The range of items you can borrow with your East Lothian library card is about to get a lot louder!
Our thanks go out to everyone who heard our call for instruments and generously donated. Rather than languishing in lofts, your donations will have a new lease of life bringing joy to others at different stages of their musical journey.
- FREE launch event at Haddington library
- 2pm-4pm Wednesday 18 February
- try out and borrow from our new instrument lending library
A new instrument lending library launches in Haddington next week (2pm-4pm Wednesday 18 February) and everyone’s invited.
East Lothian Council’s Arts and Library services have worked together to create the scheme which will see instruments available to reserve for a six-week loan ordered and collected from any of the local authority’s six main libraries.
A call for instrument donations was issued in December and members of the public have come forward with everything from accordions and African djembe drums to guitars and violins!
The initiative has been made possible thanks to funding and support from We Make Music Instrument Libraries. All of the donated instruments will be maintained and checked between loans.
At the launch event in Haddington library, members of the public will have a chance to try out new instruments with guidance from specialist music tutors. They can also find out more about the scheme and how easy it is to borrow an instrument to try out a new skill or revisit a former passion. Instruments will be available to book on the day or reserve afterwards from any East Lothian library.
Cabinet member for Community Wellbeing Councillor Colin McGinn said: “Our libraries provide a huge range of resources and services to communities. Working with our Arts service this is yet another example of our teams finding ways to help people have fun, learn new skills and further their interests for free.
“Our thanks go out to everyone who heard our call for instruments and generously donated. Rather than languishing in lofts, your donations will have a new lease of life bringing joy to others at different stages of their musical journey.”
The launch event takes place at Haddington Library, John Gray Centre, EH41 3DX, on Wednesday 18 February 2pm-4pm.