Crystal Palace has been keeping busy during lockdown. Here's how

From cooking up a storm, to scrubbing the patio or giving veg growing a go. These are some of the jobs, fun things and hobbies that your neighbours (and the LoT team) have been up to while we’ve been spending more time at home. 

A huge thank you to the 250 of our borrowers who took part in our survey. Here’s what your neighbours have been up to during lockdown. 

Crystal Palace has been busy 

We always knew you were partial to a spot of spring cleaning or cooking up a storm, and some things never change. It’s great to see that so many of you are still loving these activities while spending more time at home. 

You’ve been dreaming of….

Over a third of our members said they wanted to spend more time outdoors in nature - and we’re with you on that! In true Library of Things style, lots of you also said that you wanted to get stuck in with some more crafty activities, or use this time to mend stuff or to learn a new skill.

Some exciting news on this - we’re teaming up with our partners at the Upper Norwood Library Hub to livestream activities and meet-ups over the coming weeks. You can find out more about Crystal Palace Library of People at the end of this post.

...but these things are stopping you at the moment

Just over half of you said that not having access to the things you need to do these activities was the main thing getting in the way. But some of the big challenges posed by the lockdown are also barriers like time, access to space and childcare too.  

You said Thing delivery would be helpful while you're at home

86.3% of you said you’d be up for using a super-safe contact-free thing delivery service. So we’ve been busy planning how this can work! We’re excited to announce that in May we’re going to be trialling contact-free, affordable Thing delivery - right to your door in Crystal Palace.

So what's next?

We’re planning to be back up and running for reservations and borrowing in the next couple of weeks. Keep your eyes on our social media channels and your inbox for the latest news. 

If you haven’t borrowed before,sign-up to be among the first to hear once we’re open!

Sign-up for a session at the Crystal Palace Library of People

We’ve teamed up with the great Upper Norwood Livestream to develop 'Crystal Palace Library of People' with an emphasis on skill-share, mending and repair, but also supporting a range of community resources and activities.

You can check out the great Upper Norwood Library Hub Livestream, including Crystal Palace Library of Things slots here.