Connecting communities: village halls conference 2025

On the 29 May 2025 at Birnam Arts, a one-day conference was held to enable people running village and community halls across Scotland to connect, share ideas, and inspire each other.

The event was aimed at people who run or work/volunteer at village and community halls across Scotland.

The overall aim of the conference was to:

• Connect with fellow hall workers and volunteers; learn about how to connect with service providers and funding opportunities; discuss new ways to connect with your communities.
• Share stories, tips, and experiences; share positive experiences and celebrate the impact you’re making on your communities; share difficulties you’ve faced or are facing, problems you’ve encountered and ways to address these.
• Inspire others with creative solutions to common village hall issues; get inspired to apply for funding or investigate new income streams; feel inspired by the wonderful community-building going on in rural and urban communities across Scotland.

Following the success of last years conference, this year the focus was on community learning exchange, with roundtable discussions and opportunities for networking and sharing experiences.

The in-person experience included keynote talks, plus round table learn and sharing sessions on the topics:

• Facilities management
• Leading the way: good governance
• Growing and innovating for financial sustainability
• How much?! Inspecting your energy bills
• Community Learning Exchange
• Recruiting and managing volunteers
• Spreading the word: increasing your reach
• Disaster and damage: crisis management
• Demystifying digital
• Community bonds and shares, and asset ownership
• Climate confidence: small changes, big impact

Bursary support was made available to those travelling from further afield.

A full event report was compiled by SCVO and is available to view here