly-painted smiles and shiny shells have been getting their winter facelift ready for the season ahead.
The colourful creatures have given countless wide-eyed children their first taste of the heady cocktail of fear and excitement that goes with a seafront funfair ride – even though they only plunge a few feet among cheery gnomes and colourful creatures.