Celebrate with us during Libraries Week

Libraries Week takes place between 4 and 10 October and is an annual showcase and celebration of the best that libraries have to offer.

With the ever-changing environment and the Covid-19 pandemic, libraries have been working extra hard to keep communities united and offer services that are accessible to all, even when they had to temporarily close their doors.

This year’s theme is ‘taking action and changing lives’ and over the course of the week Bury libraries have had a series of activities to support this:

• Rhyme & Chat Time sessions - are the perfect way to support the development of your child’s speech, language and communication skills and you can join in with local families on Mondays at 10.30am at Radcliffe Library.

• Digital Skills classes - the realities of lockdown and social distancing have shown how invaluable these skills are and you can ensure you don’t get left behind with technology by attending one of the free classes at Bury, Radcliffe, Ramsbottom and Prestwich. Find out more at www.bury.gov.uk/digitalskills.

• Class visits – we were very excited to welcome St Paul’s CE Primary School to Bury Library for our first school visit since the lockdowns have ended. The children joined the library, listened to stories and had great fun selecting their books.

• Poetry and painting classes – this Zoom class, funded by the Reading Friends project, tackles loneliness by bringing people together to read, chat, paint and share poems. It has brought together people from around the world with members joining in from Bury, Prestwich, the Isle of Wight and Hong Kong.

Councillor Richard Gold, cabinet member for communities, said: “Libraries are at the heart of our communities, and they offer an essential and much valued service to the people of Bury. Now that our libraries are fully reopened, we are delighted to be able to reconnect with our communities again.

“We know that libraries are real centres of activity providing people with opportunities to meet others and engage in a wide range of social activities as well as providing access to the usual wide range of library services. It has been wonderful to see life returning to our much-loved libraries."

You can keep up to date with all library activities through their social media accounts on Twitter www.twitter.com/burylibrariesand on Facebook at www.facebook.com/burylibraries.

ENDS

Press release issued: 7 October 2021.