Boost for community gathering spaces in the National Park

The Community Partnership, supported by Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park Authority, is holding a ‘Village Hall Summit’ on Wednesday 27th June 2018, offering managers and volunteer committees of village halls and community spaces across the Park the chance to benefit from expert advice and guidance.

The Summit, the first of its kind in the National Park, will bring together all those in the area who manage these facilities to provide inspiration and practical advice from a range of partners across the National Park. It will feature case studies of other village and community halls using their space in innovative or impressive ways; practical workshops that will help managers to create an outline development plan bespoke to their hall; as well as networking and access to advice from over twenty experts.

The aim of the event is to empower hall managers to deliver actions that will improve the quality of the service and facilities they provide to their communities – a vision outlined in the National Park Partnership Plan 2018-2023.

Stuart Mearns, Director of Rural Planning and Development at Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park Authority, said: “The National Park Partnership Plan sets out an exciting vision for our communities that ensures they are empowered and supported to influence and deliver actions that improve their quality of life and place. This event is just one example of partners in the Plan coming together to make that vision a reality.

“The Village Hall Summit promises to be a practical and productive day which will offer big benefits for those spaces which bring together our communities. I would encourage anyone with a role in managing a village or community hall to come along to hear from experts and learn best practice from your peers, so that you can begin forward planning an exciting and sustainable future for your hall.”

Dinah McDonald, Chair of the Community Partnership, said: “Our village halls have always been the heart of rural communities. Ensuring a sustainable future for these spaces in today’s world can seem an increasingly difficult challenge to the many volunteers who are the core of their success. This Summit promises to offer tools and support to make that job far easier and the future of community spaces more exciting.”

The Village Hall Summit will be taking place at the Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park Authority Headquarters in Balloch on Wednesday 27th June 2018, 4pm-8.30pm.

Guest speakers include Cove Burgh Hall – a working community hub which was also one of the first Village Halls in Argyll & Bute to gain SCVO’s Keystone quality assurance award.

Other contributors to the event include:

• Keep Scotland Beautiful
• Big Lottery Fund
• Community Ownership Support Service
• The Plunkett Foundation
• Anderson Strathern
• Scottish Land Fund
• Social Enterprise Academy
• ACT (Argyll & the Isles Coast & Countryside Trust)
• Stirling Access Panel
• Scottish Community Alliance
• The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland
• Scottish Fire & Rescue
• Stirling Access Forum
• Argyll & Bute Council
• Stirling Council

For more information on this event, visit: www.thecommunitypartnership.org.uk

Notes to Editors

The National Park Partnership Plan 2018-23 sets out 13 key outcomes that the Park Authority and its partners aim to address over the next five years. This includes Outcome 12: Community Empowerment: “The Park’s communities are supported to influence and deliver actions that improve their quality of life and place.”
Read more on the National Park Partnership Plan at www.lochlomond-trossachs.org/PartnershipPlan

The Community Partnership is an independent charity and a membership organisation that brings together community groups big and small from across Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park. More information on the Community Partnership can be found at www.thecommunitypartnership.org.uk