Rock Road Library Friends

04/01/2026

Happy New Year everyone, and here are some reading recommendations for these short winter days!

Jane's top 3 reads of 2025 include The Bookbinder of Jericho and two other amazing books. Discover what makes these books unmissable!

18/12/2025

New books in Rock Road Library! Authors make the magnificent sum of 6.5p for each loan so do borrow them!!

15/12/2025

Make or Mend - this Thursday afternoon
Last session before Xmas/New Year. This Thursday (18 December) from 1pm, clear up by 4pm. In the community room. The first two have been really "lovely": some regulars, some new people. Lots of different things being made or mended. Some learning, some charity sewing. Free, drop-in, stay as long as you like. Bring a small project - but it is fine just to come and see what people are doing. Not a repair cafe but we might be able to advise and help. Keep an eye on any children etc.

09/12/2025

Make or Mend
About 12 of us braved the rain and gathered last Thursday afternoon for a 'lovely' time.

We knitted, crocheted, needle-felted, hand sewed, mended pockets... and one of us learned how to use a sewing machine and made her first lavender bag - with Queen Edith's garden-grown lavender.

We meet again this Thursday (11 December 2025). Set up from 1pm, clear up by 4pm and on another three Thursday afternoons: 18 December and 8 and 15 January, the other side of Xmas and New Year.

If this continues to be popular, we will book more Thursdays.
There is a poster on the library railings and the Friends' board inside the library.

All welcome, free, drop-in, stay as long as you like.
Bring a small project.
You don't need to be good at making or mending - we can make mistakes and learn together.
Not a repair cafe but we might be able to advise and help.
Children need to be closely supervised by their adults and safe near small tools and sewing machines.

24/11/2025

"What are the benefits to babies, children and young people of reading for pleasure?" https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/203/education-committee/news/210587/edu_reading-for-pleasure--mps-launch-new-inquiry-to-explore-how-to-keep-joy-of-reading-alive The UK House of Commons Education Select Committee wants your views. Deadline 09 Jan 2026.
"A survey by the National Literacy Trust this year found that just one in three children aged eight to 18 read in their spare time (33%) – a 36% decrease from 2005. The survey indicated a particularly steep drop over the last year among primary school children, and that reading continues to be less popular among boys than girls."

Amid a worrying decline in the number of children reading for pleasure, the Education Committee has launched a new inquiry to understand how reading can be nurtured, and what its benefits are. 

12/11/2025

Coming up this weekend at Rock Road Library - The Future of Cambridge. It's free/donations. Sat 15 Nov 2025 from 11am-1pm. Sign up at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-future-of-cambridge-as-our-city-grows-tickets-1963473863180?aff=oddtdtcreator

Coming up at Rock Road Library Friends on Sat 15 Nov and then at Cherry Hinton Hub on Sat 22 Nov, a workshop on the future of Cambridge. Both workshops are free. 🔗⬇️⬇️to sign up!

30/10/2025

Earlier in the week author Shrada Shah [] visited the library and read from her two picture books. She has kindly donated copies of both and very soon they will be available to borrow from Rock Road Library.

30/10/2025

Rock Road Library has hosted some excellent talks by many authors and there's more to come. Celebrating this, these three books have been added to library stock, so do drop by and borrow them. For each library loan, the author makes a whopping 6p.