The Village Halls Podcast
A podcast for anyone involved in the running of Britain's 10,000 village, church and community and anyone interested in the vital community services they provide.
The Village Halls Podcast
Hallmaster and the Digital World
In this episode of The Village Halls Podcast, host Marc Smith interviews Bernard Hammick, Managing Director of Hallmaster, a digital booking system tailored for village halls and community venues. Bernard shares his journey into the digital realm, which began in the late 1990s when he developed a website for his campsite to provide detailed information and facilitate email communications with customers. This experience led him to create websites for local businesses and, eventually, to develop a bespoke booking system for a village hall seeking an online solution for availability and reservations.
Recognising a broader need, Bernard expanded Hallmaster to serve various venues across the UK, emphasizing the importance of an online presence for village halls to secure regular income through direct bookings. He discusses the evolution of Hallmaster, highlighting its role in streamlining operations and enhancing accessibility for both administrators and patrons. The conversation underscores the necessity for community venues to embrace digital tools to remain relevant and efficient in today's technology-driven landscape.
This episode offers valuable insights for anyone involved in managing village halls or community spaces, illustrating how digital solutions like Hallmaster can transform venue management and community engagement.
For more information, you can visit the episode page:
Hello, my name is Marc Smith and welcome to the Village Halls podcast sponsored by Allied Westminster, the UK's largest specialist provider of Village Hall insurance and the home of Village Guard. Hello and welcome In today's podcast. We're lucky to be able to speak with Bernard Hammick, the MD of Hallmaster. Now, whilst Hallmaster is a sponsor of the show, they also have a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the world of the web, so we'll make for some interesting listening. So gone are the days when you should be considering being online. It is an absolute must. For my short time on the show already, one of the most common features is funding. Whilst village halls can raise funds from other sources, it's vital to keep regular income from direct bookings. This is where an online presence can come in. Welcome to the show once again, bernard. Hi, Marc, nice to speak to you Well, thank you very much for being here. So we'll get on to current day Hallmaster in a moment, but first, how did you get started in this digital world?
Bernard Hammick:Yeah, I'll try and keep the story brief, but we used to run a campsite back in the late 90s and I was intrigued by the idea of a website. Normally, being able to tell our customers about our campsite was restricted to sending out a brochure in the post. So thought of being able to tell customers about our campsite with such detail and be able to change that information on a daily basis was a revelation to me. So I decided to learn how to build our own website and quickly got a good following and was able to do email shots, which saved so much time, of course. I then started doing websites with small local businesses, including selling ski wear, and a friend said their local village hall wanted a new website and a way for their customers to see availability and make a booking. So it all went from there to be honest.
Marc Smith:So the village hall booking system, it came from a campsite booking system, or was it? Or was it independent of that, or was it just a starting point?
Bernard Hammick:Yeah, that was the starting point really. So I was just understood the mechanics, if you like, of hosting domain names, emails and how all that sort of work together, and then from there, as I said, I did small websites for plumbers, electricians and hotels and stuff. But this particular customer wanted a booking system and also I don't want to reinvent the wheel, um, but soon found out that there was nothing out there specifically for village halls. Um, so, yeah, I went down that route, um, and uh, yeah, it just it just went from there. I quickly realized that actually there's plenty of other venues, uh, not just village halls, but other venues around the country that could benefit from it.
Marc Smith:Yeah. So what was your background then? Because obviously would YouTube even be around then? No, it wouldn't have been. So how did you work out how to do all this stuff?
Bernard Hammick:Well, I did a sort of basic course with a company in Dorchester, near us, and they just sort of showed me how to use Frontpage, which is a very, very basic web design program at the time, and it went from there. I then worked out how to connect a database to the website and that was pretty transformative really, because it meant that the website suddenly became dynamic. You could just update things very, very quickly, whether it's prices or content or uploading images. That was a real game changer for me and that's what sort of piqued my interest, I would say, and that's what led us into probably one of the first shopping carts where we were selling children's ski clothing. And yeah, we had a big following, um, and customer base from that as well, because we could just upload the products very quickly instead of, uh, you know, typing them in manually all the time and then uploading. So, yeah, it was very dynamic that's very interesting, that.
Bernard Hammick:So you've been in business for 14 years, so I I take it today's version of Hallmaster is a lot different from version one yes, so I wrote the code for the first version but soon realized that this had a bigger potential, as I said earlier, than I'd first thought. So I got in coders and developed the site from suggestions and issues that trustees and committee members were facing, with the idea of making life easier for them. So it wasn't just my idea of this is how I think it should be. It was very much geared around the issues and problems that administrators had, so it would definitely hit the market as far as that's concerned.
