Made with care for the volunteers who keep Britain's halls running.
Product updates
Everything we have changed, and when
Most of what is on this page started as an email from a village hall. We write these in the same words we send our
halls, so you can see for yourself how often this thing actually moves.
When the insurance is renewed, the fire risk assessment reviewed or the gas certificate comes in, you can now record it straight from the Village Hall Hub app. Tap More, then Compliance, and press Record it as done on the item. Choose the day it was done, and the app fills in when it is next due - a year for insurance, five years for the electrical test - which you can change, or clear for something that does not come round again. Add a note if you like, such as a certificate number; it goes under the item's notes with the date, without losing what was there. The item turns green, its reminders stop, and any alerts about it are marked as seen. It works with no signal too, and is sent when you are back in range. Only people allowed to change compliance see the button. Update Village Hall Hub from the App Store or Google Play to get this.
New feature
App
Add a photo when you mark a maintenance job done in the app
Marking a maintenance job done in the Village Hall Hub app - More, then Maintenance, then Mark this done - now lets you take a photo of the finished job, or of the contractor's invoice, or choose one from your phone. It is kept with the job, the same as a photo added on the website, and can be opened from the job's history there. A job marked done without a photo still works with no signal, as before; one with a photo needs a signal to send. Update Village Hall Hub from the App Store or Google Play to get this.
New feature
App
Report a fault from your phone, with a photo, and mark it sorted
Walking round the hall and spot a cracked window or a dripping tap? In the Village Hall Hub app, tap More, then Faults, and press Report a fault. Say what is wrong, when you noticed it, and take a photo or choose one if you like. It goes on the same list as the faults your hirers report, under Bookings, then Reported Issues on the website, where the photo can be opened from the fault. The Faults screen lists everything still waiting, with who reported it; press In hand when somebody is dealing with it, and Sorted when it is done, with a line about what was done. Without a photo it works with no signal too and is sent when you are back in range. Update Village Hall Hub from the App Store or Google Play to get this.
New feature
App
Record spending from your phone, with a photo of the receipt
At the till with the receipt in your hand? In the Village Hall Hub app, tap More, then Spending, and press Record spending. Put what it was for, how much, who it was paid to and the day, choose a heading if you like - or leave it for the treasurer - and take a photo of the receipt. It goes straight onto Finance, then Spending on the website with the receipt attached and ticked off as received, paid from your main bank account. Switch on Still to pay for a bill that has come in but not been paid yet. The Spending screen also lists the last three months, so you can check something has not already gone in. Spending is in the app for halls on the Professional plan, the same as Finance on the website, for anybody allowed to see spending; the treasurer, owner and administrators can record it, and trustees can look. Without a receipt photo it works with no signal too. Update Village Hall Hub from the App Store or Google Play to get this.
New feature
App
Ask Hallie from your phone
Hallie, the assistant in the corner of the website, is now in the Village Hall Hub app too. Tap More, then Ask Hallie, and ask her anything about the hall - who is in on Saturday, what is still unpaid, when the fire extinguishers are due - or tap one of the questions she suggests. She answers from the same records as the website, only looks up what your own login is allowed to see, and uses the same monthly questions, so the number left is the same whichever you ask from. As on the website, she can pencil in a booking, draft an invoice or record a bill for you: she shows it as a card with exactly what would be saved, and nothing is saved until you press the button on it. On an invoice card you can untick any hires to leave off before you raise it. She needs a signal to answer. If your hall runs out, extra questions can be bought from Hallie's panel on the website by whoever looks after your subscription. Hallie is in the app for halls on the Standard and Professional plans that have her switched on. Update Village Hall Hub from the App Store or Google Play to get this.
Fix
Your sort code can be typed with the dashes
Go to Finance, then Payment Settings, and under your bank details the Sort Code box now takes it however you have it written down - 01-23-45, 01 23 45 or 012345. Before, it only allowed six characters, so typing it the way it is printed on a bank card or statement was refused. It still appears on your invoices, the invoice email and the online invoice as 01-23-45.
