Last Day at Silverdale

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Opening the library for the final time

So, the day that I'd been dreading for so long finally arrived - my very last day at Silverdale Library. I am being made redundant to make way for volunteers.

I thought it was going to be a sad, sad day - but it turned out quite differently. To be honest - it's not possible to be sad on a sunny day in Silverdale Library!

Santa's Helpers :-)


First of all I had Nathan with me all day - he had come with me yesterday to Makro - to get loads of cakes for today's tea party. So, we set up some tables and found the cup and glasses and put out the cakes.

Pretty quickly people started to arrived - the first were Alderman Bill Hughes and his friend Philip Tunnicliffe.





Mrs D and me :-)

Both are regular users of Silverdale Library. Also Bill is responsible for procuring the Christmas Tree for the village. He keeps the lights and transformer in the library. I always knew it was getting close to Christmas when I saw the two of them arrive together to pick them up!

Mrs Dean arrived next. She comes in most days for a new Western to read. She very proud of losing three stone over the last few months so didn't  mind having a photo taken :-)

3 Librarians - Jayne, Farida and me

The rest of the day just whizzed by after that!
The wonderful Caroline - tutor of the Keele Poets at Silverdale came around 10am and stayed until closing time. Also, Jayne came to cover my lunch - but stayed for 4 hours. Also one of my favourite librarians, Farida came over on her day off to spend a few hours with us too.







With Mr C for the final time :-(

With Nathan and Caroline making tea and handing out cakes and Farida and Jayne staffing the counter - it meant that I could mingle with all my customers and say a proper goodbye to everyone.  It was such a fun day!!

Having a chat with Peter Andre and his wife.

I was amazed when the entire Knit and Natter Group turned up together and brought me the most beautiful hand-crafted cushion and blanket - each one of them had contributed a square (or many!) and Gwen had stitched it all together and put on the border. I'll treasure them forever - and keep them well away from the cats!


Dancing Maurice and Mrs Warrelow

It was so nice to see Terry arrived to say goodbye too. He has been my line manager for nine years and has been so supportive, a wonderful mentor and an inspiration ever since the day I started. He has a fab sense of humour and so many varied interests - it has always been fun having him around.
Thanks for everything Terry - and good luck in your new role. :-)

Me and the Knitters with my blanket

 I was overwhelmed by the number of people who came to see me off and wish me well in the future. It has been such a pleasure working at Silverdale over the last nine years and getting to know many of its residents so well.

The library really is the heart of the village. It's a meeting place, somewhere to keep warm or shelter from the elements when waiting for a bus ( the stop is literally just outside and you can see the bus coming through the huge windows) It's a great place to sit and browse while waiting for your wife at the hairdressers or while your car is in the garage. It's the perfect place to finish off your crossword, print out your flight tickets and boarding passes and Wowchers.

With Chris - Chair of the Parish Council



Caroline and me by the Poetical Toilet



...and at the Counter

With my Brilliant Boss - Terry!

You can run in at the last minute to print out your presentation or CV when your printer has run out of ink. You can spend an hour browsing the internet or many hours looking for a job. You can enlarge baby photos to embarrass someone with a special birthday.You can run a business or study for a degree. You can discuss books or make lace, knit and crochet with like-minded friends.


It's an inspirational place to write poetry and you can put down the shutters and show your home movies of rare birds - like the Bird-Watching class do. It is a meeting place for young mums - who can chat to the health visitors and also enrol the babies in the library and take home some board books to start them on their journey

Close-Up of that Cushion and Blanket

to literacy.


 It's a hive of local information for those new to the village. They can find out the history of the pits or where the nearest scout troop is. It is the only toilet in the village and can accommodate a whole coachload of "Evergreens" before they go off to Eastbourne. Oh yeah - and you can also borrow books!

I fear for its future but fervently hope that it survives - Silverdale would but so much poorer without it. I wish all the remaining staff in the Library Service all the luck and best wishes possible.
Please look after my library - it's the best little library in the world...

Closing up for the last time...



Goodbye Poets!

Thursday 24th March 2016

My Beautiful Scrapbook

What an awesome but sad day! It was the final session of the Keele Poets at Silverdale class before their end of term. Caroline arrived early with cake and I had put out some little Easter Eggs for them when I set out the room. She had asked them all to bring a poetic passage from Shakespeare to read out to the rest of the class - as a "gift poem".