Bernard Hammick:There were, of course, issues from our side too, but you know we could quickly code those out from our side too, but you know we could quickly code those out. And one of the biggest issues was actually convincing people that this would soon become a day-to-day way of taking and managing bookings. Yeah, plus the other thing which, again going back all those years as far as the internet timeline is concerned, we were desperately waiting for broadband to get installed across the country. So we had a lot of people pushing back saying, oh, we're never going to get broadband, we've been told, and it was. That was. That was quite tough, actually convincing people that they could still use the system and they would benefit from it.
Marc Smith:But that's pretty much a thing of the past really now, and people can still run it off their phones, off a 4g signal or 5g signal, so there's not really any anything to hold them back now yeah, I was going to say that I I build websites um, in my, my spare time and there was a day where you'd have to compress the image so much that it was you know you couldn't really see it. But nowadays, compress the image so much that it was, you know, you couldn't really see it. But nowadays, with the internet so fast, you can put video on the homepage as well and it just, it works flawlessly. It's so much easier.
Bernard Hammick:It really is. I mean, it's even just uploading pictures, even if you've got a, you know, really high res picture of your venue or an event going on. Even when you upload it, the, the systems usually just compress it for you now and, yeah, it just speeds. Obviously it's important to keep the speed of, uh, the, the page loading, things like that going. So, yeah, it's, it's all it's stuff which, unless you've been through it, like we have it's people just don't necessarily realize what's involved.
Marc Smith:Which, is yeah, yeah understandable oh yeah, so I suppose let's get back to basics. So do you even need a website to have a booking engine? Um?
Bernard Hammick:the simple answer is no. Um, there are ways to direct customers to the calendar and booking form without having a website. Um, in its basic form, a simple link to the local parish magazine would do, to be honest. Um, alternatively, adding it to a facebook page will do. Uh, you can just run the system behind the scenes as well. So if you don't want to allow your customers to, say, make bookings directly from the system, you can still take and manage bookings over the phone. Uh, either way, it's all about streamlining the process for the customer and the administrators. Of course, um, they're all many. Most of the time they're volunteers. Time is very precious, so, yeah, this is absolutely crucial.
Marc Smith:Excellent. So I suppose I would always advocate for having a website because it's interesting to read about village halls, so people will you know, rather than just a link to a booking page, you can actually learn about the village hall itself. So I would I would encourage anyone to have a website. So obviously we want to make this easy for people. So what is, what are the basics to setting up a website?
Bernard Hammick:yeah, absolutely. I totally agree. Um, I mean, nowadays, websites really are just so easy to set up. There are many free uh companies out there that are offering free websites. Obviously, they they'll may have paid advertising on there which you can pay a small fee to remove, that sort of thing. But you don't need to be tech savvy anymore, as there are companies like yourselves out there who are offering websites at affordable prices.
Bernard Hammick:It depends on what you want. If you have somebody in the team who can happily manage the website for you, then that's easy enough to do. Or if you're not too sure, then you get a professional like yourself or a similar company to actually set it up for you. And it's the usual adage you get what you pay for. If you've got somebody building a website for you, then basically, then you're going to get all the help and advice, what you pay for. If you've got somebody building a website for you, then basically, then, um, you know you're going to get all the help and advice that you, that you might not know about anyway so I suppose, once you have that that website set up, and whether the bookings are automated or manual, so how can a village hall make its website as user-friendly as as possible?
Bernard Hammick:yeah, sure, um, again, websites don't need to be large and complicated. Um, you know, we we often see where people are embedding our booking system into their website. Um, you've got great pages of information and, uh, a lot of the time it's about the history of the of the venue, which is facinating. But, at the end of the day, what people are trying to do is drive traffic or drive customers to the actual venue itself. So a simple single page could be enough with basic information about the venue, where it is, what it offers, how much it's going to be to hire a particular room, etc. Then, as far as we believe, it's very much about getting a call to action on the page so view availability here or book your event here, these sorts of things.
Bernard Hammick:Generally, people visiting websites, particularly for a venue, they know what they're looking for. They know their local venue, probably already. They may have even had an event there themselves, um, and they just want to go and, um, uh, just book it or see what's, or even see, just see what's going on. So often we see out of date, clunky websites with just loads of text and it's just very overwhelming and as interesting as it is about the history of the venue. Perhaps the main thing, initially, is to let them know that you're open for business. Um, as I mentioned just now, having the site also, uh, having it responsive will will mean that they get the best experience too.
