If your village hall or community building is facing problems, help is at hand! WRCC is giving a free, two hour 'Health Check' to every village hall interested in improving the quality of its services through Hallmark, a new accreditation scheme.

WRCC Village Halls Adviser Mavis Wilkins said, "We want to help every village hall committee find ways to tackle the problems they may be facing, whether they involve financial issues, health and safety matters, problems with the fabric of the building, or even a straightforward lack of volunteers to help out.

"Many village halls face similar issues and we can offer advice based on the successful efforts of halls up and down the county to get to grips with the challenges of the twenty-first century. The Hallmark scheme is particularly useful in this process, in that it is a free and easy-to-obtain accreditation which helps villagers examine all the issues facing their hall and acknowledges good management."

Hallmark is supported by Warwickshire County Council, local authorities and the funding organisations WREN and Heart of England Community Foundation, meaning that halls trying to attract funding from these bodies can use a Hallmark accreditation to support their bid.

The Hallmark quality standard is currently being rolled out across the whole country. In Warwickshire, it is part of the Living Buildings service designed to help local people improve and protect their community buildings.

Mavis Wilkins added, "If committees are interested in finding out more, they should get in touch with us. The first thing we will do is offer a two hour 'Health Check'  which can be held at your hall and provides a perfect opportunity to get some independent guidance on the way forward."