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.
Bookings has a new button, "See them on a calendar", which lays the month out so you can see at a glance whether the hall is free next Saturday. Click any booking to open it. You can show one room at a time, and bookings are coloured by their type of hire, falling back to the colour of the room. You can now change a type of hire's colour after you have created it, using the pencil beside the "Type of hire" box on a booking - before, you were stuck with whatever you picked the first time. Thanks to Binfield Memorial Hall for asking.
New feature
A straight answer about backups
Our security page used to say your records were "backed up automatically" and left it there, which is not much use to a trustee being asked what happens if something goes wrong. It now says exactly what we do: the whole database is backed up every week, overnight on a Sunday, and kept off the server so it can be restored. It also says the thing worth knowing, which is that your data is yours - you can export your bookings, invoices and compliance records whenever you like and keep a copy with your minutes.
New feature
VAT, for the halls that are registered
New under Finance: VAT. Most halls are not registered for VAT and nothing changes for you at all - leave it switched off and your invoices carry on exactly as they are. If your hall does have a VAT number, you can now enter it along with the date you registered, say whether the prices on your rate cards already include VAT or have it added on top, and we work out the VAT on every new invoice for you. There is a plain English explanation on the page of the one thing halls most often get wrong: hiring out a room is normally exempt from VAT rather than charged at 20%, unless your hall has opted to tax its building. Your invoices then print as proper VAT invoices, showing your VAT number, the tax point, and the rate and amount before VAT on every line, so your hirers can reclaim it and your accountant has what they need. You can set a different rate on a single room, and on any invoice line, so exempt hall hire and standard-rated bar takings can sit on the same invoice. Your Reports and dashboard count income before VAT, because the VAT you collect was never your hall's money, and they say so on the page. Invoices you raised before you registered are left exactly as they were, with no VAT and no VAT number on them.
New feature
Keep a booking private on your public calendar
Some groups would rather the village did not see what they are doing. Tick "Keep this booking private" and your public calendar still shows the time as taken, so nobody tries to book over it, but it reads "Private booking" instead of naming the event. Everything else on the calendar carries on showing its name as usual. If a group always wants this, tick it once on the hirer instead and their bookings start that way. You always see the real name inside your own admin. Thanks to Binfield Memorial Hall for asking.
New feature
Bring your data across from another system
New under Settings: Import your data. If you are moving from another booking system, or keep things in a spreadsheet, you can bring across your rate cards, rooms, room prices, hirers, bookings and invoices instead of typing them in again. Your file can have any columns, named anything at all, because you match them up to ours on screen. Every import has an Undo button, and if a few rows will not go in you can download just those, correct them in Excel, and import that smaller file.
New feature
Put your enquiry form on your own website
The booking enquiry form can now be embedded on your village hall website, just like the calendar. Visitors enquire without leaving your site, and the form picks up your brand colour from Settings, Branding. Find the copy-and-paste snippets under Settings, Embed on Your Website.
New feature
Calendars now show finish times
Bookings on your public calendar and the calendar embedded on your own website now read "10:00-13:00 Yoga Class" instead of just the start time, so visitors can see exactly when the hall is free. Thanks to a suggestion from one of our venues.
New feature
Say how hirers can pay, in your own words
Only accept bank transfer? Under Finance, Payment Settings now has an Accepted Payment Methods box - whatever you write there appears on your invoice PDFs instead of the standard "BACS, cheque, or card" line. Leave it blank to keep the standard wording.
New feature
Help & Guides, and straight answers about security
The Getting Started page is now called Help & Guides so it is easier to spot at the top of your menu. And for your trustees, a new Security & Your Data page on our website explains in plain English where your data is stored, how it is protected, and that it is always yours to take with you.
New feature
One-click standard meeting agenda
Creating a meeting? Click "Insert standard agenda" and the usual seven items - apologies through to date of next meeting - appear ready to edit, instead of typing them out every time.
New feature
See the year ahead in your Reports
Finance Reports now include a Looking Ahead section: the income you can expect month by month from bookings already in the diary, with confirmed and provisional shown separately. Useful for treasurers forecasting the year.
New feature
Manage a whole series of bookings at once
Repeating bookings are now marked with a circular-arrows icon in your bookings list, you can filter to just the series, and a new "Cancel this & remaining sessions" action stops the rest of a term in one click - earlier sessions are left untouched.
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.