SALES of 5p carrier bags from the Heart of England Co-operative Society have helped to raise £2,500 for Earlsdon Library.
The library is one of 15 charities in Coventry, Warwickshire, south Leicestershire and Northamptonshire to receive a share of £25,000, raised from the sales of single-use plastic bags from 35 branches of The Co-operative operated by the Society.
Opened with a grant from American industrialist James Carnegie in 1912, Earlsdon Carnegie Community Library today serves more than 4,000 residents from the Earlsdon and Chapelfields areas, with over 1,000 visitors every week.
Following council cuts to library services in 2015, Earlsdon library was established as an independent charity.
Its volunteers organise fundraising activities and last year raised £26,000 through sales of donated books, events, clubs, children’s activities and donations.
Julie Rubidge, Chair Earlsdon Carnegie Community Library Board of Trustees, said the money from the Heart of England Co-operative Society will be used to buy more books for children and to fund children’s activities at the library. Some of the money will be used for the purchase and installation of blinds for the children’s library, while the remainder will help to fund a range of family events and activities.
Julie added: “On behalf of Earlsdon Carnegie Community Library I would like to thank everyone for choosing to donate to us. A library is the last real community space and we aim to keep it secure and embedded in the heart of Earlsdon.”
The Co-op said its second highest number of votes were for Coventry Tiny Tim’s Children’s Centre, which provides free complementary treatments to children and young people with disabilities, health problems and special needs, received £1,500 while homeless charity Crisis received £1,000.
Government statistics show that in 2014 shoppers in Britain used more than 7.6 billion single-use bags, equating to 61,000 tonnes, or 140 bags for every person in the country.
After the government levy was introduced in 2015 sales of the bags in major supermarkets fell by 86 per cent, equating to just 19 bags per person in 2016/17.
By 2018 the number of bags sold had further fallen, with 1.75 billion sold during the year.
