Gaze’s the auctioneers and estate agents are celebrating their 150^th anniversary this year. As they have been such a part of Diss life, they are commemorated in our main display for the new season.

  When the family first came to the area they became tenants of Frenze Hall. Someone came into the museum one day and told me that the University of Nottingham library had some medieval Latin deeds from Frenze. I was able to get photographs of these and get them translated at the Record Office. So a display of Gaze’s and Frenze began to take shape.

  There is a lot of local interest in Betts’ railway, built in Victorian times to take produce to Diss station and bring back manure from the many London horses. So Graham Elliot of the Diss & District Model Railway Society has been re-constructing part of the layout.

  We have several Betts bricks in the display. More of them came to light recently when a falling tree demolished a wall in the town and there was the Betts name on the bottom of each brick.

  Few people know that American statesman Benjamin Franklin’s ancestors came from Frenze. His great-grandmother was born there in the 1500s..

  Gaze’s not only took over Frenze Hall on the death of William Betts but also ran the auction of his estate, everything from his cutlery to his horses and railway locomotives.

  Ivan ‘Johnny’ Pitchers, who worked for many years on the farm, has lent the contents of his photograph album showing life on the land in living memory.

  The display contains text from John Nice’s book A Printer’s Pie. He grew up at Frenze and Scole and wrote vivid descriptions of rural life in the late 19^th century.

  Gaze’s have been very helpful, providing pictures, sale bills, auction posters and other memorabilia. As a trustee of the Cleer Alger photographic collection I was delighted to be loaned something of his. Alger senior took a self-portrait about 1860, the very early days of photography. As he was also a surveyor he is standing with his theodolite and tripod, which Gaze’s still have.

  The display called DissBorn, created by people in the community featuring their own life and work, will be unveiled. We also have a section on Roman finds in the area and about the history of Diss Common. Anyone driving along Victoria Road would hardly believe that part of the town has so many tales to tell.