Natalie Cass's Library fundraiser

Dear friends...

This is Josh, how are you?

I can only speak for myself when I say that I have spent these months since Nat's death trying to understand where we are and what the future might look like. I'm not sure how far I have got.

Something which has been clear to the family (myself, Annette, Ian, the boys, Simon) is that we want to do something positive inspired by Nat. Nat and I spoke about this too, and we all agreed that libraries are something that she cared about deeply. For those of you who were at Nat's funeral, you will remember that I said of her:

"More than this though she wished for Lev and Joel to be curious about the world around them and she was thrilled and delighted that they both developed a love of reading and a passion for libraries which, as time moved on, became the gateway through which she was able to step out of her present.

For Nat, browsing in the library could only be surpassed by browsing in the library with the boys, helping them choose books and then snuggling on the sofa at home and reading them together."

So we are excited that we will be working with the team at Finchley Church End Library to make the Children's Library a more inviting space to be.

With your help, we want to commission some original artwork for the walls (large murals) and purchase some more accessible and colourful book storage as well as other items to make it an even more enjoyable place to be. We believe that this is something that would have given Nat a great deal of joy, and also something which will help more people find the same pleasure of being in a library as Nat would have felt. Finchley Church End Library was Nat's go-to library throughout lockdowns and rounds of illness when books and stories were so important to her. It was also one of the last places she visited before going out proved too much.

We believe that £5,000 will cover all the costs involved in this project and any support which you are able to give will make a difference.

Thank you for your support.

P.S. If with your help we manage to raise more than £5,000 there are a range of other ideas inspired by Nat that we would support but we will be in touch to share with you about them in that event.

P.P.S. If you have any stories or memories about Nat and books and libraries, please do share them below, we would love to hear them. Thank you!