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ALL ABOUT US

WHAT IS A TOY LIBRARY?

Toy and leisure libraries come in many different forms. The Octopus Toy Library is a community toy library serving the people of Bracknell and its locality,and is run purely on a voluntary basis.
Membership is open to all and the annual fee is just £5 per family. Families may borrow up to 6 toys for up to 4 weeks at a modest rent per toy. Most toys are available for under £1 with few toys greater than £3. There is a large range of toys catering for all ages up to 12 years. Toys include jigsaw puzzles, games, dressing up, construction toys, baby toys, larger garden toys, party toys, etc.


	NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF TOY AND LEISURE LIBRARIES The Octopus Toy Lending Library is a member of the National Association of Toy and Leisure Libraries. This organisation provide help and support in establishing and running a toy library. For further information contact: Telephone: 020 7428 2280 NATLL 1A Harmood Street, London, NW1 8DN www.natll.org.uk

HISTORY

The Toy Library was first opened in 1977 in Wokingham. Some time later the Toy Library was moved to Bracknell, taking up residence in the Bracknell Town Library in the early eighties. It remained there until in 1994 when the Town Library wanted its rooms back and no new premises were available. In June that year all the stock was transferred into storage and efforts were made to find new premises. Two members of the Toy Library took it upon themselves to try to relocate it and in September had the idea of buying a container and placing it in an accessible position. After much negotiation a container was situated in the car park of St. Michael's Church at Easthampstead and the Octopus Toy Lending Library was reopened in February 1995
Since then the library has gone from strength to strength attracting many members. The membership currently stands at over 200 families and is one of the larger toy libraries of its kind in the country. The situation reached a point where the container was physically too small for its popularity and new premises were required. In February 1997 we were very pleased to be offered temporary premises (for 5 years) in an empty shop building in the town centre. We share these premises with other members of charities. At long last we were able to move into these premises in September 1998 and the success story continues.

THE FUTURE

We were lucky enough to win a National Lotteries grant to help us with the move into new premises. And so we began a new era when the toy library was able to continue to operate on its non-profit making basis, replacing worn out toys and purchasing new ones so as to give the best possible service to our members. If anyone is interested in helping in any way please let us know.