00:00:02:10 – 00:00:30:18

Marc

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 VillageGuard. Hello and welcome. So in today’s episode, we are joined by Jo Nickless from North Moreton. You may recognise the name North Moreton as it was dubbed by some as Britain’s kindest village, and they’re also the winners of our Village Halls Inspiration Awards.

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Marc

Welcome to the podcast. 

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Jo

Hi. Thank you.

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Marc

We are also joined by Gavin Mitchell. Gavin is the managing director of Allied Westminster and as you already know, Allied Westminster and the Village Halls Podcast started the Village Halls Inspiration Awards to celebrate the incredible contribution village, church and community halls have in their rural communities. Gavin, welcome to the podcast once again.

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Gavin

Hi, Marc. Thank you. Good to be here.

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Marc

Yeah. So I’m sure our listeners are eager to hear why North Moreton was chosen as our winner.

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Gavin

Well, I think we had a lot of fantastic submissions. And and North Moreton really stood out for, for us as as the winning submission for an incredibly innovative approach and community engagement. And it was, you know, the results were very impactful, in reviving essentially a really vital asset in the village. And, but we were really taken with with the way that the whole project was undertaken, the effective use of digital tools and, and, the community uptake, community response, people with all sorts of talents getting involved from the village and, and just basically engaging in the strategic planning and in terms of the renovations for the whole and, you know, it was an incredibly inspirational, submission. And, you know, for a village of, I think about 350 people, if I remember correctly. A remarkable, remarkable, result in terms of community engagement.

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Marc

Yeah, totally. I totally agree with that. Yeah. So, Jo. Could you start by telling us a bit about what motivated you to get involved in improving the village hall?

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Jo

Yes. Of course. I think I think really my initial motivation was, was not about improving the village hall. It was about, a sense of wanting to contribute to the community that I live in by privileged to live here. And I have a keen sense of that, you know, if a community is going to thrive, everybody within that community needs to play a part and and do something to make sure it is thriving.

00:02:41:06 – 00:03:00:24

Jo

So initially when I was asked to go in the committee, it was about that really about, you know, having a part and maintaining the whole plan and making sure that was there for future generations to come after us. And then I think it was my third committee meeting, the chairperson announced that she was going to retire after quite a long time.

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Jo

And I think at that stage, everybody else just ran away faster than I did.

00:03:07:18 – 00:03:19:09

Marc

So I was a lot of a lot of work to be done, really, for your, for you joining. So what was the driving force behind all these recent changes?

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Jo

Yeah. So when I became the chairperson of the committee, I was very keen that everybody on the committee had a role to play. They weren’t just on the committee, the number. And so what I picked up, as well as being the chair, I picked up the responsibility for the building, the facility, you know, ordering cleaning products, making sure we were doing maintenance, things like that.

00:03:38:04 – 00:03:55:00

Jo

And so I started and this was just in 22, really. So we were coming out of Covid at that stage. I started by doing quite a lot of tidying up in the hall and what I discovered, wouldn’t you know, you cleared out cupboards at the back of the stage and I discovered quite a big dip in the floor.

00:03:55:02 – 00:04:16:04

Jo

And then so safety actually was the really the driving force behind what we’ve had to move forward. And when I looked underneath the stage, I could see, I’m no structural surveyor at all, but I could see that the beams that support the floor of the stage were, were warped, and the supports that are in place underneath that were seemed quite insignificant to me.

00:04:16:06 – 00:04:40:03

Jo

But there was another element which, again with safety and it was managing the risk of moving things. So we have tables and chairs and the whole like if we hold will have and had already invested in table trolleys and a chair truly as well to move them about. But so much of in fact, all of our storage was either up on the stage, which was about two feet up from whole floor level, or it was down the steps in a storage cupboard.

00:04:40:05 – 00:04:49:19

Jo

And so your trolleys become ineffective and you’ve got a manual handling risk to manage there as well. So it was all based on safety, both of the building and of the people who are using it.

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Marc

Was it 350 residents you have?

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Jo

That’s right. Yes. Yeah.

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Marc

So how did you, how did you reach out to, to all the residents to, to get their opinion because obviously the community’s opinion really matters in these situations.

