A new report entitled "The Impact of the Investment in Village Halls" was launched at the Village Halls Advisers' Conference in April 2007. The event, which was sponsored by AON Insurance, allowed the country’s Village and Community Hall Advisers to meet over 4 days to discuss issues including economic outcomes, project management, social inclusion, mediation and arbitration. The advisers have long been aware that when a village/community hall committee receives grants to improve or replace its hall, it has a considerable impact on the development and sustainability of, not only that hall, but the community as a whole. This can be from new activities taking place, new groups forming, existing ones increasing their membership post project completion. It was decided that halls to be used in the research must have completed their project a minimum of two years and a maximum of five years from the date when the data was collected and that the sample of halls surveyed must also provide a good cross-section of project types. Funding from one source can lever funding from another. However, there was little hard evidence to back this up. Village Hall Advisers agreed that from their experience, it can take between two to five years for halls to reach their full potential after completion of an improvement or new build project. The report, undertaken by the South West Network of Village Hall Advisers highlights how investment in village halls creates new income streams and activities in rural communities. The research highlighted that in 96% of cases, capital investment to village halls leads to new and more diverse usage. It also results in new surpluses being generated (financial), which helps to sustain village halls in the future. From the 30 village halls studied, the research revealed that communities raised £1,217,568 of the funding needed for capital works, which is a substantial amount of community fundraising. Barbara Pond, Gloucestershire Rural Community Council’s Village and Community Halls Adviser added, “This report is an extremely valuable piece of research which will prove the value of village halls. It is important to show funders the importance of investing in these buildings and what social and economic difference it can make to communities.”