Gift Aid is a system whereby the Toy Library can claim back, from the Government, the income tax you have paid on the  money that you used to pay for your family membership fees and other donations.

On a new membership fee of £17.00 we can claim an extra £4.79!!!

On a renewal of £15.00 we can claim an extra £4.23!!!

It is really easy ….. All you have to do is let us know by phone, email or post whether your family paid income tax back to 5th  April 2003.

All we need to know is your child’s name and membership number if you know it, and the full name of the person who pays income tax along with your full address. Let us know which tax years we can claim for. It couldnt be easier and your toy library desperately needs this.

Please do this to help keep your Toy Library going.. Thank you so much.

Wednesday 16th July from 11.00 am till 2.00 pm. We will be having a bouncy castle and musical story time. You just need to bring your teddy bear, picnic, sun cream and hat.

This is a ticketed event. Please buy at the desk : cost £3.00 per child. 

The A.G.M is looming once again on Thursday July 10th at 11.30am in The Old Library( door to the right of the Toy Library). You should all of recieved a letter by now.

Please make every effort to try to attend. If there are not enough people present then we can not hold the AGM and will be legally bound to close. The AGM is a legal requirement.

We will be recruiting new management committee members from our Toy Library families. We need people from all walks of life and with different skills . Help is needed to fund-raise, and organise events, you may have experience with funding applications, for core funding and equipment . Help to update our policies, or volunteers at the toy library to check and clean toys or run an activity such as music or story time .

Committee meetings are Thursday afternoons about 1pm. They take place once a month term time only, in the Toy Library. You can bring your children they can play while the meeting takes place.

Please contact Debbie at the Toy Library if you would like more information.

WE WENT ON A (CHARITY) BEAR HUNT…………………….

On Sunday March 9th 2008 we went on a Bear Hunt at Oxleas Woods, Shooters Hill, SE18.

The event was well attended, despite the cold weather !

The bears had all been hidden in the walled garden and every child had to hunt their own bear. Before hunting began each child was given a juice and one or two of Sam’s home made biscuits just to keep their strength up.

We raised a fantastic £402.00 . I would like to thank organiser Jo Redfern and all her family for making the day such a success. Also a big thank you to everyone who came along and supported Charlton Toy Library.

Home Safety Day Monday 3rd March

Our Home Safety Day was a success the Fire Service came along with their appliance and the children were able to get on the Fire Engine and sound the sirens, pretend to drive the engine and have a play. The Firemen then got the hose out and let the children water the park…. Charlton Toy Library would like to thank the Fire Service for their time and expertise and information they gave to our parents and children.

Silver Celebrations

Charlton Toy Library celebrated 25 years on the 28th of September, We were joined by the Mayor Sajid Jawaid, councillor Janet Gillman , Gwyneth Dear from the National Association of Toy and Leisure Libraries and local press. Parents and children enjoyed face painting and entertainment from Dizzy Lolly and her pet rabbit.

Welcome to our fantastic new website. I hope you all find it easy to get around and enjoy the contents.

All of this has been possible with help from Paula Ortega who is a web designer and a new toy library member. I would like to thank Paula for her patience in training me, her dedication and donation of the webspace.

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, please email me at debbie@charltontoylibrary.co.uk.

Debbie

Welcome back, we hope you all had a fantastic summer holiday. You will notice a few changes in The Toy Library. We have incorporated the play and the borrowing areas. We hope this will make it easier for you choosing toys with your little ones, and at the same time give us our much needed office space.

You will see we now have the desk and a Librarian in the play-area. The toys for borrowing are not for playing with in The Toy Library. We know this is tempting but all toys are cleaned and checked for you to borrow.

You will see we have lots of new and exciting toys, including storysacks, dressing up and much much more. You will also notice our fabulous cave corner. This is a multi- sensory corner… you can read a story or just relax there.

Sadly, we said goodbye to Lisa our play-worker. Her salaried post was solely funded by SureStart Charlton. Unfortunately The Toy Library has no extra funding and  we have had to make Lisa redundant. I know you and your children will all miss her as much as we will. She did a fantastic job organising all the messy play activities, after-school clubs and keeping the play areas imaginative. We wish Lisa good luck in finding another post quickly.

Mel the librarian has also left The Toy Library. She has moved on to pastures new at the Millennium School at Greenwich as a teachers assistant. We wish Mel good luck in her new role, she will also be missed by all.

Children enjoying a story from one of the new multi-lingual storysack’s purchased with the grant from Roald Dahl, and read by Lisa.

These storysacks are for hire and are fabulous. They come complete with the props to bring your story to life. Why not check them out? You and your children can share a relaxed story time in the comfort of your own home .

Click on the images to enlarge