Marc Smith:So, uh, that that's absolutely crucial so I suppose for people who don't know, responsive would be it works on any device really, so it resizes itself for any device. Yeah, exactly.
Bernard Hammick:It just means that the pages and content will resize according to the actual device and browser that's being used. So many people are using their phones to do everything. It's absolutely crucial that the way it displays on their phone is clear and easy to read, and again, that's exactly where people like yourself come in um and uh other other, uh organized, you know other companies that sell websites. If they're looking, make sure that they offer a fully mobile, mobile responsive site. It's absolutely crucial really, is now would I have.
Marc Smith:Maybe I was dreaming but back, say like just 10 years ago, what was it used to be? Would there be a site for desktop, then a site for mobile? I'm sure I had one that had like m dot and then my business name.
Bernard Hammick:Yes, absolutely yeah, definitely, I mean it's that's all done with the coding now. So it depends on that. You know this, the uh, the, the uh device that they're using, uh, the. The website should pick up what device they're using and show the content accordingly. But you're right, um, there was some very uh, very basic, um, almost uh app like websites built, but that was a real pain actually, because you end up having to to have two websites for your, for your uh, your particular venue. Yeah, so yeah, and managing content for one can be enough, but having it for two and making sure that it's consistent is, is was quite difficult. But yeah, you're right, I've actually forgotten about those.
Marc Smith:We must block it out. But that's good, because it's just keeping it as simple as possible. There's no possible, there's no longer that necessity to have it. It just works it out itself. So you don't have to worry about catering for everyone, because that one website will do it all itself. Exactly, exactly, yeah. So I suppose a lot of halls won't have IT experts in their committees, or maybe even in their villages. So what are? Some simple steps to get started with the Hallmaster Online Booking System.
Bernard Hammick:Well, um, yeah, I well, number one is contact us. I mean, we've, as you said earlier on, we've, you know, got over 14 years of experience with literally thousands of venues across the uk. Uh, and I think those days, or the idea or concept of having to have an it guru or it expert on the committee is potentially a thing of the past. Um, yes, you might want somebody who's a bit tech savvy, but I always liken it to and we used to hear this all the time and I used to liken it to so, in other words, to use the booking system in a similar way is likening it to. You don't need to be a mechanic to drive a car. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, you don't necessarily have to understand every nut and bolt within the actual booking system. Your job as an administrator is to take and manage the bookings and making sure that they are invoiced and that you've got the money for them. That that's it. Um, but that's where a system like ours will come in.
Bernard Hammick:But as far as having an it expert is concerned, I mean, we, we used to hear it a lot um, in the early days of of committees saying, oh, it's not for us. And we, you know, we, it's, it's too clever and it's too sophisticated, or we haven't got anybody. Uh, and my comment was well, find somebody, um, and and generally, what we used to see time and time again is we'd have young people in their sort of teens would suddenly join a committee for the village hall. They'd actually become a committee member and they would be the person in charge of the IT, whether it's the Facebook page or social media or the website. So, give them a chance. I mean, they're the ones who know, um, probably more than more than anybody else. So, uh, just invite somebody on board to to come and join and help out yeah, yeah, that's excellent that.
Marc Smith:So I suppose the the people on the, on the committee they would just set up to say say you had. Well, our local village hall has a main, the main building, and it has a part on the side as well that you can hire separately. So I take it inside. Well, I suppose any online booking system, not just Hallmaster, you can have different prices for different areas of the hall and I suppose and for different you could have a charity event could be a cheaper price. Do you have that flexibility?
Bernard Hammick:Yeah, very much so. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, very much so, Marc. I mean, um, that's something which was very apparent right from the early days. That um, the system needs to be incredibly flexible. Uh, again, if it's a not a bespoke system um which, let's face, it, would cost you tens of thousands of pounds to produce um, then the system you're going to use needs to be flexible enough to be able to manage those sorts of things. So, consequently, we see so many complex structures, if you like, or pricing structures.
Bernard Hammick:We've got one venue that uses one rate and it's the same rate per hour. It doesn't matter what time of day or night it is, it doesn't matter what day of the week it is, it doesn't matter if you're local or not local, that's it. And then we've got another customer that has over 200 rates. How they deal with that is up to them, but the system definitely manages it. And then, of course, you can put in conditional rates.
