Retaining Irby Library – A Plea for Common Sense Decisions
Dear Councillor,
At the next meeting of the Cabinet you will no doubt face a good deal of opposition with people jeering and shouting at you, I will not be one of those, I understand you have difficult decisions to make and someone is going to be unhappy at the result.
May I ask you to spare a moment to read the attached and if possible take time out to visit Irby Library and the Village, take a minute to look at the empty shops and imagine the place without the Library and the Surgery, closing the Library now is surely going to require future funding to aid regeneration of the Village.
Boundary changes mean Irby no longer has one voice and our Pensby & Thingwall Councillors have been more interested in Pensby Library even though a significant number of their voter’s live in Irby and use the Village.
A cabinet member suggested, it is said, that if we love the Library so much we should get community funds to run it! I appreciate that Irby is not poor but neither is it rich, a small community, we already support our Village Hall, two Church Halls and two further small Chapels and we are not a huge drain on Council tax resources. Please search your conscience and ask if Irby Library is already doing so much the Government would consider best practice it should it not be saved?
Yours Sincerely
Donald McCubbin
Irby Library was established in the late 1940’s by Cheshire County Council in premises now occupied by Irby Fish and Chip Shop. It has occupied the present home a pleasant and purpose built building for several decades. It has been improved over the years by Wirral Borough Council who now intend destroying the facility.
It plays a central role in our community providing a focal point for news of local activities and an information point for Council services including Councillor Surgeries and Police Liaison. Visiting the Library is a regular event for many local residents, borrowing books, using the bank of computers, the reference section and reading the daily papers. Many are within walking distance of the Library others use the local bus services. Groups of children from Irby Primary School, Dawpool Primary School, Carlton House Nursery and Daisy & Jakes Nursery are regularly seen being shown the books on offer and being read stories in the children’s section. The children have also been walked through their own community from the Schools and Nurseries involved increasing their awareness of their surroundings as well as introducing them to the world of books on their arrival. This is at one with the present Government’s policies of increasing availability of Libraries and books for children and also increasing their exercise levels. Closing the Irby Library would mean them having to be bussed elsewhere which would effectively end this beneficial practice. Is Irby Library unique? I cannot answer that question but it is certainly following what the Government would consider best practice. In addition it is regularly used by Rainbow and Beaver Groups.
The alternative assumed by the Strategic Asset Review is that all in Irby would use new facilities in Greasby. The saving of Upton Library from closure, a sensible decision, must surely mean that any such facility in Greasby is in doubt. The fact that Irby and Greasby have been placed in the same Council Ward blinds the Officers to the fact that actually Irby, like Pensby is in the Heswall Community therefore most people would use Heswall Library rather than Greasby. A simple examination of the commercial bus services shows that the most regular services from Irby are to Heswall and Birkenhead. Much of the traffic flow on mill hill road is to and from the M53 (Upton Spur), Birkenhead via Upton, Sainsbury’s Upton, Hoylake and Meols and indeed a good proportion is using that as an alternative route to Heswall. The SAR is therefore fundamentally flawed.
The effect of closure on Irby Village would be catastrophic. There are already a number of retail units that have been empty for years. The Surgery is likely to move to Thingwall before too long which in itself will probably bring about the demise of the pharmacy. The removal of these two buildings will damage the Village and the Library site in particular is a very difficult one to redevelop. A sensible decision would be to save Irby Library.
Entries (RSS)
January 27th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
To lose this library would be devastating for all residents of Irby, the old and the young. So many people are able to call in on their way home from school, or when visitng the shops or their local doctor’s surgery. They could not so readily travel to any other library. The Irby User Group collected 1300 signatures opposing the closure in a matter of days. It is the centre of the community. Today the community police officer came into the library to hold his surgery. The computers were being used, newspaers being read, books being browsed. Next weekend the councillors should be present to hold their monthly surgery. The Information Point and many other services will be lost to local residents. Two primary schools will be deprived of the priviledge to visit this wonderful world of books! Our local councillors are asking volunteers to take over the running of this facility, which is in my opinion so insulting to the excellent library staff. The local authority have failed to make it a viable proposition but expect untrained volunteers to do so. Words fail me.
