Cricklewood Library - 2011 Closed by Brent Council
Cricklewood Library - 2022 Opened by Volunteers
More than a decade after Brent Council closed half its libraries I popped into the volunteer run Cricklewood Library at the weekend.
Back in 2011 I wrote on Wembley Matters:
Build on the commitment and perseverance of library campaigners
The old adage that "you don't value what you've got until you lose it" clearly does not apply to Brent library campaigners but it will surely hit home to many others who were not involved, now that the Council has decided the six libraries will not re-open.
Of course it is mainly a matter of a place to read, enjoy and borrow books, educate yourself - but there's also so much more in terms of the social usefulness of a library as a provider of information, a place to meet, a safe public space in sometimes alienating areas, somewhere to relax and enjoy the company of your young children, a place where old people are welcome and not ghettoised.
As these community functions go they impact on the local area - everything else costs money: shops, betting shops, pubs, cafes - libraries were free and therefore open to everyone to use and enjoy. Their demise marks another reduction in the social good of society, in cooperation and mutuality.
However although their loss represents a loss of mutuality and cooperation, the struggle against their loss shows how strong those values remain in our community, albeit not in our council representatives. Whether an appeal goes ahead or not, whether it succeeds or not, we must continue to build on those values.
The upcoming Brent People's Assembly gives us precisely that opportunity. I salute the Brent SOS Libraries campaigners for their commitment and perseverance in mounting one of Brent's largest and most energetic community campaigns and hope that they will join in with others in the numerous hard struggles ahead.
A campaign that has lasted more than 10 years is certainly an admirable sign of perserverance and commitment by the local community and the values I wrote about were clearly visible in the work of the friendly young volunteers I saw on Saturday. I would of course prefer a properly funded, professionally staffed public library service but that does not take away from the campaign's achievement.
Do go along and have a look for yourselves and enjoy a coffee and cake at the same time.
You can find out more on the Cricklewood Library website
Opening hours are dependent on the availability of volunteers
In addition to the lending library and the cafe there are also two rooms available for hire as well as the library space itself and already a range of activities take place in a developing community hub which already boasts a Book Club.
These are the rooms available for hire. Details of furniture and equipment available are on the website.
As well as dependency on volunteers there is of course the issue of funding in the absence of a Brent Council run service. These are the current funders as advertised on the library website.
Four of the six libraries closed by Brent Council have survived as volunteer led provision: Barham, Cricklewood, Kensal Rise and Preston. Neasden and Tokyngton have gone and are much missed.
3 comments:
Although there are issues with volunteerism, it is wonderful to read of where community values have been upheld and libraries saved. It looks clean, safe and much as it used to when run by the Council. Thank you.
We're very glad you enjoyed your visit. Our volunteers, as you rightly point out, are engaged, hardworking and charming.
As trustees, we would also have preferred to keep the library open as a council-run service, but that was not an option, despite our years of campaigning. We firmly believe that a volunteer run library is much, much preferable to no library, and our enthusiastic visitors and patrons also testify to this.
The library is a safe, warm, welcoming, FREE meeting place for all members of the community, and, in the few short months it has been operational, has taken us all by surprise with the enthusiasm with which it has been embraced and supported by the local community.
We welcome visitors from all parts of the borough, and beyond. Come and have a coffee and read a book in our cosy community space.
We used to have a nice welcoming bright and airy local library in Ealing Road Wembley but now it’s become an unsightly mess - cheap looking shipping container style cafe and ‘Hub’ centres have been lashed onto the side of the original neat building, a far cry from the designs shown on the planning applications which mentioned timber cladding tiles which would weather to a nice grey.
There are sparkly lights strew across the newly created square outside the front of the old building (where the car Park used to be) with tables chairs and patio heaters from the cafe, so any potential new community space as we were promised has been swallowed up by this cafe business and library visitors have to navigate through all of this to get to the entrance.
If you passed the library in Ealing Road there’s so much clutter outside you’d hardly now a library was there, despite the pointless lamppost signs also blighting out streets stating ‘ Love Your Local Library’ - ironic when Brent closed so many of them.
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