NEWS & EVENTS

Lots of interesting things go on at The Bircham Centre.  On this page, you can read the latest Bircham Centre Trustees' Minutes and find out who won the 200 Club Draw this month.  

Bircham Business

AGM News

Links & Things

The Bircham Centre celebrates its centenery in a big way

The Bircham Centre has been the hub of community life in Reepham since Samuel Bircham gave it to the town 100 years ago. The building now hosts a wide variety of social activities and voluntary services.

During 2019 the centre celebrated its centenary year by holding a number of events, all of which were made possible by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Community Fund.

The year started in June with a Book Day to celebrate the original purpose of the centre, given by Samuel Bircham to the resident of Reepham as a reading room. The day included a book fayre, book valuer, archive exhibition and story telling for children.

Later that month, the library held The Great Get Together. A community event along with activities for children.

On 27 July the Reepham Women’s Institute celebrated Norfolk Day and the Reepham Bowls Club held a fun day.

On Saturday 3 August 2019, was the main event The Centenary Garden Party. The weather was just perfect, and the garden looked wonderful. The 130 guests enjoyed an afternoon of music, friendship and tucked into refreshments provided by the Reepham WI and the Country Market ladies.

The centenary year was round up with the Birthday Bash at the King’s Arms featuring the Bircham Banger, which had been created to celebrate the centenary by Robertson Family butcher.#

During the year, the trustees launched a centenary fund in order to raise the necessary funds to ensure that the building is kept in good order for the benefit of future generations.

THE BIRCHAM CENTRE

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

This year, The Bircham Centre's AGM took place on 7th September 2020 after a very strange year.  We welcomed three members of the public and all socially distanced upstairs in Room 8.

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The first task of the evening was to thank Brenda for her excellent stint as chair, and to welcome Les West in as new Chair.

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In the meeting we: 

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• Gave an update of the Centre functioning within the Covid restrictions

• Heard reports from the Chair, Archives and Shop

• Outlined repair and remodelling works that were to take place in the latter half of 2020 and 2021

• We reviewed the wonderful Centenery year and the excellent events that The Bircham Centre enjoyed with the people of Reepham.

Please read the AGM minutes and see the audited accounts to the right.

Grants

The Bircham Centre is pleased to announce that the Norfolk County Council’s Record Office has been awarded a grant by The National Lottery Heritage Fund of up to £217,400 to support a new three-year project entitled, Community Archives: Skills, Support and Sustainability. As the name suggests, the project will provide communities with the skills and support they need to create sustainable community archives.

Made possible by money raised by National Lottery players, the grant will be used to recruit two community archivists to work across Norfolk. They will work with community groups across the county to train people in archive skills, such as cataloguing their collections, digitization and recording oral history interviews. This will mean people now and, in the future, can locate and consult historically important resources.

The Reepham Archive based at the Bircham Centre is one of the 30 named partners in this project. 

Below you can link through to various items of interest, connected to The Bircham Centre.

AGM Meeting Minutes.

BIRCHAM BUILDING WORKS

2020 is the year for some radical changes to The Bircham Centre in terms of building and repairs.  The following have either been completed, are underway or are in planning:

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• Pudding Pie Alley Wall is now completely repaired and safe, including repointing and rebuilding.  The wall contains the Bircham Centre vegetable garden and is an original structure and integral part of Pudding Pie Alley.

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• Bircham Centre Reading Room.  This is the major piece of work being undertaken in 2020 and will make a significant difference to the downstairs space of the Centre.  Originally, the Bircham Centre was gifted to the town as a reading room, and with this legacy in mind, the Trustees have repurposed the old kitchem to a Reading Room, using the fact that the floor needed replacing as a perfect excuse to complete the transformation.  Late in 2020 the Reading Room will open, complete with shelving for all the books for sale, some comfy chairs and space for you to sit and read and enjoy the Centre as Samuel Bircham himself intended.

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•  The Kitchen will be a small galley space beyond the door, for making drinks and snacks, and fitted out with clean, new units and facilities

Links