Local residents are certainly coming up with some imaginative ways of coping with the current cost of living crisis – and this latest one is good for our planet, too! It has recycling at its heart and, as the name suggests, it won’t cost you a penny to use.
You may already have spotted Ruddington’s ‘Little Free Library’ if you’ve headed along St Mary’s Crescent recently, without actually realising what this smart little wooden cupboard is all about, or what’s in it. Of course, a closer inspection reveals the answer is books – to ‘take’, ‘leave’ or ‘borrow’.
Lucy Joyner, who has lived in our village for six years, with partner Alex, explains: “I saw one when we were on holiday in Somerset. It’s an American initiative … essentially a cupboard/box outside your house where you put books for people to take/swap. We get a lot of foot traffic past our house, with children walking to school/dog walkers, etc, so thought it would be a good location for one.”
Lucy reveals the cabinet itself is also recycled – bought for £10 on Gumtree – whilst the ‘LIBRARY’ plaque on the door came from Etsy and was then superglued into place. 
At the moment its contents are mainly adult age books on the top shelf, with baby and children’s books on the bottom shelf. However, she’s hoping this will evolve as more and more people get to know it’s there and start to make use of it.
In between her shifts, working as a nurse at the Queen’s Medical Centre, Lucy says: “I will aim to keep it topped up with books I have enjoyed myself. I’m aiming to ‘dress it up’ depending on the season – doing different themes for different times of year.”
With the festive season now upon us, a couple of the latest additions are ‘Sam’s Snowflake’ by Gillian Shields and ‘Winnie-the-Pooh’s Christmas Adventure’ by A.A. Milne.
Lucy’s initiative follows others in Ruddington which aim to be helpful for local families and individuals who might be struggling financially at the moment. These include the twice monthly ‘Heat ‘n’ Eat’ lunches in St Peter’s Church and the idea to create ‘Warm Welcome Spaces’ at venues around our village where people can both escape the winter cold and get together to socialise with others. However, like with these other community-spirited ideas, anyone and everyone is welcome to get involved.
We’ll keep you posted with further, useful village initiatives as and when we find out about them here at RUDDINGTON.info.
