To celebrate annual Village Halls Week in January, South Pool Village Hall teamed up with Devon Communities Together to hold celebration event for the local community, inviting other village hall representatives from neighbouring parishes in the South Hams.
South Pool Village Hall have been keen to start up a network for local village halls, so the aim of the event was to hold a ‘Fika’- coffee, cake, and catch up - as a way to drop in for advice from representatives from Devon Communities Together, as well as a social opportunity for local residents to meet other committee members from other halls. And as added bonus, people who attended could enjoy homemade cake, which was made by local volunteers especially for the occasion.
The event was attended by an impressive 58 people, creating a lovely busy hall all day and with many visiting South Pool Village Hall for the first time. The wonderful ‘star baker’ volunteers made a delicious selection of cakes, including; apricot, cherry & almond, coffee & walnut, and chocolate biscuit cake. As the team were holding a ‘Fika,’ volunteers also made Swedish cakes Kladdkaka and Tigerkaka. If that wasn’t enough, there were homemade biscuits, and cheese scones with chutney, all washed down with real coffee- and good company!
Many people travelled from outside of the area to attend the event, and it was a privilege to welcome village hall committee members representing 10 parishes all together; Chivelstone, Cornwood, East Portlemouth, Frogmore, Sherford, Slapton, Stete, South Milton, South Pool, Newton and Noss, and Newton Ferrers WI Community Hall.
Having been closed during the pandemic, many halls are emerging with new committee members who are new to their roles and looking for some guidance and support. In addition, many halls are seeking new ways to engage with their communities and are keen to include and encourage new hall users and volunteers. Inviting other village halls along was a great way to introduce everyone to meet each other, share ideas, and to plan for the future.
Devon Communities Together’s Village Hall specialist, Martin Rich, attended to provide advice on everything village hall related and was in much demand with an array of enquiries from attendees. Charlotte Squire was on hand to talk about the Village Hall Audit- a survey funded by DEFRA and Public Health England - detailing how Devon’s village halls and other community buildings are providing for their communities, the facilities they have available, and their ideas for the future. The event was a great opportunity to encourage other halls to sign up both for the Audit and to become members of Devon Communities Together.
Many halls across the county are considering solar panels and looking for more ways to be sustainable, so it was great that DCT’s Harry Bonnell was available to provide green energy advice. Victoria Grimberg spoke to people about DCT’s Wellbeing Works project, which aims to raise awareness of the importance of wellbeing at work and provides opportunities for free online workshops or 1-2-1 sessions.
Victoria and Harry also happened to be giving Zoom workshops as part of the New Start Devon project, so we were happy to provide facilities to enable a ‘live broadcast’ to other village halls from South Pool! The event was also a great opportunity for the community to meet members of Devon County Council’s Devon Resilience Project (DRIP) project team and find out about what is being planned for their pilot project in South Pool.
And last but not least, Councillors from South Pool Parish Council were available to discuss the role of the parish council and meet members of the community.
A spokesperson from the South Pool Village Hall Committee said “It was great to see so many committee members from neighbouring parishes; everyone was keen to form a support hub or network. This will also facilitate linking communities in with each other more, so that people are encouraged to visit and feel welcome at other village halls, which helps people to get out and about, try different activities, and meet new people.
Connecting with other village halls is an unexpected 'spin off’ from the Village Hall Audit project- it’s great to see what it has started. In the coming year we look forward to a new collaboration between local village halls in the South Hams.
Thank you to our wonderful volunteers who helped with the set up beforehand, helped at the event, and our amazing cake bakers! It certainly was a fun and fitting way to celebrate Village Halls Week.”
To hire South Pool Village Hall or find out more about forthcoming events, please email south.pool.events@gmail.com.
If you would like more information about being part of Devon Communities Together as a member or the Village Halls Audit, please contact the team on info@devoncommunities.org.uk or 01392 248919.