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Jo

Yeah. The community’s opinion is really important. So what we did quite early on was, we did a survey of our whole users and of the community, and that tied up with something that I was doing at work. I was I’m a human resources manager by trade, but I was doing some training with our continuous improvement team at work.

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Jo

And the focus of quite a bit of that training was about looking at who your customers are and who your stakeholders are, and then engaging with them to understand their views and what the needs and desires are. And so I sort of took that learning at work and brought it home and thought we could do this in the hall.

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Jo

And so we developed a survey, which we then sent out to the community. I think there’s about 115 houses in the village, and we go over, about just about just over 70 responses. So I was really pleased with that response rate. Yeah. I think part of that was the technology we used. The, previous surveys that have been done in the village had been done on paper or the there’d been a word document that had been emailed out to people who have to fill in and save it and send it back, or printing in it through somebody’s letterbox.

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Jo

And because we used the Microsoft Forms, it was so easy for people to complete that survey. And that really helped you remove that friction and just make it easy for them to give us a response. So that really helped us.

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Marc

I think that’s a that’s a pretty incredible response rate. So 70, 70 people responded. That’s. Yeah, yeah. Well, what is the secret to that, actually, that that could help a lot of, communities, that level of engagement.

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Jo

I think it was the technology, to be honest with you, Marc. You know, I, we use Microsoft Forms, but you could use any of the survey systems, and they just make it so quick and easy that anybody who’s receiving that email, or you can scan the QR code as well to access it, it’s just quick and easy you can do on your phone.

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Jo

And I find that if somebody sends me a survey, I don’t want to have to go to the computer and print something, or I want to sit on the phone and do it easily and quickly when I want to tell you whatever. So just making it easy for people was really key to that response rate.

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Gavin

Jo, can I ask a question? I’m sure a lot of villages might be thinking the same thing. You obviously sent this the form electronically by by email, which basically meant that you had managed to secure the email addresses, the contact details of everyone in the village or most of the households in the village. I mean, how did you manage to do that?

00:07:39:20 – 00:07:57:13

Jo

Oh, okay. So within the village, we have an email group that’s set up that’s used for all sorts of village communications. So it was a case of, sending an email with a link to the survey form to that person. And then it was distributed round that, that group. And I think it’s fairly comprehensive. There’s a couple of people in the village who do not have email.

00:07:57:18 – 00:08:05:14

Jo

Yes. There’s literally a couple and everybody else is receiving that email. So it’s the village’s main means of communication.

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Gavin

Yeah. I think you’ve got that in Elgol.

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Marc

Yeah. That’s right. There’s also a Facebook group as well. which is quite, it’s quite handy because sometimes, you know, if emails wander off to spam, it’s good. I’m reminded by the Facebook group.

00:08:20:24 – 00:08:26:21

Jo

We also have Facebook as well. And our village hall has Facebook now too. But the village email is key here.

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Marc

Yeah.

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Jo

Yeah. In terms of our village population.

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Gavin

So that’s the jungle drums essentially in the village.

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Jo

Yeah, exactly.

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Gavin

It’s good.

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Marc

Yeah. So from from the making the form you sent out, what was the information that you got back that was important, for moving forward?

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Jo

I think it was. We asked a few questions. And I think when you’re designing a survey, it’s really important to think about, what information you want back rather than just thinking about the questions you want to ask. You should approach it from that site. But I will confess that I also looked at lots of other village service too.

00:09:02:06 – 00:09:22:15

Jo

I’m a great believer that, you know, there’s nothing much new in this world. And if we can copy what somebody else has done, that’s probably quicker and easier. So I took what I thought were the best bits of other people’s surveys, and then put that online. Two of the key questions. I think one of them was asking people to rank what they thought was important in terms of a renovation of the whole.

00:09:22:17 – 00:09:45:00

Jo

So we had about eight things in there, ranging from, you know, a commercial kitchen, you accessible toilets. The stage was on there as one of the things, green credentials to the installation within the homes there. So it was about eight things that they could rank. And the technology behind the form produces that beautifully for you.

