The Wayland Partnership was established in 1999 to bring together the market town of Watton and its hinterland of 13 parishes to seek funding to help regenerate the Wayland area. Since then the trustees. staff and volunteers have raised over £3 million of public funds to deliver the aims and objects agreed by the Partners following comprehensive community consultation in 1998 and confirmed in more recent consultations.
The Partnership is based at Wayland House, which it was able to secure with European funding as a community asset in 2005. This serves as a hub for the local community where you can access support services such as Breckland Council, as well as start-up office spaces for small businesses, meeting and training rooms, the Tourist Information Centre and the increasingly popular Dragonfly Gallery.
Over the years, the Wayland Partnership has won recognition for its work - from Action for Market Towns, EDP Norfolk, the Countryside Agency, the East of England Development Agency, the Carnegie Trust, the Diocese and Pride in Breckland. In 2011 the Partnership was awarded the Social Enterprise Mark for our work combining enterprise with social benefit.
Jan Godfrey MBE
It is with great sadness that we have to report that Jan, our Chair and the founder of the Wayland Partnership, passed away on 14th July after a period of illness.
Jan was key in driving the Partnership forward over two decades to help regenerate the Wayland area. She worked alongside a team of trustees, staff and volunteers raising more than £3m for a wide range of local projects that brought together the town of Watton with its surrounding villages to promote the economic, social, cultural and environmental well-being of the Wayland area.
Many in Norfolk will remember her as their teacher while at Wayland Secondary Modern, now Wayland Academy, where she spent 35 years as a History, English and Social Studies teacher, before becoming head of English and then acting headteacher.
Jan was so proud of all that the community achieved and with the support of the Partnership she worked tirelessly on behalf of everyone. And the Partnership was not all she was involved in! She was chair of Creative Arts East, she was a Lay Canon and very proud of her connections with the life and work of the cathedral and diocese. She greatly valued the friendship of Bishop Graham James, and especially the support he gave to the Partnership. She was an active part of Wayland Stitching for Pleasure and loved creative work.The Dragonfly Gallery was very much her idea as a way in which all that wonderful local talent could be supported and also as a way of giving local people access to arts without having to travel long distances.
Jan will be sorely missed by those who knew and worked with her but her legacy in the Wayland area will live on.
Her funeral took place on Tuesday 6th August at 2pm in Carbrooke Church.
Susan Hollingworth
It is with great sadness that we have learned about the passing of Susan, a much loved former member of Wayland House staff, on Monday 25th November.
She was a friend to all and supporter of many at difficult times in their lives.
Her love of the Wayland Partnership and the Dragonfly Gallery in particular was boundless and even after moving to Scotland she always kept up to date with exhibitions and happenings here.
She will be sorely missed by all who knew her, but especially her beloved husband Richard, children Suzanne and Andrew and all her family.
Rest in Peace Susan.