Community Buildings

Providing support and guidance for community buildings and village halls in Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes

Community buildings and village halls are often at the heart of rural communities, providing essential services and activities to the local area.

As the Rural Community Council for Buckinghamshire and member of Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE), we offer a Community Buildings Subscription Service providing light touch advice and information to community building management committees.

Subscriber benefits include:

  • E-bulletins about issues that matter to community buildings and village halls, including the latest funding opportunities.
  • Instant notifications on relevant community building opportunities and events.
  • Village Hall Management Healthcheck document – a key checklist highlighting the legal requirements and good practice for your village hall, from managing the premises, to managing a charity, staff, volunteers, and finances.
  • Quarterly Zoom Meetings – providing advice and information, and an opportunity to meet other community building representatives and share knowledge and experiences.
  • Access to an exclusive Facebook group – providing an online discussion forum for members to ask each other questions and share ideas and experiences.
  • Advice and information service including one-to-one telephone and email support on a range of issues including insurance, building work, employment, health and safety, governance, constitutions, and volunteers.
  • Services of a specialist volunteer who can provide up to 4 hours support and advice for more complex issues on a case-by-case basis.
  • Free access to 42 National Village Hall information sheets from ACRE (normally £10 each) and model documents. Full details of the sheets available can be found on the ACRE Publication Order Form Feb 2022.
  • Membership of the National Village & Community Halls Network – providing a route for management committees to lobby and influence relevant government policy and legislation.

The subscription fee is £65 for the year from 1 April 2023 – 31 March 2024. To find out more and to subscribe, please complete the subscription form or email Frankie on info@communityimpactbucks.org.uk.

Information Sheets and Model Documents

Funding support

We can help with finding grants and other funding opportunities to enable you to maintain and improve your community hall or centre:

Safeguarding advice and contacts

It’s sometimes said that village hall charities do not have much responsibility for ensuring people using the venue are safe from harm, because that is up to the organisers of all the different activities that take place in halls.  Obviously, it is true that hirers have a key role in ensuring (as best they can) the safety and wellbeing of their participants, but the village hall committee has an important role too.

Guidance and information leaflets:

Safeguarding training opportunities and local contacts:

Training and Networking for Community Buildings

  • Facebook Group: we provide an online discussion forum on Facebook for members to ask each other questions and share ideas and experiences.  Email info@communityimpactbucks.org.uk or call 01844 617218 if you would like to join the closed group.
  • Community Buildings Zoom Sessions: we run regular online events where you can meet and share ideas with other people running community halls and centres. These sessions are your opportunity to discuss and share information on everything related to community buildings with other management committees in Bucks.
    For future sessions we would like to focus on key topics of interest.  Please can you let us know what topics you would like to see covered at future sessions?  Email your suggestions to info@communityimpactbucks.org.uk 
  • Local Voluntary Sector Networks: if you would like to the opportunity to network with other organisations in Buckinghamshire, Community Impact Bucks is hosting a series of online forums for Bucks-based charities, voluntary and community groups, and social enterprises to share information and collaborate on the local issues that matter most. These free forums – Local Voluntary Sector Networks – provide an informal space where not-for-profit organisations can discuss local needs and explore opportunities for change in local communities. Find our more on our Local Voluntary Sector Network.
  • Training:  for training opportunities, please visit our events page.

Help Managing Rising Energy Bills

Community Impact Bucks has received many enquiries from halls about reducing energy costs. A simple and effective way to do this is to use an energy broker to check you are on the best tariffs.

Community Impact Bucks has chosen to partner with Utility Aid* as it specifically works with village and community halls and has worked with ACRE (our national body) for several years. If you use the Utility Aid service, Community Impact Bucks will receive a small commission which helps fund our work.

How to work with Utility Aid

  1. Go to our unique page on Utility Aid’s website by clicking on Utility Aid’s contact form.
  2. You will be offered the following:
    • A free desktop audit which will identify any discrepancies on invoices including consumption fluctuations, inaccurate billing, incorrect VAT, incorrect tariff, general anomalies.
    • Bespoke tailormade quotations centred around your organisations usage, budget, and appetite for risk
  3. If you decide to proceed with one of the offers available, Utility Aid will carry out the switching process for you. Once your contract is in place you will receive full account management, query resolution and invoice validation for the duration of contract

When contacting Utility Aid, please use the reference “Community Impact Bucks” and let us know about your experience. If you have any queries please contact  Frankie Hockham,  our Village Halls Adviser or Emily Berry, Utility Aid’s Partnership Manager.

Webhttps://www.utility-aid.co.uk/contactform/communityimpactbucks
Phone: 0808 1788 170
Email
eberry@utility-aid.com

*There is no obligation to use Utility Aid. There are over 70 energy brokers in the UK; it is important to find an energy broker that suits your needs and offers the services you require. Find a list of energy brokers: https://ukbusinessenergy.co.uk/energy-brokers-consultancy/

More information

If you are interested in learning more about Utility Aid and the services it offers to village and community halls, have a look at a recording of a recent event where the Utility Aid team talk about how they can help you reduce your energy costs. You can access the recording by visiting How to manage rising energy cost with Utility Aid Webinar.

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Image courtesy of St Francis's Children Society