The Learning Library began in 1986 when a small group of parents and other interested people came together with the aim of meeting the needs of children with additional needs. Before the Learning Library began parents and carers had found it very difficult to provide a sufficient choice of toys/sensory items to meet the developmental needs of their children. This was due to a variety of reasons including financial constraints and the lack of availability and also knowledge of items offered by specialist suppliers.

As our service developed we were asked to meet the needs of people of all ages.  The service was initially available to those in the former Sedgefield Borough area. We then expanded into Easington in 2002, then moving to a satellite branch in Wheatley Hill Community Centre in 2008.  We were aware that our service was needed in other areas and this prompted us to obtain funding from the Big Lottery to enable us to expand into areas of north Durham and opened a further satellite office in Durham in 2011.  In 2017, in an effort to cut costs, we streamlined our service  and moved all Outreach Workers to the Spennymoor office.  This has worked very well - the end result being that there is more stock, which is centrally based, for our Outreach Workers to take out to members throughout Durham County.

We are proud to say that from modest beginnings – a small grant of £50 and a lot of enthusiasm – we now meet the needs of over 550 members.

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