Published: Wednesday, 20th January, 2010 4:22pm

New look school library takes walk on wild side

Comments (0) | Print | Email

By Rosalyn Campbell

PARENTS and grandparents at a local primary school are overjoyed after receiving cash to furnish their jungle-themed library.

The parent-run library at Kirklandneuk Primary in Renfrew was started up seven years ago to encourage the youngsters to get stuck into books.

Every fortnight, parents and grandparents go into the school and take each class in turn to enjoy activities in the library.

The children swap their books for new ones and gather round to hear stories.

Now Tesco in Renfrew has given the centre a grant of £1,000 to buy brightly-coloured furniture to match the jungle theme.

Susan Adam, whose son is in primary six, has been involved with the library for six years and has been chairperson for four.

She said: "The kids love it. They all have their own little library book bag to put their book in.

"They're encouraged it to look after it and they get points when they bring it back.

"It's great getting to know the kids, and it's good for your own children, too, to see you helping in the school.

"We also do fundraising for the school - we have a book sale in the school twice a year when an outside company comes in and we get commissions from it to buy new books."

She added: "There's a jungle theme in the room, with a mural on the wall.

"We thought it would be nice to have nice round tables with coloured tops and coloured seats to match.

"One of the committee members works for Tesco and told us there's money you can apply for.

"We didn't think we'd get it because it's a national thing, so we were absolutely delighted just before Christmas when we found out we were getting £1,000."

The youngsters made thank-you cards for Mark Green, the manager at Tesco in Renfrew, who met up with the committee who run the library.

Mark said: "The parent-run library is just the kind of cause that Tesco wants to support.

"From my personal point of view as well, I do believe it's absolutely crucial that we support the local community.

"We expect our customers to come in and purchase goods from us in the store, and where we can at a local level I'd look to support local initiatives.

"There are many hundreds of worthy causes, but this application by the Kirklandneuk group really stood out among the rest."