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...