The Parish Council has been approached by SCC about a new Snow Warden Initiative. Details of the initiative are available in this information sheet:
Winter 2019_20 – Snow Warden Initiative
The Warden will work on behalf of the Parish Council to deliver highway winter service support to their communities.
If you are interested in volunteering to be the Parish Snow Warden, please get in touch (clerk@bishopslydeard.org)
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)
The upcoming Beat Surgery dates have been confirmed in the poster available below:
Bishops Lydeard Community Library News
Bishops Lydeard Library has been a community library since July and is run by Bishops Lydeard Parish Council in partnership with Somerset County Council. It is run by library staff and local volunteers. I am pleased to say that we have received very positive feedback from the public since the change and visits to the library have more than doubled.
On the 5th October we held our first event called Amazing Autumn. It was part of the Fun Palaces initiative and the aim was to celebrate autumn. There were leaves to play in with the diggers and dinosaurs for children, an autumnal book display and a nature trail around the library. There was also the chance to colour and decorate a leaf to add to our community tree. The Reception class from our primary school also kindly helped to create the community tree which you can now come and see and can continue to add leaves too.
We have recently started two regular clubs at the library:
Story and Rhyme Time (term time only) – 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 is again a free, drop in club so families are welcome to come and stay for as long as you like.
Our opening hours have increased and are Monday 10am to 4pm, Wednesday 10am to 4pm, Friday 10am to 4pm, Saturday 10am to 1pm. It is free to join the library so pop in or visit our website www.librarieswest.org.uk and join online.
If you have any suggestions or comments on what you would like from YOUR library, please feel free to pop in and speak to me or one of our volunteers. Alternatively, you can email the library on bldlib@somerset.gov.uk.
If you would like to become a volunteer or help out in anyway then please contact Iain Hunter on 01823 433016
Thank you for your support.
Rebecca Hill
(Library and Information Officer)
The update below regarding the Taunton Road Development Roadworks has been provided by the Site Manager:
A358 junction:
. W/c 21.10.19 under two way traffic lights we will install 3no new road gully’s and start the requirement for the new tarmac.
. W/c 28.10.19 again under two way traffic lights we will carry out the new white lining.
Taunton Road,
. The new main services within the section we are working on have been installed.
. UKPS who are installing the new HV electric cable along Hither Mead are hoping to be completed by the end of this week.
. The new electric sub station is well underway.
. W/c 11.10.19 all the new kerbs & edgers will be installed.
. We have a section of existing water main to be moved approximately (30m) which we are awaiting a date from Wessex Water. We are hoping this doesn’t impact on our re-opening date to Taunton Road.
. W/c 21.10.19 we have planned to start installing the new tarmac along the section under the road closure.
At this moment in time we are just on program as you can appreciate we are now going in to the time of year where weather does have an impact.
The Somerset Waste Partnership October Briefing is available here: SWP Briefing October 2019 UPDATE