It was good to be able to show West Sussex County Councillor Jacquie Russell around Gosport Discovery Centre to show off Hampshire County Council’s Library Service. Jacquie is new in her executive post looking after libraries and the fire service and is doing her best to improve her council’s services. I am pleased she was able to learn so much from her visit to Hampshire.

We were pictured with our Summer Reading Challenge Space Race characters.

It was a pleasure to be joined by County Councillor Fran Carpenter to reopen New Milton Library following a £90,000 refurbishment which saw the children’s library relocated downstairs and meeting rooms created for hire.

Also the children had a real treat with plenty of animals to meet. The barn owl and the rats were particularly fascinating.

We were able to showcase many of the council’s services delivered to the people of Hampshire. I was particularly pleased to see the Countryside Service represented as well as recycling and adoption/fostering.

The horse shows including so many Horse of the Year Show qualifiers were a pleasure to watch.