As the Summer comes to an end we would like to say well done to all of those children who rallied back to the library this holiday and completed the Summer Reading Challenge. This annual event had been cancelled last year and we did wonder whether the children would return but no worries, the children of Embsay and Eastby didn’t let us down. Your medals and certificates are on their way to school.

As we go into Autumn we are taking stock of how the pandemic has affected us and how it has affected our volunteers. We would like to extend our gratitude to our volunteers , many of a certain age!, who have kept our library going through this difficult time, as we have all had to adjust constantly over the months to different rules and regulations. Now is the time to refresh our volunteer numbers and we are starting a drive to encourage anyone who may be interested in joining our numbers to get in touch.

What does it involve? Our village library is based in the Village Institute and is run completely by volunteers with the support of North Yorkshire Library Service. We open 3 days a week – Thursday 2-6pm, Friday 2-5pm and Saturday 10-12.30pm. Our volunteers can opt to do as little as 90 minutes a month, as the booking system is completely flexible. You only put your name down when it’s convenient to you. There are 2 ways in which you can help – a Computer based volunteer, as our library is fully manned unlike the larger libraries. And a General Helper who deals with books on the shelves. Each shift is manned by 2 people.

Please call into the library if you want more information and talk to our volunteers on duty or email me on vallucas52@gmail.com for a chat.