Join Our Network

Now booking! Suffolk Village Halls and Community Buildings Conference: 14 May 2016

VHC 2016 logo - email header v2

Community Action Suffolk is excited to bring you the annual Suffolk Village Halls and Community Buildings Conference on Saturday 14 May 2016.

This year’s venue, Great Barton Village Hall, is an exemplary community building which demonstrates a successful approached-to-phased expansion.

Following on from the success of last year’s conference in Debenham, we invite anyone who is interested or involved with a community building of any shape or size to come along.

We welcome Jonathan Clark of the Big Lottery and Deborah Clarke of ACRE as our main speakers.

There will be presentations and workshop sessions on a variety of topics:

  • The pros and cons of changing to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)
  • Measuring your Impact
  • Insuring your Village Hall
  • Funding Applications: How to get ahead
  • Is Governance important?
  • How Green is your Village Hall?
  • Why do I need a Hiring Agreement?
  • Social Media for Village Halls
  • Social Impact – a practical guide
  • Case study: How Great Barton Village Hall has been enhanced through a series of extensions and improvements

Refreshment breaks will provide ample opportunity to visit the display stands around the venue, from funders and a variety of suppliers. You will also be able to network with the other attendees.


This event is for:

  • Anyone who is interested in or involved with a community building of any shape or size

Book your place today

We encourage you to book online, there is the option to be sent an invoice.
Places can be booked offline, please contact [email protected]


Conference programme

  • 9:30am Arrival & refreshments
  • 10am Welcome
  • 10:15am Big Lottery funding for Community Buildings: Jonathan Clark, Big Lottery
  • 11am A national view of funding for Village Halls: Deborah Clarke, Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE)
  • 11:20am An introduction to Measuring your Social Impact: Hannah Reid, Community Action Suffolk (CAS)
  • 11:40am Break
    • Insuring your community building
    • Is governance important?
    • How green is your building
    • A practical guide to measuring social impactMidday Workshops Session 1:
  • 12:45pm Lunch
  • 1:30pm Great Barton Village Hall – a case study of a phased building upgrade: Peter Turner and Bill Charnaud, Great Barton VHMC
  • 1:45pm Charitable Incorporated Organisation: the pros and cons of changing: Robert Horn, Community Action Suffolk
  • 2pm An update from the national Village Halls Advisors conference: Robert Horn
  • 2:15pm Workshops Session 2:
    • Funding applications: How to get ahead
    • Social Media for village halls
    • Do I need a hiring agreement?
    • To be confirmed
  • 3pm Plenary session with Q&A
  • 3:30pm Finish

Market Place

There will also be a Market Place featuring a number of companies with small exhibition spaces offering services or products of relevance to community buildings. These will be available throughout the conference and there will be plenty of time during refreshment breaks to talk to the exhibitors who include:

  • Barclay’s Digital Eagles (grants) *
  • Community Action Suffolk (insurance, IT services, consultancy work)
  • Hallmaster (online booking software)
  • Realise Futures (outdoor recycled furniture)
  • Roger Hyde Flooring *
  • Suffolk Community Foundation (grants)
  • Tesco Bags of Help fund
  • Utilities Aid (utility broker)
  • Babergh and Mid Suffolk Districts Councils
  • Ipswich Borough Council *
  • Waveney and Suffolk Coastal District Councils
  • West Suffolk District Council

* to be confirmed


Contact

For any enquiries regarding this event, please contact [email protected]


Cancellations

Refunds for cancellations by delegates will only be made if at least 10 days’ notice prior to the event date has been given. Refunds will be issued if Community Action Suffolk has to cancel this event due to insufficient bookings. Failure to cancel your place no more than 10 days in advance of the event will result in an invoice being issued (if you haven’t paid online), whether or not you attend the event.