When they had a break at eleven o'clock, Caroline called me in and gave a little speech to say thank-you for all I'd done for them and said they'll miss me when I've gone. They gave me the most beautiful scrapbook - full of photos of all the projects and events we've done together at Silverdale. Some of them had even written me poems. I was so thrilled! Caroline did warn me not to look at it until I got home as it would make me cry. She was right.

I did have chocolate cake too - and had a chunk of Miranda's wonderful fruit cake too!



SO many cards and presents!

Thank-You Megan!

I have so many cards and presents already. After today, I do only have a day and a half to work. I am trying not to think about it. It's going to be even more emotional next Thursday when I have my day-long tea party for all my lovely customers.

It's so sad.



Caroline was also kind enough to stay with me at the counter over lunchtime - as no-one turned up to cover my lunch today. it gave me chance to go to the loo and grab something to eat! I do hope that there'll be someone to open the library for the poets when they come back for their next term!

It's the Final Countdown...

Saturday 26th March 2016

It is my final half-day - as I only have Thursday left now - my very last day!
Spent the quiet bit of the morning tidying the office and making sure all the Health and Safety checks were up-to-date. I have to check the fire alarm and emergency lighting every week and the water temperatures every month. I also got the invoices for the room hire sorted and sent off to Cheryl - the Admin Queen at Newcastle.

I think everything is in order ready to hand it over to.. well I'm not sure who! I have no idea who will be on duty on Friday next week - in fact they haven't told me when or where to hand over my keys when I lock up for the final time on Thursday afternoon.

Pirates from 2011

Amelia the local councillor popped in with her daughter Lily. She has been bringing her in since she was a tiny baby. They used to come to Baby Bounce and Rhyme when I ran those sessions. Had to stop when Tracy left and wasn't replaced. We used to have a great time singing the Pirate Song - I even had a Pirate Hat to wear while we did it. It was always my favourite!

You can watch a video of it being performed by some girl scouts if you want to know what it was like :-) 

http://tinyurl.com/jj6qrsx

So, Lily had bought me a card and a lolly and some sweets with her pocket money.
I was really touched - especially when I read what she wrote in her card!
Crossword Guy aka Mr S also popped in. He had brought me a Good Luck card and some Swiss chocolates to  say thanks for all the crossword help over the years. He didn't think he could make the Tea Party on Thursday - as he has a busy week coming up.
The rest of the morning was really busy! I had to help a chap print out some insurance documents that were being difficult and not co-operating! Another man wanted to send a message to his daughter and grand-daughter in Dubai - via Facebook. Mr. M also came in to give me a photo that he took of me last week when I was sitting at the counter. It's great - I will add it to my amazing Silverdale Scrapbook.

So before I get too sad - here is the place I might apply to for a job after this week ;-)

Last Monday

Monday 21st March 2016

My very last Monday has arrived! It's a Coffee Tots day and the usual happy chaos reigns - along with singing and strawberries. It was sad to say goodbye to Jo and Trudie - who run the group.
Crossword Guy was in - but with no crossword!! He didn't come in last week because he thought I'd finished at the end of last month. I asked him where his list of questions was and he said he'd stopped buying the Sunday papers. How sad is that?? He did need me for something - photocopying!

Mr C was in to choose today's horses. He was very happy as one of his weekend choices had come in at 25-1. He was off to claim his winnings in no time. He'd  put 50p on - so was picking up over £16. Enough for a bottle of whisky :-)

My lunch was covered by the big boss from Newcastle - as Jayne was off sick. What she didn't realise was that J was also due to cover Knutton - so when she arrived to show some staff around there  ( as they may need to cover after 31st) she realised it wasn't actually open. Goodness knows how things will be after we all leave!

It was a pretty quiet afternoon - no book groups today. There was a lovely family in - parents and two boys who are being home schooled. They came to join last week and have been in most days since to use the computers. They seem to login to some subscription site and have to complete sections each day. The mum is good at keeping them focussed!

Caroline - the tutor of the Keele Poets at Silverdale - is doing something really sweet this week She is putting a photo on Facebook every day - to say thank-you for all the things we've done together since they've been at Silverdale. This is what she said today:

I'm going to miss them...

Give thanks for librarians and libraries while we can! On Thurs, Keele Poets at Silverdale will say goodbye to Berni Williams, our librarian extraordinaire at Silverdale Library, as she and numerous other staff depart after massive cuts across Staffordshire. I will be singing Berni's praises all week as part of a HUGE THANK YOU. We have had such fun running projects in the library over the past 5 years with you, Berni! The changes are heart-breaking...

