Looking back on 40 years of the Chippenham Toy Library

Library is still going strong.

The library was originally created by members of the Pre-school Playgroup Association in 1977 to provide a social space for mothers and their children and to allow families to rent out toys every week.

Geraldine Sperritt, one of the founding members, said: “If you go back 40 years, there were no nurseries in Chippenham, mums didn’t go to work and it was a different culture.

“The PPA was set up by mums so that their children could play with other children safely in a pre-learning environment and toy libraries were a new thing at the time.

“Toys were expensive in those days and we didn’t have much money left at the end of the month, so when we started the library at the old teaching centre in Lowden, a lot of the toys were homemade!

“I am so amazed that the toy library is still running today. I went to one of their open days a few weeks ago and the toys they have got now are amazing. I was quite surprised to see that they still used the old index system we used to use and they even had a few of our original toys there too.”

Despite moving base several times over its 40-year history and suffering a number of thefts, the Chippenham Toy Library has survived over time, and hundreds of families still use the monthly service at the Stanley Park sports ground.

“We have a small team of volunteers and the library is run by a committee of five people,” Natasha Dukes said. “We offer a range of toys and baby equipment that we can hire out for as many months as people need them.

“There are some things which cost hundreds of pounds and use them for three or four months and instead they can come to us and hire it for £5 a month.

“We still operate using index cards and a old, slow laptop, which we are hoping to upgrade in the future.”

Anyone interested in volunteering at the Chippenham Toy Library, which runs every first Saturday of the month, should message the committee via https://www.facebook.com/ChippenhamToyLibrary.