A free diary for your church hall, with church use first

What hirers ask church halls for

1,457 church halls are listed on HallMatch. 40 have been claimed by the people who run them. Where these numbers come from.

Church use first, lettings round it

• Put services, choir practice, Sunday school and PCC meetings in as regular bookings. They fill the diary 18 months ahead. If you share your diary, hirers see them under “What’s on every week” by the names you give them, so name them as you would on the noticeboard.
• Set the hours you let the hall, so Sunday morning is never offered.
• A funeral tea, a christening party or a parish lunch goes in as a one-off booking and shows as busy, never who it’s for.
• Term dates for the toddler group, from your council where we have them, and bank holidays from GOV.UK.

Free on their date

• When a hirer searches for a date, halls nearby with a free room that day come first.
• A hirer asks for a date through your listing, or the calendar on the church’s own website.
• Answer from the email with one tap, “Yes, it’s free”, “Sorry, not then” or “I’ll ring” them, and no login. A yes holds the slot while they decide.
• Answer most of them and, once there are a few to go on, hirers see how quickly you usually reply.

Your website

• Paste one line into the church’s own website and its visitors see which days are free, in your colour.
• Tapping a free time opens a request form. It shows your church hall and nothing else.

For the PCC

• “How full are we?” on one page for the annual meeting: hours let, who fills the hall, and the slots that are always empty.
• Reminders before the insurance, fire risk assessment, PAT and electrical certificates run out.
• Invite the churchwardens or the treasurer to edit the diary. When the lettings secretary changes, you hand over a login.

Already use booking software? Keep it.

Claim the listing so enquiries reach the right person, and answer from the email; nothing changes in Hallmaster, Village Hall Hub or whatever you use now. HallMatch doesn’t send invoices or take payments, so if the treasurer needs those, here’s how the paid systems compare. Everything the free diary does, and doesn’t.

Questions