WEST DEREHAM HERITAGE GROUP

Report on the Annual general Meeting of the West dereham heritage Group

The group held its Annual General Meeting on the 19th of November at the Village Hall, 18 members attending. Minutes of the previous AGM were approved and signed. There were no matters arising and the election of officers was proposed and seconded to be en-bloc as there were no other nominations offered.

Officers elected were :- Chairman Jack Walker, Secretary Pam Walker, Treasurer Ruth Marsters, Archivist Pam Bullas, Web Master Janet Gough, Press and Media Reporter Richard French.

The acting Chair, Pam Walker, thanked all officials for their work and dedication throughout the past year. Jack was unable to get to the meeting till late owing to having been stuck in traffic on the M6.

There will be no increase in subscriptions for the coming year and the accounts showed a small surplus over expenditure as reported by the Treasurer.

Archive and artefacts will continued to be stored by members until the completion of the Village Hall re-building and the Heritage Room is available .Advice will be sought as to what will be required for display and layout.

The Web Master will be offered courses that will enable her to improve her skills if her work schedule allows time.

There was a general discussion about the programme for 2011 and the outings to other areas that will open to non members. The first of these is likely to be in April when we are planning a day out to two sites of interest. First stop will be a Langham Abbey which is a Premonstratensian site like that of West Dereham. Langham, however, has much more of its structure surviving, in particular the Abbots house which is intact and shows little change from the 16th. Century.

After lunch it is proposed to continue on to Great Yarmouth to visit the Time & Tide Museum which is similar to the Lynn Trues Yard area which we visited in 2010.

As Gt. Yarmouth is my home town I hope I will be allowed to conduct this visit myself as many of my ancestors were born in the area around the present site who were all boat owners fishing off Yarmouth during the 19th. Century.

There is an alternative outing to Canterbury Cathedral with its Hubert De Walter connection to West Dereham. This is a much longer trip and it is proposed that we have a meal on the way home to round off the day. Some where nice will be selected and booked in advanced if possible, please be assure it will not be a service area catering establishment. Watch our web site, The Pump, etc. as further details will be available in February.

Another visit is also planned to the Stonemasons yard of Fairhaven & White who did the recent work on St. Andrews windows and porch. If you missed the outing last time you are welcome to join this party. A coach will be available if enough want to go otherwise it will be members cars.

Meetings next year will be held in the Church while work is in progress at the Village Hall.

There being no other business the meeting closed at 9pm. Refreshments were served to round off the evening . Thanks to all who attended.

The Social evening was held on the 9th. Of December at the home of Ruth & Cyril Marsters and closes another eventful year for the Group. I take the opportunity to wish all readers a very Happy & Successful New Year 2011.

Richard C. French