SHARE – A Library of Things is starting a drive to sign up hundreds of people onto its supporter scheme in a bid to reach out to more users, encourage borrowing rather than buying and become financially self-sufficient.
The supporter scheme is just £3 a month, and supporters get membership to SHARE and £5 worth of borrowing each month. However, if people want to support the project but don’t feel they need membership themselves, they can donate the membership to a local family or person in need.
SHARE is in the process of setting up programmes with JobCentrePlus, Fair Frome, the Mendip Credit Union, Routes and the Citizen’s Advice Bureau to make sure the “gifted” memberships get to those who need them.
SHARE will also celebrate its second birthday in May, and it is continuing to increase its membership and inventory all the time. It now has more than 1,000 items in its library, including tents and gazebos, camping equipment, drills and decorating equipment, hedge trimmers and gardening tools, and lots of household and kitchen items. They can be borrowed for between £1 (for such items as hand tools and children’s games) and £5 (powerful drills, gazebos and larger tents) per week.
Other changes are also being introduced, including new opening hours from 19th April. SHARE will still be open 4 days per week, from Wednesday to Saturday, but will open from 10am – 4pm each day. Basic membership of SHARE is also changing and will now be £12 per year.
Edventure/SHARE business development manager Adam Foster-Jones said he hoped the community would show its support for SHARE by signing up as supporters. “SHARE is now the biggest library of things in Europe and we’re very proud of what has been achieved with grant funding. It is now time to see if SHARE can stand on its own two feet. I really hope the people of Frome will get behind this great project,” he said.
To sign up as a supporter, people should visit SHARE at 3A The Bridge with proof of identity (if they wish to be members) and complete the membership form. Those that wish to gift their membership can sign up directly through the SHARE website.
By borrowing from SHARE’s Library of Things, people can reduce what they buy and re-use the things other people have finished with, which has huge benefits for the environment. Last year, SHARE estimates that it diverted 5 tonnes of electrical and electronic waste from landfill by lending and repairing items.
SHARE is an Edventure:Frome enterprise, in collaboration with Frome Town Council, Sustainable Frome and the Cheese and Grain.
Contact: Helen Johnstone, co-project manager, SHARE on 07812 509051 or sharefrome.org
