Piano treat at Dereham church

POP into Dereham parish church on Saturday and you can enjoy hours of continuous piano music by a whole host of composers - all played by the same man.

POP into Dereham parish church on Saturday and you can enjoy hours of continuous piano music by a whole host of composers - all played by the same man.

Gordon Barker, from Mattishall, wants to complete more than 50 different pieces by 23 composers over four hours.

His sponsored solo pianothon will raise funds for a very different kind of music - that of the bells of St Nicholas' Church and the project there to add two more bells to the present ring of eight and to turn the landmark tower into a local centre of ringing training.

Gordon has already collected more than �200 and hopes that people will drop into the church from 10.30am to hear him play. You can also obtain sponsorship forms from Dereham's Church Office and in church during the event.

The Dereham band of ringers recently celebrated a boost to its project in the form of a �5,000 pledge from the Norwich Diocesan Association of Ringers, taking the sum raised so far to �17,000. And it has received �500 from the town's Leslie Potter Trust to help equip the proposed centre.