When I was little I loved reading - I still do - and now I make my living through writing, editing other people's writing - putting words on pages... and screens.
One of the first independent things I ever did as a kid was to go to the library. I'd get on my bike cycle over the hill to Preston Road Library; a light airy purpose built public building where all human knowledge was laid out for me - organised by the magic of Dewey Decimal.
First I inhabited the the children's section - reading books about people unlike any I ever knew - posh kids "Just William" and "Jennings & Derbyshire". I would read the occasional non-fiction kids' history books and the like. I taught myself to play chess with a book from that library. I was always always on the look-out for stuff for school projects.
Soon I moved on to the adult section - devouring far more science fiction than was healthy - scouring the shelves for an unreadAzimov, Heinlien or John Whyndham.
Now my kids are about the age I was when I started going to the library on my own - Library visits have been something that they take for granted. Home is in North London now and we've a pretty good selection locally.
But it broke my heart to hear that Preston Road library faces closure - particularly when I read these letters (below) pleading for it to be saved. They read like the things my own two would write - and would make me proud.
Its feels so depressing that the basic civilised principle of books, collectively owned, held in trust for a community, in a public space, where people come together to learn or teach themselves ... or just enjoy the simple pleasure of reading. All of this is threatened by a short-term lack of a few quid.
When we reach the point, as a nation, that young children have to plead to keep a library open ...it's shameful.
