The Mayor of London has pledged £40,000 to help rebuild Cricklewood library.

The Mayor of London has pledged £40,000 to help rebuild Cricklewood library.

The pledge was made in a meeting at City Hall where the library was one of 25 projects successfully chosen to receive funding.

The donation now means the library is halfway to reaching its target but need to raise the full amount of nearly £120,000 by September 25 this year for its project to come to fruition.

Friends of Cricklewood Library want to convert the building’s empty shell back into a working library and community hub.

The group were devastated after the library in Olive Road, first built in 1929, was closed in 2011.

The new 2,000 sq ft of space needs plumbing and electrics aswell as bookshelves and tables before they can allow the community in.

Friends of Cricklewood Library (FOCL), who are behind the campaign, want to create a community hub for the area, but also ensure it has a commercial use so that the group can continue to fund the library.

The library will also aim to host workshops, dance classes, yoga, and a host of further activities.

Sally Long, chair of FOCL, was delighted with the Mayor’s pledge.

“We were hoping to get the top amount and we did,” she said.

“This library will be a really vital part of the local neighbourhood and we are so grateful for this latest pledge. But we know it is going to be hard work to reach our target.”

Wendy Tyrrell has supported this campaign for the last three years. She said: “There are very few places in Cricklewood where you can go and meet other people that live here. The library will provide free access for this.

“I used to take my daughter to the old library. I was quite new to the area. It was a sad day when it went. This is an amazing thing to get behind and all children deserve the chance to have access to books.”

You can support this project at https://www.spacehive.com/cricklewood-library