Before we went to the Jonathon Porritt talk at Hay Winter Festival, our little group met in the Library. Michael had some information to give out to us about the new CIC, which now has a five-year legally binding contract with Powys County Council.
So the hard work of keeping the Library open has paid off - now the hard work of innovation to improve the Library for the Community begins (it should be fun, too!).
The aim is to make the Library the first port of call for everyone in the community who wishes to access any of the County Council's services or other Welfare or Social Service. (Rather like the way you could pay your Council Tax at the Library when it was in the old building, and the Council Offices in Hay closed).
Many challenges will face Hay in the future, and the Library can help the community to develop networks and tackle issues including food security, energy security, housing security and welfare and mental health security, particularly in the face of Climate Change, while also supporting our young people. One of the ideas is to have a Climate Change Club for young people, for instance. We know there's a lot of interest from young people locally in what they can do to mitigate climate change - before Covid there were meetings, with children from several different local schools involved, and one girl taking part in Town Council meetings, for instance.
The CIC is also planning to work with Hay Festival, which has given so much support to the Library up to now.
The BBC have also run a story about the Library and how it was saved from closure:
How Hay-on-Wye book lovers fought to save town library - BBC News
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