00:09:45:00 – 00:10:06:24

Jo

So it gives you does all the maths behind the ranking and it gives you then your most important things, which weren’t quite as I expected them to be. Really interesting result. The other key question that we asked, was I was quite honest in the form and said, do if we’re going to renovate the hall and improve things that year, we’re going to need your help and what can you do to help?

00:10:06:24 – 00:10:34:06

Jo

And I had some pre-populated options for them. And that included, you know, could you come on the committee, could you help with fundraising events? Could you help with funding applications? Was one. Are you an architect or surveyor? Could you help with painting, decorating or, you know, all of those sorts of things? And that was really key to the response that we got.

00:10:34:08 – 00:10:49:13

Jo

You know, I had three people say, I’d like to come on your committee. So I went from having a half empty committee to having a full committee. And, you know, I’ve had people ask me, can I come on your committee? And I’ve had to say, I’m really sorry. We’re full. Which is a really unusual position for a committee to have.

00:10:49:15 – 00:11:12:07

Jo

But that has come from the survey results. And I also got people who said, I’m really happy to get involved with with grant funding applications, which is an area I knew nothing about. So to have that help was brilliant. It’s also given me, I suppose, a mailing list of our own in terms of there’s people who have said I can help with fundraising events.

00:11:12:09 – 00:11:30:12

Jo

So when we were fundraising, I knew I emailed them all to see. You said you could help us with funding raising events. Could you do a putting on top, for example? So it just gave me some leverage to go back to these people and ask for that help. Yeah. So really useful questionnaire.

00:11:30:14 – 00:11:46:06

Marc

It must be a huge relief to know that you had all these skilled volunteers in your area that were actually like, we’re willing to help. That’s all. I always find it’s a quiet as part of a meeting when, I mean, like, what can you do to help everyone’s like, well, quiet. But to have that level of skill volunteers is that’s that’s pretty incredible.

00:11:46:08 – 00:11:56:01

Jo

It’s interesting, isn’t it? You know, I see the same in meetings, too. You see, I could do some help and everyone looks at the floor. But somehow, through a survey, you give people a bit more chance to reflect, I suppose.

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Marc

Yeah. Maybe a bit of time to think about. Oh, yeah, this is what I can do. Rather than be under pressure to speak at a meeting.

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Jo

Yes, exactly. So it’s a different means of contacting people.

00:12:05:00 – 00:12:38:02

Gavin

I quite like Jo. I quite like the the fact that you were specifically asking if I, if I, if I’m right and reading the notes, that, you know, you’re looking for people with, with specific skills and looking to help you in specific areas and I think that is is probably key, key to it, because I think if somebody in the community has a particular stand of skill and you’re reaching out for that, then I think the perhaps more naturally prone to step forward.

00:12:38:04 – 00:12:44:03

Jo

Yes. I think you’re absolutely right. People are very hesitant to get involved if they don’t quite understand what’s involved.

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Gavin

And they understand the big point. Yeah. So they might think I’m not good at baking cakes. And that’s really not what you’re asking for.

00:12:50:13 – 00:12:56:00

Jo

Sometimes it is like every village will always need cakes.

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Gavin

Oh, exactly.

00:12:57:03 – 00:13:15:07

Jo

And that’s still going on now. You know, I’ve written to the community just a couple of weeks ago. Our project within the whole is happening just now. We’ve got building contractors on site as this stage, and I’ve written to the community to see I’ve got quite a big sewing project because we want to make new curtains for the whole and extend the stage curtains.

00:13:15:09 – 00:13:27:02

Jo

Can you help with sewing? So we’ve got ten volunteers who are all happy to give up a bit of time to do some sewing. And the saving that that name produces means that we can do other things in the hall with the money that we have.

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Gavin

You’ve got an incredible village because 350 people, you’ve got sewing experience, have building trades people, you’ve got architects, surveyors, fundraise homes. Good Lord, what a village.

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Jo

Yeah, I did so shortly. We didn’t actually get an architect. Okay. Did I got everything else on my list. So I was very happy.

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Marc

So we need to try and get architects into North Moreton. Is that right? Yeah. Okay. That’s. We had.

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Gavin

Noted.

