The Dereham Celebration Quilt is to hang permanently in Dereham’s newly refurbished Memorial Hall when it reopens later this year. It is being produced as a community project partly funded by a ‘Pride in Breckland’ Grant.
It is hoped that individuals, schools, community groups, youth organisations and various other clubs and associations will want to participate in creating the quilt.
The squares are available to anybody who is interested in the project which is designed to produce a piece of permanent textile art that represents the whole community during the year the Memorial Hall reopens.
Everybody taking part in the project will be given a box of basic tools and materials, including the base fabric for their square It is then up to them which technique they use and what design they choose.
Techniques that could be used for example are :- Needle felting, Appliqué, Knitting (can be stitched to the square), Crochet (can be stitched to the square), Hand embroidery, Machine embroidery, Fabric painting, using an Embellishing Machine, Cross stitch, Lace work, Beading or Patchwork In fact just about anything you can think of! You can even attach Badges etc., from your organisation or other ephemera to the square.
The squares will not only be on permanent display as part of the finished quilt, they will also feature on the Gallery and Memorial Hall Websites, making them accessible from all over the world! Once on the web sites you will be able to ‘click’ on any square and it will revolve to show you the details of the maker(s) and any dedications etc that apply to it.
Please contact Judy Rogers if you are interested in participating in this project
Judy Rogers @ The Gallery, Georges Rd, Dereham. 01362 690969
We have been approached with the idea of providing an evening venue for Folk Musicians where anybody with an interest in Folk Music can come along and play. We really liked the idea and plan to provide such evenings at least once a month 
@ The Gallery have started booking the new workshops that will be on offer at the Memorial Hall when it re-opens. These include courses and workshops in drawing, sketching, watercolours, oils and acrylics, together with workshops in various forms of printing, textiles and mixed media art, cardmaking, scrapbooking, quilling, jewellery making, knitting, yarn work and many more:)
If there is something else you would be interested in learning, please contact me, Judy Rogers, by phone 01362 690969 or email me at judy@thegallerydereham.com.
The workshops will run mainly in the day time, allowing people who may prefer not to be out in the winter evenings to take part. We have no limit age limits so everyone is welcome.
We will continue to run SPLAT, our children’s club on Saturday mornings and afternoons.
Judy
After 40 years of ideas I am delighted that we have finally agreed the War Memorial Hall refurbishment. I would like to pay tribute to the design team especially Jeremy Stacey Architects. They started without any preconceived ideas and initially spent a time understanding the building and how it was used; their flexibility and desire to optimise the design down to the smallest detail has been inspiring.
From a green perspective there are many advanced featured which should see the building viable and cost effective for a very long time. We have rainwater harvesting for toilet flushing, solar thermal panels to provide hot water, gas engine driven heat pumps to heat the building which give power saving dramatically above any standard gas boiler system, and a ‘green roof’ to add to the surrounding habitat diversity. Of course, the refurbishment will also included high levels of insulation.
The building will keep its history and yet it will become a flexible Town facility suitable for the 21st century, Dereham can be proud.
@ The Gallery are proud to be involved with the new Memorial Hall project. We are looking forward to working with the Town Council to develop an exciting venue that can be used and enjoyed by everyone, whatever their age or interests.
We are not just about Exhibitions of Art and Craft from Norfolk, although we will have lots of them. We plan to be a relaxing place to meet friends or have coffee and browse the day’s papers. We will also be providing a wide range of friendly and informal workshops for all ages and abilities.
One of the most important features of the refurbished Hall will be the addition of retractable seating in the main Hall. The existing loose seating takes a lot of time to set out and put away again. The proposed automatic seats can be folded away by one person in under an hour. This speed and convenience means that we will be able to have one activity on the flat floor during the day and seated activity in the evening.
The new hall seating
The picture above shows how the seats will be folded out and folded away under the balcony. Not only will these seats be more practical they will also be more comfortable and provide better sight lines.
For the first 8 weeks of the project work will be carried out to close down the existing entrances from the alleyway next to the Hall and provide the Dereham Operatic Society with a new entrance to their building from Fleece Meadow. This has meant that alternative rehearsal venues have needed to be found for August and September. After some hunting around, we have been able to find enough alternative spaces at various venues in and around the Town.
The removal of the fixed balcony seating has enabled us to investigate the structure of the balcony. For some time the structural engineer has not understood the structure of the balcony because it has been hidden. We have now been able to remove some of the boards to expose a structure, which has been built up over the last 100 years.
The structural engineer was concerned that this structure may be helping to keep the balcony stiff and prevent bouncing. As most of this old structure will be removed to accommodate new fixed tier seating, extra support timbers will added to keep the balcony solid.