A Busy Autumn for Sussex’s Community Buildings

It’s been an incredibly active few months for the Community Buildings Advice Team here at Action in rural Sussex, and we wanted to share some of the work we’ve been doing to support community buildings across the county.

One of the highlights has been getting out and about visiting different types of halls. From traditional village halls nestled in rural hamlets to multi-purpose community centres serving market towns, we’ve seen first-hand the incredible variety of spaces that bring communities together. We’ve been particularly pleased to be able to deliver Platinum Jubilee Hall plaques to a number of halls who we were able to support with successful bids to the Platinum Jubilee Fund. Each visit has reinforced just how vital these buildings are – not just as physical spaces, but as the beating hearts of their communities.

To better understand and celebrate this diversity, we’ve started pulling together a map to capture the variety of community buildings across the whole of Sussex. We’re still adding to this, so please drop us a line if your hall isn’t on there, or you know of other venues that are missing. Our aim is to turn this into a comprehensive directory, so do watch this space.

Supporting community buildings day to day

Since June, we’ve dealt with around 200 separate queries from community buildings across Sussex, related to everything from funding, governance and building queries to car parks, marketing and much more. The sheer variety of questions demonstrates the complex nature of running a community building – and we’re here to help with all of it. We continue to support community buildings in finding suitable sources of funding, from small amounts to buy a new piece of kit to more ambitious complete redevelopment projects.

Training and networking sessions

We’ve been running a programme of training and networking sessions specifically tailored to the needs of community buildings in Sussex. Networking sessions are free for our subscribers, whilst paid-for training sessions are open to all, with subscribers receiving a discount. Recent sessions have covered topics including reducing energy bills and managing reserves – and if you’re a subscriber who missed these, recordings and resources are available on our website.

Looking ahead, we have several sessions planned: Basecamp Basics (27 November), where you’ll learn how to get the most out of our online platform for connecting community spaces; Hiring Best Practice (11 December), exploring all aspects of hall hiring; Websites for Village Halls (21 January), covering the basics and common challenges; and Safeguarding for Trustees (10 February), looking at legislation and best practice in community building settings. Subscribers can book free networking sessions via the subscriber area of our website.

We’ve started planning for Village Halls Week, which will take place from 16-20 March 2026. This annual celebration is a wonderful opportunity to shine a spotlight on the incredible work village halls do year-round, and we’ll be sharing more details about how you can get involved in the coming months. Here’s a taste of what happened in 2025.

Advocacy and partnership working

Beyond our direct work with halls, we’ve been active in advocacy and building partnerships across Sussex. We recently responded to a government consultation about licensing and Temporary Events Notices, encouraging the government to consider the particular needs of rural village halls and their volunteers. These buildings operate very differently from commercial venues, and it’s crucial that licensing regulations reflect this reality. 

We’ve been building on connections within East Sussex County Council, specifically with the procurement team, to explore how we can help community buildings make the most of the social value element of any contracts let by ESCC and Brighton and Hove. We’ll be looking at what else can be done across West Sussex too. We’ve been speaking with teams in councils to ensure that initiatives are considered from a rural perspective – something that can easily be overlooked in policy development.

We’ve also been working closely with local authorities on other matters. For Wealden District Council, we carried out a survey about the sorts of leisure and wellbeing activities happening in halls across their district. This information will help inform their upcoming leisure service procurement process, ensuring community halls remain central to local provision. The survey found that halls offer a huge range of activities that promote health and well-being, including fitness, flexibility and balance classes, weight management, mindfulness, inclusive and adapted fitness and sport, interest clubs that build social connections, and activities for children and families. Halls also expressed a wish to do even more to provide for all the diverse needs of their communities. WDC is considering ways to support this through their leisure services procurement. 

As part of the work Wealden District Council is funding us to do to support community buildings in their district, we hosted over 30 organisations at a webinar all about fundraising including where to look, grant-writing tips and community engagement tools. We were also pleased to hear from WDC officers about the new Community-Led Infrastructure Fund, the Sports-Infrastructure Fund, the Councillor Ward Budgets and the Wealden Community Lottery. We will be following up the virtual session with an in-person event in the new year.

Additionally, we’ve been working with the Association of Local Authorities in West and East Sussex to help parish councillors better understand their role in relation to village hall charities where parish councils are involved. This clarity is essential for effective governance and support.

Our services

Our Community Buildings Advice Service is here to support community buildings with everything from governance and funding to health and safety and operational challenges. We also offer a subscription service that provides ongoing support, resources and priority access to training. If you’d like to know more about how we can help your hall thrive, please do get in touch.

Share your success stories

We’d love to hear your good news! Whether it’s a funding success, information about recent upgrades your hall has made, or upcoming milestones worth celebrating, we want to share these stories with our community of halls across Sussex. If you have something you’d like us to feature in upcoming newsletters, drop us an email at villagehalls@ruralsussex.org.uk.

We’re also looking for vibrant photos of bustling village halls to brighten up our social media and office walls! If you have images of community events inside your hall or lovely shots of the building’s exterior that you’d be happy to share, please email them to us and let us know we have your permission to use them. Please ensure no under-18s appear in any photos you send, everybody with their face visible has given consent for the image to be used, and that your organisation has full copyright for the images.

 

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