The ACT Blog: Celebrating Village Halls
12th March 2024
ACT has been supporting Cumbrian communities for over 75 years and one constant throughout that time has been our support for village and community halls. With the seventh annual national Village Halls Week celebration next week, ACT’s Lead Village Hall Advisor, Hellen Aitken, reflects on the importance of these often-understated community buildings.
They come in many shapes and sizes and go by various names; Memorial Hall, Parish Room, Public Hall, Institute, Community Hall, or most commonly, Village Hall. For over a century these freely accessible spaces, not tied to any business, religion, or cultural group, enable us to come together: to talk, to dance, to learn, to play, to debate, and to develop ideas and friendships.
Village halls are at the heart of our communities and are more than a building, they are a rural way of life. These multi-functional spaces are the venue for a huge range of activities, events, groups and services for everyone in the community, from Baby Yoga to the Over 60’s Lunch Club. Many have been used as Warm Spaces and as a place of refuge during extreme weather events.
There are over 10,000 village halls in England and Wales and over 330 in Cumbria alone. Research by ACRE in 2020 found that in 60% of villages, village halls are the only place for people to meet, acting as an important tool for tackling social isolation. The lifeline that the different activities create for the vulnerable, lonely and isolated, as well as the community spirt generated through regularly meeting up to participate in your favourite activity, cannot be underestimated.
Village halls also make a significant contribution to the economy, with an estimated 50,000 people earning a living connected to their use, from Pilates and Yoga teachers, to people running dog training classes.
Private parties and events provide commercial opportunities for local businesses and one in ten halls are home to community businesses – enterprises which are owned and run by local people for community benefit, such as shops, cafes and post offices. Local tradespeople are often used for maintenance and improvement work, contributing well over £46 million to the UK economy.
But these buildings don’t run themselves and it is only through the commitment, passion and enthusiasm of amazing village hall volunteers, that we are able to see the multiple social and economic benefits they bring.
Many hall committees are developing plans and delivering projects to improve their buildings, making them more accessible, comfortable, energy efficient and financially sustainable, to better serve their communities both today and in the future.
But we know it can sometimes also be a challenge simply to keep the charity functioning and the hall open – dealing with changing legislation, increased energy costs, finding new volunteers etc.
ACT’s Community Buildings Service provides vital information, advice and support to help village hall committees in their role. Our experienced staff also have access to a wealth of knowledge and national network of village hall advisors, as part of the ACRE Network.
We provide one to one support, events, networking, regular updates and access to specialist national guidance across a wide range of subjects, including: governance, policies and procedures; charity requirements; trustee roles and responsibilities; finance, fundraising and grants; building improvements; energy efficiency; accessibility; fire safety; safeguarding; food safety; car parks – the list goes on!
The theme of this year’s national Village Halls Week is how halls can make a positive impact on the environment and ‘Go Green’ – an important subject for us all and one many hall committees are already acting on. But each year the week is also a celebration of village halls and a big collective “thank you” to all hall volunteers, without whom we wouldn’t have these wonderful community facilities.
ACT is proud of the strong relationship we have with the many volunteers running Cumbria’s village halls; we’re committed to continue to support them and champion the vital role village halls have in our communities.
Click here for more information about ACT’s Community Buildings Service
Click here for details of Village Halls Week 2024