Day: 8 January 2021

Join us in Celebrating Village Halls Week 2020 with ACRE – Call Out

We are joining ACRE to celebrate Village Halls Week 2021 from the 25th January, and we are asking you to get involved by doing one or more of the following 3 things:

1. Send us a photo of your village hall!

We want to see your local village hall in all it’s glory. This could be from the outside, or indoors, you may have a photo of a fantastic rural touring event you hosted, or you may want to take one of the hall empty (but full of possibilities). We will use these photos across our social media and website during Village Halls Week with full credit for the photographer. We may also ask permission to use the photo beyond Village Halls Week.

We’re not limiting this to promoters, if you’re an artist or a scheme, and happen to have a fantastic Village Hall photo we’d love to see those too!

Email your photo to admin@nrtf.org.uk

Including the name of your village hall, and where it is, and any credits you would like given to the photographer.

2. Send us a limerick or short statement about what your hall means to you!

We want to know what your hall or Village Halls, in general, mean to you, and we’d like to encourage you to get creative with it! You’ve never let us down in the past! There’s no limit on words or sentences, but we would like to use whatever you send us on social media, so best to keep it fairly short. 

You can send your limerick/story/statement/drawing/memories to admin@nrtf.org.uk again including the name of your local village hall and where it is. Or you can post on social media yourself (preferably during Village Halls Week) making sure to tag us @ruraltouring on twitter

3. Request a copy of our poster for our previous Village Hall Week Poems

If you’d like a copy of our previous Village Halls Week poems to display proudly in your hall or community notice board please leave us your details here and we will endeavour to send them out to you in time for Village Halls Week. Our posters are A4. To request a poster to be sent out to you, by emailing holly@nrtf.org.uk with the name of your Village Hall and your postal address.

About Village Halls Week

Village Halls Week is a national celebration of the 10,000+ village halls which can be found across England, their volunteers and the difference they make to the rural communities they serve.

Our 2021 campaign will be a celebration of how village halls are survivors. Many have been bringing people together in rural communities since the 1920s. And in the past year, the volunteers who manage these buildings have shown great determination and resilience in the face of Coronavirus, negotiating lockdowns and putting in place Covid Secure measures so they could continue supporting their local community.

As social gatherings are currently off limits, Village Halls Week will look at bit different in 2021. In the past ACRE Network members have hosted various events across the country but this year we will be moving this activity online in the spirit of the times.

Find out about what ACRE have planned here: https://acre.org.uk/our-work/village-halls-week.php

Mumbo Jumbo Artists Report: Performing Live Under Covid Safe Conditions

Thank you to Oliver Carpenter from Mumbo Jumbo for sending us this artists report on their live show, performed under Covid Safe Conditions on the 18th December 2020.

Mumbo-Jumbo – Live Performance in Covid 19 Conditions
Venue: Hartlebury Parish Hall, Worcestershire
Scheme: Live & Local Date: 18 December 2020

Regulars on the Rural Touring circuit, singer-songwriting trio Mumbo-Jumbo were asked to put on a full live performance at Hartlebury Parish Hall on 18th December 2020 under very carefully controlled conditions developed by the venue team, Live & Local and the performers. While the arrangements were fundamental it was also important to see whether, throughout the performance, it would feel like real entertainment without a cloud of conditions hanging over it.

The Venue
Hartlebury Parish Hall is a 100 capacity modern village hall serving a large village which was in Tier 2 at the time. The promoters had selected a two-set performance with a short interval.

The Performers
Mumbo-Jumbo has three performers and a technician, all from different households.

Planning
With so much at stake the venue, scheme, and performers all fully understood the importance of getting both the planning and the delivery right. Following regular Zoom discussions Covid 19 specific Risk Assessment documents were prepared by both venue and performers and a room capacity of 30 was decided upon.

Areas covered included;

  • Full Social Distancing – including movement routing, toilet arrangements, arrival, set up and departure programmes
  • for performers and audience, performer distancing etc.
  • Ticketing & Registration – including pre-purchase only, named audience, NHS app etc.
  • PPE and Conditions – including wearing of masks throughout (other than on stage) for performers and audience,
  • ventilation and cleaning down procedures.
  • Catering – There was no bar or food (bring your own) and no hospitality for the performers.

So How Did It Feel?
From a performing point of view, once the stage lights came on and everyone’s attention was on the music it felt like a gig. The audience laughed and clapped in all the right places, the interaction of everyone in the room seem to build with each song and the shape and pattern of the evening.