About Us

Hi there! Learn a bit more about who we are and what we do!

"The Friends of Chorley Library exist to support our wonderful library by raising funds and organising fantastic promotional events. We want to help the library sustain its position as a vibrant hub of the community and offer exciting opportunities to everyone in the local area."

Our lovely group is independent of the library, but our constitution is regulated by Lancashire County Council and we're part of the Lancashire Libraries group (so we're official!). Absolutely all money raised is used to support the library and to put on brand new events!

If you fancy becoming a member (it'd be awesome to have you!) pop over to our membership page here, or get in touch at friendsofchorleylibrary@gmail.com. You can also say hello to us on twitter @chorleylibrary

How do you support the library?

We're really lucky that it doesn't seem that Chorley Library is at risk of closure right now, so our main focus is on bringing people into the library and raising money to buy the library the items they can't get on their own.

Unfortunately the library have their hands tied on what they can and cannot purchase (or it takes a very long time to get approval), so the money we raise is an invaluable source to purchase things like prizes for children's reading challenges, boards and signs to promote the library and events, boxes for children's books, rugs and decor to make the library cosy, and other essentials the budgets don't cover.

With our events, and the library's own events, a lot of the time they just simply wouldn't exist without us and our members putting the time in to help with them. Our events have brought in members of the public who have never been to the library before: one man said he'd lived in Chorley for 70 years but had never been to the library before our open mic night! What a win!

I hope it's not too bold of me to say, but we make the library and the community a brighter place! Amy, the library manager, is always so, so grateful for our group.

What events do you put on?

Oh ho ho, I'm so glad you asked! We've put on LOTS of events since we started, and we've been getting quite a reputation in Lancashire for our unexpected and fun ideas!

Some of the events we've had are:
- Open mic nights
- Barn dances
- Comedy nights
- Gin nights
- Poetry slams
- Christmas bonanzas
- Quiz nights
- Boardgames between the bookshelves
- Author talks
- Anxiety for young people talk
- Craft fairs

We're always open to more ideas, so if there's anything you're dying to see happen at the library, come along to a meeting and let us know!


Is the friends group open to anyone?

Yeeessss! Currently our group ranges from members in their 30s - 80s, from all different backgrounds, brought together by our love of our library and community. Absolutely anyone is welcome! We're a really friendly bunch and we'd love to see you. Please consider joining!