Bernard Hammick:So if you've got a special rate for Fred who, so if you've got a special rate for you know Fred, who's always used the main hall on a Sunday for such and such a rate, you know you can set that up and the system will work out how much time those customers have had and calculate it for you automatically. I mean literally. With our bulk invoicing, for example, it takes seconds literally to do the monthly invoicing and it's all very accurate as well. It doesn't miss out that they may have hired some tables and chairs or had, you know, 10 cups of tea or whatever it is yeah, yes, that's absolutely crucial.
Marc Smith:Having flexibility for the way you charge at your venue is is critical really yeah, well, I'm glad you mentioned the invoice there because you integrate with um like accounting software. Uh, so like I think, when someone books, does it talk back and forward to the accounting software, or do you have to? How does it work when someone?
Bernard Hammick:books, the hall. How is?
Marc Smith:it invoiced absolutely so.
Bernard Hammick:So, just before that is, you've got sort of payment integration so you can start to take payments from your customers. They can pay you directly. So it's starting to get the stage where you can be sort of semi-autonomous, if you like, yeah, um, and then you can set things up so that it will confirm their booking automatically, it'll issue a receipt, it'll update their invoices, paid, those sorts of things, and again, we don't charge any transaction fees or commission on any things like that. So it does make it very affordable for venues to do that. But just moving on to your point about accounting software, so there are loads out there.
Bernard Hammick:You know there's Xero, quickbooks, sage, Freeagent I mean, the list goes on. Uh, for example, we integrate with, with a lot of the sort of major ones, um, in two ways. You can do it either just download a, a list of invoices into a spreadsheet and import them manually. Uh, alternatively, there are uh links or apis, a bit like bank feeds, where hallmaster can speak to your your particular bank, I'm sorry, your accounting system, yeah and um. So when you create an invoice in hallmaster, it automatically generates it in quickbooks or sage, etc. So there's there's possibilities for that as well, uh, there's always going to be a level of of manual uh input as well.
Marc Smith:Anyway, actually, I don't think that's a bad thing, um, because I think it just makes sure you keep on the ball with things, really oh yeah, and that will make it easier at the end of your financial year because you can just, I know with I use zero for my business and I just say there you go as long as you've reconciled everything you you go.
Bernard Hammick:This is now your problem.
Marc Smith:It's all done.
Bernard Hammick:Exactly, yeah, and that's another thing which you know like with us is we do a sort of raft of different reports so you can report, you know, you can find out if who's owing you, who's late with paying, all those sorts of things which obviously you can do with accounting software too, but this because it intrinsically links to their bookings. It's really accurate, and so, yeah, those sorts of things With reports you can check on occupancy, who's bringing what money, and so on and so on. The list goes on. Really, you can get all sorts of information from the system.
Marc Smith:Yeah, because visibility is key. You you understand how the hall's been performing, Especially if you have it over the course of, say, two or three years, then you really have year-on-year data to look at to know if this year was busy, why was that? If this year wasn't busy, you can probably maybe figure out why it wasn't.
Bernard Hammick:Absolutely. Yes, I mean obviously with lockdown. Lockdown that changed things a lot. But, yes, you can see trends of occupancy, types of booking. So uh, one that we we've had feedback a few times from is venues say, well, we didn't realize. Actually we've taken uh eight bookings for weddings this year and it's brought us in more money than it has for all the pilates classes and kids, kids parties. So you know, all of a sudden they think, well, okay, we're, we're obviously a good location for weddings. Let's concentrate on that. Uh, obviously there's a balance of making sure you still um supply and support the local community yeah, oh yeah, I want to just completely, uh, stop things.
Bernard Hammick:But it does give you an indication of of uh, you know what's being used as well. So you know people might not be using the tables and chairs because they're old, but uh, you know, might think you might take a an opinion on that and, um, because you can see it from from the actual income uh report itself I see that's really interesting.
Marc Smith:Now I'm going to try and not go down a rabbit hole. Just now, however, I was on your website and I was reviewing everything, and then I looked in the integration section and I saw this is a love of mine a heating integration and a remote locking integration. So what I think is amazing is that so if someone books on the system, it can turn the heating on automatically. So say, I take it. You can say, an hour before the booking is due, turn the heating on to 21 degrees so it's nice and ready for people to turn up. Is that how it works? I hope that's how it works.
Bernard Hammick:That's exactly how it works. Yeah, that is amazing.
