Village Halls set to make pledges for the future
Deborah Clarke, Rural Evidence Manager, ACRE
20th January 2022
Next week will see many of Cumbria’s 330+ rural village and community halls join with the 10,000+ across England, posting pledges on social media as part of a popular national campaign.
Volunteers managing these important charitable community hubs are being encouraged to think outside of the box and consider what can be done to improve their operations for the benefit of local residents.
Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE) which organises Village Halls Week – a one-of-a-kind annual celebration of halls and the contribution they make to rural communities – has published information to help groups get involved, including ‘pledge cards’ that can be downloaded, filled in and shared to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The county’s ACRE Network Member, ACTion with Communities in Cumbria (ACT) is supporting the campaign on social media and will be holding one of their popular online community buildings events on Saturday 29th January.
ACT Development Officer and Lead Village Hall Advisor, Hellen Aitken said “There are so many great village and community halls here in Cumbria and we’re proud to support the volunteers who run them. Our online community buildings event on 29th January will be celebrating their efforts and looking at ideas for how 2022 can be their year to do something different and look to the future.”
Quite often village halls are the only meeting place in villages, offering a smorgasbord of social activities, events, and services – from pilates classes to mother and toddler groups, and farmers markets. At the same time, nationally they support upwards of 50,000 people who are reliant on these spaces for business purposes*.
“’Innovating for the future’ is this year’s campaign theme. As Richard Quallington, Executive Director, at ACRE explains; “Village halls have been making a difference to rural communities for over 100 years. But change is inevitable, and the future is increasingly unpredictable. So, we want to help halls think about how they can respond to this challenge; whether that be extending their offer to residents, taking action on climate change or becoming more financially sustainable.”
Village Halls Week will be launched Monday 24 January at The Victory Room in Bucklebury, West Berkshire, with a headline speech by The Rt Hon Lord Benyon, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and Minister for Rural Affairs – an event that will be livestreamed by ACRE.
The campaign is being supported by a range of different organisations, including the 38 members of the ACRE Network who provide year-round advice and information to hall committees and corporate partners Norris & Fisher (Insurance Brokers) Ltd, Ansvar Insurance and Zurich.