Dereham Town Quiz, 2016

The Dereham Society is pleased to announce the revival of the Dereham Town Quiz. The quiz, first held in 1977 and last held in 2008, will be held early in 2016 and it is hoped that there will be sufficient interest for the competition to be held on a knock-out basis over the first months of the year, with a public final in early spring.

Please download the Entry form and further information HERE.

The Town Quiz is open to teams from Dereham and surrounding villages. However, venues for Home ties must be within 5 miles of the town. Teams can be from local groups, clubs, societies, businesses etc., but also as ‘scratch’ or ad hoc groups under a given team name.  Teams will comprise four individuals at each round from up to six people nominated at the outset.

According to Jim Stebbings who is coordinating the competition, “This was once a very popular event in the town which attracted a large number of entrants and was very much looked-forward to in the months after Christmas. We hope that we get a good response so that we can organise it on a knock-out basis rather than as the one-off quiz evening that occurred at the end of its last life.”

Dereham Society Chairman Philip Morton said, “This event really gets people together and creates a lot of fun and interest. We hope too that people will get to know more about Dereham Society and will help in our efforts to keep the Society alive”.

It is hoped that the number of entries will enable the competition to be on a knock-out basis. If there are insufficient entries to have a knock-out competition over several rounds, the competition will be held with all teams present on one evening in the first half of 2016. Date and venue to be announced later.

Assuming the quiz is held on a ‘knock-out’ basis, there will be a Plate competition for those knocked out in the first round.

There will be three awards: winners of the main competition; winners of the plate competition; winner of the highest individual score in any round. The finals of the two competitions will be held in public in the spring of 2016, followed by the awards.

The organisers will make the draw for each round with a Home Team and an Away Team. The Home team must provide a venue on the given date. A venue can be a private home, a club, pub, village hall, etc. etc. The Home Team must advise the away team of the venue.

Each round will take place on the same night, and at the same time of 7.30 pm. Provisionally the first round will take place on Thursday, February 11th, with further rounds on Thursday March 10th and Thursday April 14th. The public final will be in May, at a date to be fixed. As mentioned above, the number of rounds will ultimately be determined by reference to the number of team entering.

Results and draw details for each round will be published on the Dereham Society website and on the Society notice boards adjacent to Dereham Post Office and in Wright’s Walk.

The cost of entry will be £5 per team. Funds will be used by the organisers to meet administration costs and prizes etc. Any surplus will be for the benefit of Dereham Society.

Please download more information and Entry forms HERE. Entries need to be submitted by 15 December with the first round planned to take place during February, 2016 and a public final in the spring of 2016.

March 2015 meeting

Following on from the AGM held on 26th February, the Dereham Society will hold a meeting at Dereham library, at 7:30pm, on 26th March, to review how the Society could go forward. The Meeting is an open forum for anyone interested to come along and get involved in the future of the Town.

The Society has been dormant for the past three years but could provide a starting point and vehicle for a new generation of people to help shape the future of Dereham. The Society is aiming to increase Pride in Dereham across a number of issues.

Dereham town Mayor, Tim Birt, will be present to explain how the Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) works and how this could be rolled out to cover Dereham. For an NDP to be successful it requires a high level of support and input from all sections of the community. This is a critical plan as it could cover a wide range of issues presently covered by Breckland Planning Authority, such as Housing, Retail Development and Employment areas. A coherent plan would also include Traffic control, development of Green Spaces and major infrastructure such as school, health and utility services. These are hot topics affecting parts of the Town in different ways but by using Dereham Society and the NDP as a focal point all interested parties can act together to present alternative plans for the future.

Aside from the role of helping to develop an NDP Dereham Society is keen to help promote social events that create Pride in Dereham. This could cover a wide range of events such as a Festival, Town Quiz or local based musical shows. The present committee recognises the need for a flexible less formal approach to developing new ideas to create Pride in Dereham and so invites people to attend as the format and direction will be determined by those who wish to become involved.

The Society was formed as an organisation for people to come together and work to improve Dereham in whichever area the group chooses to work in. This remains the key objective today and the Society is open to all parties who wish to improve Dereham.

The intention is to form a Working Party at the end of the Meeting to look at how best Dereham Society can move forward to achieve the aim of providing a vehicle to promote pride in Dereham. This Working Party is to inform the Society’s membership, within 4-6 weeks, what the focus of the society for the next year will be.

Report on 2015 AGM

The EDP/Dereham Times has published a report on-line about last night's Dereham Society AGM, where we had lively discussions about the Society's future.
The report can be read at; http://www.derehamtimes.co.uk/news/future_looks_bright_for_dereham_society_1_3972658
Some attending the meeting were very vocal that the Dereham Society should be using modern social media like Facebook to advertise and promote our work, and there are now discussions about the Dereham Society on the "Dereham Community Notice Board" Facebook Group.
A follow-up meeting when we will need to elect new committee members, including a Chairman, Treasurer, and Secretary, will now be held at 7:30pm, on Thursday 26th March, at Dereham Library.

2015 AGM

The Dereham Society's 2015 AGM will be held on Thursday 26th February, 7:30pm, at Dereham library.

As has been reported in the Dereham Times newspaper of 5th February 2015, the current committee is proposing the dissolution of the society, unless there is significant new interest in membership, and in new people joining the committee.

The Executive Committee has been operating on a 'holding position' for the last two years. Membership has continued to fall and no new members have joined the Committee. Reluctantly we feel that the AGM must consider the dissolution of the society.

From the Constitution;
15. Winding Up.

• The Society may be dissolved by a two-thirds majority of members voting at the Annual General Meeting or Special General Meeting of the society confirmed by simple majority of members voting at a further Special General Meeting held not less than 14 days after the previous Meeting. If a motion for the dissolution of the Society is to be proposed at an Annual General Meeting or Special general Meeting this motion shall be referred to specifically when notice of the Meeting is given. In the event of the dissolution of the Society the available funds of the Society shall be transferred to such one or more charitable institutions having objects similar or reasonably similar to the herein before declared as shall be chosen by the Executive Committee and approved by the Meeting of the Society is confirmed. On dissolution the minute books and other records of the Society shall be deposited with the Civic Trust.

The committee requires the following posts;

• Chairman, 
• Vice Chairman, 
• Secretary, 
• Treasurer, 
• Plus 6 Committee members.

At the AGM, the present committee will set out a schedule to close down the Society and arrange for the funds to be dispersed to an agreed charity or similar organisation. The Society has been looking after funds previously raised by the Neatherd Moor Preservation Society and similar arrangements will have to be made for the disposal of the money held for  the Moor's Society.

Dereham Society was created to help raise the profile of the Town by preserving and protecting aspects of the Town such as buildings and green spaces. There is still an urgent need for an independent voice to safeguard Green Spaces from future housing development and other types of encroachment as pressure is exerted by central government for land to be freed up. The success of the Mattishall Matters action group shows how effective local action can be, can this be replicated in Dereham when needed in areas presently not earmarked for development ?

The demise of the Town Centre where shops seem to close almost weekly, combined with uncertain developments in Norwich street raise big question marks over what the centre will look like in the future. This is an issue across many Market Towns but if Dereham Town Centre is to thrive it needs a vision for the future which should involve an active dialogue with residents to determine what they want from the centre. The Society could provide a forum for views to be discussed and plans put forward, however the present lack of support for the Society in its present format suggests changes are needed or that people are not too concerned by these developments.

If you want to become involved and contribute to how Dereham develops in the future please attend the AGM.

Contact; Philip Morton; tel. 01362 696758; e-mail, philbrig333 @ googlemail.com