Join The Friends Of Chorley Library!

Hello! It's so great you're interested in joining The Friends of Chorley Library!

Being part of the Friends of Chorley Library is fun and FREE! We're a friendly group of all ages who simply love our library and want to put on great community events in Chorley. 

Friends have no obligations (everyone's busy!) but it means a lot to us and the library when members come along to help at our events, or bring ideas to meetings! We have a great time, so it'd be really brilliant to see you there.

We have an FAQ about what it means to be a member below, or if you have any questions pop us an email at friendsofchorleylibrary@gmail.com

To join The Friends Of Chorley Library:

- Please fill out the form below or print and email it to friendsofchorleylibrary@gmail.com 
- Or pick up a copy of the membership form the library, and hand it in to a member of staff or member of the friends.

You can choose to either receive emails about meetings/ideas or just join our mailing list to be notified of events, whichever is best for you!




FAQ

What does a member of the Friends Of Chorley Library do?

Members of the Friends of Chorley Library usually come along to our meetings, plan and help out at our events, and help promote the friends group. Some of the things friends help with are:

- Serving teas and coffees
- Making posters for events
- Serving drinks at our gin bar nights
- Washing up after events
- Chatting to the community
- Running children's craft activities
- Posting on social media
- Keeping the website updated (hi!)
- Taking minutes (notes) at meetings
- Putting together prizes for events like our quiz night
- Keeping track of finances 
- Contacting other local groups or authors for events

We have a few official roles: chair, vice-chair, secretary, treasurer and membership secretary (which are filled each year at our AGM in November). Other than that, no one else is required to do any particular task, we all pitch in and support each other!

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 happens at a meeting?

We meet on the ground floor of the library (or occasionally in the pub!) in a circle of chairs and get the brews in. We usually chat and catch up with each other before the meeting (the Friends group is a lovely way to make, well, friends!). 

Our chair hands out a rough agenda and we go through things like summaries of our last events, ideas for new events, successes we've had, things we could have done better, and then we often have Chorley library manager Amy who will give us a little report on how we've helped (which is always really heartwarming!), and requests for anything that the money we've raised can help buy the library (there are certain items that the council cannot provide, but we can!). We then arrange a date for our next meeting and chat more!

It's relaxed and friendly, and everyone's welcome to come along even just for part of the meeting or to say hi!

How often are your meetings?

Usually around every two months, although we can add in less formal meetings if we have lots of events coming up, and we usually have fewer in the Summer months when a lot of us are on holiday!

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
- 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!