Ref: PR1839
Date: 08/07/08

Horbury Library will be celebrating the great outdoors this summer with its own reading garden as part of the National Year of Reading.

A Secret Garden Summer Party will be held at the library on July 19 where the public can enjoy performances by the Victoria Brass Band and some tasty cream teas.

The event is also an opening celebration of the library's Secret Garden which was created after the Friends of Horbury Library, in partnership with Wakefield Libraries, secured a grant of £4,350 from the BBC Breathing Places project to develop the story-telling garden at the side of the library.

It was designed by Wakefield Council Parks and Public Realm Department and provides not only an outdoor space for story-telling, but an opportunity for local people to participate in spring and autumn planting projects.

Cllr Denise Jeffery, Wakefield Council's deputy leader with responsibility for culture, said: "This is a wonderful garden and a great environment for people of all ages to enjoy reading.

"It really shows how the Council wants to get behind the National Year of Reading. By helping to provide this kind of scheme, we hope that more people will be encouraged to pick up a book and enjoy a good read."

The event is part of the National Year of Reading's series of outdoor reading projects and Honor Wilson Fletcher, director of the National Year of Reading, said: "On the surface this is just about the joys of outdoor reading and the imaginative inspiration of gardens on summer days, but of course there's more to it than that.

"Children progressing 26 per cent faster in reading is a thought-provoking statistic which has been identified through research into the impact of natural daylight in classrooms, whilst colours taken from nature's palate are known to be calming and instil a sense of well-being.

"Reading outdoors is one of life's great free pleasures and we aim to stimulate the creation of nourishing, sustainable and sociable public reading spaces for communities across the country. By making more appealing public spaces available for reading we increase the chances of engagement in reading for broader parts of the community."

Other events planned at the library include regular Friday storytimes from 2-3pm throughout the summer, weather permitting.

For further information contact Horbury Library on 01924 303060 or go to the Events page - see related links.