HOWLS - fundraising and volunteers

The HOWLS meeting on Wednesday evening was to update people on what's happening at the moment - at a time when Powys County Council are considering their budget for next year, but are not releasing any details yet.
One thing's for sure - it isn't going to be good news for Libraries.
The PCC was going to cut £200,000 from the library budget last year, but agreed to defer the decision for a year, so that cut will probably be made in the coming year, with more on top of it.
The PCC has just published the results of a survey about libraries that it conducted in June (Hay is on pages 8 - 10), and this can be found at:
https://en.powys.gov.uk/article/7873/The-future-of-Powys-Libraries
HOWLS has to be ready for whatever decision the PCC takes.

A CIC (Community Interest Company, like the one that renovated the Cheesemarket) has been created, and the idea of this is to fund raise for the library. They are setting up social media now, including a video project called Public Libraries Transform Lives, in which people explain what libraries mean to them.
We shouldn't have to fund raise, as provision of libraries is a statutory requirement, but we will probably have no choice if we want to keep the service in the short term. The CIC is just getting up and running now, with £500 from HOWLS to start them off. The estimate is that Hay Library costs £20,000 a year to run, so that's what they are aiming for - but the PCC would only get that money if they continue to provide the professional staff and back up services that are needed.

In the meantime, there are volunteers who help out at the library. HOWLS is determined that the library should continue to be a professionally led service to the community, but volunteers are always helpful. At the moment there are seven regulars, including two who are still at school (which is encouraging for the next generation of readers and library users), and they try to make sure there is someone there for each session that the library is open. There's also Sian, who runs Storytime on Monday mornings, and Bernie who helps with IT advice. Jane the Librarian has also started Enchanted Hour, a storytime for adults, with coffee.
They'd like to have a few more volunteers, to fill in for times that the regulars can't get there, and to expand what they do - they'd like to offer a service to housebound people who can't get to the library, for instance. They'd also like to have a proper training package from Powys County Council, like the volunteers in Herefordshire, and clarity about DBS checks (Herefordshire has a simple disclosure agreement).

Also, they would like people to join the library! It's free! It can be life-changing! There are no downsides to this at all!
There are 875 library members in Hay at the moment, out of a total of 1,985 scattered around the surrounding villages. I think I'm right in saying that the children who go to Hay and Clyro Schools have all got library cards, and visit the library regularly from school.