Official Opening of the Itchen Riverside Boardwalk

Title: Official Opening of the Itchen Riverside Boardwalk
Location: Horseshoe Bridge
Start Time: 10:00
Date: 2010-09-22
Link out: Click here
Description:

From Simon Pratt
Regional Director, South East, Sustrans

I would like to invite you to join us for the official opening of the Itchen Riverside Boardwalk on 22 September 2010 at 10am. We will assemble at the Horseshoe Bridge end, but the plan is to fill the whole structure with people and take photos from the opposite bank of the river.

We will be joined by pupils from St Denys School, who will bring flags and banners as a colourful backdrop for photographs. After the formalities and official opening, we will retire to the St Denys Community Centre for a reception and refreshments. A number of events and activities are planned at the Community Centre, details to be confirmed, so I do hope you will be able to join us there.

We will be asking people to choose their favourite three local figures for the Connect2 Portrait Bench, which will be installed at Horseshoe Bridge in the next few months. The three figures will be local people with a connection to the area, which could be celebrity, sportsperson or historical figure.

Sustrans has worked closely with Southampton City Council, Network Rail and the local community to build the new structure. Piling work to protect the railway line was completed by Network Rail in 2006 at a cost of £313,000. When Sustrans won the People’s Millions TV vote in December 2007 and secured £50 million from the Big Lottery Fund, we were able to start planning for the new boardwalk, which rests on top of the Network Rail piles.

The finished boardwalk, including the links at Horseshoe Bridge and Mount Pleasant, will cost around £450,000 in addition to the original piling costs. Construction work was carried out by Avon Construction of Ringwood.

Yours sincerely
Simon Pratt
Regional Director, South East