Help for community buildings and village halls

Exterior shot of Leyburn guide and scout hut
Interior shot of Craven village hall Ingleton Ingleborough event meeting
Exterior shot of Topcliffe and Asenby Village hall
Interior shot of Boltby village hall
Exterior shot of Dishforth Village hall
We offer trustees and managers of community buildings and village halls a variety of help and advice.

As the ACRE Village Hall Adviser for community buildings in rural North, South and West Yorkshire, we provide practical guidance and rural advocacy to trustees, employees and management committees of rural community buildings. You can access support on a range of areas including: good governance; safeguarding; finance and funding; policies and procedures and operational good practice.

Get in touch by email communitysupport@communityfirstyorkshire.org.uk or by calling 01904 704177 to find out more.

Community buildings network

The Community Buildings Network is open to all those involved in running community buildings in North Yorkshire. It’s an opportunity to hear about new resources and policy development, to explore topics of interest in detail and to share experiences and knowledge with others running community buildings.

The Community Buildings Network meetings are hosted three times a year by our development officers. Meetings are currently held online via Zoom for each of the seven districts of North Yorkshire. The agendas are shaped by requests from attendees and current issues facing community buildings.

See our networks page on our Community Support North Yorkshire website for upcoming Community Building Network meetings.

If you would like to attend a network meeting, or have an idea for an agenda item, please contact Joanne Abbott via email communitysupport@communityfirstyorkshire.org.uk or by calling 01904 704177.

Facebook Peer Support Group for those managing community buildings

We have a closed Facebook group for people involved with managing community buildings and village halls.

We now have over 300 members from across Yorkshire who regularly post questions and answers, and support each other. The group is for all those involved with running community buildings a space to share their thoughts, actions and questions on all aspects of hall management. You will need a Facebook account to join, please contact us if you need help with this.

If you already have a Facebook account please click here to join.

 

Specialist resources

Because we are a rural community council and member of the ACRE Network (Action with Communities in Rural England), our members are able to access specialist ACRE resources written exclusively for community buildings and village halls. These information sheets and model documents will guide you with every aspect of running a village hall, from insurance and creating a business plan to hiring agreements and trust deeds.

Find out how to become a Community First Yorkshire member to access these resources.

Running your community building in a Covid safe environment

We have a dedicated community buildings and village hall section on our Covid 19 page which we regularly update with the latest covid information as it relates to running a community venue.

Safeguarding for community buildings and village halls

Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility.

We promote good safeguarding practice to village and community halls throughout Yorkshire. We want to make sure that voluntary management committees that run halls and community buildings have the knowledge and confidence to provide a safe environment for all.

We want to improve awareness of the importance of safeguarding, provide advice and examples of best practice to ensure management committees fully understand their responsibilities and current legislation around safeguarding, and have appropriate policies and procedures in place.

We have put together information, template policies and procedures, useful safeguarding links and training information all in one place for you on our Community Support North Yorkshire website.

 

icon of podcast with community first yorkshire logo
Podcasts

We have a number of podcasts available for village halls to listen to here.

There is also The Village Halls Podcast which is sponsored by Allied Westminster and is available here.

If you have any queries regarding a community building, please contact Vicki Sharp and Michael Fletcher via email communitysupport@communityfirstyorkshire.org.uk or by calling 01904 704177.