MP Nicky Morgan visits Big Lottery Grant winners The Shepshed Toy Library

Loughborough MP Nicky Morgan visited the Shepshed Toy Library on Friday to discuss funding, their future plans, and even picked up some useful information her own son, Alex.

The Toy Library was awarded a Big Lottery Grant at the end of last year for £1938, much to the delight of the volunteers who run the facilities.

Nichole Browne from the Library gave Nicky an insightful tour which covered their main programme of exchanging and lending toys for parents and caregivers, as well as a look at the on-site ‘Messy Play’ area.

“Nichole and the team do an amazing job running the Toy Library. They work incredibly hard and provide a great service for local parents and caregivers, and are truly deserving of the Big Lottery grant”, Mrs Morgan said.

“Having a young son myself, I am well aware of how quickly children can get bored of toys, and how expensive this cost can be. The Toy Library provide this brilliant service providing a huge variety of toys for children, as well as the different play areas on site to keep the young ones entertained for hours,” she said.

Mrs Morgan said she was also surprised to learn that the Toy Library can host parties, something she says she will definitely be keeping in mind for her son Alex.

Nichole Browne from the Library said:

"We were very pleased to meet Nicky and explain to her how our Big Lottery grant is helping us to provide our valued play and lending services. Our current play topic is Spring, Growing and Mini Beasts and the children have had a lot of fun with our pretend-play flowershop, making tray gardens and decorating our mural with ladybirds.

Now entering our 26th year, we continue to provide a valued service to local people. We have over 550 members from Shepshed, Loughborough and 23 villages throughout the region. Our Big-Lottery-funded play sessions run twice a week and details can be found on our website: www.shepshedtoylibrary.blogspot.com"

The Toy Library is located in the PortaCabin in Hind Leys car park, and is open during term time 9.30am-12noon Monday, Wednesday and Friday; and 6.30-7.30pm on the last Thursday of the month. For more information parents and carers can call 01509 601146.