Johnny Thomson 00:01
Sit back, relax, and put your feet up everyone, while we look back at a few episodes of our podcast from this year. Hello everyone and welcome to The Village Halls Podcast sponsored by Allied Westminster, the UK’s largest specialist provider of village hall insurance and the home of VillageGuard. Now a few weeks ago we recorded our 48th episode bringing our second year and second series to a close. In 2022, we’ve covered all kinds of topics from fitness instruction to tips on warm rooms. And so with the Christmas and New Year breaks about to begin, I thought we’d look back at a few of those episodes while you tuck into a box of chocolates, or you take the dog for a walk. Back at the very beginning of the year, I was joined by Finbar Murphy, the chair of Cookham Dean Village Hall in Berkshire, which had lost its main source of income just a couple of years earlier. The hall responded in an innovative way with something called the Metre Market, which has not only kept the hall going, but is helping the local residents and businesses.

Finbar Murphy 01:12
So in about June of 2020, we started a market on a Friday mornings in the hall. Initially just with three stalls, and we were pleasantly surprised by the number of people that came along to support it. Now, obviously, some of that was because it was the middle of lockdown, and there wasn’t as much to do as they’d probably normally had. But I think there was from the off, there was quite a groundswell of people wanting to support local producers and doing things locally. So we’ve just really grown from that. We managed to trade all the way through both lockdowns. And as as the restrictions were eventually lifted, we could increase the capacity and so forth. So you know, we’ve gone from having three stalls, which was essentially bread, vegetables and cheese to about 18 at this week’s market actually, I just counted it before. And they’re are a mix, mostly food, but also some that can be a bit seasonal, sort of local craft and art producers like to come along.

Johnny Thomson 02:17
Community businesses, like the Metre Market, are playing an increasingly important role in rural villages. And in February, Hannah Barrett, from the wonderful Plunkett Foundation, came on the show to talk about the kind of support available to village halls that might want to get a community business up and running themselves.

Hannah Barrett 02:37
So obviously, a lot of communities are losing their services, are losing their centre points. And without those centre points, those natural meeting spaces, you get isolation and loneliness. You get a lack of jobs and opportunities and education, because there’s no local shop, there’s no local pub for the kind of young teenagers to go and get their first job in. There’s no place for people who are perhaps living by themselves to go out and have a coffee and bump into their neighbours. So they’re really important centres for communities. And often people talk to us and say, you know, you’ve put the heart back into where we live. I haven’t seen Betty for 10 years, and I bumped into her the other day, I used to know at school. And it’s those fantastic stories about people meeting each other and seeing each other that makes them so valuable, as well as the fact you know, you can pop down the road and get your extra milk, your toilet roll, those essentials that are stopping a car journey, reducing emissions, reducing the impact of climate change. So they’re really important having these local services for people. And are they successful? Absolutely. Because the people that run them make them successful. Because they are community developed, they’re the ideas of the community, and they run them for the community. And the long term success rate for community businesses are 94%. So when they’re up and running, they fly.

Johnny Thomson 04:03
Now one essential service village, church and community halls up and down the country will often provide is keeping their local community healthy through all kinds of exercise classes. Nesta Shepherd, who is in her 70s, runs pilates and fitness classes online, and at two different halls in North Hertfordshire. Nesta’s passion and enthusiasm for exercise encourages all kinds of people to stay fit and healthy.

Nesta Shepherd 04:31
I think they like come into a community class rather than go to a gym based class which can be a bit impersonal. I know all my clients names. I know probably know, their children, their grandchildren. I know all their problems. I don’t mean personal problems, I mean physical problems, which helps me to help them. And they have a real community feel. They all chat when they come in. Although having said that, you know, they do vary because I’ve got two classes in the second hall I mentioned, which is the more modern one. On the same day, one’s in the afternoon, one’s in the evening. Exactly the same class. The afternoon class, they’re so quiet. they’re so shy. They wouldn’t say boo to a goose. I ask them questions and I get ummm, but the evening class is completely different. They come in, they chat. They walk around and ask questions and they joke and take the whatsit out of me.

Johnny Thomson 05:40
Artists and performers are another major village hall attraction. For another podcast episode I was joined by Holly Lombardo and Steffie Jessup from the National Rural Touring Forum, a fantastic organisation that works with halls in rural communities to put on shows and events. Steffie told me how performers and audiences find that village halls offer something unique compared to more traditional venues.

