Replacement library laptop needed

Matt Stewart | 10th March 2009

Featherston Library is holding out for a hero after thieves broke in overnight Sunday and stole a laptop containing crucial data for next summer's ECREAD-N reading programme.

The burglars made off with the distinctive box-fresh Toshiba navy-blue-topped PC after smashing through a window in the children's section of the library, librarian Penny Griffith said.

"The bastards stole my laptop, which was brand spanking new and purchased with precious summer reading programme funds," Mrs Griffith said.

The scheme is funded and run by the Eastern and Central Community Trust and benefited 3600 children from Gisborne to Martinborough over the past summer.

"In this day and age with the financial cutbacks we don't know if we'll be able to replace it," she said.

Mrs Griffith is also a member of the programme's committee and said the laptop was not insured either by ECREAD-N or the South Wairarapa District Council because the insurance excess was too high.

The laptop contained all the artwork for the coming summer's programme and she said the committee is loath to go back to the trust with cap in hand.

"What we're hoping for is that someone may make a generous donation to the summer reading programme so we're appealing to the public.

"It's a bit ironic because the theme for the last programme was 'superheroes' and that's what we need now," Mrs Griffith said.