Bernard Hammick:Again, we've teamed up with a couple of companies and so they deal with all the sort of installation and hardware. If you've got your own heating engineer, then you can obviously use them, but essentially they supply a thermostat and a hub which connects to Hallmaster. Essentially, they still can go in, of, of course, and override everything manually if they need to. But, uh, essentially, you're absolutely right. So they can set up different rooms or different zones, so you might have two rooms in zone one and so on. Uh, that that's all down to the configuration by the actual uh heating company themselves. Uh, but, yes, we, we, you're absolutely right.
Bernard Hammick:So when someone books, um, they might have a, say, a pilates class at seven o'clock on a tuesday evening and they want it at 19 degrees. So the system will instruct the heating to come on at the relevant time to get it up to temperature for that particular booking, and then, uh, it'll, it'll just switch it off, off, or it'll change to the temperature for the next event. And again, yes, that's all done in the background and just ticks over in the background and just makes sure that the heating is running efficiently. The person who's running the actual hall doesn't have to worry. Oh, have they left the heating on or whatever. They can do it remotely or Hallmaster will have done it for them automatically.
Marc Smith:So yes, that's absolutely right yeah, because it's not relying on a person to turn up. So, say, it is seven o'clock at night and the person who manages the hall is, say, leaving at three o'clock. They would just put the heating on then normally, so it's up to temperature. But now, using a heating integration, it can do it, you know, automatically. So you don't have to rely on someone being in the village at that time to do it or asking for a favor to do it. Plus, it must save an absolute fortune, absolutely.
Bernard Hammick:Yeah, yeah, correct, that's right, Marc. I mean, it's something which we brought in, you know, a few years back, probably two or three years ago now, I guess, and it was very much at some of the seminars and events I'd go around. It was other guest speakers were talking about energy and saving, you know, cost of energy and cost of fuel and all this sort of stuff, and this just played into that. Uh, really well, um, that people, uh, as you quite rightly say, weren't having to turn up in the middle of winter to switch the heating on or, more importantly, off, because they've decided that the last person who's left hasn't switched it off, for example so yes, that's all uh, available now.
Marc Smith:So, and that's also the same for remote lock. Now, I was looking into this for the house, but I have I have a door that you have to lift up the latch to make it lock. Okay, I don't think it would work. However, so your remote locking system so when someone books, not only is it warm, they can. I think this is amazing, that you just you can the person can turn up and they'll be given, I assume, a key code or a a unique code to them that they can't pass on, that only maybe have one use or two uses, that they can go into the hall and then, once they lock it, that that code is disabled. I presume.
Bernard Hammick:Yeah, that's exactly right. And again, you can have different zones, so it might be the front door or it might be a code for the room one or hall two or whatever. So that's exactly right. So, in a similar way, it speaks to Remote Lock, who we have partnered with, and again they can help with regards to what your requirements are. So if you are changing from just a stable door latch for keeping your doors shut and want something a bit more secure, then yeah, they'll definitely help you with that. Again, our system integrates seamlessly really with that, so that at a given when the booking is made, a unique PIN number is created and that's then emailed automatically to the customer or the person using the actual venue to say, when your booking starts, you'll be able to access the room using this code and then, when they leave, they won't be able to get back in again. That's it.
Marc Smith:Now I suppose a lot of listeners will think that sounds extremely complicated, but it's not really, is it. Once it's set up, it just works. That's the great thing about this stuff.
Bernard Hammick:Yeah, you're absolutely right. I think it's the same about all of these things. Everything we've discussed so far today is all about that. I think a lot of people get a bit concerned or bogged down with the idea that it's going to take up a load of resources, and of course there is a bit of a learning curve, but generally speaking, it does take time just to set these up. In the same way, let's say, you get a brand new TV tv. It's got bells and whistles, and it's got this and it's got that, and you think, well, I just want to watch.
Bernard Hammick:you know, bbc one, bbc two yeah, yeah and a couple of other channels, and then you pretty well stick at that. Um, it's got the flexibility to do all of that, but you don't doesn't mean you have to use all of those things, so yeah, and that's again where we come in with the training that we offer as well, which is all free.
Bernard Hammick:We can just go through someone's account with them, make sure they know what they're doing and to get the best sort of streamlined workflow out of it, and then it's over to them. They can just go about their day-to-day business of running the venue. That's, that's what their job is. At the end of the day. Their job is not having to get bogged down in it, the. It should be, uh, you know, the the thing that's working for them, not the other way around yeah, excellent.
Marc Smith:No, I I could. Uh, I have to restrict myself to what I, because I could talk all day about tech. So, uh, I think I'll ask one final question, because I could go on forever. So what advice would you have for village hall committees that are hesitant to go? Just to go digital, just to get started on this digital journey?
