Latest News

.

Lechlade Community Library and Tourist Information Centre is a registered warm, welcome space. You are welcome to come in, use our facilities, or just sit for a while.

Lechlade Community Library is giving Blue Monday a colourful makeover as we start the second ever Warm Welcome Week

This January Lechlade Community Library is celebrating Warm Welcome Week, starting on ‘Blue Monday’, and running from 19 to 25 January 2026. Warm Welcome Week is all about raising awareness of Warm Welcome Spaces like ours so more people can find a place of warmth and connection close to home.

January can be the coldest and loneliest month of the year. It’s the time of year when Warm Welcome Spaces such as Lechlade Community Library are needed most. Our Warm Welcome Space is a lifeline to people who are struggling to keep warm and those feeling lonely or isolated. 

In Warm Welcome Week, we’re taking ‘Blue Monday’ back by giving it a colourful makeover. We’re asking everyone to wear warm colours and get creative with pinks, oranges, reds, and purples to chase the blues away and raise awareness of Warm Welcome Spaces.

We don’t want anyone to feel cold or lonely this winter, which is why we are working hard to send a message that Lechlade Community Library is waiting to welcome you in.

Find Support

For too many people, January is the coldest, loneliest and most challenging time of the year.

As well as taking its toll on mental health this long, dark month can be financially difficult and many households face the stark choice between heating and eating.

Warm Welcome Week will shine a colourful light on the joy, positivity, friendship and connection found in every Warm Welcome Space fuelled by human warmth.

However, if you or someone you know need further help, National Support Network’s Support Hub is an online directory containing carefully-curated information on thousands of external services including helplines, self-help resources, and support groups for any personal challenge or life event.

National Support Network Support Hub

.

Friends of Lechlade Community Library

The Friends of Lechlade Community Library are key to the survival of our library in the centre of Lechlade.

Our grant from Gloucestershire County Council is £12,000 per annum, just £1,000 per month. But our running costs are around £15,000 – £16,000 annually, and these will probably increase over the coming years due to inflation.

The running costs, such as lighting, heating, insurance, equipment and maintenance have to be covered, but we also fund the purchase of books for both adults and children, support activities in the library, provide computer access, printing/copying and an Information Centre for both visitors and community.

We have to cover the shortfall on running costs, and then there can also be unexpected costs, especially because we use an old building.  That means that our finances are stretched, and additional funding is essential.

This is a community library run by volunteers, who give of their time free, and want the library to continue to serve Lechlade and the surrounding area.

Those who become Friends of the Library do exactly that, by supporting the library with a Standing Order of £10, or more, each year. The more Friends who join us, the better we can continue all of our activities.

If you feel that you could become a Friend, and help keep your community library open, then you can do this in one of two ways.

(a) Pop into the library with your bank details, and complete a Friends form with your annual donation amount, so that we can set up an order on your bank. We can also claim Gift Aid if you are a tax payer.

OR

(b) Set up a Standing Order to Lechlade Library Ltd, please contact us for the bank account details.

Thank you from all of us at Lechlade Community Library.

.

Learn to play MahJong at

Lechlade Library!

The MahJong Club meets 4pm to 6pm every

1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month.

New players very welcome

Book your place by emailing  info@lechladelibrary.co.uk

.

New Library App

.

Maps and Guides for sale

There are a variety of Maps and Booklets for sale in the library, which will inspire you to explore the beautiful Cotswolds.

These leaflets are wonderful little maps, each of them showing a circular walk from Lechlade Market Square. They vary from the interesting Heritage Walk of just over 1 mile around Lechlade, or the short walk along the river to St Johns Lock, to the 9 mile circular walk to Inglesham and Buscot.

.

The Cotswolds: 40 Town and Country Walks

This book, which is small enough to carry in a pocket, details various walks in the Cotswolds, from the hills and lanes in the north to the riverbanks and ancient woods of the south. Along the way you can discover sleepy villages, grand country houses and architectural curiosities, as well as the towns of Bath, Oxford and Stratford-upon-Avon.

.

The River Coln Trail

The River Coln rises to the north of Brockhampton, a village to the east of Cheltenham, and flows in a south/south-easterly direction through the Cotswold Hills via Andoversford, Withington, Fossebridge, Bibury, Coln St Aldwyns, Quenington and Fairford. It joins the River Thames to the south-west of Lechlade, near to the confluence with the Thames and Severn Canal.^] This Guide Book, The River Coln Trail, details a 33 mile walking route that links the Cotswold Way and Thames Path.

.

Cheltenham & Cirencester Map

This OS Map explores the beauty of the Cotswolds and the rolling hills stretching between the historic spa town of Cheltenham and Cirencester, the ‘Capital of the Cotswolds’ not far from the source of the Thames River.

With this map you can:-

• Take the Thames Path from the source of the river through the Cotswold Water Park, Cricklade and Lechlade on Thames
• Follow the Cotswold Way through gorgeous villages built of the mellow local stone and climb Broadway Tower near Stow-on-the-Wold for spectacular views
• Walk, hike and cycle through the idyllic countryside, or soak in the atmosphere of Cheltenham, England’s most complete Regency town

.

OS Cotswolds & Gloucestershire Tour Map

Tour the Cotswolds, walk through gorgeous landscapes and discover quaint market towns with the OS Cotswolds & Gloucestershire Tour Map – the only map you’ll need for your Cotswolds staycation.

With this map you can:-

• See historic market towns like Cheltenham, Cirencester and Tewkesbury with street and farmers’ markets detailed on the OS Tour map
• Cycle the Cotswold Cycleway and a variety of other on- and off-road cycling routes to see this Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty by bicycle
• Take in history and natural beauty from Bristol and Bath to the Wye Valley, Malvern Hills and storied Oxford

.

Lechlade Library – Regular Events

Lechlade Library Book Club

We meet on the 4th Wednesday of the month at 5.30pm to discuss the book chosen for that month, and to meet up with other readers.

Any questions please email Clare at info@lechladelibrary.co.uk

Canasta

No Question too Trivial! Free and No Need to Book!

In Person, Not on the Telephone. Come in and ASK:-

How to set up an email account

How to Print using Bluetooth?

How to research your Ancestry

Whatever IT and Computer Questions YOU have, We will try and ANSWER

.

Pam Ayres Visits Library

Pam Ayres MBE visited Lechlade Community Library and Tourist Information Centre on 25th June 2025.

Thank you Pam for visiting us, and for donating and signing your books. We really appreciate you supporting us.

Pam Ayres chatted to some of the library users.

Pam Ayres also signed some books for the library, and library users.

Pam Ayres MBE officially re-opened our library on December 5th 2024, after the refurbishment that gave our community library the light and bright feel it has now, as well as more book capacity.

.

New Library Books

Here’s the latest books from our collection, we have many more books in the library, for all the books we’ve published use the main menu.

As a Lechlade Library Member you can reserve our New Books. Simply phone us on 01367 252631 or call into the Library. We have a written system in place especially for our Members.