New feature
Headings on the action log: Finance, Maintenance, Health & Safety and more
Every action on the committee's log can now be filed under a heading: Finance, Maintenance, Projects, Health & Safety, Bookings, Fundraising, Governance or Other. Open Meetings, then Action log, and choose the heading when you add or edit an action. The log groups the actions under their headings, with a filter to see one heading on its own, and so does the Actions tab on each meeting. The printed minutes list the actions under the same headings. Actions already on your log are simply left without a heading until you give them one, and they still show as before. Thanks to Duncan Brown at Whatfield Village Hall for asking.
New feature
Send a payment chaser yourself, whenever you choose
If you have turned the automatic payment reminders off because you would rather decide for yourself who gets chased, there was then no way to send a reminder at all. There is now. Open Invoices, find the invoice, press the three dots at the end of its row and choose Send a payment chaser. The same button is at the top of the page when you open the invoice. It sends the hirer the usual reminder email with what is still owed and a button to view the invoice, worded as overdue only if it is. It asks you to confirm first, and tells you when a reminder last went out for that invoice, so two of you do not chase the same person in the same week. It works whether your automatic reminders are on or off, and only appears on an invoice that has been sent and still has money owing. Thanks to Sarah at Binfield Memorial Hall for asking.
Fix
Paying your cash in to the bank is no longer recorded as spending
This is for halls that keep their cash or savings apart from the bank, under Finance, then Bank & Cash. If you told Hallie you had paid the cash in to the bank, she offered to record it in Spending - and once you had pressed the button, the same money came off your bank account twice: once as the spending and once as the move itself, so Finance, Bank & Cash, Statement showed your hall spending money it had only moved from one pocket to another. Paying the tin in to the bank, putting money aside into savings and drawing a cash float are moves, not spending: the hall has exactly as much as it had. Hallie now recognises them and offers to record them as a move, and if you ask her to record spending or income she also asks which account it went through, so a bill paid out of the cash tin comes off the cash tin instead of the bank. Anything already recorded the old way is still sitting in Spending - open Finance, then Spending, find the line and delete it, and your bank balance will be right again. Thanks to Linda Cawley at Rampton Village Hall for reporting it.
New feature
Tick the whole committee at once on a meeting
Go to Governance, then Meetings. When you set up a new meeting, the Attendees step now has Select all above the list of committee members, so you can invite everyone in one click and then untick anybody who is not coming. The same Select all and Deselect all are on the Attendees section when you edit a meeting to record who actually came. Thanks to Duncan Brown at Whatfield Village Hall for the idea.
Fix
Changing the price of a booking that is already invoiced now tells you so
When you changed the hire charge on a booking - or a whole repeating series - that was already on an invoice sent to the hirer, the booking took the new price but the invoice kept the old one, and nothing said so, which made it look as if the change had not saved. Sent invoices keep the figure the hirer was given, on purpose. Now, when you save a new price on a booking that has been invoiced, a message tells you which invoice still shows the old figure, so you can open it under Finance, then Invoices, correct the line and send it again. Invoices that are still drafts carry on updating themselves as before. The box that asks which dates a change applies to is also clearer. Pressing Save on a repeating booking opens that question rather than saving, and it now says so: nothing is saved until you pick one of the three answers and press Save inside the box. Closing it leaves the booking exactly as it was. Remember to choose "Every date in the series" where you mean the whole run - the choice starts on "Just this date". Thanks to Duncan Brown at Whatfield Village Hall for reporting it.
New feature
Visitors can open the full details of an event, with clickable links
On your public What is on page, each event now has a Full details button (clicking its name does the same). It opens the whole write-up over the page, however long it is, with the picture, the date, the time and where - so the part saying who sells the tickets is no longer cut off after three lines. On your public booking calendar, clicking an entry shows its full name and times, and the write-up too for anything you advertise. Web addresses and email addresses you type into the write-up now become links people can click, so you can point to a donations page or a ticket seller - to add one, open the booking under Bookings, turn on Advertise this on our website, and type the address into What to say about it. This works on your own website too, if you have the calendar or What is on page on it. Thanks to Duncan Brown at Whatfield Village Hall for asking.
Most of this came from a village hall asking
If your hall needs something this does not do yet, say so. That is how nearly everything above got built.