Victoria and Albert Halls (Ballater) Trust

Gordon Riddler, Chair

Aberdeenshire

https://www.victoriaandalberthalls.co.uk

Tell us about your village hall

We’re situated right in the centre of Ballater in Station Square, opposite the old Victorian station.

We've got the Albert Hall, the Victoria Hall and the village cinema in an upstairs room. There is a courtyard out the front leading to the community and heritage hub which we created a couple of years ago.

I'm the chair of the of the Trust - there are currently ten trustees and two vacancies at the moment. The trustees have a broad range of experience looking after construction and electrical - installations, which recently has been quite important. To improve energy performance of the Halls the Trust is seeking to raise funding for air source heating, solar panels and insulation. We’ve already done LED lighting throughout the hall, which was easily done, but the bigger equipment is quite expensive.

By the time we’ve finished the energy improvement project the Halls will be where they should be. And of course as they become more attractive, affordable and comfortable, the usage is going up. That leads to a need for day-to-day management. While the revenue is building up, affording a manager is still a struggle, so we're in this sort of transitional phase.

Recently we appointed a trustee as Convenor for Environment and Sustainability who wrote the environment policy. In response to this the Trust has been successful with a funding application to set up a wildlife zone between the Halls and the building next door. We have swifts and ravens – which we're happy to have, but we now look to manage their location.

The halls were built over a few years from 1874 so they are old buildings, but recently these have been getting modernised quickly.

What's a typical week like?

We've got 56 user groups and exhibitors, but that varies from time to time during the year. This includes the Upper Deeside Art exhibition – which has royal patronage. There are baby and toddler groups –the Wee Ducklings and the Busy Bees who are slightly older. We do quite a lot of national events that pass through Ballater, so they use the halls – including a major cycle event. The hall is used for driver theory tests once a month.

The Trust runs a Repair Workshop and The Ready Steady Eat Recovery Cafe in one of the small rooms. That started off in lockdown, now it teaches people who are on their own how to cook meals.  Then there’s highland dancing, retired lady’s and men's clubs, the horticultural society , and the Ballater Pipe Band practice  weekly, as well as the fitness groups, Women’s Institute and bridge classes.

One thing that’s difficult just now is covering our actual running costs without putting groups off by charging them too much. So for community, we aim to charge just to cover our costs.
It sounds a lot, but it's been an absolute struggle because we had no income during the COVID  lockdown. We managed to batten the hatches down and get some grants. They weren't a lot of money, but they were enough to keep the place from freezing and to keep it maintained. And that's all we could do.

We are a registered charity with OSCR and with the aim to maintain a community facility, not to create a huge surplus but aiming to create a reserve to cover any future “rainy day”.

We converted a basement space into an emergency equipment store for the Ballater Resilience Group for equipment like emergency heaters, lights, blankets, and cookers, which are all geared to be able to be provided and operated in emergencies such as floods or if there was a power outage. This was set up after severe flooding during Storm Frank in 2015, and was used when the village had no power for five days, no mobile phones, nothing as a result of Storm Arwen in 2021. So the Trust was pleased to provide an emergency facilities space for the community.

We want to work collaboratively too to provide entertainment.  For example, St Margarets in Braemar, a nearby village, created an excellent performance about the local heritage and history.  . The Trust was offered the opportunity to show it one evening in the Halls and it was an absolute sell out. We’d like to do more of that kind of collaboration.

What is your top tip for other village and community halls?

Well, clearly the top of your list is how do you sustain the building financially and efficiently?  The second is gather around people who are happy to do things. They do exist, it's just a question of finding them.
And then the age-old problem of finding funding to do what you want to do, but there is a lot of advice available. It's a question of patience and perseverance.