The beginning of a new chapter
It’s been five years since Kibworth Community Library was first approached by the Parish Councils to consider moving location to the Old Grammar School and become part of a new Kibworth Community Hub.
Five years of planning, fund-raising, delays due to Covid, and a certain amount of gnashing of teeth. Fast forward to Monday 27 October 2025 and we have arrived, and we are open!
We are so pleased with the new, purpose-built extension that we are housed in. It’s bright and airy, spacious and welcoming.
We are particularly delighted with the space we have for an extended children’s area. There is a nice, cosy area for Story Time, and a colourful new table and seating for crafting and Lego.
The two weeks we were closed were full of activity. Relocating shelving, transporting furniture generously donated to us by Wigston Library, re-stocking books and sorting out IT. We brought an incredible 150 crates of books with us, as well as four cling-wrapped double-shelves – an ingenious plan by the removal company.
We had so many visitors on the day we opened and lots of positive comments: “fantastic job on the new library”, “a brilliant launch” and “wow, what a lovely space!” We may be a bit biased but we agree!
We are extremely grateful to all of the volunteers (and their spouses) who helped along the way. The amount of time given to the move by all of us in the library has been substantial but worth it.
A big thank you!
We are very grateful to Harborough District Council for granting s106 monies to the parish councils to enable the building of the extension. Also, to the Bernard Sunley and the Garfield Weston Foundations for their generous grants.
We are particularly thankful to Betty Ward who very kindly bequeathed money to the library. These funds were invaluable to help us with the move and the refurnishing of the new space.
So much has changed with the library from the 1860s when we were a single room in the Village Hall. Not so much in distance, we’ve literally moved only 0.2 of a mile, but how we have evolved to become such a central part of the community. Here’s to another 165 years!
Please come along and see us if you haven’t been in already. We hope you’ll be as delighted as we are.
And please check out what’s going on at the library this month!
