We had a wonderful day last month at our Annual General Meeting & 21st Century Community Halls conference.

It was a pleasure to welcome individuals involved with running Berkshire’s village halls and community buildings from across the county.

On Thursday 25th January 2024 we kicked the day off at Beech Hill Memorial Hall with our 2024 Annual General Meeting. Our CEO Tim gave a brief presentation of our highlights in 2023 and was excited to share the news that we have just secured funding from DEFRA to revitalize our Rural Housing Enabler project. Currently funded until March 2025 look out for more news on this to follow shortly!

Our Chair Sarah Morland stepped down from Chairing our charity for the last three years, though is staying on as a Trustee, and we welcomed current Trustee Mark Nevitt to the role of Chair.

After a brief interval for coffee and pastries, we reconvened to hear more from our newest team member Maria, Project Development Officer, who led a fantastic open spaces discussion on the 21st Century Community Halls and discussed hopes, dreams, and challenges for the next 100 years for our halls.

Once a refuel for lunch had taken place our Community Buildings Advisor Kate introduced speakers from Jem Energy, ARC Thermal Products, and Wokingham Borough Council to talk about solutions for ensuring a low-cost and low-carbon future for our community buildings.

Learners said, “I really enjoyed the informal discussion groups and networking opportunities to share best practices.”

“Lots of variety, great opportunity to speak to others facing similar challenges, and loved the networking.”

Thank you to the speakers who contributed to a raffle we ran along with Bridge Interiors and Sound Reduction Systems. The raffle was won by ….

Thank you also to Adult Community Learning West Berkshire Council and the National Lottery Community Fund for supporting the day.