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
Insurance Decoded: What Do You Need To Know?
We discuss the crucial yet often overlooked topic of village hall insurance and launch a new listener poll to shape future episodes on insurance topics that matter most to trustees and committee members.
• Insurance often becomes a priority only when something goes wrong
• Most trustees delegate insurance to one person with little collective oversight
• Insurance is a legal contract protecting your building, people, and finances
• New anonymous poll available at thevillagehallspodcast.com/facebook-polls
• Future episodes will explain most requested insurance topics in plain language
• Topics include buildings insurance, liability coverage, business interruption, and more
• Understanding insurance principles helps trustees ask better questions
• Village Halls Inspiration Awards 2025 entries open until 30th September
• £5,000 prize fund sponsored by Allied Westminster and Ecclesiastical
• Awards recognise grassroots action regardless of hall size or budget
https://thevillagehallspodcast.com/facebook-polls/
Hi, I'm 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. Before we begin, a quick reminder that entries are now open for the Village Halls Inspiration Awards 2025, celebrating the incredible work happening in village, community and church halls across the country. You can apply between the 1st of May and the 30th of September, so do consider putting your hall forward. Hello and welcome to the Village Halls podcast, the show for all those involved in the incredible work of running village and community halls across the UK. So, whether you're a trustee, volunteer, bookings manager, cleaner or committee chair, this is your space to learn, share and, hopefully, feel a bit less alone in what can sometimes be quite a demanding role.
Marc Smith:So now, today, we're looking at something that might not seem very exciting until something goes wrong, and that's insurance. But don't worry, we're not going to bore you with illegal terms or hard sell anything. But don't worry, we're not going to bore you with illegal terms or hard sell anything. What we are going to do is to invite you, our listeners, to help us shape a series of future episodes where we break down the parts of the Village Hall insurance that you find most confusing or just want to understand better. And here to help me do that, I'm joined by Gavin Mitchell, managing Director of Allied Westminster, the main sponsor of this podcast and a familiar voice for many of you. Gavin, welcome back, hello there, Marc.
Gavin Mitchell:Thank you, good to be back, nice to be here again. I think I'd like to start with a reassurance, Marc, if that's okay, especially for anyone tuning in for the first time, that, yes, allied Westminster is the sponsor of the village halls podcast and, yes, we do provide insurance for village halls. But, uh, what we're going to talk about today and in the episodes to come is not about any particular product or provider. This is about understanding insurance in a way that's relevant to any village hall, regardless of who they're insured with, and it's about helping people make sense of something that can often feel like a chore or, worse, a blind spot until you need it yeah, and that's the key point, isn't it?
Marc Smith:because? But I suppose for many halls insurance is just something that happens once a year. The renewal comes in, someone checks the premium, the committee approves it and that's it. But like car insurance, it comes in. As long as it's not too much more expensive, yeah, we're fine, exactly and, uh, you know, most of the time it's fine until it's not.
Gavin Mitchell:Um, then suddenly it becomes very real. I mean, maybe someone has an accident or the roof leaks or the boiler breaks down a week before a wedding, or you find yourself reaching for that policy that you haven't really looked at in years. And I mean, I get it. Most trustees are doing their very best, giving up their evenings, balancing a hundred things, and insurance is just one more thing on the to-do list and it's very often left to one person in the committee and the rest simply trust that it's been dealt with in an appropriate and acceptable manner. But here's the thing insurance is a legal contract and it's there to protect your building, your people, your finances. And if you don't understand what's in it or worse, you've assumed it covers something it doesn't. What's in it? Or worse, you've assumed it covers something.
Marc Smith:It doesn't, then that's when problems really start. Yes, so that brings us to the reason for this episode, because we're launching a brand new listener poll to find out what parts of Village Hall insurance do you want to know more about? So we've set up a quick anonymous poll on our website. Now the address will be linked on the page, but just now it's thevillagehallspodcastcom. Forward slash Facebook hyphen polls, so you can tick as many topics as you like and you can even leave comments or questions at the bottom. The idea is really simple you tell us what you want explained and we'll create future podcast episodes around those themes.
Gavin Mitchell:Mm-hmm. And yeah, thanks, Marc. I mean, we spoke about this earlier on. I'll be coming back on the show to talk through the most popular topics, hopefully in very plain English with my Scottish accent. No jargons, no assumptions. You've got a Scottish accent as well, Marc Aye, no jargons, no assumptions, just a practical explanation and, hopefully, some helpful insights. And, unlike the people who are submitting things, we are not anonymous. Feel free to put your name in the comments box if you want to, but I think it's important that we just get as much feedback as we possibly can, and in some cases, people really do want to do this in an anonymous way, so it's the collective gathering of the information that's important.
Gavin Mitchell:And we've listed a range of topics, including buildings insurance, public liability, trustee and management liability, employer's liability, loss of income, business interruption, hire as liability, money covered, equipment breakdown, legal expenses, event insurance, personal accident insurance. The list goes on, and that's, in many ways, why we've thought about doing this entire exercise, because any one or more of these things very often leave trustees baffled at these types of insurance. So it's all there in the poll, the poll, and if you think we've missed something, then you can add your own comments or questions below, because at the bottom of the poll there's a free text box you can simply type things in on if you would like to more, like to know more information about things that weren't covered in the list yeah, so I suppose one of the things I really like about this is that it gives every hall, no matter what their size or setup, a voice in shaping what gets discussed here.
Marc Smith:So we don't want to guess at what people need, we want to ask.
