On Friday 18th November we held our 2022 AGM at Sulhamstead & Ufton Nervet Village Hall. Thank you to everyone that came – it was great to meet you all.

At the event we also officially launched Rural Hubs – 21st Century Village Halls. This project will enable community buildings to become more attractive, comfortable, and sustainable venues so that they can be enjoyed by all for the next 100 years.

This 5-year project, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund and The Prince’s Countryside Fund (Year 1), will support the transformation of village halls in Berkshire and help the volunteers who run these essential facilities to realise their ambitions.

At the event our Chair Sarah Morland officially presented a cheque from the National Lottery Community Fund to fund the project for five years.

She said, “It is a pleasure to see you all face to face again after two years of online AGMs. The scope of this project was dictated by our interaction with Village Hall trustees and their needs. A successful outcome of this project is to ensure halls are able to offer more activities, reach more people in their community and reduce loneliness and isolation.”

Tim Parry, CCB Chief Executive says “Supporting village halls has been at the heart of our work since the charity was formed nearly 50 years. I’m very excited to be officially launching this project and know that people in rural communities in Berkshire will have access to improved community halls that are warmer, more welcoming, inclusive, and vibrant because of it. I would also like to recognise the additional funding contributions from The Chiltern Estate, Englefield Charitable Trust & Peter Samuels Charitable Trust who enabled us to scope and develop this project to deliver it effectively this autumn.”

Kate Meads, CCB’s Community Buildings Advisor added; “This project will enable us to help village halls trustees to identify where they need to make changes to improve their venues, like being able to offer free Wi-Fi, upgrade insulation and heating systems, thinking about accessibility issues, etc. My role is to support hall volunteers to prioritise the changes they want to make, support them to implement these plans and help them access funding for their upgrades.”