Stephie Jessup 06:06
Yeah, it’s much more personal and intimate. There’s no hiding. And one of the things that we say a lot is that if you’re going to a theatre or performance venue, you’re going to visit the artist. You’re going to their space where they feel very much in control and they know all the ins and outs of that building, and you only tend to see one room, and you go and you sit in the dark. And you might have a drink at the interval, but chances are, once the curtain closes, you leave and go home for the night. Whereas with a village hall, were asking the artists to visit the community and visit the audience in their space. And our community promoters, so it might be the village hall committee, they’ll often cook a hot meal for the performer before their show and sit down all together, and chat and get to know one another. The performers will often stay behind after the show, and have a drink in the bar with the audience. And it’s one of the things that people that are on the circuit performing absolutely love about rural touring. Because when do you normally get a chance to truly go and speak to your audience? And when normally as an audience member, do you get a chance to really find out how did this performer end up becoming a world class violinist or how did they get into acting? And it really it all comes together? It’s very equal, there’s no this is my space or your space. It’s, we just all want to find out more about each other. And it’s also one of the places where in that village hall audience, there are people there that didn’t… that came along and had no idea what it was they were coming to. They came along to support the village hall, or to see their neighbours or because our promoter told them to. And because of that you get an audience that might not consider themselves to be theatre people, really truly engaging with the work and talking to the performers afterwards. It’s quite special in that way.

Johnny Thomson 08:05
Talking of unique and different, this year I discovered the strange and mysterious world of geocaching. Until I spoke to Jackie O’Halloran for our podcast, I had no idea there were hidden objects all over the world with huge numbers of enthusiasts trying to track them down. Jackie explained how there were more than 1,000 geocaches waiting to be found in and around village halls in Britain.

Jackie O’Halloran 08:33
Since I’ve been doing it I’ve found 8,700 geocaches and I’ve placed 192 for others to find

Johnny Thomson 08:43
I don’t know how you can do that many days out.

Jackie O’Halloran 08:46
It’s been over quite a period of time, but I have had some times when we’ve done big days, you know I’ve gone away with friends, which is my preferred way of doing it. Although I do geocache on my own, I like it as a social event. So I’ll go out with a group of friends or one or two friends and we’ll go out geocaching together. And we’ve had some weekends away and things where we’ve gone out just purely to find geocaches. Of those finds that I’ve found, 650 village halls I’ve visited and found, so of our 1,300, I found 650. So I’ve still got a few more to find yet. I’m not the top though. No I’m not the top. There’s a few above me. The guy that’s found the most village hall geocaches at the moment, he’s found 902 of them. And he’s very competitive, doesn’t want anybody else to get anywhere near him. So if anyone starts getting near him, he’ll go out and do a big day of village hall caches to make sure he keeps at the top of those stats.

Johnny Thomson 09:49
Now this year, I also got to go out and about myself when I visited Chorleywood War Memorial Hall. Debbie Rosario and Yvonne Merritt along with other Parish council staff and volunteers, invited me along to their event to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. I spoke to one local resident there who could remember Queen Elizabeth coming to the throne… How old are you Dorothy, if you don’t mind me asking? 84, so you’ll remember, can you remember the…

Dorothy 10:11
Beginning of the war?

Johnny Thomson 10:13
Yeah. And the coronation?

Dorothy 10:13
84. Coronation? Yes. My auntie had one of the first televisions. And we didn’t have a television. But we went to her house and all the children sat in on the floor, and the grown ups at the back and it was a little nine inch television. Yes, I saw the Coronation.

Johnny Thomson 10:43
And 70 years later…

Dorothy 10:45
I’m seeing it again.

Johnny Thomson 10:47
Well 69 years since the Coronation of course. And here we are. And Queen Elizabeth has done very well, of course?

Dorothy 10:55
Oh she’s a wonderful Queen.

