Tees Valley Village Halls

 

October 2007
Training Workshops 
Training Workshops for members of village hall management committees are being held at four different venues during October and November 2007.  Details are given on the EVENTS page.

Village Hall Network 
The proposal to establish a Village Hall Network in the Tees Valley will be taken one step further at a meeting to be held on Monday 26 November at Queensway House, Queensway, Middlesbrough at 7.00pm.  All village halls and community centres are asked to join in this meeting when a steering group weill be formed to take the Network proposal forward with the object of achieving significant new funding for village hall support services.  If you care - be there!

Landfill Communities Fund Grants
Very few halls are tapping into the funding available from the Landfill Communities Fund (Landfill Tax Credits).  This can be a useful source of funding for halls - if only someone would explain the intricacies of the application process!  Help is at hand!  A short presentation will be given by Michelle Smith of Tees Valley Community Foundation at the Villahe Hall Network meeting on Monday 26 November at Queensway House, Queensway, Middlesbrough at 7.00pm.


May 2007

Smoking Ban in Public Places

Are you ready for JULY 1^st 2007 ?   This is the date when the new Smoking Ban takes effect in premises open to the public.  There are fixed penalties of £200 for premises management committees that do not display the approved No Smoking signs.  If you want some signs to display send an email (or phone) the project development team by the end of May and they can order them for you.  After that you are on your own!

 

May 2007

Changing Faces

Project Development Worker Jenny Shepherd has left the project after 21 months in post.  Jenny has become a familiar face to many village hall committee members having played a major part in following up building condition surveys, assisting committees to develop action plans and funding plans to match.  Jenny’s unique and lasting contribution to the project has been the development of the village halls website (see below).  The development worker post has been filled by Audrey Wray who is known to communities in the West Tees Valley where she had previously worked as a community development worker.  Village Halls Consultant Peter Bryan continues to lead the project.

 

April 2007

Spring Training Workshops

The Spring Training Workshops included some new topics – Health & Safety in Village Halls, Managing a Village Hall Project, Getting Community Support and Risk Assessment & Insurance which focussed attention on some of the more exacting aspects of hall management.

 

The Training Workshops programme will be ‘demand led’ from now on – the workshops will only be put on in response to a specific request from a hall management committee.

 
January 2007
An evaluation of the 22 building condition surveys and disability audits carried out in March 06 showed that 19 of the 20 halls that responded found the survey useful.  Committees valued the way in which the surveys highlighted areas that needed attention.  Two halls mentioned the helpfulness in setting maintenance plans and 17 felt that pinpointing problem areas had helped th focus the work of the committee. All halls had taken some action following the survey.  11 halls had started or completed improvements and 8 had agreed plans.

December 2006
The final training workshop for Committee members was held in Long Newton’s Wilson Centre.  Over the autumn 14 workshops have been held on a variety of topics.  As well as the Wilson Centre, workshops were held in Liverton Village Hall and Boosbeck Community Centre. Most popular were Fire Regulations and Accounts and Budgeting. In all there were 111 attendances at the events from 30 Halls in the Project. 

November 2006
Peter Bryan gave a presentation to ACRE’s National Conference on the energy research “Warm and Welcoming”.  The conference was attended by people from all 38 Rural Community Councils.

October 2006
Introduction of the New Fire Regulations which require all hall management committees to carry out a fire risk assessment, keep it up to date and to ensure all the fire precautions in the hall remain current and adequate.  Committees need to appoint a ‘responsible person’ to lead on this.

20th June 2006
Members of Village Hall Committees representing 12 halls attended Nature’s World for the launch of the Energy Research Booklet “ Warm and Welcoming”.  The possible formation of a Village Hall Network was also discussed.

25th May 2006
A Big Lottery Information event was held at the Wilson Institute in Long Newton.

April 2006
Three new halls (Lazenby Village Hall, Hurworth Village Hall and Whessoe Parish Hall) applied to join the project.  An initial audit of these was completed and they were added to the database.

April 2006
An audit of training and information needs completed

March 2006
Building condition surveys and disability access audits of 22 halls were completed to help committees make long term plans (funded by Change Up through Tees Valley Rural Community Council).

February 2006
Further 6 Briefing papers produced in response to more ‘frequently asked questions’.

January 2006
Halls offered free hiring pads to help their hiring arrangements.

Winter 2004 /05 
Tees Valley Rural Community Council funded the audit of 46 village halls and rural community buildings in the Tees Valley to create a baseline database of condition of the buildings and the needs of the managing committees December 2005.  Six Briefing papers were produced in response to ‘frequently asked questions’