It’s Village Halls Week (20 – 26 January 2020) and as part of the weeks events we thought we’d have a little look through the archives and found this interesting article from a 2002 Autumn edition of our old Community magazine. Proving that CCB has always been at the forefront of helping Village Halls to stay up-to-date with changing needs and legislation. Read on for a bit of history and information that is still useful in 2020….
Improving the access to village halls for disabled people can often be achieved at little or no extra cost, wrote Wendy Dacey in 2002.
At an information evening held in Theale in July 2002 members of village hall management committees heard Professor Keith Bright from the Department of Inclusive Environments at Reading University, talk about how village halls can be made more accessible for disbaled people. His talk highlighted not only difficulties of access but the problems encountered by the partially sighted, people with dyslexia and those with hearing difficulties. Frequently only simple remedies are required, often a little or no extra cost.
He explained, for example, that painting contrasting colours between the walls and the fittings in the toilet area can be helpful. Some paint companies can advise on the best colour combinations. Other simple ideas include light switch covers that contract with the wall colour, visbility panels in doors, levers instead of screw taps and notices which are either pictograms or written in upper and lower case.
Professor Bright, together with the delegates then carried out an audit of Theale hall which committee members would be able to do in their own halls, Wendy Dacey, CCB’s Village Halls Adviser, spoke about the funding opportunites available and emphasised the need to minute any decisions taken for future reference.
A number of people commented on how useful they had found the event and the benefits they would be able to bring to their own halls.
QUESTION: Do you remember attending this training event? Did you go away and make any improvements to your village hall following it? if yes we’d LOVE to hear your story. Please get in touch with Kate.Meads@ccberks.org.uk or Gemma.Pearce@ccberks.org.uk to share you story with us.