Johnny Thomson 10:57
Little did we realise at that time, of course, that Queen Elizabeth’s reign would soon come to an end. Sadly, celebrations turned to mourning as we remembered her life and her achievements. Marking the passing of a loved one is something else that community halls can often help with. And in October, I spoke to Richard Coates from Croft on Tees who told me about an event they had organised there to remember a much loved member of their community, Jonny Preston, who passed away far too early in life

Richard Coates 11:24
At the start of this year, so a couple of months after he passed away, we met as a group in the village on what would have been his birthday. And the conversation came around to what would be a fitting tribute to celebrate Jonny’s life, and at the same time, raise some money for the brain tumour charity as well. And it was, it Jurg our village resident German who made the suggestion to do something close to home, within the village and utilise the, we’ve got a circular river walk around the village. So that’s where the conversation started. But we wanted something a bit bigger, a bit different to just a fun run. Hence, the 24 hour endurance element was conceived.

Johnny Thomson 12:21
And that became known as the Jog for Jonny, yeah?

Richard Coates 12:23
And that, but yeah, that’s what it that’s what it was coined us. From all the events and the donations we’ve had, we raised just over £7,600, which far exceeded any estimations we had when we first instigated the idea.

Johnny Thomson 12:42
Certainly a fitting tribute from a wonderful and caring community. Now, I’m not one for choosing a favourite, but there was certainly one episode in 2022 that made me chuckle the most. Britain as we know is a country that’s well known for its unusual events and activities. Anything from welly-wanging to tossing the caber. However, the annual Beer Race of Noss Mayo and Newton Ferrers was not something I’d come across until Tracy Watson sent us a bizarre photo for our photo competition. I just had to find out more and so Tracy came on the show and described how every year they all come together to dress up and race in small boats, while also drinking a little bit too much.

Tracy Watson 13:31
There are an element who do take it very seriously. I was in a team who did take it very seriously. And to the point where the the ladies team that I was part of were all pretty good rowers, and we did actually win the whole event ahead of the men at one point and then that’s when the men started complaining bitterly that the women only had to drink halves in comparison to their pints and it’s that argument has been going on ever since. There are some teams, probably over half the teams now who just want to win the fancy dress competition side of it, because they’re not too worried about the rowing as long as they complete the course. But there are still some who properly go for it.

Johnny Thomson 14:16
Where do you stand on the pint or the half pint thing? Are you gonna sit on the fence?

Tracy Watson 14:24
Yeah, I think I might. I think I might do that.

Johnny Thomson 14:28
If you haven’t listened to the full episode already I’d encourage you to scroll down to season two, episode eight on our website and listen to the Bedlam that is the Beer Race. It’s a lot of fun. Now I’d like to say thank you to all of our guests who joined me for season two of the village halls podcast this year, including Mark Harris from Bower Hill Village Hall, Martin Fagan, from the Community Heartbeat Trust who talked to me about life saving defibrillators and Alexandra Holmes from ASTCO, an organisation that helps halls to raise funds through clothing banks. Big thanks also to Doug Allen from Topcliffe and Asenby Village Hall, Village Halls Advisor Janet Clark from YMCA Lincolnshire and risk management expert Dave Reynolds from RiskSTOP, who covered village hall security on our show this year. Dr. Darren Handley did a fantastic job in July explaining all about setting up electrical vehicle infrastructure in rural communities. And also my thanks to Andrew Ayers from Irby and Bratoft Village Hall, Nick Cole from Shustoke, who we’ll be hearing more from in the new year, and Lizzy Kingston from Framlingham Unitary Meetinghouse. All wonderful guests who gave up their time to inform and to entertain us throughout the year. Thanks as always to our headline sponsor and specialist insurance provider Allied Westminster for making our podcast possible, and whose services you can discover more about at villageguard.com. And to online booking system provider Hallmaster who also sponsor our podcast and can be found at hallmaster.co.uk. And so that’s all for season two, and 2022 for The Village Halls Podcast. My final and most heartfelt thank you of the year goes, of course, to you, our listeners. Thank you so much for tuning in and being part of our listening community and have a fantastic Christmas everyone. Let’s hope it all goes well. And a very Happy New Year to you all. I’ll be back again soon with a brand new series in the New Year. If you get time over Christmas, why not visit the villagehallspodcast.com and listened to some of our previous episodes. But for now, I’ll leave you with a brief section of music, highly inappropriate music in fact for this time of year, which was performed by the Chorleywood Orchestra at their event in June. In the meantime, and until next time, goodbye for now.