Gissing’s Community Building is the fruit of a long campaign by the village charity – the Heart of Gissing - to improve and extend facilities for the local area’s groups and events and to further encourage community cohesion.

 A wide range of clubs and activities meet here, ranging from the physically challenging to the mentally demanding and the socially exhilarating.  But there is room for more!  If you are interested in starting up a new group, running a class or have an exciting project, please contact theheartofgissing@gmail.com, or leave a message www.facebook.com/Gissing-Village-Life.

Below is a list of the current community groups, the times they meet and a contact number if you would like to come along or have more details.

Community Led Groups

 Gissing Singers 

The Gissing Singers meet at this beautiful location on Monday evenings. We're a small, friendly a cappella choir, drawing our members from all around South Norfolk. We sing a wide variety of musical styles from different periods and cultures, and perform around Norfolk and Suffolk several times a year. For more information please see our website  www.gissingsingers.co.uk

Reading Group

Gissing’s Reading Group meets every second Monday in the month in the Community Building from 7.30 – 8.30pm.  The book that was chosen for the previous month is discussed, suggestions for future reading are made and any other topic of literary interest that might crop up.  New members and new ideas for reading welcomed.

 Gissing Crafters Cafe

 The Gissing Craft Cafe meets on the 2nd Tuesday of each month. We are a friendly group who enjoy a wide variety of crafts. We complete a different project each month and have enjoyed creative stitching, felting, printing/dyeing, crotchet, jewelry making, card crafts and knitting to name a few of the techniques that we have tried.

Our meetings are generally led by talented members but at least once a year we have a professional workshop led by a local designer maker. These workshops have included lino printing, jewlry making, creative textiles, basketry and natural dyeing. We try to have an outing in the summer and have visited exhibitions and pottery painting workshops.

There is no membership fee but a £4 charge each visit includes our hall hire fee, fresh coffee and cake (often homemade) and some materials. If we use expensive materials we may need to make a small extra charge.

In December we complete a seasonal project followed by a calendar planning session and a shared lunch

Our membership has steadily grown and we have members that travel some distance to join us. If you enjoy crafting do come along to see us. An email beforehand will ensure we have not changed our time or venue which occasionally happens with visits.

Contact

annereynolds29@hotmail.com for further details.

HoG Bee Group

A small group of bee enthusiasts for anyone interested in bees and bee keeping, comprising experienced bee keepers and beginners and those who want to know more.

We meet  at 3.00 pm on the second Wednesday of every month, and between March and October 2019 on the last Tuesday of the month. Meetings are held in  the Gissing Community Building and we also hold some field meetings.
The club have an apiary.

Table Tennis Club

The table tennis club comprises a group of enthusiasts of all abilities and ages. It is a fun and sociable session of 2 hours. There are 3 tables available for play. Plenty of coffee and biscuits at break-times. Contact david.eddington@btinternet.com if you would like to join in.

 Heritage and Habitat Group
The Heritage and Habitat group was originally inspired by Jim Philips, to devise and deliver his proposed ‘Claylands’ Programme as a way to promote ‘ownership’ of local environment and heritage. The group is currently working on a number of threads of interest amonst which  they are working in association with Norfolk Wildlife Trust. It is hoped  to clear some of Mill Green common to allow the species to thrive in a healthier more open environment. NWT is running a 2 year project on commons, ‘Wildlife in
Common’…. To equip community volunteers with new skills to carry out the first comprehensive survey of wildlife and historic features on 60 Norfolk Commons. Celebrate and increase awareness of the unique history of common land, creating pride in local green spaces. Inspire, train and support local communities to take practical action to protect and conserve commons and benefit wildlife and people.
We are also looking to devise a programme for the next 12 months which will include talks related to our Time and Place series, sessions led by members to discuss topics of their own interest. Walks, visits to other sites of interest. The regular group meeting is on the first Tuesday of the month

Gissing Garden Group

The Gissing Garden Group is an organization for people interested in gardens and gardening, landscape and the environment generally. 
The group meets at the Community Centre in Gissing on the 3rd Tuesday of each month, with no meetings held in December and January.
 Speakers, demonstrations, plant and seed swaps are all part of the mix included in programmes, with an annual visit to an open garden or
nursery and a summer bar-b-que. It’s a club for those who appreciate the experience of gardening and the garden … no particular knowledge
or expertise required, just enthusiasm.

Contact: joeatupperstreet@gmail.com