We are happy to report that Beech Hill Memorial Hall (BHMH) has recently successfully installed Super-Fast Fibre to its building.

On a recent visit to the hall Kate Meads, Community Buildings Advisor at CCB said; “I was delighted to hear that after much effort on the part of the BHMH Trustees, full fibre broadband has now been installed by Gigaclear. The Trustees are thrilled by the new speeds and hopeful it will attract new hirers and offer the possibility of developing a community hub to support residents with access to digital technologies in the future”

“CCB is looking closely at how Village Halls might become Digital Hubs in some rural locations where broadband connections are poor and where many people are digitally excluded. Digital inclusion in rural communities is one of our key strategic aims.”

Beech Hill Memorial Hall Hon. Treasurer Fleur Howles said: “The Memorial Hall at Beech Hill recently completed the installation of full fibre broadband by Gigaclear, the rural fibre network specialists.  With help from CCB’s Community Buildings Advice Service and a fair amount of pestering from the Trustees, Gigaclear eventually designated the hall as a community hub, meaning our broadband will operate at super-fast speeds for at least the next year at no charge.

This is great news for the hall, as we can now offer services to hirers and locals who would like to use the hall for a variety of activities, such as remote working, online classes, and streamed entertainment such as films and video presentations.    

Previously our speeds were between 8 and 12 Mb/s, and in a trial in December 2021 it was found that with two people working remotely in the hall, only one person could access Microsoft teams at a time, making remote working impossible for groups.  

We are very pleased with the results and hope to put this new capability to good use as more and more services move online.”

We know this will be a great asset to the local community and if you’re interested in learning more about the memorial hall and how you can book it for your local business or event please click here to take a look: https://www.bhmh.org.uk/

Volunteer Centre West Berkshire is organising an online training session on 16^th March about HR fundamentals for charities.

Charities are employers and so are subject to the same laws as everyone else. But charities can also be different from regular employers in that money is generally tighter, there can be volunteer workers and often there is no HR professional on board.

OUTCOMES

The training is designed to point you to the really important HR stuff you need as a charity – staff training and a knowledge of the rights of employees and volunteers, including employment contracts and handbooks and HR systems.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

Charities who feel they would benefit from a better understanding of their organisation’s management system. Existing charities and new charities who need a refresher session.

ABOUT THE TRAINER

Simon Fenton, is Fenton Elliott solicitors’ founder and Managing Partner. He has degrees in Law from Cardiff University, Management Science from Aston University Business School and a post-graduate qualification from De Montfort University. He qualified as a solicitor with a leading London City firm in 1993.

You will be sent a Zoom link after booking.

To book (contribution £12), visit https://voluntarysectortrainingalliance.org.uk/home/about/

Volunteer Centre West Berkshire

Charitable Incorporated Organisation No 1156302

Broadway House

4-8 The Broadway

Northbrook Street

Newbury RG14 1BA

01635 49004

http://www.volunteerwestberks.org.uk/

Ciizens Advice has recently published their Gaps in the Network report on the impact of rising numbers of outreaches and temporary closures on post office access.

The post office network continues to provide vital access to essential face-to-face services at a time when many other providers are deserting the high street and moving to online only.

Their latest research shows

• Nearly 1 in 5 (18%) people visit a post office every week, while nearly half (45%) visit at least once a month
• But across Britain almost 1,300 post offices are temporarily closed
• 1 in 3 rural post offices are now part-time outreach services, open for an average of only 5.5 hours a week
• The report confirms that increasing temporary post office closures and part-time outreaches make it significantly harder for people and small businesses to access services.

When post offices close people are forced to take on the additional costs and inconvenience of travelling further – something that can be particularly challenging in rural areas and for those who face barriers to travelling long distances.

And although for some people outreaches may be better than nothing, many find the service inadequate. Provision is too infrequent, opening hours inconvenient, queues too long, and vital services missing.

Urgent action is needed to reverse this trend to ensure that the post office network really is convenient and easily accessible to everyone. Citizens Advice will continue to work with stakeholders to develop workable solutions and push for their implementation.

Click on link to view a really good video highlighting the current struggle some rural communities are experincing when their post office closes: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I0b9BwVJyPUlUpi2GHB9XgQreee_7Twi/view