The Library has played a huge part in my life.

I always remember as a child of the 70s, getting my first library card and the joy it brought. As a family, we used to visit our Worthing Library on a Saturday, where we’d make a beeline for the children’s section, tucked up at the back. It was a comfy space with bean bags and seats for the grownups. My younger sister and I would seek out some books and sit and read with our parents. We would sometimes listen to audiobooks, which back then, were on cassette tape. We would always take books home and would relish feeling like a grown up, when we got to check our books out-sliding them along the stand, open and ready for the lady scan them out using her ‘magic‘ pen and stamping our return date onto the insert.

As I grew up, the library became a valuable learning tool and I spent lengths of time searching for and reading reference books to help with my GCSEs and then when a library more local to my neighbourhood opened, I would spend hours in the ‘quiet’ studying for my A Levels.

Now, as a parent, I take my daughter to the library, as she shares my love for books, and we often attend activities that are run. She particularly enjoyed the recent Virtual Reality headsets with immersive stories.

The Library has and will continue to provide myself and my family with an invaluable service. I thank you from the bottom of my heart!