'I left home with a heavy heart but now I'm back'

After leaving his hometown years ago "with a heavy heart" the manager of a new attraction said he is proud to be back playing a key role in rejuvenating his childhood home.

Dewey Lord, 32, was working in Saudi Arabia when he came across an advert for the senior project manager job of Morecambe's Eden Project and "felt I needed to apply".

"I couldn't ignore it. And to be offered it was just great."

Lord who took part in the Eden Project's "ground-breaking" ceremony on the town's promenade on Wednesday evening said to be back in the town where he grew up "working on such a big project like this makes me so proud and really excited".

Lord recalled leaving Morecambe "in decline" when he was younger but feeling a new sense of hope for the area, with the Eden Project contributing to its future regeneration.

Dewey told the Local Reporting Democracy Service: "I grew up here in the 1990s, when Morecambe was probably in the dying embers of its heyday.

"I went to gigs at The Dome and vaguely remember the old Bubbles pool when I was younger.

"But watching Morecembe's slow decline was one of the reasons I left - with a heavy heart.

"So to be back here, working on such a big project like this, makes me so proud and really excited."

"All my family live here and, for me, to be able to say 'I helped build the Eden Project' will be great."

Lord grew up in Morecambe's Bare area, attended Morecambe High and Queen Elizabeth School in Kirby Lonsdale, then studied construction project management at Salford University.

He worked in Manchester for five years then London, Uganda and Saudi Arabia before he spotted the advert for his new role.

He said the first phase of work this summer will be building the Bring Me Sunshine Garden, which will form part of the entrance to Eden, which is due to open next spring.

The whole attraction is due to open in late 2028.

In May, the Bring Me Sunshine Garden won awards at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

It was designed by Harry Holding, architect Alex Michaelis and young adults from Morecambe.

Students from Myerscough College will play a role in developing its new, bigger permanent Morecambe location.

Guests at the ground-breaking ceremony led by Eden chief executive Andy Jasper included Amanda Parker, the Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire, who praised everyone involved in the project.

A large, 7ft (2m)-long spade made by Lancaster & Morecambe College students, weighing 9st 2lb (58kg), was symbolically driven into the ground at the event.

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