Village Halls Week this year is on 17 – 23 March and will focus on celebrating, encouraging and supporting the army of volunteers who run rural community buildings.
The charity, Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE) which spearheads Village Halls Week hopes to use the campaign as an opportunity to spotlight the efforts of volunteers who keep these important venues open for the benefit of local residents, groups, and rural businesses.
In England alone, it is estimated that over 80,000 people regularly volunteer their time with village halls, from those on management committees who oversee the day-to-day use of the building and its finances, to those who organise events and group activities for the benefit of the local community.
ACRE’s Village Halls Manager, Deborah Clarke said, “Village Halls Week has come a long way since we first trialled it as a way of raising an awareness of rural community buildings in 2018. Our last campaign which focused on what halls could do to ‘go green’ was a hit and resulted in a real buzz of activity on social media, over 200 local events, and a good deal of media coverage. We hope even more groups will want to get involved in 2025 as this will be an opportunity to celebrate, encourage and support the people who volunteer their time and make these community buildings such special places.”
How are you celebrating your community building and the volunteers who make it thrive?
Now’s the time to think about putting a spotlight on the people who make village halls the beating heart of the community. From event organisers, to washer uppers, gardeners, accountants, delivery drivers and cake-bakers there’s no end to the spectrum of tasks volunteers become involved with. Without this army of helpers, community buildings would not be the glowing successes they are today.
Action Hampshire supports community buildings with free newsletter bulletins, networking opportunities as well as guidance and information covering a range of issues including:
- Funding
- Insurance
- Safeguarding
- Health and safety
- Marketing
Our regular newsletter, News You Can Use will keep you up to date with community building and other VCSE news.
You can sign up to our newsletter here
Follow this link to contact the Community Buildings team
If you haven’t already registered for Village Halls Week…
On ACRE’s website you can register your interest, find out more, and download resources to use in your advertising. Follow this link to ACRE’s website
