Welcome to the mid-September 2026 update from the Leamington Library of Things.
September the 5th we had a stall at the EcoFest, and many people did come and talk to us there. We made some new contacts and talked to existing friends and members. We were particularly pleased – not to say a bit surprised – at the people who tried out our unicycle; one person even came and borrowed it for a week to remind himself how to ride it.
As the Library is pretty well established now, we are planning to set up a sort of advisory group for the Library. Strictly non-executive, made up of a small number of interested people who can advise and comment, help with direction and accountability. If you think you might be interested in working with the Library of Things in this way, drop us an email libraryofthings@makeleamington.co.uk
Back to the nuts and bolts … The influx of new items donated to the Library continues, so do look for things you might not have seen there before; we will try and put a list of the items that have been added recently on our website. If we are (always) a bit behind in adding things onto the inventory, please be patient, and never be afraid to ask whether we have something that you can’t find on the inventory, it might just be waiting to get there. Meanwhile, we currently have approaching 400 itemised Things that you can borrow.
The inventory is only the digital version of the things in the Library – the actual physical items, as anyone who has been into 65 Bedford Street will know, take up a lot of space. Two things to say about this: firstly, we thankfully have the use of a garage to store some items ‘off-site’. The things that are kept in the garage are marked as “kept off-site” on their inventory listing, where it says we need a day’s notice to bring them to the Bedford Street, so please be aware of this when you reserve things.
The other thing is that we are in need of more shelving or similar storage; 65 Bedford Street is not the Tardis, we can’t expand the volume of space, but we could do a better job of storing what we do have if we had more shelves. So please, if you have some that you’d be willing to offer to the Library, we’d be very grateful.
One very specific note – when we were all still broiling and there was no sign of rain, the weir had stopped flowing and the grass was brown, we stopped being willing to loan out our pressure washers as they use so much water. The drought was never officially declared but it felt right to do that. Although the drought is not over just because we’ve had some rain, and the grass has greened again, we are making the pressure washers available again.
We have just joined Instagram, so if it’s your thing, find us @leamingtonlibraryofthings and do Follow, Like, etc for all the usual reasons.
Thank you for your interest in the Leamington Library of Things. Keep borrowing and telling other people about us; word of mouth is our best friend.
With best wishes / Maurice
