ABP East Anglian Ports Celebrate Heritage Open Days Festival
ABP’s East Anglian Ports of Lowestoft and Ipswich opened their doors to the public as part of the nationwide Heritage Open Days Festival, which aims to raise awareness around local historical landmarks and buildings.
As part of the annual Heritage Open Days Festival, which took part from 6 – 9 and 13 – 16 September, thousands of volunteers across the country organised events to celebrate local history, architecture and culture, which were open to the public, free of charge.
Joining the festival, ABP’s teams in Lowestoft and Ipswich exhibited historic photographs of the ports, highlighting their evolution throughout the years. Historic photographs depicting port architecture as well as information booklets were also made available to public visitors at the Lowestoft Lifeboat Station and Old Customs House in Ipswich.
Visitors also enjoyed a display of the bascule bridge model, which was an element of the Port of Lowestoft’s display and heard about its history dating back to the 1970s. Another popular attraction was a time lapse video of port operations, as well as miniature models of equipment, a historic log book, a binnacle – which housed helm instruments on a ship’s bridge, an old ship’s bell and other photographic displays.
Andrew Harston, ABP Short Sea Ports Director, said: “We were proud to take part in this year’s Heritage Open Festival and share the rich history of our East Anglian ports with the public. Trade via our ports has been central to the economic prosperity of local communities in East Anglia and it is important to raise awareness of the maritime industry’s role in helping them grow.
“Today our Ports of King’s Lynn, Lowestoft and Ipswich contribute £360 million to the UK economy every year, supporting 3,700 jobs in the region and we look forward to a bright future in the years to come.”
Source: http://abports.co.uk
