By Sophie Swain
The Cornerstone Library Churchtown has celebrated its first birthday.
Volunteers, customers and the community celebrated with a beautiful cake, made by Cake Creations, looking at all the achievements over the past year.
The team at the library, located at The Cornerstone Methodist Church on Marshside Road, also gave away a voucher prize to their most prolific borrowers.
Arthur, who is over 90 years old had borrowed over 100 books in 12 months while Ava, their youngest reader at three years old, was also a keen borrower.
Gillian Vaughan, the Chair of Trustees at the library said: “We wouldn’t have got this far without your support, including your donations, and the support of our incredible team of dedicated volunteers.
“From our librarians to our booksellers, our trustees to, our fundraisers, a huge thank you for helping us get this far!
“Here’s to many more birthdays to come!”
The day was organised by Cornerstone’s trustees and volunteers. Regular customers attended the celebration and Gillian added it was a ‘joyous celebration for all’.
“Many thanks to all the volunteers and our support team who helped us raise funds.
“We look forward to adding to the North Meols community and building on our first year, extending our events and outreach.”
On the celebration day, Cornerstone launched their new website, as well as announced some volunteering positions which have become available.
Cornerstone is run entirely by volunteers and operated by the North Meols Library Association. It was opened following a 10-year campaign to reopen a library in the northern half of Southport.
After their first successful year of opening, the team are seeking to appoint new Trustees who can lead in areas such as Community Development, Volunteer Engagement and Premises.
The hands-on role would require Trustees to attend monthly meetings, help promote the objectives of the charity, and ensure its longevity.
They are also looking for a social media and website communication volunteer, as well as general volunteers and a service development project volunteer.
“We want to develop our community engagement and raise awareness of our services by reaching out to local residents, groups and schools.
“If anyone is interested in supporting us in any way, you can reach out for a chat.”
Anyone who is interested in the roles or who wants to find out more can email admin@cornerstonelibrary.org.
Cornerstone Library has also just launched their storytime rhyme sessions which will be held every Thursday at 10:15am for children of pre-school age.
They run for 45 minutes and children will be treated to interactive storytelling and nursery rhymes with visual aids.
The sessions have been organised by ex-teachers who Gillian said have ‘worked so hard’ to make the regular events possible.
Gillian said: “Everyone is welcome, from mums, dads and even grandparents.
“We’re hugely keen to make this a regular feature in the community.”
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