Hello, my name is Marc Smith, 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 Village Guard.

Well, welcome to episode 58 of the Village Halls Podcast. Now you may recognize my voice as I was interviewed as part of this podcast in 2023, talking about connectivity in small communities, but now I’m on the other side. This episode is to introduce myself as a new host, but also to say thank you and goodbye to Johnny.

Johnny has been recording the Village Halls podcast since 2021, interviewing many outstanding community volunteers from the UK, discussing topics from raising funding help throughout Covid, to connectivity, to Village Hall health and safety, and even some award winners.

So, do I introduce you, or do you need no introduction, Johnny?

Go on, introduce me.

Why? You might.

Welcome to your own podcast.

Yeah, yeah, for my podcast. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Loving the music, Marc, what you like?

Oh. That’s good. That is all the nerve-racking with. Now a nice to change it up a bit. You know what I mean. Very, very upbeat. Really enjoyed that, you know.

And, Yeah. Thanks for having me on.

No, no worries at all. Well, I’ve actually been reading up a lot about village halls over the past few months, and it’s actually, it really is amazing how much a village hall is part of community life. It’s like a constant for a few generations. And it really is incredible. And I never saw that before.

No, I mean, that was one of the great things that I found in doing the podcast, to be honest with you, Marc, is, you know, I found myself entering this world that I really didn’t know a great deal about, and was completely inspired by it. Every guest that I spoke to just kind of brought me something new and wonderful, learning about something different each step along the way, and also just getting that feeling of unsung heroes everywhere. That’s the thing that always came across for me, speaking to people from village halls, you know, it’s just how many unsung heroes there are across the country involved in this movement. It’s like a movement that we all don’t really know too much about.

Oh, absolutely. Did you have a village hall where you grew up?

I did. I mean, we had the youth club that I remember growing up, you know, at that age, you don’t really think about the fact that anybody runs it or anybody has to look after the place, pay the rent, organize insurance, and do all those things. You just sort of take it for granted. It was only a bit later in life when I had kids and was growing up, and I was actually asked to be Santa Claus for one of these things and get like you do, you know, go and entertain the kids around Christmas time, you know, by one of the parents. And it was only then that I got my first insight into this community hall world that exists and the great work that everybody does.

Yeah. Well, it’s funny, I was writing up some notes for the podcast today, and I realized that I had a local village hall, but I didn’t know it as I lived opposite that village hall for maybe 17, 18 years. And it just dawned on me. Yeah, that was the Memorial Hall. It had a playpark. And I used to play there and there was a brass band every Christmas and summer and stuff. I just can’t believe I missed that entire thing because it’s a massive part of life because I remember seeing just about every weekend there would be hundreds of people going into the hall for some event. And I was like, oh, I just did my own thing and didn’t really notice. So yeah, it’s really quite an exciting thing to be a part of, even if it’s just on the podcast. I’m looking forward to doing what you did and getting to virtually meet all these people you’ve been speaking to over the past.

No, it’s wonderful. As I say, they’re a great community doing this, some really interesting and time-dedicated people within that community who are very interested in keeping the conversation going. Yeah.

So I’ve got a few questions for you, Johnny. The first one is just for me, and it’s recorded so I can always reference it. What advice would you give me as the new host?

I’ll be listening intently.

Right. Well, to be honest, what I would say is make it your own. And if you do already, you know, as I said, I mentioned the music at the beginning. I think it’s important you don’t really look back at whatever I did and reference that, but genuinely, you know, make it your own. Be yourself, as it were, because I think more than anything that keeps you relaxed, keeps you settled, and allows you to enter into just natural conversations with people.

The other thing I would add to that is just, you know, make sure you ask those nice open questions. Just give the opportunity to talk. You know, I think as presenters, we’re primarily there to listen, you know. So yeah, that would be my advice. Yeah. Make it your own.

Excellent. Excellent. Thank you very much. Right. So how did you first get involved with this podcast?

Yeah, it’s an interesting one. I had to think back about it, trying to work out how it all started. I’ll be honest, I’ve been interested in podcast production for a while and I’ve done a few for different organizations commercially. I was really interested in doing one myself, and the thing with a podcast, people say, is find a niche, find something that’s quite unique and isn’t already serviced. I happened to know Gavin Mitchell from Allied Westminster as well, and we were talking around the time of Covid, because that was another reason why I wanted to do a podcast—it would just be a good thing to do part-time, because I couldn’t do many other things, to be honest. And, I spoke to Gavin and he gave me, you know, I was really quite inspired. He gave me a lot of insight into this world of village halls and said, “Johnny, you’ll be amazed and fascinated by just how many interesting people and how much variety and diversity there is across this community across the UK.” So it just struck us both really. It’s been a fantastic opportunity to get a podcast rolling, and the rest is history.

So, as you’ve done 57 podcasts since 2021, do you have any favorite moments or episodes from your time as the host?

That’s like asking, which one’s your favorite child, you know what I mean? It’s really hard to say, Marc. I mean, you were fantastic.

Well, I’m glad you got to that. I was going to have to hit in the air against, you know. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So, let’s just make it clear from the start, you were my absolute favorite. There we go. Thanks. But yeah, I mean, there’s a few standout ones for different reasons. The first one that really comes to mind was a guy I spoke to, Alan Moore, who was from a village called Bourbon Hall. Alan was just one of those people who told stories in a way that, you know, took you completely away. I mean, there’s nothing better when you’re a podcast host, and you forget you’re actually recording the podcast because you’re just genuinely listening and fascinated by the things people are telling you. Alan told a wonderful story about how the village was like a virtual coup d’état to take over the committee on New Year’s Eve, you know, when a few people had one too many drinks, and he became the leader. That kind of change, what was clearly not a very effective committee, led to the village hall not really providing anything to the local community. And what became fascinating was that this guy turned up who was a network major or something in the Army, and he’d been a prisoner of war, a Japanese prisoner of war. Alan told me all of the stories about him and so on. So I’d say that’s a real standout.

