Relaunch of Friends of Forest Hill Library

Forest Hill Library has been operating successfully as a community library since October 2016. The library is run primarily by volunteers but relies on a couple of staff employees to ensure the smooth running of the library and its IT systems and to maintain a clean environment for all library users. We are incredibly lucky to have so many volunteers to keep the doors open and to help people with their books and computer needs.

The library has 16 computers that are well-used by the public and large book collections for children, teenagers and adults. There are also regular Origami classes, Baby Bounce and Rhyme Time events, a Book Group for adult readers and a Lively Minds discussion group for the over-50s. All of these activities are also run by volunteers from the local community!

Although our focus is on running the best-possible community library, we also need to consider the financial viability of its operation since, over the past couple of years, expenses have begun to outweigh income.

There are four main sources of income: room rentals on the upper floors of the library building, profits generated by Leaf and Groove — a second-hand book shop in Dartmouth Road — and grants and donations.

When we first took over running the library, we received many generous donations from members of the public, but we have not asked for any more donations since then. We now need to re-institute our Friends’ scheme in order to supplement our regular income, and we would welcome additional donations that individuals and business would like to make.

Our community library will always be free to use by anyone in the community. To ensure that we can continue to provide this service for over 60 hours a week, we need to appeal to the generosity of the local community.

Please consider supporting our much-loved library by becoming a Friend or Patron.

Becoming a Friend of Forest Hill library costs:
£29 for individuals per year
£99 for a business per year

 Becoming a Patron of Forest Hill library costs:
£300 for individuals
£500 for a business

We also welcome any one-off donations, no matter how small or big; and, since we are a charity, we can collect gift aid from personal donations made by UK taxpayers.

To become a Friend of Forest Hill Community Library download the form here.