Ribbon cut at official re-opening of Bingham Library

The ribbon has been cut at the official opening of a modernised library and children centre this morning.

Bingham Library enjoyed a family fun day to commemorate the re-opening of their library following a £720,000 refurbishment.

Mrs Pauline Allan, the chairman of Nottinghamshire County Council cut the ribbon and said it was the start of many improvements in the county.

"I am so very proud of the county council and the committee that we are opening libraries and not closing them," she said.

"They are a service that we really want to promote and I really hope the people of Bingham can enjoy these facilities."

During her speech she paid tribute to project leader Mrs Aileen Prince, who was presented with a bouquet of flowers.

Mrs Prince said she was incredibly proud to see the modernised library finally become available to the public.

"It's fantastic, everything has gone down very well so far and I hope to see Bingham Library used more and more," she said.

"People have been going past the library over the past month and seeing what we've been doing and it's rewarding to show them the finished article."

Councillor John Knight, committee chairman for culture, at the county council, with responsibility for libraries, said: "Our vision for libraries is for them to be modern, cultural, community and information hubs."

Mrs Emma Wright, a teacher at Langar School, said she had been really impressed by the changes made at the library.

"There's such a modern feel to the place and there are so many more options for my children to choose from," she said.

"We've only been here a short while and my son already has 12 books he wants to take out."

Those associated with The Children's Centre were also celebrating its official opening and said it was amazing to see the new interest.

Mrs Claire Gore, the centre co-ordinator said: "We've only been open for five days but already we're having a lot of interest from families, some of whom we haven't heard from before.

"It's great we are able to enjoy a more personal connection with the community."

The family fun day continued with a performance of the Brothers Grimm Tales from the Babbling Vagabond Theatre Company.

This was followed by a talk from librarian Sheelagh Gallagher who gave some reading suggestions.