WEST DEREHAM VILLAGE HALL

A report on the renovation of west Dereham Village hall

The Village Hall Committee is very please to report on the progress of the refurbishment and extension of our Village Hall. Grant funding has been received from WREN, Norfolk County Council (through the Rural Community Council) and King's Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council (through the Norfolk Rural Community Council). These grants have been supplemented by funding from West Dereham Village Trust, a charity which came about following the sale of the village's school premises which had been originally purchased from Norfolk County Council.

As well as renovating the hall, a new extension will accommodate new WCs, a kitchen with full catering facilities, a bar area and small Function Room. These new plans have also enabled the provision of a disabled WC, store room and dedicated Heritage Room. The project was delayed somewhat, owing to the bad winter weather, but much preparatory work has been completed, and the walls of the new extension are now in place. During the next month the new roof on the existing hall should be completed, the extension roofed, new windows installed and electrical works started. Old stone from the tracery window rescued from the church restoration is being installed as a feature in a former window space in the old hall.

Our building contractor, R C Constable from Littleport, and his local workforce have impressed the Committee with their commitment to this project. Together with our project manager, Graeme Pressley, they have formed a good team and the Village Hall Committee has been kept well informed of developments and involved in any issues as they arise.

The Committee have been extremely mindful of using village money wisely and are also very appreciative of local donations received to date, both from local businesses and individuals.

Please look out for further progress reports as work continues. The Committee will be introducing new ideas to get full use from the hall one of which is the planned bar nights that will go some way to making up for the lack of a pub in our village!

Ruth Marsters