Narberth’s library partnership celebrates 10 years

To celebrate the decade long alliance, a coffee morning was held on Saturday, 25^th July, while the town was in the party spirit with the culmination of Civic Week and the always popular Narberth Carnival.

The library relocated to its current larger, more modern and easily accessible new build location in 2024 and has been attracting not just existing users but new customers, both local and visitors to the town.

The new facility is more attractive - light, bright, colourful and welcoming. It includes a junior section with engaging graphics, three public computers to access the Internet, with printing/copying facilities, local/community information and plenty of wonderful books to choose from.

Since July 2016, Narberth Library and the local community has benefitted from the partnership in which the Council’s Library Service provides the furniture, fittings, IT equipment, stock and six hours of paid staff time a week; while the Friends of Narberth Library provide library volunteers who enable it to stay open for longer hours. The Town Council cover premises costs including maintenance, utilities and rates.

The Town Council also have their Clerks Office in the library and hold their monthly meetings, along with Sub-Committee meetings on site.

Mayor of Narberth Cllr Elizabeth Rogers said: “Narberth Town Council is immensely proud to have played its part in sustaining our library over the past ten years. It is far more than a place to borrow books: it is a welcoming community space where people of all ages can read, learn, access information and feel supported.

“This anniversary is a wonderful opportunity to recognise the dedication of the Friends of Narberth Library and its volunteers, whose remarkable commitment has made the partnership such a success. Together with Pembrokeshire County Council, we look forward to continuing to support and strengthen this invaluable community service for many years to come.”

Local County Councillor Marc. Tierney, who is also Chairman of the Friends of Narberth Library, added: “The community in Narberth has always been a great supporter of their library and we thank them for their response to a call for volunteers and subsequent hard work and ongoing commitment. Thanks also to our two other partners and what we all bring together to keep this valuable service going.

“We’ve had a strong volunteer team from the beginning who are committed to our public library service for the benefit for the local community, and today there are 16 in total, six of those have been volunteers from day one, such is their commitment to the role. During the 2025/26 financial year, volunteers provided 1,468 hours of frontline hours of service.”

Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services Cllr Rhys Sinnett, said: “It is a great pleasure to celebrate the importance of libraries and reading, along with the success and strength of the partnership. A big thank you to both paid staff and volunteers for their hard work, and thank you to the Town Council for its financial contribution, as we look forward to another 10 years and beyond.”

The Coffee Morning was held on Saturday 25^th July, to celebrate the anniversary of the partnership and toast to many more successful years to come.