How do I use the menu  To use the menu simply hover over the section you require and click to launch the page.

How do I use the news feeds To use the News Feed Section simply click on an article of your choice and it will load in a new page.

Community Council for Somerset Logo


A   A  A 

How do I use the text resizing To use the accessibilty text resize control simply click one of the three As to resize the text to the appropriate size. Alternatively you can resize the text using your browsers own controls by holding ctrl and scrolling the mouse wheel or pressing the arrow keys.

Village and Community Halls

 

There are over 300 village halls in Somerset of which the majority are subscribing members to the Community Council. Some are old stone barns, pre-war wooden buildings, converted Victorian schools, while others are purpose-built community buildings erected in the past 25 years. Almost without exception the halls are charities run by volunteers, who are the charity trustees, from the community the hall serves. They provide a valuable venue for a vast variety of activities; from preschool, after school clubs, keep fit classes, lunch clubs, line dancing, short mat bowls to polling stations, doctors surgeries, family party venues. With each change of use the hall will undergo a metamorphism, as it becomes ‘their' classroom, gym, restaurant, theatre, for two or more hours each week or month.

Pawlett Village Hall 

Village and Community Halls Advisory Service. 

 


The Community Council for Somerset provides an advisory service to village and community hall committees to help them with the day-to-day aspects of managing the hall.


Advice can be given from initial thoughts about building a new hall or other major projects; what legal aspects need to be considered, what would be the VAT implications, design considerations, where to seek funding etc. Whether an existing committee or a newly formed one, help can be given about the role of committee members as Charity Trustees, hiring agreements and charges, legislation and licenses, equipment, insurance and funding sources. We will do our very best to help.  

 

Halls committees are invited to subscribe to the Community Council.

Benefits to Subscribing members are as follows:

 

  • A 20% discount on orders of three or more ACRE information sheet titles - orders to be placed at the same time.
  • A certificate of membership
  • Access to the "members only" section of our website
  • Free entry of your hall's details in Hall Directory section of the Community Councils's website (evidence has shown that this is being used frequently for people wanting to book halls)
  • The opportunity to promote your community events on the community calendar featured on our website
  • Free entry to the national Hallmark Quality Standards Achievement Award scheme and opportunity to become a Hallmark visitor.
  • Reduced fee to attend the Annual Village and Community Halls Conference.
  • Access to the Community Council for Somerset Village and Community Halls Loan fund.
  • Discount (where a charge is normally made) on fees for training/information events.
  • Complimentary copy of each issue of "Thatch" (the Community Council for Somerset's magazine) and opportunity to showcase a study about your hall.
  • Opportunity to nominate "Trustee of the Year" (the Community Council for Somerset's annual recognition award for Village Halls and Community Buildings).
  • Opportunity to join the Village Halls Committee of the Community Council for Somerset.
  • Membership of the National Village Halls Forum.

 

Additional benefits:

 

Village and Community Halls will also benefit from having access to the support available to the Community Council for Somerset's advisory service from national bodies; helping to share more information and good practice with Somerset.

Specifically:

The Village and Community Halls advisor has access to and support from ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England); the UK national representative body for the network of Rural Community Councils. This support includes contact with ACREs Village Halls Information Officer (who provides regular legislation updates, training etc, publications produced by ACRE for both the advisor and hall committees). There is also access to a legal adviser through ACRE and through a dedicated web group, contact with all the other 38 community buildings advisers nationally to share information, advice and good practice.

 

The Community Council for Somerset is a member of ‘Community Matters'; benefiting from the support and information they offer. We are also part of the National Village Halls Forum, giving subscribing halls in Somerset membership

 

The subscription rate is currently £25 for hall committees serving communities of population less than 1000 and £30 for those serving communities over 1000 population.  

A range of publications for village and community hall committees is available, from information sheets to books. These provide up-to-date, detailed information on a wide range of subjects relating to village and community halls. For a list of publications use the link at the top of this page or contact us to place an order.  


Information sessions are held on topics of interest to those involved in running the hall and also to address legislation regulations that impacts on hall committees. 

 

An annual all day conference is held in the autumn, which generally focuses on items that have been or will be ‘hot' topics during the past or for the future year. The awarding of the Hallmark certificates take place after lunch.