THE new Musselburgh Tool Library hopes to have its launch in the first week in August.

The initiative is being funded by £8,050 of a £65,000 cash windfall, distributed to 14 local projects to tackle poverty and inequalities in the Musselburgh area.

This followed a public vote online and at series of drop-in roadshows organised by Musselburgh Area Partnership, which received £50,000 as part of the Scottish Government’s Community Choices Funding for 2018/19 to give people a voice in how funds should be invested on priorities in their local areas.

This was supplemented by funding from the area partnership, which allocates a budget from East Lothian Council to local priorities and initiatives.

Jane Cummings, community development officer based at the Fisherrow Centre and Whitecraig Community Centre, said: “The idea for a Musselburgh Tool Library originated from Whitecraig Community Centre management committee, who were keen to explore ways in which communities could make best possible use of their own resources by sharing knowledge and, in this case, sharing practical equipment like tools.

“We were delighted to be awarded £8,050, having received the highest number of votes from the Musselburgh public.

“The idea behind the tool library is to save people having to buy tools that they may only use once or very occasionally. Instead, tools can be borrowed from the library. Not only does it help save money but it also saves on storage and means fewer unwanted tools end up in landfill.

“We are working in partnership with the Edinburgh Tool Library to get the project off the ground.

“So far the tool library has had a fantastic response from the community, with over 300 tools already donated.

“The stock of donated tools so far includes power tools, garden tools and a great variety of hand tools suitable for DIY, joinery, metalwork and decorating.

“There are tools for everyday jobs plus more specialised ones – pasting tables, work benches, wallpaper steamers, hedge trimmers, heat guns, power drills and much more.”

Ms Cummings said that over the past few weeks, volunteers had been checking over the donated tools, cataloguing them and organising PAT testing.

She added: “Within the next few weeks, the library should be open for business and members of the public will be able to join the library and book tools via our online database and then collect/return them at one of our community tool borrowing sessions. Time and venues are still to be confirmed.”

Volunteers are needed to help at the sessions.

Ms Cummings said: “Tool knowledge is useful but not essential as we also need volunteers who are comfortable using a computer to book our tools on and off the MTL database. We are hoping to create a rota of volunteers who would be willing to help with this once a week or once a fortnight for a couple of hours.”

Contact Whitecraig Community Centre on 0131 653 2227 or email info.musstool@gmail.com