‘Absolutely wonderful’ occasion as Little Free Library opens in Abbey
Abbey People has launched a ‘Little Free Library’ service, a community-based project to encourage book access and reading in one of the city’s most deprived wards.
Based on Wadloes Road near the Newmarket Road roundabout, the Little Free Library operates from a book box in a residential front garden.
The new community book box was officially opened on Friday (April 1) and was an instant hit with local children who rushed to the opening from school to participate and maybe choose a free book to take home.
Just as everyone gathered, a snowstorm blew in and out again all within ten minutes. Immediately after that, everyone was being bathed in bright sunshine – right on time for the opening, where speaker Catherine Galloway, Abbey People project manager, said that “books are just bits of trees but at the same time they are absolutely life-changing and having this here, where a lot of children don’t have access to books, is absolutely wonderful”.
The ribbon ceremony which followed saw the book box declared open, with hugs being exchanged by the primary schoolchildren involved.
“It’s all about improving literacy,” said Abbey People CEO Nicky Shepard at the launch, thanking the New Meaning Foundation, the local charity charity responsible for building both the book box and the modular homes for the ex-homeless on Newmarket Road. The Waterbeach-based organisation’s marketing manager, Suzie Young, said she was “proud and delighted” to be part of the project.
Although it is by far the smallest project New Meaning has taken on, the attention to detail on this Little Free Library is huge, including a solar panel built into the roof which will allow for night-time browsing and tiny windows spelling ‘BOOK’ to light up down the side.
The project was funded by Talking Together In Cambridgeshire, which works to boost the communication, language, and literacy levels of children aged up to five, and stresses the importance of sharing books and stories as part of a child’s development.
“Forty eight per cent of children attending our local Galfrid School receive free school meals, and families who are struggling with food poverty are also very likely to have fewer books in the home too,” added Nicky. “This means many children simply don’t have access to the comfort of a sharing a book at bedtime or the joy of racing through ‘just one more chapter’ as independent readers.
“We began changing the story on that by providing free books for all ages in our food hub during the pandemic last year, and this wonderful Little Free Library is the next step in that process.”
Local resident Sharon Secker, who volunteered to host the Little Free Library outside her home, said: “I love reading, and working as a childminder I’m always discovering new picture books to share.
“Having my grandson Oliver pull open the big red bow on the front of this library today was a really special moment for us both and I am so looking forward to seeing it used and loved by everyone in the neighbourhood.”
Books have been donated by Tesco Newmarket Road, as well as by volunteers from the Cambridge South Rotary Club, and local people.
Alan Edwards, youth committee chairman of The Rotary Club of Cambridge South, said: “It was an article headed ‘For the love of books’ in the Rotary International in Great Britain & Ireland magazine of June/July 2021 that aroused our interest. The youth committee of our Rotary Club decided to help those children who had no access to books and therefore had a literacy below an acceptable level.
“What followed on from there was an awakening that Cambridge had two major deprived areas, the Arbury and Abbey wards: this came to my knowledge from an article last year in the Cambridge Independent on Abbey People. Nicky Shepard was interviewed and we were inspired to offer some help.
“We hope this will be an ongoing activity.”
The Little Free Library movement has been growing steadily since 2009, with more than 100,000 official book exchange boxes now registered in 108 countries worldwide – and Abbey People is already hard at work on the next one locally, which they promise will be an “absolute game-changer”.
