New lease on life for library

Corangamite MP Sarah Henderson, Karen Firth and Bronwyn McIntyre at the Friends of Barwon Heads Community Library launch.

Faced with closure only months ago, the Barwon Heads library is now thriving.
Friends of Barwon Heads Community Library had its launch event with our guest speaker Gideon Haigh and around 100 people attending. The group now has more than 70 members.
Gideon Haigh, an acclaimed journalist and author, has been a staunch supporter of Barwon Heads, Highton and Chilwell libraries since they were earmarked for closure.
The group has also been heartened by recent figures from Geelong Regional Library Corporation, which show that membership of the Barwon Heads library has grown by over 200 this year.
Visits are up by 17.1 per cent in the past four months compared with the same period last year and loans are up by 29.3 per cent in the comparable period.
The group held its first book chat and has another planned for 14 December at the library, at 7.30pm. All welcome.