CHILDREN across Worcestershire will benefit from the expansion of a toy library based in Barnards Green.

Borrowers Toy Library, on the Sixways Trading Estate, will be able to cover a wider area on its mobile library route after it was awarded a grant of £54,530 from Children in Need earlier this week.

Plans to open the library for three days a week, instead of just two, will also be possible now.

The library runs a mobile service, taking toys to towns such as Bromsgrove and Redditch, but it plans to use some of the money to expand the service to cover rural areas, like Evesham and Droitwich.

From September 5, the Barnards Green service will also open on Fridays from 9.30am to 2pm, in addition to Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

The charity had been funded by a lottery grant but that was about to run out when the library heard that it had been successful in its application to Children in Need.

Project Manager Sue Hancocks said: "It was a relief to be honest.

"We've lived on a knife edge recently, thinking we might have to close down. It is great news."

Borrowers is a registered charity that has been running for seven years.

It costs £20 for a year's family membership and members can take out four toys a fortnight, from board games to trampolines.

It now has more than 1,000 members and 5,000 toys and, according to Sue, the more members it gets the better.

She said: "Everyone is welcome and we'd like more children to join.

"The changes could benefit every child in the area. We can't wait to get going."