LIBRARY REFURBISHMENT and CO-OP LOCAL COMMUNITY FUND

Uffculme Library has been refurbished, and has re-opened

This week, Uffculme Library re-opened, after being closed over the November lockdown, and for its long-awaited refurbishment. It’s open now for the standard hours of Monday 10-12, Friday 3-5, and Saturday 10-12. It may still be some time before we can open again on Wednesday afternoons, with our band of volunteers.

Do go in as soon as you can, meet up with Tim, and see how clean and bright the library now looks. Everyone is very pleased with the work that our local Uffculme painter and decorator, George Little, has undertaken; and we’re also pleased that Libraries Unlimited, who run Devon Libraries, are able to be more flexible in hiring contractors etc now that they’re a charity independent of the local authority (though still reliant on Devon County Council for the great majority of their funding).

In addition to the sprucing up and making good, there is also new shelving, both for the adult and the children’s areas. When I visited on Monday, Tim was still waiting for some equipment, shelving brackets etc, so not everything was quite in place, but I’m sure it will be very soon. I’m attaching a couple of photos I took on Monday to give you an idea, but nothing beats a personal visit. There are still of course covid restrictions in place – you need to wear a mask, and only one person/family is allowed in at a time. You can return books, or pick up reservations, in the foyer, and we also have a new durable returns box you can use out of hours, round the side of the library.

Now that the basic work has been carried out, we want to move and see what can be done to brighten up particularly the children’s area. Thank you for your various suggestions pre-covid, any further suggestions are very welcome. This project will be helped substantially by the news that we have received £1805 in total from the Co-op Local Community Fund – you’ll remember that you were able to support Uffculme Library Friends over the last year, by choosing the Friends as your charity through use of your Co-op card. £1805 was much more than we were expecting, and we’re very grateful to you and others who chose to make the Friends your charity over the year from November 2019 to October 2020.