Bishops Lydeard Parish - Featuring Cothelstone

Parish News

Bishops Lydeard Community Library Update

It has been another successful month for the community library. Since the beginning of November we have been running two regular clubs:

Storytime – this is held every Monday at 11:00 until 11:30. It is free and you do not need to sign up, just come along.

Lego Club – this is held every Saturday at 10:00 until we close at 13:00. In addition to the various sets of Lego available, there will also be Duplo laid out for younger children. This again is a free, drop in club so families are welcome to come and stay for as long as you like.

We are always keen to encourage more local residents to visit the library. We have recently visited some local events including a coffee morning and a lunchtime group to spread the word about the new community library. If any local groups would like us to visit to talk about the library and what is on offer, then please get in touch.

We were pleased to welcome the children from the Reception class at the primary school to the library in October. The children will be visiting again at the start of December and they will be bringing their own handmade decorations to put on our library Christmas tree and helping to make paperchains.

Why not come along and have a look at the Christmas tree and whilst you are at the library search through our lovely selection of Christmas books. We have something for everyone. Over the festive period the library will only be closed on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

Library Alert!

Recently we have noticed books being put back in the wrong place and things have been going missing. It is our belief that a naughty elf has made his home in our library. When you visit please could you help us to find him, he could be hiding anywhere. If you do find him then you could earn a Christmas sticker or sweet treat.

Feedback on first 3 months
As you are no doubt aware from previous articles, Bishops Lydeard Library is now being run as a Community library by Bishops Lydeard Parish Council in partnership with Somerset County Council. It is run by a combination of a SCC librarian and a keen group of local volunteers.

As part of this partnership we get quarterly feedback from the council on statics/ performance targets relating to such things as books issues, attendance at events, membership uptake and footfall.

We now have the first set of statistics (July –Sept) and even though we might be blowing our own trumpet we are astounded with the very impressive figures. Some highlights compared to the same quarter in 2018-19 are;

• Total Issues up by 38% (over 600 issues)
• Total footfall up by 97%
• New users up by 689%
• Computer usage up by 98%
• Summer Reading Challenge up by 232%
• Sumer Reading Challenge completers up by 153%
• Event attendance up by a staggering 1138%

As you can see these are very inspiring figures and support the very positive comments/feedback that we have been receiving from the users / local communities.

So, if you have not already visited the library to experience the new community atmosphere then please come and visit us very soon we are confident that you will be impressed.

If you have any suggestions or comments, please feel free to pop in and speak to Rebecca or one of our volunteers. Alternatively, you can email the library on BLDLIB@somerset.gov.uk.
Thank you for your support and hope to see you soon.

Rebecca Hill & Iain Hunter
(SCC Library and Information Officer) Friends of Bishops Lydeard Co-ordinator)