Gavin Mitchell:Yeah, that's a really good point and I think sharing this is important because the one thing that I've seen over the many, many years of working with village halls and village hall insurance is that this is really an important thing for the whole committee. It's not just the person who does the insurance, because often, you know, the collective understanding isn't there. Decisions are often made based on price, and I understand why. I mean everyone's trying to manage costs, but the cheapest policy isn't necessarily the best. The moment something goes wrong a claim or an injury or a dispute you discover the real value of what you've got.
Marc Smith:Yeah. So I suppose what we're saying to halls is don't just renew out of habit. Take a step back and think do you really understand what you bought?
Gavin Mitchell:Yes, exactly, and we're asking the right questions. You don't need to be an insurance expert, but you need to know enough to challenge things constructively, because when trustees ask better questions, they make better decisions. And it's not just about insurance, it's about governance, and I know trustees are governance, governance, governance. It's such an important thing and it can seem to be a very tedious thing, but at the end of the day, this is all about protecting the whole, the assets for the future.
Marc Smith:Yeah, and I think I'd quite like to stress again that even though obviously your company, gavin, is our main sponsor, that these upcoming episodes, they're not product driven.
Gavin Mitchell:They'll be about understanding the principles. So, no matter who you're insured with, you'll be better informed. That's the goal. I mean, as I've said before, if one trustee hears something and goes back to ask a question they wouldn't have thought of maybe asking before, then that's a win. I mean, it's not about telling people what they should have, it's about helping them to feel confident in the decisions they're actually making.
Marc Smith:Excellent. So once again, the link to the poll is thevillagehallspodcastcom. Forward slash Facebook hyphen polls. So it's short, anonymous and easy to share. So tick the boxes that interest you, leave a question or a comment if you want, and help shape what we cover next come out on top and to coming back to talk about them in um in much more detail.
Gavin Mitchell:I think we'll see a real mix some familiar things like public liability or trustee indemnity cover, but maybe also some prize, some surprises um, such as legal expenses. But I'm not going to be too prescriptive. Let's just see what comes in from um, from the polls more yeah, can we maybe try and get some really complicated questions.
Marc Smith:Please someone to to really grill gavin his insurance knowledge. You may have to bring a specialist we'll be listening out for the turning of pages as we're recording. So I suppose with this we want it to be ongoing, so it's not hopefully just a one-off. So there's a space at the bottom of the poll to share your story or to ask a question, and we'd love to bring some of those into the discussion as well.
Gavin Mitchell:Yeah, I think nothing brings a subject to life more than a real world example, and we're not really here to point fingers and say you know, you should have done X or you should have done Y. We're really here to help everyone learn from others' experiences.
Marc Smith:Before we wrap up today's episode, I want to remind you that we're now about halfway through the village halls inspiration awards 2025, so the entry deadline is 4 pm on tuesday, the 30th of september 2025. So if you've not already entered, it's time to put your thinking caps on to everyone who's already submitted. Thank you and the very best of luck. We've received some truly inspiring entries already, and it's fantastic to see so many halls using the platform. So, for anyone who's just hearing about it for the first time, let me give you a brief overview. So the Village Halls Inspiration Awards celebrate the unsung heroes behind our halls. These awards highlight projects and initiatives that inspire and strengthen rural communities, everything from innovative social programs and sustainability efforts to create fundraising and inclusive events. It's not about size or budget. It's about impact, creativity and community spirit. And now, gavin, you're still with us, and I know that Allied Westminster and your underwriting partner, ecclesiastical, are kindly sponsoring the prize money again this year. Can you remind us what's on offer?
Gavin Mitchell:You're still with us, and I know that Allied Westminster and your underwriting partner, ecclesiastical, are kindly sponsoring the prize money again this year. Can you remind us what's on offer? Absolutely, Marc, and I'm very pleased we're continuing our support. So this year's total prize fund is £5,000, split as follows the first prize is £2,500. Second prize £1,500. And the third prize for those mathematicians among you will have deduced it's 1,000 pounds. The aim is to recognise grassroots action, so we're awarding funds based on inspiration, innovation and community impact, not on budgets or hall size. Even a small hall with a simple, heartfelt idea can win if it's made a real difference locally and the clue's in the name it's to inspire other village halls across the country.
Marc Smith:Excellent. So, to recap, the entries close at 4pm on the 30th of September 2025. It's open to all rural community halls across the UK. The prize fund is £5,000, sponsored by Allied Westminster and Ecclesiastical. So if your hall has done something inspiring, no matter how big or small, please do enter. You'll find the entry form and full details on our website, thevillagehallspodcastcom.
Marc Smith:Brilliant Well, Gavin. Thanks again for joining us and for being such a great advocate for clarity and confidence when it comes to insurance. And to all of you listening, thank you, as always, for the incredible work you do to keep your halls running safe and at the heart of your communities. We'll be back very soon with more, but for now, from both of us, take care and thank you for listening to the Village Halls podcast. Many thanks to our headline sponsor and specialist Village Hall insurance provider, allied Westminster, the home of Village Guard, for making this podcast possible, and to online booking system provider, Hallmaster, who also sponsor our podcast and can be found at hallmaster. co. uk.
Marc Smith: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 services they provide. Don't forget. Entries for the Village Halls Inspiration Awards 2025 are open now until the 30th of September, so visit our website to find out more and get involved. We will be back again soon with another episode. For more information, visit thevillagehallspodcast. com, where you'll also find links to our social media pages. Thanks again for listening in and until next time. Goodbye for now.
