Through the coldest weeks of winter 2024-25, we were resident at Frome Library. Thanks to funding from Somerset Community Foundation, we were able to provide a jam-packed schedule of creative activities to encourage people to use the library as a warm space.

We ran a series of free weekly groups for young people: an illustrators club, a story inventors club and songwriting workshops.

We programmed lunchtime concerts into the library, from cajun folk to Japanese harp.

Almost every day there would be one-off special events, from dance classes to embroidery.

And we made hundreds of free hot drinks, offered quizzes, treasure hunts and newspapers, so that people of all ages felt cosy and welcome to spend as long as they liked in the library. Once a week we collaborated with our friends at Sonny’s Kitchen to provide free takeaway hot dinners at the end of our after-school clubs.

We also popped up in Chard and Minehead Libraries with storytelling performances and craft explosions.