Tees Valley Village Halls

July 2010

Village Halls Network

Tees Valley Village Halls Network has been awarded a grant by the Community Grants in the North East Region – Supporting Communities Fund. This grant will fund a ‘Network for Success’ programme of activities and events in 2010 including a regular newsletter, a web presence, other promotional aids and a series of Training Events for village hall committee members. Details of the current programme are on the Village Halls Network page

North York Moors Coast and Hills Leader Programme

Sustainable Community Halls Project

Tees Valley Rural Community Council and Rural Action Yorkshire are working together on the Leader funded Sustainable Community Halls Project offering a wide range of support to halls in the Leader area which includes 18 Halls in East Cleveland. The Project offers Training Workshops, One-to-One Consultancy, Mentoring, Networking and Guidance on Funding Bids.

Training Events include Business Planning, Governance, Policy development, Service Development, Sustainability, Climate Change Agenda, Capital Investment, Project Management, Licensing , Funding and Quality Standards.

For more information contact the Village Halls Adviser Peter Bryan: peterbryan@uwclub.net

 

The BOSS Project (Rural North East Back Office Services Project)

The BOSS Project   is a partnership of Community Action Northumberland, Durham Rural Community Council and Tees Valley Rural Community Council supported by the BIG Lottery Fund to investigate the need for ‘back office services’ for rural community groups providing services to others. The BOSS Project has a budget of £388K spread over 5 years (2009-2014)

BOSS will concentrate on supporting:

·    Organisations that employ people and could use a payroll service

·    Organisations that need help with information technology

·    Good Governance in all rural community organisations

·    Best practice in managing Accounts and budgets

·    Compliance with regulations affecting community buildings

·    Quality assurance in the management of community buildings

BOSS First Year Tasks

The first year of the project concentrated on assessing the back office needs of the Partners and of 800 rural infrastructure organisations (Village Halls, Parish Councils, Development Trusts).

BOSS First Year Achievements

By the end of June 2010, the BOSS Project had made a £30K capital investment in ICT in the three Partner organisations; completed a Survey of Rural Infrastructure Organisations, established a Directory of Service Providers and identified Potential Pilot projects to help rural infrastructure organisations to address gaps in back office services and support.

BOSS Programme for 2010-2011

Pilot projects will be running across the North East region to assist voluntary management committees in

·    Financial Management and Accounts

·    The application of web based marketing and communication

·    The management of the organisation’s business affairs using template documents.

·    Promotion of the Hallmark accreditation scheme for community buildings

For further information on the BOSS Project contact the Village Halls Adviser: peterbryan@uwclub.net

 

HALLMARK AWARDS

Bishopton, Greatham, Hurworth, Liverton and The Wilson Centre all achieved the distinction of Hallmark Accreditation this year. This is the standard of a well managed hall - reassurance for the committee and a benchmark for hirers of the halls. Why not join them and let everyone know what a first class job you are doing? Find out what you need to do to qualify for Hallmark Award—there is Network Training Event for interested halls at Elwick WI Hall at 7.00pm on Tuesday 19th October.