The Friends of Diss Corn Hall will celebrate a year in charge of the community building with a diverse programme of music, art, dance, movies and comedy to begin 2011.

Officials at the venue are promising a mix of entertainment that will 'blast those winter doldrums away' for its January to March schedule.

The season will kick off with a performance from two of Britain's best bluesmen with a gig from Paul Jones and Dave Kelly, stars of The Blues Band, on Friday, January 7.

The Mere Players will be presenting their annual pantomime from January 19 to 22 with a performance of Santa and the Vikings – a tale of war, pillage, and raucous innuendo.

For fans of world music, the Diss Corn Hall will welcome Congolese dance band, the Zong Zing Allstars, for a performance on January 29.

And in February, the venue will be starting its search for the area's best unsigned bands with the first heat of Band DISScovery on Friday, February 18. The grand final will take place in April.

In March, the Stables gallery will host an exhibition of rare photographs of The Beatles, followed by a screening of the acclaimed John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy on March 3.

Corn Hall manager Angela Sykes said the venue was beginning to establish itself as a cultural hub for Diss and the Waveney Valley.

'We have been building the audiences and we are building quite a lot of good relationships with different companies and organisations. We have a lot of good things booked for 2011 and we are attracting quite a lot of promoters who want to hire the hall and bring names to the Corn Hall that will put it on the map again,' she said.

The hall will also host a movie night every Thursday and the Red Card Comedy Club will also be returning on the last Friday of every month.

Contact the box office on 01379 652241 or visit www.disscornhall.co.uk.