January 27th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
Many thanks to Alan for highlighting the plight of Irby Library. On top of all the usual facilities of a Library introducing so many young children to the world of books and reading in a Library environment is exactly what Government Policy sets out to achieve.
Close this facility in Irby Village and the two primary schools, two nurseries, the rainbow and beaver groups will have to bus the children elswhere instead of walking them through their village or more likely they will simply stop the practice altogether.
January 28th, 2009 at 10:17 am
Lets hope the local authority not only listen to the local community but also act positively on what they hear. To remove a vital service within the local community would be a crying shame …. and basically a very silly thing to do!
I fear a decision may already have been made… lets hope not. Will this be yet another situation of realising how much something was an essential need only when it has been lost or taken away?
January 28th, 2009 at 10:32 am
To close Irby Library will totally damage an essential part of the community, it will obvioulsy affect local children, the elderly and visitors to the area. Closing it is an ill-thought through idea. Let’s hope they see some sense and listen to the local community who, after all, they are paid to serve!
January 29th, 2009 at 10:25 am
As a parent, grand parent, former teacher of young children, and above all as a life long user of Wirral libraries, I abhor the possible closure of Irby Library.
Indeed, the closure of any library can only be a retrograde step, and a huge loss to the community it serves. A library is a joy to visit, and the services so willingly provided by members of staff embrace many expanding community needs. The value of a library cannot be measured in monetary cost.
An ability to read and enjoy books is an essential starting point for all future learning. It is vital to promote this skill from the earliest posible age. Only this morning I listened to a report on Radio 4 about the appalling percentage of school leavers, over 70%, whose literacy skills are so inadequate that their only hope of gaining any employment is to somehow access adult literary courses to help them with learning basic reading and writing skills. How can the closure of a library be justified in such circumstances?
To deny the residents of Irby the use of their library would create immeasurable deprivation for future generations, but sadly real and inevitable. The prospect of its closure should not be entertained!
The local authority must think again, before perpetrating this disservice on the community it was elected to serve.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
To close Irby Library will be a sad loss. It is central to the community and is used by young and old alike. To sugest that local residents will use other libraries instead is not as simple as it sounds. Elderly residents will not find travelling further afield easy or convenient. The local council, if they do close this library, will be responsible for removing a much used facility. I cannot understand why a council who pride themselves in being at the forefront of educational developments would remove a means of developing one of the 3 Rs in our young people. Children are encouraged to join the library to develop their reading ability and to develop a love of books. There are limits to what schools can provide. For the local council to remove this facility just does not make sense.
January 30th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
I am a mother of two young children who love going to Irby library. We can enjoy walking to our library. It is a place where you can find out about what is going on in your local community, meet people you know, use the IT facilities and photocopier as well as look for books. Our Librarians do a fantastic job. They go into our local schools, playgroup and nurseries to encourage the love of reading from an early age. The library is at the heart our of community. I ask the councillors to reconsider their decision to close our library at their next council meeting on February 9th.
January 30th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
So they have given the go ahead to close Irby library: shame, shame, shame on our councillors. They are supposed to represent the views of residents: didn’t they hear the voices of 1400 people crying out for Irby library to be retained? So much for the promised consultation and the claim that they would listen to the wishes of the local people. They have put another nail in the coffin of Irby village. Should I be surprised? I suppose not, after all, none of our councillors live in the village and the libraries where they do live are not for closure!
The bright light in local politics that was once the Lib. Dems. has been extinguished. For years, myself and my family have given them our support, but we need people that we can trust and not those whose priority is to put party politics before the clear wishes of local residents. They will never again convince me that they represent the residents of Irby. Their two faced, turncoat politics have given them away. In the past they sought my support and they got it; but when I (we) needed their support, it was sadly lacking. Once bitten, twice shy.
