Archive of: Village Halls

England’s rural Village and Community Halls are survivors!

The history of village halls goes back over 100 years. Deborah Clarke, Action with Communities in Rural England’s (ACRE) Rural Evidence and Village Halls Manager considers what the future holds for these important rural community hubs in the wake of Covid-19.

Guidance for reopening village halls which provide pre-school or nursery facilities

ACRE has been working with village halls advisers across England to understand what this means for these halls and how the committees that run them can prepare to safely reopen.

Lifting Covid-19 restrictions in rural areas – some cursory thoughts

Phillip Vincent, ACRE’s Public Relations and Communications Manager, outlines some cursory thoughts on what lifting the Covid-19 restrictions means for rural communities across England.

Census of Rural England’s Village and Community Halls to launch this week.

Following on from a highly successful Village Halls’ Week that involved over 700 village halls, actively engaged 18 MPs and attracted coverage from BBC Countryfile, national Newspapers and resulted in #villagehallsweek trending on Twitter, ACRE will launch a national survey.

Defra and MPs will meet communities awarded funds from the Village Hall Improvement Grant Fund

Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE) runs the annual campaign Village Halls Week which celebrates the community spaces at the heart of rural communities. This year promises to be extra special as the week kick starts in the House of Commons.

Budget delivers good news for village halls

ACRE is delighted with announcement in the Budget yesterday that the government will provide up to £8 million to help with the cost of repairs and alterations to village halls, Miners’ Welfare facilities and Armed Forces organisations’ facilities.

New Partnership with Allied Westminster Insurance Services

Allied Westminster Insurance Services (Allied Westminster) and ACRE are delighted to announce they have reached an agreement in which Allied Westminster will provide significant financial support for ACRE’s England-wide information and advice service for village halls over the next three years.

Delivering services to rural communities (guest post from Zurich Municipal)

Guest blog for #VillageHallsWeek from Zurich Municipal which looks at two village halls in Cumbria.

Start preparing your hall to get online during #VillageHallsWeek (guest post from Plymouth University)

Dr. Katherine Willis from Plymouth University has been at the forefront of a ‘Digital Neighbourhoods’ project and tells us that rural communities can benefit from digital access in their community venue, in order to overcome digital divides and enable local people to participate more actively in society.

Getting to know the National Rural Touring Forum

The National Rural Touring Forum (NRTF) is one of those wonderful under the radar organisations that helps keep rural Britain thriving. Here’s an introduction from their Chair, Tom Speight.