NE1’s new Grey Street Gathering pocket park, located on Grey Street in front of the Monument, was financed by money raised from NE1’s Geordie Jackpot, local lottery. Equipped with bench seating, planters and artificial grass, the park provides an ideal location for busy commuters and visitors to the city to relax and enjoy the beautiful surroundings of Grey Street, named the most beautiful street in Europe.

As well as providing a chill out zone for people to use at their leisure, NE1 is organising an active programme of free art, exercise, history and heritage lectures and creative sessions. The programme will run from now until the end of October.

To celebrate the launch and to start as the Grey Street Gathering means to go on, free, the early morning Tai Chi and Yoga sessions will be held at the park for the public to enjoy and on Sunday afternoons, Mindfulness and Meditation.

Starting officially on Tuesday mornings from 17th September, Yoga will be held at 8am and then every Wednesday at 5.30pm with early morning Tai Chi at 8am on Thursdays. 

On Saturdays, there will be HIIT Bodyweight fitness sessions at 10am, and on Sundays Mindfulness and Meditation will be offered at 3pm in the afternoon, in preparation for the start of another busy week. Other events and activities are planned for the park including history and heritage talks, creative arts sessions and tutorials and sports and fitness for all ages.

Grey Street Gathering is the first city centre project paid for by the Geordie Jackpot, which was launched by NE1 Ltd in 2017. The Geordie Jackpot raises money for local worthy causes through 50% of its ticket sales with the remainder of the cash funding the lottery and other initiatives designed to improve the city centre.

The people of Newcastle have a long and illustrious history of paying for major civic works, one of the most prominent examples of this is Earl Grey Monument in the heart of the city centre. This was delivered and paid for by subscription by the people of Newcastle in 1832.

The Geordie Jackpot is a weekly local lottery, which has recently been amended so there are now even more chances to win cash prizes with the overall prize of £25,000 up for grabs each week.

A timetable of the free activities at Grey Street Gathering will be published on www.getintonewcastle.co.uk

Pam Carefull, Project Manager at NE1 Ltd said:

“We hope the Tai Chi session this morning captured people’s imaginations as they walked past and hope that more people will be encouraged to come along tomorrow to join in with the free yoga session at 8am. It is a short 30 minute session, so anyone on their way to work should bring their mat and join in - it is a great way to start off your day – all within the shadow of Grey’s Monument. “

“It is a fitting tribute to the generosity of the people of Newcastle that the park and the monument are so close together – as both have been paid for by the people of Newcastle. Players of NE1’s local lottery, the Geordie Jackpot helped fund the Grey Street Gathering and the Monument was paid for by public subscription in the 1880s. We hope the Grey Street Gathering is the first of many thanks to the Geordie Jackpot.”