83 Manor Road, Dersingham, Norfolk, PE31 6LN
83 Manor Road, Dersingham, Norfolk, PE31 6LN
The Dersingham Village Centre opened in October 2018 and is situated in the heart of Dersingham, close to St Nicholas’ Church and the Carole Brown Health Centre.
The centre is extensively used by local groups, including yoga, pilates, keep-fit for over 50s, dance classes, lacemaking and crafts, carpet bowls, health related sessions, a stage school, youth group, and those for young children and carers. The centre also hosts regular activities such as a community lunch, pop-up coffee shop and village cinema.
There is a spacious main hall which has a sprung floor, and two other meeting rooms available for hire individually or together. A large, fully-equipped, kitchen is available for use by hirers.
The main hall is ideal for parties, dancing and wedding receptions or staff away days and consultation events.
The two meeting rooms suit smaller activities such as meetings, crafts, training or group work. The Loft, in particular, is well suited to quiet or private meetings as it is a self-contained unit with a kitchenette and adjacent toilet.
All areas of the Dersingham Village Centre are available for hire – click here to book your event.
Another view of the main hall at the Centre, with tables and chairs set out for a community lunch.
The Loft is a smaller, upstairs meeting room. Access is via stairs or a lift and it has a small self-contained kitchen.
A large space than can easily accomodate substantial functions. Up to 120 people may be seated banquet style, or 150 people theatre style (note, some restrictions may apply). There is an vaulted acoustic tile ceiling for best audio quality and a sprung wooden floor for dancing.
The ground floor meeting room, or Garden Room, is a light and airy space ideal for small to medium groups, or for the more modest sized meeting or public presentation that does not need the large space of the main hall. With its large windows the room can get warm when the sun is shining, but air-conditioning has been installed to ensure that it is comfortable all year round.
The first floor suite, or Loft, comprises a room suitable for up to twenty people which also has a small kitchen unit and refrigerator built in. Immediately outside the room is a landing area with a fully accessible toilet. The first floor of the Centre is reached by stairs or there is a small lift that can take a wheelchair and one or two people.
The kitchen is designed to be able to handle almost any catering task, from making a cup of coffee to preparing and cooking a meal for a substantial number of people. It is regularly used for our friendship lunches.
The Association leases the Centre from the Parish Council and is responsible for the upkeep of the building. It also manages all the regular and casual bookings. The income from this, and activities such as coffee shops and events, is used for the day-to-day running of the Centre and the maintenance of the building including the equipment within it.
It is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation and submits annual reports to the Charity Commission. A Management Committee of Trustees meets once a month.
We employ two part-time members of staff – a Caretaker and Cleaner – and there is also a team of volunteers who help in many ways. Learn more about volunteering opportunities below.
Currently the Trustees are: Shirley Brooks, Graham Eley, Susan Payne (Chair), Nicola Prickett; Mary Search, Coral Shepherd (Parish Council representative), Gemma Ward (Finance Officer), Thomas Wheeler.
There are currently four vacancies. Please contact us if you would like information about becoming a Trustee.
All residents of Dersingham are automatically entitled to free and full membership of the Association. This enables them to vote at General Meetings – the Annual General Meeting, usually held in May, and any Extraordinary General Meetings.
The Association’s Constitution is available as a PDF download here. DVCA members can ask for further documents, such as the minutes of meetings. Please contact us if you need these.
You can become involved in helping to run the Village centre in two ways; either as a Trustee or as a Volunteer. Read on to see what’s involved in each role. Either as a Volunteer or as a Trustee you will be very welcome!
The Village Centre is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, run by a committee of Trustees who meet once a month. At our meetings we discuss the Centre’s finances, issues to do with the day-to-day running of the building, employee issues and plan any one-off events.
Being a Trustee is a responsible position, but under the rules of the Charity Commissioners no Trustee can be held personally liable for any issues concerning the Centre, so if we make a loss you won’t have to make up any shortfall! As a Trustee, you should be prepared to attend meetings and take part in the running of the Centre. You will be able to make your views known and be part of the decision-making team. We welcome new Trustees, so if you would like to become involved please get in touch.
Naturally, any event that takes place in the Centre usually requires helpers of some sort. This particularly applies to our monthly Friendship Lunch, Film Screenings, weekly Coffee Shop and any one-off events. There are plenty of other opportunities, such as our gardeners who look after the flower beds that fringe the car park. We have a great team of volunteers and we are enormously grateful to them for all the effort they put in. We would love to get more people involved and spread the load. If you would like to be part of the team, please do get in touch.
