Tag: Community

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On the ‘Trail’ with Harleston and Waveney artists

Harleston and Waveney Art Trail sponsored by Durrants

The picturesque countryside of East Anglia has been the inspiration of many a great artist over the years with its abundance of wildlife, diversity of landscape and huge skies. This summer and autumn Durrants are doing their bit to celebrate some of Norfolk and Suffolk’s talented professional artists and bring it to the fore as lead sponsor of Harleston and Waveney Art Trail.

Harleston and Waveney Art Trail is a diverse and lively community of professional artists who live and work in the beautiful Waveney Valley. The collective put on their first ‘open studios’ trail in 2005 and due to its success have run one every year since, apart from 2020 due to the pandemic.

The 2021 Harleston and Waveney Art Trail will be accompanied by a group exhibition at The Old Harnessmakers Gallery in Harleston. The ‘Meet the Makers’ exhibition will showcase the work of the 11 participating artists and craft makers, acting as a hub for visitors to get a taste of the work on offer throughout the open studios. At the exhibition, audiences will get to see a selection of the artists’ work and can start planning their studio visits with help from gallery owner Lisa Henshall.

The studios will be open over the weekends of 19th and 20th June and 26th and 27th June while the gallery will host the exhibition between 27th May and 3rd July.

The event hopes to encourage visitors to explore the art and landscapes of Harleston and Waveney. Harleston and Waveney Art Trail chairman Malcolm Cudmore said: “I’m beyond delighted that Harleston and Waveney Art Trail is back in action in 2021. As a group, our principal purpose is to welcome visitors to our studios each year – the very thing (for completely understandable reasons) we’ve been unable to do for the last year.”

Dominic Parravani, Managing Director for Durrants is delighted to be supporting the Trail in 2021, having been associated with Harleston and Waveney Art Trail for over three years. “Events like these showcase our region and the talent within it beautifully. Communities are brought together by the Trail, and as an organisation with long established roots in Norfolk and Suffolk, being part of our local community is something we at Durrants are very proud of.”

The eleven artists participating in the Summer Art Trail are Carolyn Moulton, Sara Johnson, Barbara Bernard, Paul Zawadzki, Liz Taunt, Bobbie Watchorn, Rachel Wiles, Ingrid Duffy, Nell Close, Lisa Henshall, Kath Wallace. The artist’s studios are dotted around the valley, in and between Harleston, Wortwell, Homersfield, Denton, Earsham, Ditchingham, Bungay and Hedenham.

Later in the year, an Autumn Trail will take place, with every member of Harleston and Waveney Art Trail – around two dozen artists taking part. This trail will take place over the first three weekends of September – 4th/5th, 11th/12th and 18th/19th.

If you’d like more information about Harleston and Waveney Art Trail visit their website here.

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No Ordinary Joe, No Ordinary Kennedy

No ordinary Joe, No ordinary Kennedy

INK has commissioned playwright, Martyn Wade to tell the dramatic and tragic story of Joe Kennedy Jnr, the elder brother of JFK, who as a young man seemed destined to become President of the United States – until, that is, the Second World War intervened.

No Ordinary Joe, No Ordinary Kennedy examines Joe’s complex character, and traces events which led Joe to volunteering for a top-secret and highly dangerous mission, in which he was required to fly a Liberator plane packed with explosives and bail out before it crossed the Channel. Tragically his plane exploded over Blythburgh, Suffolk killing him and his co-pilot, Lt. Wilford John Willy (Bud). This play is to honour them both and all those who flew and lost their lives during WW2.

Thanks to National Lottery Heritage Fund and a grant from Durrants Charitable Foundation, the project will also gather and record local WW2 stories which will be then be presented and stored at The Halesworth Museum and an exhibition displaying parts of the crashed plane curated for the first time from different sources.

“We’re delighted to support this project.”  commented Dominic Parravani, Managing Director of Durrants. “It brings to life a fascinating wartime story that happened right on our doorstep, and the telling of that story will bring together the local community and provide fascinating insight for generations to come.”

Fiona Darrington of INK’s Community Project said, “We are thrilled, delighted and incredibly grateful to the Durrants Charitable Foundation for awarding INK funding for our heritage project – No Ordinary Joe, No Ordinary Kennedy. Your generous donation of £1,500 will make a significant contribution to our work and greatly benefit The Halesworth and Community Museum and the wider Suffolk community.”

Originally planned last year to tour Suffolk airfields No Ordinary Joe, No Ordinary Kennedy will now be performed as an audio drama and will be released from 8th April (the planned start date for INK Festival 2021) at www.inkfestival.org – an optional small donation will be suggested to help raise funds for INK and The Halesworth Museum.

 

 

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Durrants volunteers making a real difference in the community

The Durrants Team volunteering in the community

Playing a part in the local community in which we do business is something very close to our hearts here at Durrants and we’re very proud to have some real local heroes in our team. Read on to find out more about just three of our team who play important roles in their community.

Paula Goldsmith, our Covid hero

Paula Goldsmith is one of our holiday cottages team members, dealing with customer queries and accounts. She has worked for Durrants since 2018 and is also a member of Southwold Town Council and a well-loved member of the local community. An already busy-bee but not happy to let an opportunity to help slip her by, Paula has recently been volunteering two days a week at Sole Bay Health Centre in Reydon to assist the smooth operation of the Covid-19 vaccination programme.

“It’s a really varied role and I’m part of a lovely team. Each shift I could be doing anything from directing traffic and checking-in patients to reassuring people about the vaccination or making sure they’re comfortable and don’t have a ‘wobble’ after having the jab.”

We’re really proud of Paula and her fellow volunteers – keep up the good work!