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Jo

But. Yeah, but any villages like that, people have hidden talents that you have no idea what. You know, what they do when they’re at work or. Yes. So it’s not really until you go out and ask them. Yes. To help that they can have that chance to reflect and see what could help with that. And I think it’s about making things manageable.

00:14:11:10 – 00:14:25:14

Jo

You know, if someone says to me, would you help with the village hall? It’s an initial reaction. Indeed. When I was asked to go in the committee, my initial reaction was, oh, I’m not sure, but if someone says to me, could you be putting, I can do this? Can you help with something? Yeah, I can probably do that specific.

00:14:25:16 – 00:14:26:07

Gavin

Yeah.

00:14:26:09 – 00:14:32:04

Jo

Exactly. And then we get them into the committee, then they’re committed, then.

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Marc

That’s good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Saying the dotted line.

00:14:34:13 – 00:14:35:14

Jo

Exactly.

00:14:35:16 – 00:14:45:14

Marc

So what’s the work that you’re doing just now then I think, so what was the outcome of the stage? Did you decide to knock it down and keep it down, or has it been rebuilt in a different way or.

00:14:45:16 – 00:15:07:06

Jo

So what we’re doing is we I was very lucky, actually. I got funding from a local county councilor to fund a full structural survey of the whole. And we did that quite early on. And that was it. It was a really good piece of work to do, actually. I already had a few ideas at the stage was not well supported in terms of the floor, but I’m no expert.

00:15:07:06 – 00:15:27:12

Jo

So it was really useful to bring in that, subject matter expert to we got, you know, confirmed information. The other thing that he picked up on when he was doing that survey was the storage that was down the stairs. So not even stairs, but just steps. He came back and said to steps are not complying with regulations.

00:15:27:14 – 00:15:51:02

Jo

And when I asked him about that, he said, do if somebody trips and falls down the steps, they could sue you. And so all of a sudden we’ve got two conflicting things. We’ve got our stage structural concern, and then we’ve got a person concern as well. Safety concerns there. Yeah. But his his suggestions for that area was either that we build a new set of steps which would be bigger and take up more space.

00:15:51:04 – 00:16:17:23

Jo

Or we could bring the floor level up. So I was already thinking about taking out the stage and dropping down the floor level and floor level in the stage area, and he was suggesting bring the floor level up. And in storage cupboards. And that’s what we’ve done. I think it really stood out to me that we could then have all of our whole floor and storage areas on one level, so all of our trolleys and things can be easily manoeuvred from one part of the hall into the into which cupboards, etc..

00:16:18:00 – 00:16:30:05

Jo

That just makes the use of the whole much safer. So yes, the stage floor has gone, and new floor has been built and built in. Both those areas are actually ready and window with the sort of decorating and finishing up stage.

00:16:30:08 – 00:16:43:17

Marc

Oh, excellent. Gavin, you must see this a lot within the world of village halls. Like all these really old buildings which don’t have any modernization or like health or safety rules from 50, 60 years ago. It must be. It must be everywhere.

00:16:43:17 – 00:17:05:21

Gavin

I think it’s a struggle for the village hall committees. I mean, a lot of village homes were obviously born of the First World War. I mean, this is where an awful lot of village halls came from following the Great War. Essentially it was a it was a kind of a national, initiative to really, rebuild the fabric of rural communities after losing so many young men.

00:17:06:00 – 00:17:25:16

Gavin

And, so a lot of village halls, you know, they’re 100 years old and more. Yes, there’s modern village halls, but the old village homes, of course, aren’t up to what we call modern standards in terms of not just health and safety, but, you know, all the, you know, in terms of heating and ventilation and, and all the rest of it and insulation.

00:17:25:18 – 00:17:55:15

Gavin

So, yeah, it’s it’s, it is a struggle for many, many village halls who, you know, every penny is a prisoner. And they have to be very, very careful about the money. And and it’s something that we are very, very conscious of. And I think that’s one of the reasons why, this entry stood out so much for us, because, you know, the getting the whole community shoulder behind, you know, bringing the village hall up to, up to up to scratch and getting the community more involved in it, revitalizing it.

00:17:55:17 – 00:18:05:02

Gavin

Yeah, that’s to me, that was a big inspiration. And these problems exist across the country. Marc, it is a problem for for this whole length and breadth of the country.

