The new Community and Wildlife Garden at Hayle Library was officially opened at a special ceremony this week.

Pupils from Gwinear and Penpol schools joined representatives of the Cornwall Library Service and the local community at the ceremony.

Hayle Library is sited on the edge of a beautiful estuary, which is also a bird reserve. The garden has been created on reclaimed land at the back of the Library building which edges the estuary. The imaginative project was the brainchild of Library Manager Sally Faulkner who wanted to create a garden which benefited both nature and the local community.

The garden, which includes a small meadow, a copse, a bird hide and a reading area, has been built with support from Hayle in Bloom and Trevor Toms, who designed and supervised the garden. Funding for the project came from a BBC Breathing Spaces Lottery grant, Hayle Regeneration, Hayle Town Council and the Cornwall County Library Service.

"This has been an exciting project which has received great support from the local community "said Sally Faulkner. "I would like to particularly thank Hayle Youth Project and the Probation Service who worked very hard clearing the land and building walls, as well as helping with planting and paving. Members of Hayle Youth Project also built bug and bird boxes for the garden, and created a mosaic frieze which reflects the garden and the estuary".

"Local schools, gardeners and library staff have carried out all the planting and we are all looking forward to seeing the colourful results of this work next Spring and Summer".

"Local schools, gardeners and library staff have carried out all the planting and we are all looking forward to seeing the colourful results of this work next Spring and Summer".

Sally intends to hold story times and events in the garden, and also hopes it will be used by local schools to help pupils identify plants, birds and butterflies.

Next month the Library will be linking into the National Year of Reading "Rhythm and Rhyme " initiative and, weather permitting, will be staging a book crawl in the garden area.

"We want to encourage visitors and local people to enjoy a quiet - or a noisy - read in the beautiful surroundings of our garden and hope this event will be the first of many such activities in the coming weeks and months".

Chris Ramsey, Head of Cornwall's Library Services said "This is another excellent example of how libraries are becoming increasingly important community locations for a wide range of events rather than just places were you go to borrow a book".