Waterways: Volunteers help restore Great Yarmouth park

The Waterways in Great Yarmouth was created to provide employment for local men after World War One

Volunteer gardeners have been helping to restore a Venice-inspired seaside attraction to its original 1920s design.

The Waterways in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, will reopen in the spring following a £2.7m revamp.

People from the Green Gym project have been reinstating a "bold" planting scheme shown at a 1928 international garden exhibition.

Volunteer Keith Ingram said the project had been "beneficial" to the community.

Green Gym volunteer Keith Ingram has helped to restore the park's original 1928 gardening scheme

The Grade II-listed Venetian Waterways was created by Great Yarmouth Borough Council to provide employment for local men after World War One, but has fallen into disrepair.

Its boating lake, island cafe and pergolas have now been revamped, with the original planting scheme - celebrated at the 1928 RHS International Exhibition of Gardening Design - currently being revived.

Mr Ingram is one of the volunteers who has been putting in some of the 6,500 plants alongside professional gardeners.

"We have only lived in Great Yarmouth for three years, and we were looking for something to do which would be beneficial to the community and to us," he said.

The restoration started last year to coincide with the attraction's 90th anniversary.