New Funding for Wendover Community Library
The Trustees of Wendover Community Library are pleased to announce a major enhancement to our library. After several years of seeking funding to improve the facilities and provide new community space, a partnership bid with Buckinghamshire Libraries to the Arts Council England Libraries Improvement Fund, has been successful.
A grant of £310,000 has been received to help develop the Library into an inclusive, multi-use community centre. Additional funding of £120,000 has been agreed with Buckinghamshire Council and, together with a number of smaller grants and contributions, the total amount available to support the project will be around £500,000.
We aim to provide a focal point for a range of social, educational and cultural activities. Besides improving the range of services by, for example, finding ways to encourage all generations to make use of their library, it is hoped to develop more flexible spaces for meetings, tourist information, local history, and for the library itself. This will be a community centre for everyone.
An important part of the project will be to provide an attractive front, clearly visible from the High Street with a welcoming reception area. To achieve these aims, we recognise that our community library will need to be open for more hours per week than at present. The grant from the Arts Council also requires us to commission an art installation engaging local people.
A detailed project plan and timeline is already being discussed, with the launch of the new community library expected in the summer of 2023.
Initial designs will be shared as soon as possible and opportunities for local people to get involved in this project will be a crucial part of our planning.
Quotation from Phil Mitchell, Chair of Wendover Community Library Trustees on the award of the new funding for our Community Library: “This year Wendover Community Library Trustees celebrate ten years of working with the County Library service, to help ensure our community has an active library. This award is much appreciated by all of us, and we will work hard to ensure the generously awarded funds are well used on behalf of everybody.”