Published on: Friday, 1 March 2013
Last updated: Wednesday, 5 October 2016
Abellio train operator Greater Anglia is to be the Principal Travel Partner for the 2013 Norfolk and Norwich Festival. The company has confirmed it's support for the Festival just ahead of this year's programme launch in Norwich next Tuesday (5 March). The partnership will see the train operator promote the Festival and the good value fares available to encourage people to travel to Festival events by train. It will also provide rail tickets for some of the artists travelling to and from the Festival and sponsor two events including a concert of music by Benjamin Britten by the Philharmonia Orchestra (also supported by the Eastern Daily Press) and the performances of How Like an Angel at Norwich Cathedral.
The partnership continues a positive link between the region's railways and the Festival which goes right back to 1990. Further good news for Festival-goers from far and wide is that there is no disruptive engineering work taking place on Norfolk's rail routes or the main line to London during the Festival period from 10 to 26 May, so rail travellers arriving from local stations in Norfolk, other regional centres such as Ipswich and Cambridge and also from London for Festival events, can also plan journeys to and from the Festival with the confidence of a smooth, direct train journey.
With late night trains on Mondays to Saturdays from Norwich to Cambridge (at 22.40), Lowestoft (at 22.40), Sheringham (at 22.45), Great Yarmouth (at 23.00) and Ipswich (at 23.05), the Festival and Greater Anglia are hoping that even more people will use the train to come into Norwich and enjoy this year’s 17 day bonanza of music, song, dance and performance.
Commenting on this year's partnership between the Festival and Greater Anglia, Jonathan Denby, Head of Corporate Affairs for Greater Anglia said:
"Greater Anglia is delighted to be the Travel Partner for the 2013 Norfolk and Norwich Festival, extending a highly successful relationship between the Festival and the region's railways which extends back over 20 years. We will be helping to promote the Festival, providing tickets for artists and taking a proactive role in this year's event, extending and expanding our partnership from our first links as Greater Anglia just after the start of our franchise last year. Banners and brochures promoting the Festival will be in place at Norwich station and one of our Class 90 locomotives used on the Norwich to London route continues to carry the Norfolk and Norwich Festival name. Our partnership should help the Festival to go from strength to strength, with a fantastic annual celebration which is fun for audiences and the local community, whilst at the same time supporting the local economy and building Norfolk and Norwich’s reputation. We hope that this year's Festival is a great success and that many people
will travel to Festival events by train."
William Galinsky, Artistic Director of Norfolk & Norwich Festival said ‘I’m very happy that the Festival’s partnership with Greater Anglia is continuing and that they are our Travel Partner for 2013. We have enjoyed a long, fruitful and beneficial relationship with the region’s railways that I truly believe has been of great benefit to everyone in the county. Together we can promote cultural tourism to the region and strengthen Norfolk and Norwich’s standing as a cultural destination of choice.’