Mowbray Gardens Library celebrates first birthday

From 10 am until 2 pm on Sunday July 18, Mowbray Gardens Library on Herringthorpe Valley Road will be the venue for a day of free fun celebrations, including a Big Lunch and the BBC's Dig In programme.

It is now a year since the swimming pool area was removed allowing for the library area to be extended across the whole site.

The iconic library underwent a total transformation both internally and externally and has now become one of the finest, and most innovative, in South Yorkshire.

The new library which is twice the size of the previous one, features  more convenient opening times, improved toilets and baby changing facilities, Nintendo Wii gaming, a community room and a landscaped and fully lit exterior.

Funded by the Big Lottery Fund, Sunday's event will hopefully show people what a great building their local library is as well as encourage the people who come to the event to become part of the Adult and Children's Community Boards that in turn help keep the library running.

The event itself is completely free and library employees will be organising multiple events on the day including a Nintendo Wii Rock Band competition, a secret garden treasure hunt, a fire engine and traditional games such as 'hook a duck' and 'pin the tail on the donkey'.

The celebration is also being held in conjunction with the Big Lunch and the BBC's Dig In campaign. The Big Lunch is an initiative based at the Eden Project in Cornwall and inspires communities to get together, eat together and have fun together in a street party tradition.

The BBC's Dig In gardening campaign encourages the public to grow their own vegetables and fruit, which is what has been happening in the Reading Gardens of the Library.

At 12 noon the Youth Service will cook and serve a free barbecue with food donated from Asda and halal food donated by local businessmen.

To accompany all the events musicians will perform 'Songs of Steel' and poems from the Steel Works, which has a listening station and display in the library.