LONG awaited work on Gorleston's bandstand will finally start next week after an eight year fundraising campaign. The new bandstand will be up and running by the late May bank holiday with musical events planned all weekend.

LONG awaited work on Gorleston's bandstand will finally start next week after an eight year fundraising campaign.

The new bandstand will be up and running by the late May bank holiday with musical events planned all weekend.

Members of Gorleston Rotary Club, who have been driving the campaign, say they are delighted to see years of hard work finally pay off with the first solid signs of work starting next week.

Rotarian Philip Gunn said: “Builders are going on site next week to start preparation work. It will take about a week to erect the bandstand but that will not happen until later in April or May.”

GYB Services will be managing the building project with contractors from Beccles.

The ambitious project led by Rotarian Brian Ollington has cost £65,000 with the majority of the cash being raised through the sale of 250 plaques which will feature in the risers of the bandstand steps. Local companies have also sponsored the project and the borough council has given £15,000 from its Cleaner, Safer, Greener fund.

The first concert will take place on May 24 and a celebratory reception for sponsors is also planned.

Supporters say the bandstand in Beach Gardens will be a centre for entertainment on Gorleston seafront on the site of the former swimming pool which closed amid outrage in the 1980s.

And it's not the first time the town has had a bandstand - the first one was built in 1896 at the cost of £85.

The entertainment it hosted attracted large audiences of holiday makers and locals. It was rebuilt in 1922 but was dismantled to make way for the swimming pool.