National Lottery funding gives rural communities in Herefordshire and Worcestershire something to celebrate this Village Halls Week

Rural communities across Herefordshire and Worcestershire have something to celebrate this Village Halls Week thanks to support from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK.

Castlemorton Parish Hall, near Malvern, has been awarded almost £80,000 to upgrade and refurbish its building. The good news was announced during Village Halls Week (Monday 20 January – Sunday 26 January) - an annual celebration of rural community spaces and the people who dedicate their time to run them.

The hall is currently used by hundreds of local people every year for various activities such as a film club, Pilates, karate, committee meetings and dog training. Thanks to the new National Lottery funding, a second room will be built so that more activities can take place at once, as well as larger events like wedding receptions. The toilets will also be refurbished and the outside appearance of the hall will be improved.

Don Lupton, Project Manager at Castlemorton Parish Hall, said: “After three years of planning, it’s fantastic to start seeing our visions come to life and it’s all thanks to money raised by National Lottery players. Our village hall is the social centre of the community – it’s a place where many people meet up – so we can’t wait to offer an improved space for many more activities like coffee mornings and toddler groups. We recently installed faster broadband so we hope to also see local businesses utilising the hall.”

Castlemorton isn’t the only village hall seeing the benefits of National Lottery funding this Village Halls Week. Thanks to £100,000, Community First are giving over 350 village halls across Herefordshire and Worcestershire the opportunity to help tackle social isolation and loneliness.

Community First is bringing village hall committees together to share their experiences, as well as providing them with ideas to reduce loneliness in their rural communities, including making their facilities more accessible for people with dementia. The One Step Out project is also linking with public sector and voluntary and community sector organisations, such as Age UK and Herefordshire and Worcestershire Fire and Rescue Service, so that other services can be delivered from village halls.

Mark Herriott, General Manager at Community First, said: “Village halls are lifelines in rural communities and are sometimes the only place where local people can come together. With many village pubs closing, vital meeting places are being lost, which is why this National Lottery funding is so important.

“Our aim is to ensure that amongst their fantastic work, village halls are doing all they can to reduce loneliness in their communities. We offer advice and ideas to help tackle this, such as bringing young people into village halls to show older people how they play video games, or setting up a neighbourhood transport scheme to access the hall.”

Since 2018, Village Halls Week has been organised by Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE) and sees a huge variety of events happening across England. Contact your local village hall adviser to find out more. Village halls can sign up to be part of Village Halls Week here. Community First is a member of the ACRE Network.

Nicola Thurbon, Senior Head of Regional Funding for the Midlands at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “We’re delighted to be supporting spaces that are important to rural communities this Village Halls Week. Thanks to National Lottery players, village halls across Herefordshire and Worcestershire are receiving vital funding to bring local people together to enjoy activities, share memories and meet new friends, helping to reduce social isolation and loneliness.”

Village halls can have such a huge impact on local communities - they can bring people together and provide a wide range of opportunities and activities. It’s important to ensure that the local community is at the heart of their village hall and driving actions forward. Village hall committees are encouraged to concentrate on what the space can enable and what activities and benefits it can bring to local communities, not just the building itself.

The National Lottery Community Fund distributes money raised by National Lottery players for good causes. Last year it awarded over half a billion pounds (£511.1 million) of life-changing funding to communities across the UK and supported over 12,000 projects to turn their great ideas into reality. To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk