Preston Community Library likely to be weekends only from September until Christmas

From Preston Community Library Campaign

We are holding a meeting in the library at 2.30 this Thursday to update our volunteers, library users and supporters about recent developments, and to discuss the future of the library. All readers of this mailing are welcome.

At the moment, it seems very likely that from September until Christmas we will be sharing the building with a school and that the library will operate at weekends only. The future beyond Christmas remains very uncertain. I wish I could tell you more - the fact is that our current licence expires on 31 July and, with just four days to go, we are still waiting for anything in writing from Brent about what will happen after that.

This evening's meeting of Brent's Cabinet will be asked to extend school use of the Preston Library building until July 2017. The report states that  "Proposed future school use will take account of the local aspiration for this community library to continue in some way."  I will leave you to judge for yourselves whether this constitutes a strong commitment to the future of our library. The Cabinet meeting is at 7 tonight, 27 July, in the Civic Centre; members of the public are free to attend.

This Saturday there will be a plant sale from 1 until 5 at the library; plants for sale will include cannas, scented- and coloured-leaved geraniums, roses and several kinds of chillies. There will also be books for sale. All proceeds will be used to fund the library.

Our next quiz will be on Monday 10 August at 7.30 in The Preston. As usual we aim to start the quiz promptly at 8. The following quiz will be on Monday 21 September, same time, same venue.

Finally, four years ago Rosie Hayes reported on Brent's library closures for ynuk.tv. Last week she returned to the scene of the crime, and her report can be seen here: