COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

More than 50 Earlsdon residents braved the elements to share their outrage at the possible closure of the local library.



Residents of all ages gathered outside Earlsdon Library, in Earlsdon Avenue North, this afternoon to protest against the possible closure of the 100-year-old library, under Coventry City Council's proposed sweeping budget cuts.

The library is said to play a ‘vital’ part in the lives of local people.

Mary Courtney, a member of Hearsall and Earlsdon Residents Association, said: “I grew up in Earlsdon.

“I came from a home where the only book we had was the Bible.

“I would come to the library as a child and I worked my way through all the fairy stories.

“The library is so well used. It’s the heart of Earlsdon and you can’t remove the heart.”

Gillian Ball said: “We don’t want it to close. I bring my grandson every week.

“The library just celebrated its centenary. It stayed open through the Great Depression.

“Surely we can’t be any worse off than we were back then.”

Lisa Kanabar added: “Please save the library. Education and the library is important so people with learning difficulties can come and use the books and computers.

"They really help when you don’t have the internet and are looking for jobs.”

Chris Giles said: “We don’t want to lose this library.

“It’s necessary to access books and not just the internet.”

Others voiced concerns that a local landmark and vital community meeting place would be lost.

Samantha Wood said: “It’s the friendliest place ever. All the staff know the childrens’ names when they walk in.

“Groups like Rhyme Time are always packed.”

Floraine Eastelow said: “It’s unthinkable to have a society without a library. It’s a place where everyone can come together.”

Children’s writers Tizzie Edwards and Cathy Cassidy have also shown support for the campaign.

Anyone wishing to sign the petition to keep the library open can do so at http://epetitions.coventry.gov.uk/2015/ ... rary-open/.

Residents have stepped up a fight to keep their library open for future generations.



More than 50 people waved placards in a protest outside Earlsdon Library - one of the 17 across the city earmarked for closure under radical plans to save millions of pounds.

Earlier this year, the city council’s cabinet member for finance Damian Gannon, said the council wanted to amalgamate public services like libraries into just five hubs.

He said the changes, part of a scheme known as City Centre First, were needed and could save up to £5million as the council prepared for an estimated £65m budget shortfall by 2017.

Nicky Downes, chairman of Save Coventry Libraries, said more than 50 people turned up at the protest on Saturday in the space of an hour.

She said: “Many cars went past and blew their horns in support.

“It was a very good natured, passionate crowd of all ages.

“Everybody there has had experiences of using the library and they really want to save the library and keep it council-run.

“It’s all about the services it currently provides as well like stay and play or using the computers for a job search.”

Ms Downes would like to see a public consultation opened on the future of the libraries and other services.

She said: “We still don’t know if the council are looking at Earlsdon Library or any of them. We would be very happy for them to open a public consultation.

“In different parts of the country, there have been libraries who are being led by volunteers or are self service,” she added.

Mary Courtney, who lives in Broomfield Road, said: “What a lovely, peaceful protest this has been uniting young mothers with babies, children, middle aged men and women and some older people all of whom like myself use and love their local library.”

One of those who joined the crowd was Finuala Grocott who posted on Facebook: “It was wonderful to see so many local people (all ages) and uplifting that this number of people were willing to drop what they were doing at short notice to come out on a cold Saturday morning to show their support for the library.

“We have to keep doing things like this until the libraries (and other services) are safe. It was a great crowd, I was proud to be part of it.”