CHILDREN’S story times have proven so popular with new parents, librarians are launching a new session – aimed at newborn babies.

Deborah Lamb of Old Town Library, Devizes Road, said she regularly gets 50 people turning up to the weekly story sessions.

“We were bursting at the seams,” she said. “It seemed like the sensible thing to do was to set up a second session to cope with demand.

“We’re getting a lot of parents coming to a story time with really small babies. Nobody’s currently offering anything for newborns.”

The focus of the new sessions will be on rhymes that get parents bouncing babies on the laps. The youngsters will face their parents, so they can watch mum or dad mouthing along to songs and rhymes.

Deborah said the library was going from strength to strength. In July, 882 books were withdrawn from the library. Over 400 of these were children's fiction and non-fiction books.

"It's a real joy to me," Deborah said of the number of children using the library.

The summer reading challenge saw kids who did not normally read thumb through books.

For more about Old Town Library, Devizes Road, call 07786 027185 or email oldtownlibrary@southswindon-pc.gov.uk.