LETTERS: Save our library for future generations

Cleckheaton library has a huge, well-stocked Children’s section, not to mention the very well-attended Rhymetime, where parents and grandparents get together with their toddlers to sing

songs and read stories aloud.

I discovered this activity quite by chance, when I joined a group called Buggymovers, an exercise class for new mums, who also meet at the library.

It wasn’t long before my son had his own library card –at three months old- and our local librarian gave him his first set of free books via the Bookstart scheme.

But in a world where most things have a price, I’ll end with a few numbers.

Over the last year, my son has been fortunate to have borrowed over 150 books, averaging at a retail cost of £6 each. In order to replicate the library’s lending service, I would have had to pay almost £1,000.

The effect of reading those books with my son is priceless. The positive impact on his development is clear: his fine motor skills, from turning pages and lifting flaps;his hand-eye coordination, as he points to the pictures;

his fast-growing active and passive vocabulary, not to mention the complex cognitive and social benefits.

But let’s not forget the simple joy of reading and sharing a book.

Please save Cleckheaton Library and the valuable service it currently provides for future generations.

Lindsey Greenwood

Churchfield Terrace,

Liversedge