Library Friends celebrate a year of progress

THE Friends of Culcheth Library have held their first-ever annual general meeting – with an upbeat review of the progress they have made in their first year.
The group was formed to support the library service in the village in delivering a wide range of library-related activities and to promote the role of the library as a community resource in the Culcheth area.
Friends’ chairman Cllr Ben Alldred the group had already development a constituted group with a committee and officers, developed a mission statement and a code of conduct.
“We have created a relationship with LiveWire in order to facilitate the development of a library thatwill be sustainable and meets the needs of local residents into the future.
“We have opened a bank account through our treasurer and consulted with local residents at several meetings in the library with the aim to create a group of volunteers who are willing to support the work of the library service.
“We fundraised within the community to support the work of FoCL and consulted with Livewire about the remodelling of the library building in Culcheth to meet the needs of the community.”
Cllr Alldred highlighted a number of the group’s other achievement:
*Through Lottery funding set up and equipped a wellbeing hub in the library.
*Provided Mindfulness training to approximately 20 volunteers who will take this into the community through a Mindfulness group meeting regularly in the library building.
*Engaged with Warrington Voluntary Action to provide safeguarding training to many of the volunteers in the mindfulness group.
*Created policies for safeguarding adults and young people and for the new data protection regulations.
*Thoroughly reviewed the spending of the lottery grant for the well being hub.
*Co-ordinated a book swap and cake sale to mark World Book Night.
*Supported a crafting group that meets regularly in the library.
*Supported a reading group that meets regularly in the library.
*Financially supported a poetry event organised by LiveWire that was attended by many school children from Culcheth.
*Created a jigsaw group to use and loan puzzles that all Library members can access.
Cllr Alldred added: “The fact that so much has happened in the past 12 months is down to the hard work and commitment of many people from the local community, working voluntarily to be involved in this project.
“The main purpose of the library in Culcheth is to lend books, audio books, and videos to residents. If this does not happen then we jeopardise the existence of this community educational facility. FoCL encourages you to do just this, borrow a book read it, read to your children, your partner, your parents, your pet, your neighbour then return the book to the library and repeat.”