Page 5 - link magazine

The Link Magazine • April 2002 5
North library Books on wheels are a literary lifeline
Autumn opening? Volunteers are al-
ways wanted to
Now that Swindon Council's budget has join Swindon
been set, the library service hopes to be Books on Wheels
able to open the library at the North Swin- to take books and
don District Centre. tapes into the
At a meeting for volunteers involved in homes of people
the Books on Wheels service on 4 March, who cannot get to
senior officers from Swindon cultural serv- a library.
ices department outlined ideas for a new Run jointly with
central library which is being planned the WRVS, volun-
within a much larger town centre regen- teers are not just a
eration scheme for arts and cultural facili- deliver service.
y
ties in the Regent Circus/Theatre Square They befriend peo-
area. This is dependent on a successful ple who find it dif-
Private Finance Initative bid to the Gov- ficult to getout, dis-
ernment and will take at least tour years to cover their inter-
be agreed, designed and built. ests and select For details about using the Books on Wheels service or to volunteer your time, call
Library services manager David Allen books they will en- coordinator Debs Osorio on 463505 who is pictured front left, with Jayne Sergeant
acknowledged a consultants report last joy. of the WRVS, front right, and some of the Books on Wheels volunteers
year which
described the
central library
as the worst of
any town in
the country, Hop along...
but given the
difficulties the
council has in
raising capi-
e tal, there is ...to Leapfrog Day Nurseries in
y now hope that
funding could
be found. Highdown Way, Swindon
He added that a review of library serv-
ices is continuing. He said the North Swin-
don District Centre library will be handed
over by Asda Walmart when legal details To view our fantastic state of the
have been agreed. "It is a very exciting
project which gives us the chance to create
a model for the library service of the future. art facilities and see what qualiity
There will be a big collection of fiction and
non fiction, a children's library, and an
information technology area linked with childcare we have to offer
an IT training facility. As the health au-
thority will occupy part of the building, we
are looking at a healthy living area and
later on an archaeology interpretation area telephone 01793 726919
related to the Roman villa site at Ash Brake.
"The library will take six months to fit
out; hopefully we will be able to open in
the Autumn." or call in at Leapfrog Day Nursery
Roman site survey for Highdown Way
July presentation
A team commissioned by Swindon Coun- a St Andrew's Ridge
cil and English Heritage officers has
started to carry out a detailed geophysical Swindon
survey of the Roman site at Ash Brake in
North Swindon. Wiltshire
Using equipment to measure magnetic
responses from underground structures,
the team will gather information for com- SN25 4YD
puter analysis. The site has been chosen by
English Heritage as a flagship project to
demonstrate best practice in archaeology,
particularly in non-destructive methods of
evaluation.
Senior archaeologist Dr Pete Wilson said
the staff are working to a tight schedule
and do not have time to discuss their inves-
tigation. However the results are to be
presented at a talk in North Swindon on rai1!ioon
National Archaelogy Day which takes place Li 1 ,nurser es
on 20 and 21 July.