00:18:05:04 – 00:18:13:11

Marc

Yeah, yeah. So how did you go about raising the capital for the upgrades? That’s always an issue with, say, the village halls.

00:18:13:13 – 00:18:33:04

Jo

It is. It’s hard work, isn’t it? So our project, our project became a project of three parts, actually. So we had the improvements in the storage area and the improvement in the stage area. And then we also threw into the mix some improvements, with replacement windows and doors. So that’s going to be happening later on this year.

00:18:33:06 – 00:18:41:09

Jo

And part of that was to pick up on some of sort of the green credentials side of things as well, which makes accessing some of the grants, a bit easier.

00:18:41:11 – 00:18:42:11

Marc

Yeah.

00:18:42:13 – 00:19:00:06

Jo

So in terms of how we funded it, that also came in three stages. Our project budget was about 57,000, and the first part of that money came from existing fund and previous fundraising efforts. And we also had some corporate grant money that we received from when the hall was closed during the pandemic. So that’s what we had as a starting point.

00:19:00:06 – 00:19:22:03

Jo

Like the second part of the funding came through what I would call smaller grant applications and local fundraising. Initially we were very well supported by a local county councillor who was able to support us through her councillor priority fund, and we also put in applications to our parish council and to the charitable trust in the village. People, both supported the project.

00:19:22:05 – 00:19:41:06

Jo

We were also successful in two external bids for funding, and the first of those was because we live within ten miles of a landfill site. We are eligible to apply to the Landfill Community Fund and separately we apply to the local solar co-operative. And both of those funders were very keen to support the green credentials side of our project.

00:19:41:08 – 00:20:04:00

Jo

So the windows and doors and local fundraising played a key part at this stage of our work too. So we have a twice yearly book sale, which over the years has raised many thousands of pounds for our village hall and also for the church. And the whole committee organized a number of events. So we had a quiz night, which was good fun and a Christmas market, which was very well attended.

00:20:04:02 – 00:20:27:18

Jo

And we also prepared and sold a village calendar, which was based on the winners from a photograph competition that we held in the parish. But then probably our biggest event that we organized was a barn dance, which was a great evening. It’s really good fun. And also raised over 1,000 pounds for our target. But we also had individuals, Marc who are not on the committee doing some fundraising for us.

00:20:27:20 – 00:20:45:05

Jo

So there’s a plant and produce table in the village, and we were allocated the income from that for for a period of time. And there was also some village books that had been, printed by a couple in the village and they were being sold. Some of the spare ones were being sold in the pub, and again, the money from that came to the whole fund.

00:20:45:07 – 00:21:05:02

Jo

And then most recently this spring, we had, a safari supper, which was organized by a group of individuals in the village. And we were really lucky that they chose the village hall as one of the two beneficiaries from that evening. The overall, we were really well supported with fundraising. And then sort of the last third of our funding came from the district council.

00:21:05:04 – 00:21:12:17

Jo

They have quite a large scheme to support community initiatives, and we were successful in a bid to them, which then formed the last big chunk of our fundraising.

00:21:12:19 – 00:21:13:24

Marc

I said excellent.

00:21:14:01 – 00:21:33:20

Jo

Makes it really it’s a mix of, of quite complex, difficult funding applications and some of which were far easier, under the parish council, the charitable trust were much easier applications to make. I have to say, I was very lucky. On my list of people who volunteered at a few people who offered to help with funding applications.

00:21:33:22 – 00:21:52:17

Jo

And I have to say, I picked off the easy ones to do myself, and I do I do volunteer to pick the far more complicated ones. And I’m really grateful to have actually. And again, from that group, we had expertise, who have had funding for other projects from the sort of the landfill community fund who we’re able to see go to.

00:21:52:19 – 00:22:14:06

Jo

They they will definitely support this sort of project. So just that little sort of subcommittee of people who were interested in doing, grant applications, which was really key, and one of them actually has picked up something completely different. He’s picked up the planning application, part of our project. We’ve had a planning application to change the windows because we’re in a conservation area.

