On Wednesday 29th November, members of the South Hams Village Hall Hub met up for a training session on Village Hall governance. The morning started with tea, coffee and biscuits and a chance to meet up with each other. Peter Lowe, and Pauline Ryder of Modbury Memorial Hall welcomed the group to their hall and provided a quick tour before the training session began. This informal time provided the newly formed group the opportunity to see how other halls are run as well as the chance to ask each other about hall heating arrangements, ideas for funding, events and so on.
The group then settled into the meeting room for the training session which was led by Hannah Reynolds from Devon Communities Together. Hannah gave an introductory presentation covering constitutions and governing documents and the role of trustees. There was then time for questions from hall representatives.
Hannah then talked about the Enterprising Halls course which has been put together for Village Hall trustees/committee members. It will cover many topics from governance and constitutions to ideas for running events and funding available for halls. There are various dates from January to March 2024. Further details here: https://www.devoncommunities.org.uk/courses. To book visit: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/devon-communities-together-9456065331
The South Hams Village Halls Hub group then had chance to discuss the forthcoming Village Halls week in March 2024. The group would like to do something to mark the week and there will be further discussions to put ideas forward. There was also time to discuss involving other halls in the South Hams. One of the group commented that the meetings and training sessions are a great opportunity and it would be good to see more halls represented. The group agreed that all South Hams Halls are very welcome to be part of the hub.
At the end of the session, the feedback was that the group had found it very useful:
‘Thank you this is too good!’
‘…very impressed by the information we gleaned at the meeting.’
The training session implemented the opportunity for people to build connections with other volunteers from different halls, it was also useful to visit a neighbouring hall, and provided the chance to catch up on other business such as planning for Village Halls week.
If halls near you would like to form a hub or host a training session, then please do get in touch with Devon Communities Together (https://www.devoncommunities.org.uk/services/community-buildings ). We can provide advice on a variety of topics relating to Village Halls and Community Buildings and are happy to visit groups.
Halls attending the Modbury training session were: East Portlemouth, Kingston, Modbury, Sherford, Slapton, South Pool, and Stokenham. Apologies received from: Berry Pomeroy, Bridgetown, Dartington, Dittisham, Frogmore, Roborough, Yealmpton.
Image credit: Modbury Memorial Hall