Specialist resources for community buildings

Would you like guidance on managing a major extension or refurbishment? Do you need to review your health and safety procedures? Or are you keen to ensure your committee members know exactly what their roles and responsibilities are?

We provide information sheets and model documents for village halls, community centres, and other community buildings covering these issues.

Information Sheets

A full list of the available information sheets can be viewed at the link below. These are free by email for all Hampshire area organisations that run a community building.  Paper copies cost £5 per booklet.  Contact our community buildings officer – details in the purple box to the right.

Village Hall Information Sheet list – Oct2021

We have 3 further guidance booklets that are free from our community buildings officer.

Village Hall Management Health Check

Good practice for managing a village hall, covering these aspects:

• The charity – constitutional and legal issues
• Staff and volunteers – particularly around employment law
• Financial issues – reporting requirements and managing the charity’s money
• Premises and activities – insurance, risk assessment, licences

Your Village Hall Management Committee

A more detailed look at the different roles within a charity’s management committee and how to hold effective meetings.

Maintaining Your Hall

A guide to keeping your building in good condition through a programme of regular maintenance.

A note on ‘trustees’

When we and the Charity Commission use the word ‘trustees’, it normally means the charity trustees – the people who have ultimate control over and responsibility for the charity.  These people might also be known as the management committee or (especially for charitable companies) the board of directors.

Some village hall charitable trusts will also have a small group of holding trustees.  This role is only needed to hold the legal title to the premises on behalf of an unincorporated charity; being a holding trustee does not give any responsibility or power over the management of the charity or its premises.

The Charity Commission offers a free and simple way of avoiding any confusion over these two different trustee roles.  Simply transfer the premises and land to the Commission and remove the need for ‘holding trustees’ – more details here.

Model documents

These documents are produced with expert input from solicitors specialising in charity law. Each document costs £20 for Action Hampshire members and £30 for other organisations.

• Model hiring agreement
• Occupational licence (including a version to use with pre-schools)
• Lease of land and trust deed for a village hall charitable trust
• Transfer of freehold land and trust deed for a village hall charitable trust
• Charitable Incorporated Organisation model constitution for a village hall (with template lease or land transfer document)
• Articles of Association for a village hall limited company