Leah Smith, making new lives matter

As marketing manager for Durrants Holiday Cottages and a new first-time-mum in 2019, it would be fair to say that Leah has her hands full, but she has also found time to play a huge role for Baby Basics, a community based group who work with midwives, health visitors and other professionals to provide support to families who are unable to provide for their new arrival. Each family is gifted a moses basket full of baby essentials such as toiletries, newborn clothing, blankets, muslin cloths and other essential items.

“After becoming a first time Mum in 2019 I was stunned at how much you need to prepare for your new arrival, and it made me wonder how families in need across the country were able to obtain the basics, let alone higher priced essential items such as prams and car seats.

Part of my role within the organisation is to seek fundraising opportunities. In 2020 we sought a permanent ‘baby bank’ trolley in our local Tesco foodstore, set up regular donations from our local supermarkets and we also run an annual Christmas appeal where we ask members of the public to donate Christmas presents for the families we have supported throughout the year.”

Teresa Walsh, the festive spirit of Halesworth

Having worked for Durrants for 24 years, Teresa really is a part of the furniture – the team simply wouldn’t be the same without her. The same applies for the Christmas celebrations every year in Halesworth. For the last 6 years Teresa has been chair of Halesworth Events Management, or HEM for short, which is a group of volunteers who work tirelessly to organise and fund the Halesworth Christmas Lights.

“Christmas in Halesworth is so magical. Every November we celebrate with a parade including a band and Santa’s sleigh, followed by the big celebrity switch on. After that, there’s live music and dancing in the market place plus Santa’s Grotto at the church. Thousands of people come to the town to enjoy the festive celebrations. It’s an event that is enjoyed by not just the young but also the young at heart as many elderly residents look forward to attending this event every year.”

It’s a year-round job for Teresa, who together with her fellow volunteers, organises quizzes, fashion shows, and other fundraising activities, not to mention the risk assessments and licences that are required to pull such a tremendous event together.

We can’t thank our Durrants volunteers enough for their contribution to the community in which we do business. They really are shining stars. Thank you!

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Durrants announces £20k funding for local charities

Baby Basics and Durrants Charitable Foundation

Leading Norfolk and Suffolk property and consultancy firm Durrants is delighted to announce new funding of £20,000 available for local charities and community projects. Grants of up to £2,000 are available and applications must be submitted by 31st March 2021.

George Durrant & Sons Limited provides a range of agency, professional and consultancy services across the residential, commercial and agricultural property sectors and has played its part in the community since it was established back in 1853. Over the years Durrants has supported many local events and community projects including the work of East Anglian Air Ambulance; YANA, a rural mental health charity and Clinks Care Farm near Beccles, which provides disadvantaged people the opportunities to work and learn a variety of agricultural roles including working with livestock, carpentry, market gardening and more.

The Durrants Charitable Foundation has been set up to formalise the company’s support for local community and charity projects and this year a fund of £20,000 is available with applications for grants of up to £2,000 being accepted until 31st March 2021.

Dominic Parravani, Managing Director for Durrants said, “Being an active part of the community in which we do business is very important to us, and in these unprecedented times, it is more important than ever to show our support.

The Foundation aims to support projects in the areas of Beccles, Diss, Halesworth, Harleston and Southwold, where we have offices. Perhaps a local school needs devices for remote learning, a sports club needs new equipment, or a new community event needs financial support getting off the ground. These are all examples we would consider supporting through the Foundation.”

A recent beneficiary of Durrants funding is Baby Basics, a Lowestoft based organisation that works with midwives, health visitors and other professionals to provide moses baskets and starter kits to vulnerable families in Lowestoft and the surrounding area. Leah Smith, Durrants employee and volunteer for Baby Basics commented, “We are delighted to have received the support of Durrants. This will make such a big difference to many vulnerable families in the area.”

Full details of how to apply for funding and terms and conditions are available here.

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Announcing our latest sponsorship (if a little late)

durrants sponsors southwold womens XV

After last weekend’s exciting climax of the Autumn Nations Cup and the recent Government guidance that relaxes Covid restrictions on outdoor contact sports which will allow rugby to return to Southwold Common, we thought now was a good time to make a little announcement.

Having been a supporter of Southwold Rugby for several years, Durrants is proud to sponsor the Southwold Women’s XV.  The deal was sealed several months ago but as with so many things this year, the pandemic put a stop to the game.

The buzz and excitement of rugby has been sorely missed in the town over recent months, but all being well we expect to see contact fixtures return to Southwold Common from 18th December.  We wish the Southwold Women’s XV and all the other Club members the very best with their return to the game.

You can find out more about Southwold Rugby Club and their return to play here.

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Join us for a virtual drinks reception

norfolk show

Durrants and MHA Larking Gowen are celebrating what would have been the first day of the Royal Norfolk Show next Wednesday 1st July by holding a virtual drinks reception between 4pm and 5pm.

Join us and guest speakers Cath Crowther, Regional Director of CLA East, and the Chief Executive of the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association, Greg Smith, for a discussion on rural issues. 

This is an invitation only event and numbers are limited, if you are interested please click here to book your place.

We look forward to seeing you (virtually) next week.

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Jacqui Hicks and The Chris Ingham Trio at Southwold Jazz Club

Jacqui Hicks and The Chris Ingham Trio at Southwold Jazz Club

Durrants are pleased to support Southwold Jazz Club again for a great night of music at Southwold Arts Centre on Friday 6th March at 7.30pm, where Jacqui Hicks and The Chris Ingham Trio will be performing. It’s sure to be an evening not to be missed! 

Tickets are £16 and are on sale from the Southwold Arts Centre Box Office, on the door or by visiting the Ticketsource website. 

The Southwold Jazz Club holds a concert every month featuring some of the UK’s finest musicians.  Durrants are proud to support the club’s activities as part of our commitment to sponsor enterprising community groups, sports teams and events.