Calls for cancelled air show to make future return

The Red Arrows, pictured at the Lowestoft Seafront Air Festival, used to delight attendees

There are calls for an air show that was cancelled 13 years ago to make a return.

The Lowestoft Seafront Air Festival in Suffolk was cancelled after its final show in 2012 as organiser Lowestoft Seafront Air Festival Ltd was unable to raise the funds needed to stage the show again.

The group said several years later it would "definitely" be unable to stage the event again, despite hundreds of thousands of people visiting each year.

But Marcus Pearcey, a local businessman, is calling for its return which was echoed by several local residents.

Lowestoft Seafront Air Festival Ltd took over running the air show in 2004 before the last event in 2012

"It was just magical," Mr Pearcey recalled of the event to BBC Radio Suffolk's Wayne Bavin.

"It's such a beautiful setting, the beaches in Lowestoft are just stunning and you recall those great days when you're on the seafront.

"Where else in the world would you want to be other than Lowestoft watching the Red Arrows rip along the seafront?"

The air show would attract more than 300,000 people to Lowestoft

James Black, an aviation fan who lives in the area, said he "definitely" wanted the air show to return.

"It brings the community together," he said.

"The problem is no-one paid for it last time and that is why it stopped.

"If people chipped in, a couple of quid in the bucket, that would help to go towards the next one and the next one."

Anne Rivett, another local resident, said she had many childhood memories of the show.

"It was just a lovely day and for a family to get together," she said.

"I think Lowestoft should get the air show back."

Danny Steel, chairman of Lowestoft Vision, had been part of previous efforts to save the air show

The event, which cost £300,000 to stage and had been running for 16 years, was free to attend with visitors asked to offer a voluntary donation of £3.

Former festival managing director, Paul Bayfield, said at the time the event had "become another victim of the vagaries of the British weather" after bad weather meant organisers had to spend their £60,000 contingency fund.

Danny Steel, chairman of Lowestoft Vision, was involved in the efforts to try and save the show.

He said he did not believe it could return "at the moment with unitarization going on" with councils in Suffolk.

"I don't think until that happens that there will be much of an appetite to get behind the air show," he said.

Mayor of Lowestoft Nasima Begum also believed there was "a real appetite" for the air show

Mayor of Lowestoft Nasima Begum said it "would be wonderful" for the event to return.

"There was an air show at the carnival last year which was well received and I know there is a real appetite for it," she said.

"But I believe it all comes down to funding - I read the cost of running the show was about £300,000 a few years ago, which would be a lot more now.

"But it would absolutely be wonderful for Lowestoft to have the air show back. It bought so many people together."