DERSINGHAM VILLAGE CENTRE

News Flash

At long last our Big Lottery application for funding has been successful and we've been awarded £550,000 towards building costs. But, there's still a great deal of money that needs to be raised so please help us if you can!

The new Dersingham Village Centre and Village Hall

Dersingham is a large village of around 5000 population, but it is unusual in never having had a village hall. Yes, there are a several halls in the village but they are either church halls or those owned by a particular organisation. As such these halls are not always available or suitable for the full compass of village activities.

The church hall of St Nicholas parish church has generally adopted the role of village hall, but there are limitations to the events that can take place there and the hall itself is old and in need of substantial repair and refurbishment. A few years ago, St Nicholas PCC offered the Church Hall site to the Parish Council for the purpose of constructing a new hall, which commissioned a further consultation. This was carried out between October 2013 and February 2014.

A Working Group was established, including representatives from the PCC and Parish Council, and an application made to the Big Lottery Reaching Communities Buildings Fund. A local architect produced designs free of charge and a Planning Application was placed with the Borough Council in November 2015.

The Dersingham Village Centre Association has now been established and is a recognised partner of the Parish Council in the project, and is taking the lead with fundraising. It will be this group which takes on the management of the new building, leased from the Parish council at a peppercorn rent.

The new Dersingham Village Centre will enable new services and activities to take place. These will include job clubs, children’s centre sessions, weekend kids club, lunch/tea drop-ins, health related sessions, as well as providing a large hall for social functions, conferences, training etc. The new building will use the latest technology to be energy efficient and easy to maintain. The design enables the rooms to be used by different groups at the same time.

We are deighted to announce that, although it's taken a long time, our Big Lottery application has been successful and we've been awarded £550,000 towards the building costs of the new Centre. However, a substantial amount of further funding must come from monies raised through the support and donations of local supporters, so please visit our Fundraising page to see how you can help. Although there's still a lot to do, the new Village Centre is drawing nearer!