Bernard Hammick:Yeah, I think don't hesitate is number one thing. You're definitely missing out now, I think if you're not sort of at least looking into this side of things, I mean, you won't only just be saving valuable time, but generating more income. There are enough issues with attracting people and getting revenue. Funding is virtually non-existent now, and that's something again which we saw many years ago. Funding was pulled from village halls and the like, so people were sort of panicking, thinking what do we do? Well, one of the solutions is to get online. Certainly, that's where people are looking.
Bernard Hammick:People's booking habits have definitely changed. Um, as you know, we can buy pizza or airplane flights or whatever you want. So booking a village hall is is another thing which people will not only want, they would expect to be able to do at the very basics, um, so you know that they have, unfortunately, also, as a side side thing, they've also become impatient, uh, so you only have a brief moment to get their attention really. So it's important that if you do have even if you do have a website at the moment, uh, if the site looks old or out of date or not easy to use, then inevitably they're going to go to a venue that is up to date and they'll probably give them their business instead. So digital tools now mean that booking and invoicing processes isn't restricted to just one person, for example. So if someone is ill or away, someone else can pick up the reins and carry on where everything's been left off. Someone else can pick up the reins and carry on where everything's been left off. So it'll free up valuable time and generally it'll just bring the administration community together and things like double bookings are a thing of the past.
Bernard Hammick:As far as we're concerned. We did a data import for a customer and discovered that they'd actually got two weddings on the same day or not the same couple either, and discovered that they'd actually got two weddings on the same day or not the same couple either. So, um, stuff like that is is you know, we luckily we just don't hear that anymore um, but it is is stuff like that which could easily slip through the net. So I think it's just do your best. Uh, find, if you can't do it or don't want to do it, doesn't mean to say you shouldn't do it.
Bernard Hammick:Find somebody who is is able to help. There are plenty of companies. There are businesses out here able and happy to give free advice. Just a bit of research. Just phone somebody out, phone us up. You know we're happy just to have a free chat about the way forwards. Whether it's with us or somebody else, we don't really mind. I think it's with us or somebody else, we don't really mind. I think it's just important that people understand that they could be getting so much more out of their venue and out of the website as well.
Marc Smith:Yeah, well, it's certainly a good time to be entering the digital world because everything you know, as you say, the double bookings multiple people can use it. I was just going to mention the old pop email system where one person read it on one device and it disappeared from other it. I was just going to mention the old pop email system where one person read it on one device and it disappeared from other devices. A thing of the well, I suppose it's still an option, but it's a thing of the past really. So, yeah, it's a great time to be entering this world. It really is.
Bernard Hammick:yes, If you embrace it or have a go. As I said, you don't have to become an IT expert or guru, but I mean the majority of people. We still get people say, oh, I'm too old.
Marc Smith:Well, I think our oldest member is 92, so I think it's just a mindset thing really well, it just so happens that we have our own shiny new website here at the Village Halls podcast, so it would be great if you could jump on there and give us a follow so you can listen to the back here at the Village Halls podcast. So it'd be great if you could jump on there and give us a follow, for so you can listen to the back catalogue of the podcast and any future podcasts as well. And on for this podcast I will have a link to the Hallmaster website and the small. They've got a video demonstration of the system. You can view that on their website, but I'll also put it on the Village Halls podcast website as well, just so it makes it nice and easy for everybody. So thank you very much for your time today, bernard. It's been fascinating to hear what you've done for Village Halls over the past 15 years and, I suppose, hopefully another 15 years more to come. So thank you very much for your time.
Bernard Hammick:Thank you, Marc. It's been a great pleasure, and thank you to all the listeners as well, and I hope to speak to you sometime soon. Yeah, definitely.
Marc Smith:Cheers now. Many thanks to our headline sponsor and specialist insurance provider, allied Westminster, for making our podcast possible and whose services you can discover more about at villageguardcom, and to online booking system provider Hallmaster, who also sponsor our podcast and can be found at hallmastercom. And to online booking system provider Hallmaster, who also sponsor our podcast and can be found at hallmastercouk. You've been listening to the Village Halls Podcast, a unique listening community for Britain's village community and church halls and anyone interested in the vital community services they provide. We'll be back again soon with another episode. For more information, please visit thevillagehallspodcastcom, where you'll also they provide. We will be back again soon with another episode. For more information, please visit thevillagehallspodcastcom, where you will also find links to our social media pages. Thanks again for listening in and until the next time. Goodbye for now.
