Richmond has a new neighbourhood library thanks to a collaboration between a local neighbourhood and Waimea Menzshed.
St James Ave resident Julie Moon and her bookgroup came up with the idea as a way to give their books a new home once they had been read and discussed.
“We always had extras which we were donating to different places, then we just said ‘hey, what if we do a little book library’ and then we can keep feeding it and be custodians.”
Julie contacted the council who agreed to pay for installation, and after ticking all the boxes, it has finally been installed on St James Ave. Julie says it wouldn’t have been possible without the Waimea Menzshed who built and painted it for them.
Local residents Neil and Anne Page got involved too, decorating it with monarch butterflies.
Just days after it was filled with books, Julie had to restock and she now heads across every other day to stock it up.
“I’ve got some good ones for kids, the ‘secret seven’ and things like that to make sure there’s things of interest.”
She says the project has helped connect the community.
“With the cost of things these days; a walk is free, a book is free, and we all rank that [highly].”
