Mile Cross Festival returns to Sloughbottom Park in Norwich

Depleted funds due to the pandemic meant the Mile Cross Festival didn't go ahead in 2022 but it's back on June 24 at Sloughbottom Park to showcase all the positives of the area.

Ally McClagish, secretary of Mile Cross Festival Committee, said I did not want to see the Festival come to an end (Image: Ally McClagish)

Ally McClagish, secretary of the festival's committee, said: "As a born and bred resident of Mile Cross, I did not want to see the festival come to an end, so I put myself forward and was elected as deputy secretary.

The Mile Cross Festival will be celebrating 100 years of the area's history (Image: Newsquest)

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"I had no idea how much work goes into the planning and how much it costs to hold the festival.

"I learnt a lot about the history and heritage of the festival and the committee are so passionate about keeping the festival running so hopefully it'll all be worth it.

The Mile Cross Festival didn't go ahead in 2022 due to lack of funding over Covid (Image: Newsquest)

"Most importantly, it's a chance for the community to come together and celebrate all the positive things that happen here, to spend time with friends and family and appreciate the local green space."

Stuart McPherson, a photographer who lives in Mile Cross and runs The Mile Cross Man blog, said: "The festival has been going on for as long as I can remember so it's great to have it back.

Stuart McPherson, a photographer who lives in Mile Cross, said it's good the estate has something to celebrate (Image: Stuart McPherson)

"With the area being painted in a bad light recently it's nice to have something positive to talk about.

"The event has proven to be very popular in the past attracting hundreds, if not thousands, of people."

The Mile Cross Festival has been running for 37 years - pictured: archived photo from the festival in 1987 (Image: Newsquest)

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Theatre group The Common Lot is touring its new show The Great Estate: 100 Years of Mile Cross at venues across the city between June 29 and July 9, including the Forum.

Simon Floyd, the project's creative director, added: "It's lovely to have it back - it's a very good, traditional, festival.

"We'll have a stall there to discuss the history of Mile Cross with people.

Simon Floyd, creative director of The Common Lot, will have a stall at the festival (Image: Simon Floyd)

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"We've worked in Mile Cross for a few years now - it's our base so it's important to celebrate the area and be proud of it."

The Mile Cross Festival will be held at Sloughbottom Park on June 24 (Image: Newsquest)

History of Mile Cross

More than 100 years ago one of the first housing estates of its kind in the country was being built in Norwich - Mile Cross.

Work on building it began at the end of the First World War and it was the first municipal garden housing estate in the country supported by shops, schools, pubs, parks and allotments.

Mile Cross - pictured in the 1920s - was the first major housing estate built by Norwich City Council (Image: Norwich City Council)

More than 100 men were involved in building the new estate before the first tenants arrived from Oak Street, St Martins Road, Cowgate and Barrack Street a year or so later.

Government money helped and by the autumn of 1924 almost 500 houses had been, or were being, built and Mile Cross Council Temporary School opened to 200 pupils in April 1926.

Families were moving out of the courts and yards in Norwich to the new estates such as Mile Cross (Image: George Plunkett)

Mile Cross gets its name from the old boundary marker St Faiths Cross or Le Whytecrosse, close to St Augustines Gate.

In 1931, the city's lord mayor Mabel Clarkson opened the Mile Cross Library and if the locals wanted some fun there was the Lido (later Norwood) dance hall in Aylsham Road and the Capital Cinema.

Work on building it began at the end of the First World War, with more than 100 men involved in building the estate (Image: Newsquest)