🎉 Celebrating 40 Years of the Lincoln Toy Library! 🎂🧸

This year, the Toy Library in Lincoln is celebrating 40 years of supporting play, learning, and community! 

Since opening in 1985, the Toy Library has helped thousands of families across Lincolnshire access quality toys and resources, creating joyful memories along the way.  

To mark this incredible milestone, we’ll be sharing throwback photos, special stories, and fun activities throughout the year – so stay tuned for ways to get involved! 

💛 Do you have a special Toy Library memory? We'd love to hear it! Share your stories with us. Get involved on our Facebook page here.  

Toy Library Timeline 

Here are 12 key milestones from our incredible history: 👇 

✨ April 1985   Lincoln Toy Library officially opened as a registered charity, offering families access to an amazing range of toys and resources.  

✨ March 1992   Princess Diana visited Lincoln to open the Waterside Shopping Centre and made a special visit to the Toy Library!  

✨ January 1996   We trialled our very first Mobile Toy Library service, reaching more families across Lincolnshire.  

✨ April 2002  The Chair of the Toy Library resigned. The Toy Library faced significant challenges but managed to stay open, thanks to the dedication of staff and volunteers.  

✨ November 2014   The management of the Toy Library was put out to tender, and Children’s Links successfully took over the running of the Toy Library! A condition of the tender was that financial support from Lincolnshire County Council would end. Many people are not aware of this, and it's important to note that the Toy Library has since operated without regular funding.  

✨ April 2017   A second Mobile Toy Library trial saw sessions delivered in Wragby, Bardney, Market Rasen, and Scampton. Sadly, take-up was low and the service didn’t continue.  

✨ June 2020   Massive water ingress caused severe damage to the Toy Library building. Much of the ceiling collapsed, and the entire site had to be emptied and stripped back to bare concrete. The Toy Library moved temporarily to another unit in September 2020, reopening when COVID restrictions allowed.  

Repairs were completed, and the Toy Library returned to its original unit in May 2021.  

✨ May 2021   We launched Mums Fit, in partnership with Darkside Training. Initially funded by This Girl Can, and with further funding from Shine MCN, we delivered six courses over a year, supporting mums to get active and look after their mental health.  

✨ February 2022   We opened a temporary sensory room, provided by Linkage, offering a calm and supportive space for families.  

✨ April 2022   Due to the success of our temporary sensory room, we opened a permanent sensory room, dedicated to our much-loved Trustee, Alan Brooks, who had sadly passed away.  

✨ December 2022   We launched Playscape in Horncastle—an early years play session with toys available to hire, supporting over 90 families before it ended in August 2024 due to lack of funding.  

✨ April 2025   We are celebrating our 40th birthday! 🎂 

View our visual version of the timeline below!

Flashback to the 1980s! As part of our 40th birthday celebrations, we’re taking a look back at where it all began! Check out our original front door, car park, and some classic toys from when we first opened 📸💛 

🔗 Learn more about the Toy Library and how you can get involved: Toy Library and Soft Play | Children's Links