January 30th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Why? in what respect?
January 31st, 2009 at 11:32 am
I have lived in Irby for 44 years and what a great day when Irby Library was opened. I have three grown up children all having used the library and has been an important part of their life I cant believe the short sightedness to close Irby Library depriving future children the education and community spirit todays children are crying our for. Todays children are lonely very little community impact and this is one place they go to from young brought by parents grandparent school and then themselves especially if they don’t have use of computers at home.
In a number of years, I will be moving into the older generation bracket, so how even more important (if it could be any more important to me!) will the library be. Irby is already becoming a ghost town with real people in it struggling to keep active and alert. The library offers education interests with book clubs, coffee mornings, children’s storytime and much more. Please don’t close Irby library it is needed very much by all ages for many reasons. Irby is increasing with families and it is great to see them in the library at different times of the day. Not everyone can afford books and especially children whose turnover of books in their early years are vast due to their development stages.
Thanks for reading this I hope my prayers are answered not just for me but for future generations to come.
February 1st, 2009 at 11:26 am
Councillors must reconsider their decision to close Irby library, because the social and economic effect on the entire community if it doees close will be catastrophic. There are already too many empty premises in the village and the planned closure of the surgery will only add to this problem. By closing the library, an alleged short term financial saving will be wiped out by the regeneration capital injection that will be needed in a few years time when the council wake up and realise that they’ve created a ghost town. Wirral council have a Local Area Agreement and a neighbourhood devolution programme that is supposed to see key decisions such as this being made at a local level. So why didn’t they consider this when making a central decision to effectively kill Irby village off ?
We’ve regularly used the library since we moved here almost 10 years ago and since then we’ve had two children who regularly go to the library for story time during the week, at weekends to further their reading skills and with their nursery and now school on trips out. The library has given them a love of books and encouraged them to learn to read. All of this will stop if our local library facilities are Heswall & West Kirby. The councillors who made this decision have clearly never tried transporting two toddlers by public transport on a wet and windy day 5 miles down the road. Its irrelevant have marvellous and state of the art new facilities might be if getting to them is nigh on impossible.
The Council have a legal obligation to implement the government’s Every Child Matters initiative - surely the closure of a library that encourages children to read, listen, appreciate their community and surroundings is totally at odds with this ??
The library is far more than a collection of books. Its one of the key places that draws the community together. Its regularly visited by people of all ages and the impact of any closure will be felt across all generations, including those to come. Councillors must reconsider this decision, and take account of the entire financial and social effects.
February 1st, 2009 at 4:30 pm
44 years ago we became residents of Irby and, with our children, subsequent users of the village library– a beautifully purpose built facility for learning. Not only are we losing the character of the village by proposed closure of the library, but in so doing we lose much more of irreplaceable value. Children thrive on good literature in colourful imaginative surroundings; many a lonely pensioner relaxes with a book or provided newspaper in a warm friendly atmosphere: others enjoy the use of the computer suite and of course hundreds regularly browse and choose from the lending library, which is also used for council and other meetings from time to time
We rightly complain of too much television, tardy magazines, listless teenagers. Taking away the library facility is hardly the answer to these problems. It’s all very well to say there are other libraries to go to but travelling around is not always easy or possible.
Ripping the heart out of the village, and leaving that haven of literature and learning to stand forsaken will provide Irby residents with a memorial to backward thinking; and what is gained in saving money does not add up to losing so much of value to society, and the few finer things of life left to enjoy. Has anyone suggested we pay a little towards the upkeep of the library if it’s so much of a problem to keep it going? Perhaps a small fee of 50p to take out a couple of books— it’s cheaper than buying them. Please reconsider the amount of frustration caused by this unprecedented slash of our cultural facilities, and note the number of people moved to join this campaign to save Irby library and as many others as possible.
