Every so often, someone somewhere produces a piece of research that illuminates the scene.
I hope it won’t sound unduly cynical if I say that I don’t automatically assume that this will happen when the research in question is conducted by bodies with names like the “Rural Community Action Network”.
But last week in Westminster, this very body, the Rural Community Action Network, undeniably came up with the goods.
At the annual general meeting of the National Village Halls Forum, they produced their report on rural community halls in England.
In days gone by, our Victorian ancestors put together the most amazing efforts at mapping the terrain. Countless intrepid and talented amateurs and professional surveyors charted every corner of the land in Ordnance Survey maps, plumbed the seas for the Hydrographic Office and triangulated from mountain peaks in Tibet. In much the same way, though on a smaller scale, thousands of people have now contributed to a survey of village halls.
The results are gently staggering.
It transpires that the total value of the buildings occupied by village halls in England now exceeds £3 billion, leaving aside the value of the land which must surely be worth at least the same again.
Very sadly – though very importantly – it also transpires that in 58% of our villages, the village hall is now the only meeting place. Gone, the church hall. Gone, the school hall. Only the village hall remains.
The figures revealed by the survey give real meaning to the catchphrase, “social capital”. Village halls, it seems, really do bring people together. Almost all the halls are run by volunteers – who contribute an average of an amazing 18.5 hours per week to the running of each hall – no doubt accounting for the fact that 75% of all village halls cost less than £10,000 per year to run and 51% of them cost less than £5,000 per year.
The uses to which the halls are put include just about everything you would expect — the range is huge. 75% of them are used for one form of local democratic purpose or another (village meetings, parish council meetings, consultations, polling booths and the like). 72% of the halls help local community groups to raise funds. 50% of the halls enable people to engage in health pursuits like yoga classes and aerobics. And that is on top of all the cultural pursuits — the clubs, societies, theatricals and music.
The really encouraging thing is that all this social capital is being built up at an increasing rate. Hall use has apparently tripled since 1988 – and, despite the fact that only 3% of the halls receive any regular local authority funding (and 46% do not even receive any discretionary rate relief), we still find half the halls in England making a profit each year and three quarters of them engaging in successful fund raising.
Whatever other problems we have in our society – and unfortunately we have many of them – one problem we do not have is any lack of community spirit in our villages. Just give them a hall and our villagers up and down England will do what villagers in West Dorset have been doing for years — building something that is a community in fact and not just in name.