Connecting communities: village halls conference

Andrew Aldous - Development Trust Association Scotland (DTAS)

Andrew is the Facilities Management Advisor at Development Trust Association Scotland and has been in post for just over a year. Prior to that Andrew was the Centre Manager of the Fordell Firs Outdoor Centre, a 50-acre, muti-use site which hosted thousands of visitors every year. Andrew will run the following roundtable:

Facilities management (in-person)
Learn more about the fundamentals of facilities management: the day-to-day operational requirements and all of the legal compliance involved in running a hall.

Anna Fowlie - SCVO

Anna joined SCVO as Chief Executive in April 2018. Before that, she was Chief Executive of the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) for nearly 9 years. The SSSC is the professional regulator for social workers and people working in adult and children's social care.

Anna was on the board of Who Cares? Scotland for 8 years, and joined the Oversight Board for The Promise. She is on the board of Dads Rock, and of Prosper (formerly Scottish Council for Development and Industry). She has a degree in History of Art from Edinburgh University, a postgraduate qualification in Human Resources and is a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

Chiara Fingland - SCVO

Chiara is an experienced Architect and artist with a broad background spanning the private, public, and third sectors. At SCVO, in her current role as a Climate Development Officer she supports the Growing Climate Confidence project, which helps the third sector take climate action and build resilience. Chiara, along with Danielle Dale from Small99, will run the following roundtable:

Climate confidence: small changes, big impact (online 11.10am; in-person 12.10pm, 1.45pm)

A taster session of the Growing Climate Confidence: Take Action workshop, introducing practical climate action ideas for your community space. 

Becca Nelson - Glenkens Community Spaces

Becca (she/her) has been supporting village halls across the Glenkens in rural Dumfries and Galloway since 2022 on behalf of the Glenkens Community and Arts Trust and in support of the Glenkens Community Action Plan. She has also coordinated the development of five Local Place Plans to ensure strategic alignment. Becca will run the following roundtable:

Recognising your impact: the role of village halls in repopulation (in-person 12.10pm, 1.45pm)

Exploring the multiple roles that community spaces play in building social networks, leading to people feeling better connected, culturally nourished, more active and educated.

Carron Tobin - Scottish Community Tourism (SCOTO)

Carron Tobin is SCOTO's Exec Director  and has been working with communities across Scotland on their innovative Press Pause programme. She currently sits on the Tourism and Hospitality Industry Leadership Group where she is championing a mission to recalibrate tourism in Scotland to deliver for our communities and environment first. Carron will run the following roundtable:

Community-led tourism and sustainable revenue generation (in-person)

Case studies and insights on revenue generation possibilities and practical first steps

Danielle Dale - Small99

Danielle Dale is the Founder of The Changineer, a consultancy supporting a shift to a sustainable or even regenerative future where organisations balance environmental, social, and economic goals and have purpose beyond profit. With a background in engineering and operations in the energy sector, Danielle uniquely bridges technical solutions with stakeholder engagement. She facilitates meaningful conversations and promotes sustainable practices, and supports her community by hosting events, such as Small 99’s People, Planet, Pint, and Pastry in Aberdeen, fostering collaboration for a better future. Danielle, along with Chiara Fingland from SCVO, will run the following roundtable:

Climate confidence: small changes, big impact (online 11.10am; in-person 12.10pm, 1.45pm)

A taster session of the Growing Climate Confidence: Take Action workshop, introducing practical climate action ideas for your community space. 

Emily Berry - Utility Aid

Emily is passionate about supporting organisations to save time and money on their energy provision. In her current role as Partnerships Director, she has the pleasure of working with over seventy member associations who share our key values. In her opinion, collaboration is key to achieving a sustainable future. Emily will host the following sessions:

Sharing our services (10.55am)

Partner session from Utility Aid about the joint energy purchasing scheme, the benefits and how to join.

How much?! Inspecting your energy bills (in-person, 11.10am and 12.10pm)

Bring your utility bills along to the session and receive a free desktop audit. If Utility Aid finds a discrepancy, they will advise you on how to rectify.

Erin Burke - Make Your Mark in Volunteering

Erin (they/them) is the Campaign Coordinator of Make Your Mark, a campaign to increase the number and diversity of heritage volunteers in Scotland. Erin is an activist heritage professional who specialises in making Scotland's places, spaces and stories more inclusive for everyone. Erin, along with Rosie Wylie from Volunteer Scotland, will run the following roundtable:

Inclusive volunteer recruitment and management (in-person)

Discuss key learnings from the Make Your Mark Inclusive Volunteering Toolkit, including how to recruit and support a diverse range of volunteers.

