PEASEDOWN St John’s Community Library is celebrating an important milestone by marking five years of service to the community. 

The library, which opened in October 2019, is part of Bath & North East Somerset Council’s network of community services.

Operated by the Peasedown Community Trust, the library was brought to life through the dedication of long-serving B&NES Councillor Karen Walker, who always wanted a library in the village.

Cllr Walker, who serves as the operations manager, said: “It was always such a disappointment that a village our size never had its own library, so when the council was restructuring its customer services department back in 2018 I jumped at the chance at applying to have a community library in Peasedown St John.

“After several months of lobbying our bid was successful and now all these years later we’re celebrating our fifth birthday. A huge thank you to everyone who has supported us over the years, particularly our loyal and dedicated team of volunteers who keep this valuable service running for the community.”

The library, which has a collection of more than 700 books, welcomed at least 200 visitors last month and is issuing around 300 books each month, a rise from the 150 books borrowed monthly last year.

The library welcomes visitors on Mondays from 11am to 3pm, Wednesdays from 2pm to 4pm and Saturdays from 10am to 1pm.

Peasedown Community Library is part of the Peasedown Community Trust, which runs several projects in the village.

Trust chairman Cllr Gavin Heathcote, said: “Peasedown Library is part of the Libraries West consortium, which means that if you take a book out from us you can return it to any library across the South West of England, and vice versa.

“The recent B&NES library stats show that we’re continuing to provide a local service that people want. If you haven’t popped in to visit your community library yet, please do. We’d love to see you.”

Peasedown Community Library is located at The Hive Community Centre, Bath Road, Peasedown St John, which offers various rooms for hire, including a sports hall, floodlit multi-use games area, and an art room, along with community workshops and events.

For more information about volunteering at Peasedown Community Library and to sign-up email Cllr Karen Walker at [email protected] or visit www.facebook.com/PSJCommunityLibrary