Community initiatives

Please find below details of any initiatives happening in the Chard area that are of benefit to the community. Should you be working on a community initiative or project that you feel Chard Town Council should be promoting then please get in touch. We will then review the suitability of your offering.

Visit the library in your own home

It can be a lonely time for people who find themselves housebound. But they can venture into a whole new world of reading thanks to Somerset Council’s Home Library Service (HLS).

The free service is run by the Council with the support of a team of willing volunteers. It delivers books to people who are unable to get to their local library, such as those who are housebound, living in long term care, carers, or people who are vulnerable due to long term conditions or disabilities. The service is open to people of all ages. 

Cllr Federica Smith-Roberts, Executive Lead Member for Communities, said: “This is a brilliant service. Reading books can help keep your mind engaged as you grow old, helping to improve memory and reducing stress. The Home Library Service plays a really valuable role in bringing the library to your front room for so many people, taking them on journeys from the comfort of their arm chair to whole new worlds and meeting new characters.”

Somerset Libraries offer a wide range of services – as well an extensive collection fiction and non-fiction books in different formats including: regular print, large print and audio books. The service also has an extensive collection of digital resources available to borrow including: e-books , e audio, e magazine and e newspapers. There’s a loan offer for iPads to support residents in accessing online resources including Borrowbox.

Customers are matched up with a volunteer – fully trained and DBS checked – who will visit regularly at a suitable time. The volunteer will spend time understanding the customer’s reading preferences so that they can select the right books. They choose and order these books and deliver them at a convenient time.

To find out more about this service or volunteering opportunities please contact Home Library Service manager Lauren Davis –email  lauren.davis@somerset.gov.uk or phone 07814079831.

For more information, visit: Home Library Service (somerset.gov.uk) or see the below leaflet:

See below details of a volunteering opportunity with Somerset Libraries