00:22:14:08 – 00:22:33:12

Jo

And again, it’s not really something I know that much about. I could probably have navigation my way through, but it would take up quite a bit of time and reading, and he was able to give that time and reading. And I’m really grateful for him for taking that forward for us as well. So these are, you know, not necessarily people who are on the whole committee that people in the community are just doing that bit for us.

00:22:33:14 – 00:22:51:04

Gavin

That underlines, doesn’t it? Joiner underlines, you know, people with specific skill sets and experiences and, and I think if you ask a specific question, you may well get a specific answer or a person with a specific skill stepping forward as opposed to a generic question, can you help?

00:22:51:06 – 00:23:00:02

Jo

Absolutely. And that’s been key really all the way through. I think I do quite a lot of saying please and thank you.

00:23:00:04 – 00:23:23:13

Marc

It was I think it was a very deserving win. Gavin is very inspirational what I’m hearing here. And I think it’s there’s a lot of takeaways here for all the village holes. From from what you what you’ve done. It’s it really is. I think you were seeing there, Gavin, you know, asked the specific question and you get a specific answer is I think that’s, you know, that’s it.

00:23:23:13 – 00:23:42:23

Gavin

I think we are trying to leapfrog this information. I mean, the whole point of running the awards is inspiration or its inspiration for other village halls to pick up ideas and move forward, because I’m sure you’ve experienced this too. And we go to village hall meetings and conferences all over and over in the county, over around the city county.

00:23:42:23 – 00:24:03:07

Gavin

We go to various counties right across England because we tend to have meetings once a year, the rural community councils and so on and so forth and so often we hear, you know, village hall trustees put their hands up and ask questions and so forth. And it’s incredible how we go from one county to another. And everyone’s asking the same questions all over again.

00:24:03:07 – 00:24:32:01

Gavin

And the normally fairly basic, fairly simple questions. And I think what inspired us to generate the Inspiration Awards was take some of the very best ideas that the other values hold, wherever they may be, can learn from, and can, you know, follow. Follow through with some of the ideas that particularly you’ve done here. Jo. With, with, North Moreton and and you know, help their local communities, help their village halls.

00:24:32:03 – 00:24:49:22

Jo

I think I think you’re absolutely right, Gavin. And that’s what we did here was, you know, we we’ve copied what other people have done in the ways and I’ve taken ideas from work and put them into the whole environment. And, so we’re just taking that expertise and, and using it for our whole, but as I see it, lots of holes have done surveys.

00:24:49:22 – 00:24:54:01

Jo

We maybe just took that to next level in terms of the software that we used.

00:24:54:03 – 00:25:04:15

Marc

What advice would you give to other communities looking to improve their local village holes? If you had to start again, what would you do? What do you know that works and what doesn’t work?

00:25:04:17 – 00:25:31:13

Jo

I think engaging with the community early, you know, identifying who your customers are, who’s who’s got a vested interest in your whole and getting in contact with them and doing some sort of survey or engagement with them to make sure you’re just to bring them on board. Really? It was as much about understanding what they thought we should do in the hope, but also sending that message that we’re going to improve the whole this is your chance to have a say in that as well and be involved.

00:25:31:15 – 00:26:04:20

Jo

So it was really good for my sort of engagement, but also communication perspective. And I think the other thing I would say is don’t be frightened to ask for help and as I say, did a lot of what I do is saying please and thank you. And I think breaking down those requests, as Gavin has said, you know, if you ask a specific question, you get a specific answer, makes people feel a bit more comfortable with volunteering their time or their expertise or their skills, because they know they’re not going to necessarily get dragged into a committee that they didn’t necessarily want to be part of, you know?

00:26:04:22 – 00:26:09:03

Jo

So, yeah, a specific quest request for help work really well.

00:26:09:05 – 00:26:22:17

Marc

Excellent. And. Well, I’m sure the listeners will be really interested to hear hear that, because if they’re going through the same as you did this, you know, just the simple thing of having the forum, to get to get them started, to really know what the community want from their, their, their village whole.

