Whilst we’ve been very active supporting events in Suffolk for years, this year the pinnacle was the Aldeburgh carnival – a three day event that sees a massive influx of tourists and locals into this popular seaside town. This event is closely guarded and we had to work hard with the town council to secure a pitch, in fact we were the only charitable organisation to secure a stall!
We wanted to hit Aldeburgh due to the close proximity of the National Trust Orfordness site. While we have been engaged with the National Trust on the site for a number of years, Orfordness was officially announced this year as the first recorded grey seal colony in Suffolk. Being only a couple of miles down the coast, the colony has resulted in an increase of seals spotted in Aldeburgh and a growing number of callouts to pups and adults in the town. Therefore, the three-day carnival provided a great opportunity to engage with both locals, businesses and a large number of tourists.
The event proved a big success, with significant public engagement across all three days, helping educate on the work we do, the importance of our marine mammals and all-important merchandise sales. We also received special thanks for our attendance from the carnival committee.
But Aldeburgh was only part of our efforts, we also had stands at the two-day Felixstowe Carnival, the Woodbridge Regatta, Sizewell Family Day, Orford Show and earlier in the year Lowestoft market. It was a great team effort with many Medics volunteering and helping man the standards across all events – looking forward to 2025 and seeing what more we can do!
Jonathan Goodchild
