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.

Changes to VAT concession on charitable buildings - 03 Jul 09

Charities wishing to take advantage of the zero-rate available for the construction of, and the acquisition of, a building should be aware of the changes to the zero rating VAT concession.

New Village SOS fund to revive rural communities - 04 Jun 09

Village SOS is an exciting new initiative from the Big Lottery Fund (BIG) and the BBC. It is searching for six UK villages with ideas for successful enterprises that will help revive their communities, create new jobs and improve the quality of life of local people.

Briefing on the Big Thinking consultation - 23 Feb 09

The Big Lottery Fund's Big Thinking consultation provides an opportunity for rural communities to have their say on the Investing In Communities funding, which the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) believes has failed to provide adequate support for village halls and other community facilities. SCVO's rural team provides a briefing on the main issues.

Full village halls research report published - 23 Jan 09

The full report from the Village Halls research has now been published. The first major research study on rural Scotland's community facilities looked at their provision, condition, management, funding, use and implications for future use.

Full list of News Stories

New! - Energy-saving and access systems in community sports facilities
This report has been produced by sportscotland to evaluate the benefits of installing energy-saving and access systems to a community sports facility at Guildtown Community Hall, Perthshire.

New! - Making community buildings work for people
This study develops and applies a methodology for identifying the action needed to realise the full potential of local authority owned community buildings in helping to promote social inclusion, modernise public services and improve quality of life in deprived neighbourhoods.

New! - Managing Your Community Building
For many years Community Matters has produced this practical handbook for people running buildings in local communities. This publication is now out of print. However they still get requests for the book, so they have made a PDF version available.

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! - Funding building projects
The funding page has been updated to include the Scotland Rural Development Programme which can provide funding for community facilities through Rural Priorities and LEADER.

Trusts and Trustee Investment Powers - 23 Jun 09
This page explains what a trust is, how it might operate and some of the associated advantages and disadvantages of this structure.

A short miscellany of smaller but nevertheless important sections of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 - 23 Jun 09
Includes information about common investment schemes and common deposit schemes; 'formal communications'; the guilt of an individual in relation to that of a body corporate; definitions of 'control, charity, charity trustees, constitution and misconduct'.

Fundraising Part 5: Public Benevolent Collections - 23 Jun 09
The Act sets out some new provisions for fundraising in Scotland and brings into charity law some provisions previously ‘dotted about’ in other law. This page provides a good deal of information on the rules about 'public benevolent collections' - which includes street collections.

Fundraising Part 4: Fundraising Regulations - 23 Jun 09
The Act sets out some new provisions for fundraising in Scotland. This page sets out the areas in which fundraising regulations can/might be made and once regulations actually have been made the page will highlight them.

Fundraising Part 3: Unauthorised Fundraising - 23 Jun 09
The Act sets out provisions for fundraising in Scotland. This page explains what 'unauthorised fundraising' is and how it can be prevented.

Calendar of courses and events

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