Latest News| For previous years News |
| April | Rushmere
Cottage Banham's own 1940s smallholding is open to the public
again this summer, on Saturday 31 May and Sunday 1 June.
Rushmere Cottage is a unique time capsule with everything
as it was 60 years ago. The Land Girls will be hard at work,
as will the vintage tractors, the Home Guard will be looking
for new volunteers, and you can see how life was lived in
a 1940s cottage with rationing, salvage and make-do-and-
mend. Teas from the WVS, and new this year, a beer tent with
locally brewed beer and cider. The event is open from 11am
to 4pm on both Saturday and Sunday, admission is £3
for adults and £1.50
for children. Rushmere
Cottage is on Banham Fen, half a mile from Banham Zoo – look
out for signs on the "Banham Bypass". |
| January | A Brief Rest After a very hectic run up to Christmas the organisers of yearly events at St. Mary’s Diss are having a Brief Rest. There is a great Programme of a wide variety of events for 2008 being planned which will give the people of Diss plenty too see and do from spring time onwards. Keep a look out as you pass by this large church building at the two notice boards which speak to the passer by in a big colourful way. Because the first two months of the New Year are quiet that does not mean St. Mary’s shuts its doors during the week. You can go into the church for a good look round or for a quiet reflection every day during day light hours and on leaving you will get the scene that St. Mary’s will burst into life from Easter onwards which comes early this Year. Enjoy everything we have to offer both residents and visitors when the time arrives. Gerry Hoskings Publicity Officer |
| January | The retirement of Diss High
Headmaster- An Honorary Citizen of Diss Headmaster, Stuart Ballantyne, will be retiring from his post as Head of Diss High School at the end of this term. Mr Ballantyne has been in charge of the school since 1990, having worked previously in schools in Yorkshire and Hampshire. He will be 60 in January. Under his leadership, the school has grown to over 1200 pupils with one of the largest Sixth Forms in the County. Annual league tables both GCSE and A levels, regularly identify Diss as one of the top performing schools in Norfolk. Mr Ballantyne lists as one of his proudest moments the recognition of the school as ‘outstanding’ in the Ofsted Honours list of 2005 and he paid tribute to a ‘fantastically’ dedicated and hardworking staff, with great support from pupil’s, parents and governors. Never one to avoid controversy, Mr Ballantyne said that he sometimes despaired of some of the nonsense talked about education, particularly by government ministers. ‘There does seem to be some very sloppy thinking about what schools are for and how they ought to be organised: it is vital that children are sent out into the world with decent body of knowledge, as well as various skills they need. I think that far too much is made of the role of computers, which are a useful tool but will never replace an enthusiastic and inspirational teacher’. After completing his first retirement challenge of cycling from Lands End to John O’Groats, Mr Ballantyne will begin study for a higher degree in English literature. “I still get tremendously enthused by learning and can’t wait to get stuck in”.Diss Town council have recognised Mr Ballantyne time as Head of the High school by conferring upon him the status of Honorary Citizen of Diss. |
| January | Her majesty’s
band of the royal marines school of music to visit diss |
| January | Inner
Wheel Club of Diss |
The
Diss based South Norfolk Youth Symphonic Band is once again
welcoming members of the training band from Her Majesty’s
Royal Marines School of Music into the rural depths of
Norfolk. This ‘coming together’ is unique nationally
and is a coup for the South Norfolk Youth Symphonic Band
and the town of Diss.