This month (April) our Community Buildings Advisor, Kate Meads, attended Action with Communities in Rural England’s (ACRE) 2023 National Village Halls Conference in Leicestershire.

Together the network of English rural community councils employs village hall advisors who provide guidance, support, and advice to the people and volunteers that run England’s 10,000 + rural community buildings.

Kate said, “This annual conference is a key event in my diary as it provides such a unique opportunity for me to meet face-to-face with my counterparts across England.

We all have our own challenges to overcome, depending on which county we hail from but we all have so much in common that binds us together and makes sharing knowledge so key. It was fantastic to bounce ideas, solutions, challenges, and experiences off each other.

It is invaluable to feel part of a connected group working together for a common cause – supporting those crucial volunteers and people that keep our village halls open, safe, and valuable community assets for all to enjoy.”

The buzz and camaraderie at the event were amazing and allowed all 30 ACRE member delegates the opportunity to brush up on their technical knowledge of things like constitution structures and business plans. The focus was also on sharing good practices, learning about each other’s organisations, and identifying successful projects that can be replicated locally for the benefit of halls.

Apart from providing a fantastic networking opportunity Kate’s other highlights included hearing from Antonia Swinson, CEO of the Ethical Property Foundation about the amazing resources they have available to share.

Kate said, “I was interested, but not shocked, to hear that only 10% of Village Halls have a business plan. It is my ambition to arrange to provide training workshops in Autumn 2023 to help Berkshire’s community buildings create and develop plans for the future.”

“I further really enjoyed hearing from our counterparts in Northumberland – Community Action Northumberland – about the network of Warm Hubs they have successfully worked with volunteers to set up. Warm Hubs were created by CAN as places within the local community where people can be assured of finding a safe, warm and friendly environment in which to enjoy refreshments, social activity, information and advice and the company of other people. It was exciting to learn all about their Warm Hub Toolkit which CCB has now registered for. Together with our Project Development Manager, Maria, and the wider CCB team we will be looking to see if we can help form a network with specialised training and support to implement this in part of rural Berkshire – keep an eye out for more and get in touch for an informal chat.”