February 1st, 2009 at 5:04 pm
The council must not close OUR Irby library. It is as simple as that. I went in there yesterday and was greeted by name and “I have that book you ordered and here are the forms you wanted” Irby is a Community a place where people know each other and look out for each other. This is vital for the health and welbeing of all. This council cannot be allowed to destroy this. There are enough deprived areas where the sense of community has already been torn apart, where people no longer care about anything because “whats the point?” They must not tear the heart and soul out of this little community which keeps on trying to survive in spite of the best efforts of politicians to destroy it. Stop and think Councillors really think what you are doing and then think again. This Library must not close. If you think you can do this, What next?. I hate to think.
February 5th, 2009 at 10:21 pm
In 1935 a twelve-year old boy called Walter Pitts was running from a gang of teenage thugs through the streets of Detroit. In desperation he ducked into a large library and hid in the rear stacks. When he came out three days later, he had read Whitehead’s Principia Mathematica and studied enough Bertrand Russell to make the decision that he was going to become a logician. He even wrote to Russell who was impressed enough to offer Pitts a scholarship in Oxford. Although the position was never taken up, Pitts went on to fulfil his vocation and became a founding father in the field of neural networks. If you have ever used a computer, flown in an aeroplane or benefited from a weather report, you owe a small debt to Walter Pitts and in a way to the people at that library. It is a matter of conjecture, what would have happened had Pitts found a different hiding place back in 1935.
I like this story because a library is seen at its most transformative. It is a secular building capable of providing sanctuary, epiphany and even redemption.
I have lived for most of my 42 years in Irby.
Soon after moving here when I was three, Irby library was entertaining me with the adventures of “Ant and Bee”. Once enrolled at Coombe Road School, the library answered questions that were either beyond the reach of my teachers or too embarrassing to ask. Indeed one biology book confirmed the peculiar rumor that was circulating the playground about where babies came from.
At secondary school it informed all local history projects. And while on breaks from University, its rare quietude allowed proper exam revision.
However its value to me reached beyond matters of formal education. When some minor family transgression made it into the local papers, it was Irby library’s solitude that allowed me to read exactly why the grown-ups went quiet when I entered the room.
So I knew I was doing exactly the right thing, when I enrolled my son; it was a tacit introduction to a safe independent space and source of knowledge unskewed by my opinion.
For young people a library has to be within walking distance. How revealing then, that Greasby is offered as an alternative by this scheme’s advocates. No disrespect to Greasby; it just sits over a mile away down a very fast road.
As an adult I have used the library to research everything from proposed traffic-calming measures, cultural trips and job hunts. With the prospect of greater unemployment looming large for the locality, a plan to shut libraries seems perverse.
Irby has taken on a peculiar character during my time here. Would-be shopkeepers have had to fight for the supermarket leftovers, namely alcohol fast-food and haircuts. This might suggest that Irby was moribund were it not for the fact that the community is still there. The population is hardly dwindling or even facing an unsustainable demographic.
Irby needs a centre and currently only the library truly provides that.
Community is a difficult idea and this myopic decision leads to me to conclude that our elected representatives have given up trying to grasp it.
But if you do want a glimpse of the proposed future, I direct you to the flats situated at the top of Mill Hill Road next-door to the doctors’ surgery. Those of us who remember the understated aesthetic of the sweet shop that used to sit on this site cannot look upon the current architectural effort without dismay.
The loss will be irreversible. We will never get it back.
But let us not blinker ourselves as conveniently as our local councillors. During the late 1970s and early 1980s the library was a hang-out for that season’s crop of teenage rebels. They were unseated literally when the benches were removed, but even their memory offers another sad irony. For all the graffiti back then, the most grievous vandalism suffered by the building has been at the hands of those charged with its maintenance and development these last few months.
I will finish by thanking all those who have worked at the library and helped me and my family over the decades and hope that they find employers more deserving of their faultless professionalism.