Morpeth Chantry, which housed a craft centre and tourist information facilities, will be closed for months as it dries out from the September 6 flood, but visitors will soon be able to find the services in the Town Hall.

Once the Flood Advice Centre closes down, which is thought to be in around two weeks' time, the Town Hall will be used as a replacement for the Chantry and its Bagpipe Museum.

Manager Sue Jordan said: "Once the advice centre closes down, then we will be opening up the tourist information centre and hoping there will be space to continue the craft centre there.

"It will obviously be on a limited scale, but we are also hoping that there will be some sort of presence from the bag pipes there too."

Morpeth Library was one of the town's worst hit buildings, but a mobile service is now up and running.

It provides a selection of books, a small number of talking books and DVDs, and will provide some continuation of service while rescue and repair operations continue on the main library site.

Customers can also return items they have on loan.

Northumberland Acting Director for Customer Services, Libraries and Archives Marguerite Gracey said: "While the mobile can only provide limited facilities compared with those customers are used to from the main branch, we feel the people of Morpeth would prefer to have some service until we can restore a more normal service."

Morpeth's young bookworms have also been considered.

The town's library was to be the setting for 110 children to collect medals and certificates for the Team Read Challenge, but following its closure Northumberland County Council librarians found an alternative venue at County Hall.

Northumberland's National Year of Reading champion James Watling presented the awards.

The mobile library is situated at the Leisure Centre car park in New Market and will be open from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, and from 9.30am to 12.30pm on Saturdays.

A valuable Morpeth-based charity was also among the victims of the flood.

The Northumberland County Blind Association in Staithes Lane was up to 4ft deep in water when the River Wansbeck burst its banks.

When staff were able to get inside to assess the damage, they found virtually nothing could be salvaged.

However, the association is now working out of a temporary base in Wansbeck Business Centre in Ashington to keep services up and running for around 3,000 clients.

Acting Director Lorraine Dryden said: "Anything in the Morpeth building that was below 4ft has perished in the flood — all the computers and everything.

"Someone is going to come and strip the building back to the brick.

"At this stage we are very much in a crisis management situation and are in the process of setting up a base to work from.

"We do provide services to visually-impaired people right across Northumberland and our services are still running, albeit with some disruption.