She included this photo of their room waiting for them when they returned after the summer last year.

Saying goodbye...

Monday 14th March 2016

It was the final PEEPS session today - and the lady running it had more families than she expected I think the Health Visitors had been bigging up her course. There was quite a noisy session - one baby was taken home as he really didn't want to be there. He was very loud :-0



Busy at the counter

Mr. G was in - he is planning a holiday to Malta for next month and it isn't going smoothly! Each time he comes in to logon to check the details they have changed the flight or the time - or something else. He told me that he doesn't like just lying on a beach - so he's going to be exploring the back streets and hidden gems of Malta. I am the same - prefer a good city break to a beach holiday.
It sounds like it will be fun :-)

Mr. C was in studying form - he is really looking forward to the Cheltenham Festival which starts this week. I don't know much about it - so couldn't really offer any guidance. I used to listen to Radio 4 on the way in to work - and then pass on their racing tips as my own! He never took my advice - even when they occasionally came in first!

It was a gorgeous sunny Spring day. There was a coach setting off from the car park behind the library and as usual half the people getting on it decided they needed a visit to the loo. As the Public Toilets in Silverdale have been closed for ages - they came in to use my customer toilet. One after another, after another...

I discovered that they were off to Eastbourne - so I guess it's fair enough as that is quite a journey.
This afternoon I had my Book Group 2 in the meeting rooms. This is the one run by the local Health Centre - for people who've had life-changing injuries or illnesses. It is always well-attended. Today I had got them copies of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn - but the lady who run it came back to the counter and told me they'd all read it before!



Personal Signed Copy

Luckily I had a back-up and swapped them for copies of The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. They seem quite impressed by that one! I felt quite sad that it was the last book I would choose for them. Someone at Newcastle has been given the task of getting book sets for them in the future.

F came from Newcastle to cover my lunch. She had to come at 11am - as she had to cover Clayton and get her own lunch too at some point. She brought me a leaving card from C - who has covered a lot of lunches before now. It was sad to think that there are so many people to say goodbye to. Also, later Mrs B came in and waited while I came back from my lunch so that she could give me a card and chocolates. I really don't like this ...


My Blast from the Past is a photo of the copy of Tabby McTat that Julia Donaldson signed for N when she came to Silverdale. It has pride of place on our book shelves!







Finding the past...

Saturday 12th March 2016



Silverdale - the library and the book

Had a lovely Saturday morning. Lots of the regulars came in.

Nathan came with me to work today - as we are off to Yorkshire as soon as I finish at 1pm. He took some nice photos of my library - so I won't forget what it looked like. After today I only will work four and a half days. My time here is running out so fast!

Mr. C was in as usual. He was telling N about when he was a boy and lived in Grantham - in the next street to Mrs Thatcher's father's shop. He really enjoyed living there during the war as the place was full of Americans. He remembers so well the first time he saw sticks of gum when they gave him some.

French Visit :-)

I also opened the old lockers in the staffroom. I had no idea what was in them - but found old diaries going back years and old finance books and those quaint old floppy discs! I had a flip through some of the diaries - starting in 1992. In fact the Blast from the Past photo today is from that diary. It was quite sweet to see that the local primary school brought their visiting French guests to the library for an afternoon. I'm sue they would have been impressed!

Me at the counter - before opening time :-)

My Beautiful Library

Cutest card...

Friday 11th March 2016

Such a nice message

Thank-you Ffion!

I had the most beautiful leaving card from Ffion and her little brother Griff. They have been very regular customers for all their lives. Ffion told me she made the card herself and there was a chick on the back. She aid that  her mummy bought the present - some ginger body butter from the Body Shop. It was so lovely - it brought tears to my eyes. Oh dear - what will I be like on the last day? There was such a nice message inside. I love my customers!
The Knit and Natterers wanted me to take their photo this week - so I obliged. They seem to be going from strength to strength!

Another customer who shall be nameless covered my carpet in mud today! He runs a gardening business and he came in to print out his invoices. He does this most weeks - it's nice to think we are helping to keep a small business going :-) He did apologise about the muddy footprints - as he couldn't deny it was him since the they went from the front door to his seat at the computers! I told him not to worry as it would hoover up once they dried out!

My Blast from the Past is one of my favourite displays that I did for Family History Week - I just love the quote! :-)