00:26:22:19 – 00:26:46:05

Gavin

I think, sorry if I may also follow up on that, Jo, I think what what what what I thought was fascinating was the fact it wasn’t just the people stepping forward with, with offers of help when you were asking specific questions, but you’ve actually got a waiting list, as you said, to join the committee. And I know in most villages, they really are desperate for people to join the committee.

00:26:46:05 – 00:27:14:15

Gavin

And I know we were dealing with one village recently in a rural part of England, and, there were two trustees, both in their 80s, on the village. The village hall is on its knees and, you know, it’s a very difficult situation there in basically, in so much as they’re not likely to pull together Microsoft Forms and so on and so forth or not digital natives, shall we say.

00:27:14:17 – 00:27:41:01

Gavin

But I suppose one of the hopes that I have with the Village Hall podcast, Marc, and I’m sure you’ll agree, is that the podcast is listened, is being listened to by people in villages, not just necessarily in the village hall. So hopefully this feedback into into the village itself may well allow villages, if you like, and people in rural communities to step forward and say, look, what can we do for the whole rather than the whole thing?

00:27:41:01 – 00:27:42:22

Gavin

What can you do to help us?

00:27:42:24 – 00:27:43:19

Jo

Yeah.

00:27:43:21 – 00:28:01:00

Marc

I totally agree. And I’m sure listeners will as well. I think that digitization can help so many people in these communities put their points across without the added pressure of deciding in a meeting what they can and cannot do, and what they want from their village hall. Kevin, is is there anything else you you’d like to add?

00:28:01:02 – 00:28:15:21

Gavin

No, I just I just want to congratulate. I’d like to congratulate Jill again. I think it was a well deserved, well deserved. When and did you get. When I was looking at the notes, did you manage to, did you manage to reach your fundraising target, or is, a never ending goal?

00:28:15:23 – 00:28:34:18

Jo

No, we managed to reach it, Gavin. And and in fact, the the money that we won, we were hugely grateful for. But I’ve put my in a contingency fund at the moment. Great. We haven’t had to use it at this stage of this project, so when I think when you start this project, we were lucky before with the Covid grant money that we had.

00:28:34:20 – 00:28:41:05

Jo

When you start the next phase, you need to have the money in the bank. And that’s, you know, that’s key to then be able to apply for other grants.

00:28:41:07 – 00:28:42:04

Marc

Yes.

00:28:42:06 – 00:28:43:12

Jo

For the next stage.

00:28:43:14 – 00:28:56:10

Gavin

Yeah, you said that and I do hear that a lot. The you know, you if you have some seed funding, to hand in a reserve fund that really helps release other funding, for who?

00:28:56:12 – 00:29:09:22

Jo

But like, nobody wants to be the first funder. Yeah, they want the last. However many thousand pounds of funding. You know, you so you’ve got to start off with some fundraising locally to get some money, the bank to get some bigger ones and then build it up from there.

00:29:09:22 – 00:29:16:18

Gavin

And nobody wants to be the first volunteer. Nobody wants to be the first funder. But you seem to have cracked both of these solutions.

00:29:16:20 – 00:29:31:12

Jo

Well, thank you, and thank you very much. We were delighted to be your winners. Absolutely. Absolutely surprised and delighted. It means a lot. And. Yeah. So thank you very much.

00:29:31:14 – 00:29:40:00

Gavin

No problem. Thank you very much. And, we’re looking forward to continuing to help with the village halls and certainly. But it was very inspirational. And thank you, Jo. Thank you.

00:29:40:03 – 00:29:40:18

Jo

Pleasure.

00:29:40:20 – 00:29:41:19

Marc

Yes. Thanks, Jo.

00:29:41:21 – 00:29:43:10

Jo

Thank you very much, both of you.

00:29:43:12 – 00:30:12:24

Marc

Many thanks to our headline sponsor and specialist village hall insurance provider, Allied Westminster, the home of VillageGuard, for making this podcast possible and to online booking system provider Hall Master, who also sponsor our podcast and can be found at hallmaster.co.uk . You’ve been listening to The Village Hall’s podcast, a unique listening community for Britain’s village community and church halls and anyone interested in the vital community services they provide.

00:30:13:01 – 00:30:27:05

Marc

We will be back again soon with another episode. For more information, please visit thevillagehallspodcast.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.