Northam Burrows Beach Toy Library launched to "Protect our Playground"

Rangers at Torridge Council's Northam Burrows Country Park in Westward Ho! have joined forces with local environmental charity, Plastic Free North Devon, to install a custom built "Toy Library" next to the exhibition room at the newly refurbished visitor centre. A bright and colourful wooden shed now houses a whole range of buckets, spades and other beach items. The idea behind the scheme is to allow people to borrow a whole range of toys for their trip to the beach and then return them at the end of the day to be reused again and again. The available items also include wooden body boards, which are more robust and have a longer lifespan than the cheap polystyrene versions, which often end up being discarded on our beaches.

The store cupboard has been decorated with designs from competition winners at St Margaret's School in Northam. Five different winners were chosen and each of their designs faithfully recreated on the door to the store under the "protect our playground" rallying logo. It promotes an ongoing campaign by rangers and the charity to protect and care for the nature we are lucky enough to enjoy in this part of the country.

The project has been funded through a share of the governments Welcome Back Fund and follows on from similar Toy Libraries already installed at Croyde and Woolacombe beaches. It's hoped that the toy lending scheme will reduce the amount of plastic items thrown away after limited use or left languishing in garages and cupboards. As the cost of living squeeze begins to bite it's also hopefully a helping hand for families on ever tighter budgets. Visitors are also being encouraged to donate their own good quality items to the store so that other children can benefit from their use.

Councillor Cheryl Cottle-Hunkin - Lead Member for Community, Culture and Leisure said:

"We are thrilled to be able to locate the Toy Library at Northam Burrows and really want to thank Plastic Free North Devon volunteers for their collective efforts in making this all possible. I hope people will use it and contribute no longer wanted items for other people to use. I particularly like the wooden body boards, which will hopefully help reduce the 16,000 or so polystyrene boards that end up being discarded on our beaches each year in the UK. As well as using the toys available we would really welcome further donations of items so we can brighten up the day for as many children as possible."

Anne-Marie Eveleigh - Operations Manager at Plastic Free North Devon said:

"With the climate crisis and the rising cost of living at the forefront of a lot of people's minds right now we are so grateful for the opportunity to work with our local communities to make a positive difference where we can, one small step at a time. These libraries are a real community effort and we are thankful to everyone involved."

The toy library will be available from 10am until 5pm every day until the end of October half term

12 August 2022