Despite its closure due to the coronavirus pandemic, Peasedown St John Community Library has continued to serve the local community.

In April it teamed up with the new ‘Somerset Face Masks’ social enterprise project, which was created to ensure that every family in Bath & North East Somerset had access to affordable, high-quality, re-usable face masks.

Library Operations Manager, Cllr Karen Walker, said: “We joined the enterprise’s Community Partnership programme, which meant that for every mask we sold, after expenses, we were able to keep 100% of the profit.

We wanted to ensure that anyone in Peasedown St John who needed a facemask could access one without having to pay the extortionate costs that larger corporations are charging.”

The library’s home delivery and ‘pick up point’ service led to more than £500 being raised – which will all go to the library’s operational costs when it re-opens. Peasedown Community Library is entirely volunteer-run and needs to raise its own funding to operate.

As well as Peasedown, Somerset Facemasks has also teamed up with businesses in Midsomer Norton, like Essence Café at Holly Court who have sold over 100 pieces of PPE since re-opening to the public two weeks ago.

Somerset Face Masks are still selling masks for just £2.50 each, with free home delivery. For more details contact [email protected]