Morley Village and Sports Hall

Go Digital generates new business for community venue in South Norfolk

Morley Village and Sports Hall is a volunteer-run, multi-purpose hire venue near Wymondham. It is an important community asset, hosting sports activities, weddings, children's parties, business meetings, social groups and other events. The management team wanted to offer people an online booking service and applied to Go Digital for advice on the most suitable system.

"A local company, Netmatters, had kindly agreed to build a new website for us," explains Chair Corinna Pharaoh. "However, to increase the use of our facilities, we knew it needed to have an integrated booking system that showed live, 24/7 availability. We had done a lot of research and narrowed the choice down to three systems but we didn't know which one would best meet our needs."

Getting a Go Digital adviser

Go Digital introduced Corinna to Stuart Forrester, an experienced adviser with technical expertise.

"He was extremely professional and enjoyable to work with, but most of all he was willing to listen. He took time to understand our capabilities and our different audiences before reviewing all three systems and recommending one."

Stuart's advice didn't stop there.

"For a start, he told us about the £500 Go Digital grant that we could put towards the cost of the new system. Then he helped us refine our thinking around our website design and digital marketing, including how to boost our audience engagement on social media."

Seeing success

The new booking system has gone live and Corinna is delighted with the result.

"Go Digital has been transformative - not least by increasing business bookings and commercial income, which supports our community activity. The contrast with when people had to phone or email to book, is remarkable.

"Now people can go straight from a social media post to the website and see space availability. They can request a viewing, or book it online, and we get an instant notification. That means we know if bookings are on target or if we need to promote particular times to increase occupancy.

"We are four times busier than before the pandemic, which has enabled us to increase our booking administrator's employment hours. Our venue is now highly occupied across the day, having previously only been busy in the evening, and local businesses are now using our meeting room more. I hope this shows other community venues how to become more resilient by going digital."