GORLESTON'S new seafront bandstand is on target to open on the Whit Bank Holiday weekend in May. As work started on the long-awaited project just over two weeks ago organisers say they are confident a grand opening event will go ahead on Saturday, May 24, with additional concerts on the 25 and 26.

GORLESTON'S new seafront bandstand is on target to open on the Whit Bank Holiday weekend in May.

As work started on the long-awaited project just over two weeks ago organisers say they are confident a grand opening event will go ahead on Saturday, May 24, with additional concerts on the 25 and 26.

It comes as welcome news after a eight-year fundraising campaign by Gorleston Rotary Club, led by Rotarian Brian Ollington.

The project has cost 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.

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. It was rebuilt in 1922 but was dismantled to make way for the swimming pool.