BOOKWORMS have united to show how much they love Sevenoaks libraries.

Residents in Kemsing and Otford turned out this week to wrap their arms round their local services – literally.

An initiative organised nationally by the Women's Institute (WI) last Saturday marked the end of Love Your Library week.

Villagers ranging from pensioners to schoolchildren came out in force to show their appreciation for the Kemsing service in Dippers Close on February 1.

Kemsing WI member Janet Eaton was on hand to provide tea and cake for more than 50 participants.

She said: "The idea is to give as much publicity to the use of our libraries as possible by forming a human chain to hug our library.

"We've done this to emphasise how much we love and value our local library and how important it is to the whole village.

"We had good support from not only older folk but also mums and children from Kemsing School."

WI members also put on a united front at Otford library on February 4, waving placards and serving homemade carrot and coriander soup.

Women from all three WI groups in the parish, the Oast, Otford afternoon and Otford evening, gave their support and president of the Oast WI Sue Isted explained why.

"We are behind this campaign 100 per cent," she said.

"There are people out there who do not have the luxury of the internet or who do not have a computer, perhaps elderly people, and to them the library is a lifeline.

"It is also an important place for children, they need to learn about books rather than sitting in front of a computer all the time.

"Libraries bring the community together and are extremely important and we need to save them."

For more information about the Hug A Library campaign, visit www.thewi.org.uk