But when I think back, there’s just such a wide variety of subject matter that we’ve covered. We’ve got anything from tight bonds to health and safety, electric vehicle charging, a thing called Jail Cash, which I didn’t know anything about. Wonderful data on, you know, I spoke so much about that. What a really interesting guy called de Valou came on, talking about mental health and feelings of being overwhelmed, which I think a lot of committee members and villagers tend to find. He had all kinds of fascinating vegetable metaphors that he brought in as part of his routine, which sounds odd, but if you listen to the episode, it kind of all makes sense when you hear that. And then just for pure entertainment, I’ve got to mention Tracy Watson, and the press as it’s called. This came about through a photo competition that we ran, and Tracy submitted a wonderful photo of just a group of people dressed in fancy dress on these weird and wonderful boats and barges. It turned out that it’s an annual thing between two villages either side of the river, and they’re competing in the boat race. Basically, it’s just you have to drink so much and then cross the river in fancy dress by whatever means you can find, and then drink on the other side and then race each other. But it’s just pure bedlam and it sounds wonderful, you know, and yeah, that episode is just typical of the wondrous world that you find yourself entering when you enter the world of village halls.

Yeah, I mean, there’s a lot of value in the podcast. There’s so much information. We have a village hall here, and there’s always questions that people have to go home and find out. So I think having the podcast there, with all these previous guests and hopefully future guests, will help every village hall, which I still can’t believe there are over 10,000 village halls in the UK. I think that’s incredible. There’s so much value in this podcast. You must have learned a lot actually over the years, just with all this information.

That’s it. I’m absolutely stunned by all of the information and everything. And what’s nice is when other village halls come back and say that they listened to an episode and that it inspired them to do something. You know, we had a guy who ended up winning one of our awards, and he did so much to manage the hall remotely in terms of the heating system, just to make it more efficient. The feedback we got from that was incredible, because so many villagers came back and said, “Wow, we hadn’t thought of this. This is going to save us so much in our budget, instead of having to leave the heating on, we can just do that.” That’s just one example of many different things. That was the real pleasure I got from being involved with the podcast, seeing that it was a way of spreading that information across this wonderful network.

Yeah, it must be nice actually getting the feedback from the whole committee. Really, really good. I think a couple of people stand out as well. There was a wonderful lady called Joan Maxfield, who won our Unsung Hero award, more than 80 years old, Joan, still going strong, you know, still baking cakes, still doing all that fantastic stuff at the center of the community. And, Sean Hyman from Fontanel Magma, who told a fascinating story about a garden that they created there for working with the local surgery around a whole thing called social prescribing. I had the great pleasure of visiting Fontanel Magma as well after the conversation, and it was great to see the garden, you know, in person. Then, Jane Croft as well, incredible. During Covid and after that, she helped in running the village hall, despite being located in Germany.

Oh, really?

Yeah. Impressive. Very impressive.

Yeah. Which allowed me as a Geordie to crack the joke. I feel the impact. When we got to the end of the episode, which was a highlight for me. So yeah.

See, I’m lucky I’m over that age now. I get that. I think if I was five years younger, I wouldn’t understand that. But yeah, that’s good.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, great memories to be honest. Really, really fantastic memories, and a shame I can’t mention everyone involved. But yeah, really, really good and fond memories of all of the conversations that I’ve had. The nice thing is they’re still there, you know.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, it is very good that you can always go back and relisten to them all.

So, now, is there a message or final thought you’d like to leave with your listeners?

Yeah. And your listeners as well.

Yeah. Of course. Just a big thank you, to be honest, Marc. You know, thank you to everyone who’s listened. We’ve had tens of thousands of downloads of the episodes, which stunned me. That feedback, as I mentioned, has been incredible through this time. And, yeah. And a sorry as well, you know, that I haven’t been able to keep going with this. You know, aspects of our lives change. I’ve taken on a new role and also, I’ve had to spend quite a lot of time looking after my elderly mother in recent times. So, I’m very grateful for you taking over this and making sure that this continues because it became something that I feel very strongly connected to. I’ll still be listening, rest assured. But, yeah, just a thank you to everybody for listening and a thank you to all those guests as well who took the time because, you know, I only ask the questions. You want me to be the one to tell the great stories and pass on the wonderful information. So, yeah.

Excellent. Well, thank you for all the work you put in over the years. It’s nice to walk into this, and have some inspiration from what you’ve done. And I’m really looking forward to speaking to all the people that I will speak to over the course of hopefully years, and learn lots more about village halls. I think it might become an obsession, because I’ve been reading a lot about it. So I’m looking forward to that.

It is a great world that you get involved in. And yeah, as I said, Marc, thanks for taking on the mantle.

Well, you’re very welcome. Good to see. It’s good to see it continue.

Excellent. Well, thank you very much, Johnny, for joining us on the Village Halls podcast.

And a real welcome. Right. So I will now click my pre-made outro and we will see you, or hear you, speak to you at the next podcast. Yeah.

Many thanks to our headline sponsor and specialist village hall insurance provider, Allied Westminster, the home of Village Guard, for making this podcast possible, and to online booking system provider Hall Master, who also sponsors our podcast and can be found at Hallmaster.co.uk.

You’ve been listening to The Village Halls Podcast, a unique listening community for Britain’s village community and church halls and anyone interested in the vital community services they provide. We’ll be back again soon with another episode. For more information, please visit The Village Halls Podcast.com, where you’ll also find links to our social media pages. Thanks again for listening in. And until the next time. Goodbye for now.