Village Halls - Homepage

The Village Halls website is a one stop shop for news, information and networking for anyone involved in managing a village hall or community building in Scotland.

Funding latest newsletter:Issue 7 - 26 Aug 10

The Funding Latest newsletter from the Scotland National Rural Network website gives you regular updates of news, deadlines and announcements about rural funding.

Protecting Vulnerable Groups Scheme - 23 Jul 10

The Scottish Government has announced that the Protecting Vulnerable Groups Scheme will commence on 30 November 2010. A package of guidance and training materials has also been published.

Planning Aid launches new scheme to help community groups - 23 Jul 10

Planning Aid for Scotland (PAS) has launched a new mentoring scheme to help community groups take advantage of their local resources in areas such as a renewable energy scheme, community hall, allotments, or affordable housing by offering free planning advice and training to rural community groups.

Funding Latest newlsetter: Issue 6 - 21 Jul 10

The Funding Latest newsletter from the Scotland National Rural Network website gives you regular updates of news, deadlines and announcements about rural funding. This months issue also announces the new Big Lottery Investing in Communities programmes.

Full list of News Stories

Letting it happen! - how to make church buildings work for you
This enormously helpful handbook has been written to help manage and develop church buildings and halls. However, most of the information is just as useful to those managing community and village halls. By following its advice, you should be able to look after your buildings and grounds better, manage their use and set cost-effective charging.

New! - Rural Community Buildings in England 2009 - Key findings
This report provides early key findings from ACRE’s third comprehensive survey of the state of rural community buildings, updating data from surveys in 1988 and 1998.

New! The economic impact of community buildings in rural communities
This is the first of a series of short reports arising from ACRE's 2009 survey of rural community buildings. It shows communities have a significant impact on the economy in rural areas.

Oil storage regulations
From 1st April 2010 all village halls and community buildings have to comply with the 2006 oil storage regulations. This includes ensuring that your oil storage tank has secondary containment to avoid pollution of the environment. Details of the regulations and where to get help are included.

Rural Direct
Rural Direct is a service designed to help rural community organisations to access funding from a range of sources including the new Scotland Rural Development Programme (SRDP). Whether you're looking to refurbish your village hall, develop new local amenities and services, or work out a long term plan for your community's future development, funding is available to help you. They can help you get hold of it.

Updated! - Alcohol licensing
Page updated March 2010 with resouces on licensing from Moray Federation of Community Halls and Associations

Updated! - Health and safety legislation and village halls
Page updated in March 2010 with an example risk assessment for village halls and guidelines for running a village fete.

References to Charitable Status - 06 Aug 10
There are new rules about how a charity may refer to its charitable status.

Changes to a Charity: OSCR’s consent and notifying OSCR - 06 Aug 10
There are a number of things that a charity cannot do without OSCR’s permission and/or of which they must inform OSCR; and over which OSCR has powers of direction. For example, OSCR has powers to direct a charity to change its name in certain circumstances.

Becoming a Charity in Scotland Part 2: The Application Process - 06 Aug 10
There is a formal application process for becoming a charity in Scotland. This page explains what the law says about this process and provides a link to the application forms on the website of the Office of the Scottish Charity Regualtor (OSCR).

Becoming a Charity in Scotland Part 1: Charitable Purposes and Public Benefit - 06 Aug 10
To be a charity in Scotland you must pass the 'charity test'. You must have one or more of the sixteen charitable purposes, provide public benefit and, in most cases, be independent of central government. This page sets out the detail of the charity test.

Non-Departmental Public Bodies - 05 Aug 10
This page explains what NDPBs are, provides a list of some key ones, oultines some of their activities and gives contact links.

Calendar of courses and events

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