We provide practical guidance and advocacy to trustees, employees and management committees of community buildings across rural North, South and West Yorkshire.

You can access support on a range of areas including: good governance; safeguarding; finance and funding; policies and procedures and operational good practice. We facilitate a regular support network for people managing community venues and host a closed Facebook peer support group.

Upcoming Network meetings

Share your experience of running rural community buildings, learn about new resources and policy development, and explore mutual topics of interest. In these inclusive network meetings, members set the agenda. Open to all people managing community run venues.

• 17th August 2022: Online booking systems – with a presentation by Hallmaster. Find out more information and book a place here.

Previous network meetings

An overview of previous network meeting discussions, useful links and resources.

Facebook Peer Support Group

We have a closed Facebook group for committee members of community buildings and village halls. We now have over 350 members from across Yorkshire who regularly post questions and answers, and support each other.

The group is for all those involved with running community buildings as a space to share their thoughts, actions and questions on all aspects of hall management. You will need a Facebook account to join, please contact us if you need help with this. If you already have a Facebook account please click here to join.

Specialist resources

Because we are a rural community council and member of the ACRE Network (Action with Communities in Rural England), our members are able to access specialist ACRE resources written exclusively for community buildings and village halls. These information sheets and model documents will guide you with every aspect of running a village hall, from insurance and creating a business plan to hiring agreements and trust deeds.

Find out how to become a Community First Yorkshire member to access these resources.

General resources

We have a wide range of general information available to all organisations, which includes good governance; finance and funding; policies and procedures and operational good practice.

Useful links

We are the Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE) Village Hall Adviser for community buildings in rural North, South and West Yorkshire. To find out more about the work of ACRE and how they support Village Halls and Rural communities visit Action for Communities in Rural England.

Contact us

To find out more about the network please contact Joanne Abbott and Leah Furniss communitysupport@communityfirstyorkshire.org.uk or by calling 01904 704177.