RURAL Village and Community Halls across Cumbria will be joining others across England in a popular national campaign.

Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE) which organises Village Halls Week – a one-of-a-kind annual celebration of halls and the contribution they make to rural communities – has published information to help groups get involved, including ‘pledge cards’ that can be downloaded, filled in and shared to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The county’s ACRE Network Member, ACTion with Communities in Cumbria (ACT) is supporting the campaign on social media and will be holding one of their popular online community buildings events on January 29.

ACT Development Officer and Lead Village Hall Advisor, Hellen Aitken said “There are so many great village and community halls here in Cumbria and we’re proud to support the volunteers who run them. Our online community buildings event on 29th January will be celebrating their efforts and looking at ideas for how 2022 can be their year to do something different and look to the future.”

Richard Quallington, Executive Director, at ACRE said: “Village halls have been making a difference to rural communities for over 100 years.

"But change is inevitable, and the future is increasingly unpredictable. So, we want to help halls think about how they can respond to this challenge; whether that be extending their offer to residents, taking action on climate change or becoming more financially sustainable.”