Gemma Hamilton - Hallmaster

Gemma, a dedicated Customer Support Advisor at Hallmaster, has spent the past four years assisting venues with their transition to Hallmaster, from paper diaries or bespoke software to online booking. From providing full training sessions assisting with setup to answering quick queries on the telephone, making sure customers are receiving the support they need. Gemma will run the following online roundtable:

Connecting communities with online booking (online, 12.10pm, 1.45pm)

This session will explore why many venues have already transitioned away from paper based booking and invoicing to an online booking system that can assist venues in engaging with their communities and becoming integral community hubs. Participants will observe a brief demonstration followed by a discussion on the benefits of online booking in reducing workloads, increasing income and enhancing community engagement.

InspirAlba

Ailsa Clark, Founder and Exec Director | Megan Elliot, Household Resilience Coordinator | Ros McGhee, Household Resilience Advocate

InspirAlba's recent learning exchange brought together stories of community resilience in response to Storm Eowyn. This story gathering and learning exchange work highlighted the importance of village halls as a safe space from which to coordinate community resilience efforts to ensure those most vulnerable are not left in the cold and dark. Examples of village hall resilience were also shared, with solar energy and generator provision, alongside emergency packs, ensuring a safe warm space with resources for distribution for the wider community. InspirAlba will run the following roundtable:

Community resilience (in-person)

Village Halls - a sanctuary for community resilience in as communities face the impacts of climate change with weather emergencies.

Jane Mackinnon - Community Enterprise

Jane is a digital strategist with a decade of experience in technical projects across the public, private, and third sectors. She now leads Breeze Digital and specialises in helping organisations and groups implement systems that enhance their efficiency and support their operations. Jane will run the following roundtable:

Demystifying digital (in-person)

Are you seeking tools to manage room bookings, activities, events, membership or communications? Join this session to discover what's available for village and community halls at low or no cost. Gain valuable insights from digital experts who have collaborated with hundreds of community groups across Scotland. Have a specific question or digital challenge? Each session will include a Q&A segment and signposting to follow-up support.

Jill Keegan - Scottish Community Alliance

Jill is the partnerships Manager for the Scottish Community Alliance – a coalition of 28 community based national networks and intermediaries. She works across these organisations to develop more effective collaboration in support of the community sector in Scotland. Jill is motivated by the diversity and creativity in our sector, and believes the community sector - the part of the third sector that is led by communities - has a key role to play in shaping Scotland’s future. Jill will run the following roundtable:

Community Learning Exchange – peer learning and networks (in-person)
Why the community learning exchange fund is a useful mechanism to support peer learning networks and how to access it.

June Pennykid - Keegan & Pennykid

June is Managing Director of Keegan & Pennykid, an independent, second generation, family-owned insurance broker which specialises in providing insurance advice to the UK third sector. June is a Chartered Insurance Broker and a Former President of the Insurance Society of Edinburgh. June and her colleague Kimberley will run the following roundtable:

Key insurance and risk management considerations for your hall (in-person)

Session info TBC

Kim Holmes - Community Enterprise

Kim leads the marketing and communications at Community Enterprise, Bold Studio and Breeze Digital, where she is driven to raise their profiles nationally so that more people can access the expert support of the three teams. Kim will run the following roundtable:

Spreading the word: increasing our reach (in-person 11.10am, 1.45pm)

Join us for ''Spreading the word: increasing our reach" to amplify your social media impact and connect with a broader audience!

Pamela Barnes - Democratic Finance

Pamela is a Development Officer with Democratic Finance Scotland, with a focus on community engagement to support financing goals. She has substantial experience supporting new groups across Scotland in their journey towards becoming thriving community-owned and led organisations. Pamela will run the following roundtable:

Intro to Democratic Finance (in-person 11.10am, online 1.45pm)
Learn more about the Democratic Finance Scotland programme - raising money locally to take ownership of community assets and run community-led social enterprises - and how it could support your village hall/community enterprise to secure long-term financial sustainability.

Rosie Wylie - Volunteer Scotland

Rosie (she/her) is Head of Innovation and Operations with Volunteer Scotland. This is a new change after 17 years working on volunteering and community development with Historic Environment Scotland.  Rosie has been an active volunteer for many years and currently volunteers for the Western Equestrian Society and Dalkeith Agricultural Show. Rosie, along with Erin from Make Your Mark, will run the following roundtable:

Inclusive volunteer recruitment and management (in-person)

Discuss key learnings from the Make Your Mark Inclusive Volunteering Toolkit, including how to recruit and support a diverse range of volunteers.

Ruth Evans - Development Trust Association Scotland (DTAS)

Ruth started her career as a Building Services Engineer working for public sector and private engineering companies for 12 years so has a good knowledge of the construction industry. For most of her career she has worked in grant management of various funds at Sport Scotland, Community Energy Scotland and Local Energy Scotland before joining DTAS 3 years ago as an asset transfer advisor supporting community groups take ownership if private and public assets. She has a particular interest and experience of renewable technologies which she has been involved in from her early days as an engineer. Ruth will run the following roundtable:

Facilities management (online 11.10am)

Learn more about the fundamentals of facilities management: the day-to-day operational requirements and all of the legal compliance involved in running a hall.