Hallmark Awards

Arnside Educational Institute and Langwathby Public Hall committees have been awarded Hallmark quality awards for good management.The nationally recognised award is the only quality mark for village and community halls, which in Cumbria is administered and overseen by community development charity ACTion with Communities in Cumbria (ACT).

Hellen Aitken, ACT Development Officer and Lead Village Halls Advisor, presented the awards to Jon Race and Neil Webster for Arnside Educational Institute, and Mandy Trueman and Heather Dallaway for Langwathby Public Hall, saying “This is a fantastic achievement and represents the terrific dedication of the hall committees, who have achieved both Hallmark One (for charity essentials and administration) and Hallmark Two (for legislation: safety, licensing and maintenance).

“Village halls are at the heart of our communities and are much more than a building, they are a rural way of life bringing multiple social and economic benefits. But these buildings don’t run themselves; this is only possible through the commitment, passion and enthusiasm of amazing village hall volunteers.

“The Hallmark award scheme acknowledges the good work undertaken by hall management committees across the country and aims to encourage improvement across all their work and activities. Committees which receive a Hallmark award are praised for their achievement in managing their hall to a nationally recognised and high standard. The awards are a marker of the quality of a hall that says it is well run, well organised and well administered. Having the awards can improve the chances of successful grant funding applications and also lower insurance costs.

“It’s important to recognise the work of the people who keep our village and community halls going and it was a pleasure to visit Arnside Educational Institute and Langwathby Public Hall to present these awards.

”Heather Dallaway and Mandy Trueman received the awards for Langwathby Public Hall. Heather said “We were delighted to receive our Hallmark certificates as recognition of our hard work in creating a well-managed village hall. Hirers have confidence in the systems and practices which we have put in place to provide a warm and welcoming space for everyone.“Working with, and being supported by, Hellen Aitken and ACT has helped enormously in our achieving of these awards - thank you to Hellen for encouraging us to aim high and go for Hallmark 2 as well as Hallmark 1.”

Jon Race and Neil Webster received the awards for Arnside Educational Institute. Jon said "We’re delighted to receive these awards and found that employing a quality system to help control our processes and procedures was extremely beneficial. The use of a formal approach that is regularly reviewed helps make sure that all our paperwork is complete and up to date. This provides safeguards and minimises the risk of the Hall and trustees being exposed in the event of unforeseen occurrences.

“Hallmark is designed with Village Halls in mind and ACT helped provide all the tools necessary to put our individual system together and keep it up to date. We found that the process of compliance for Hallmarks One and Two was really useful for helping format our own documentation and for identifying gaps in our own systems.

“The formal achievement of the certification to the Hallmark Standard was a good way of demonstrating to users and third parties, that we are legally compliant and applying a ‘best practice’ approach to the management of the Hall.”

 

For more information about the Hallmark scheme and ACT’s support for community buildings visit www.cumbriaaction.org.uk/what-we-do/community-buildings or contact ACT on Tel: 01768 425 666 or Email: info@cumbriaaction.org.uk