Forum Topic

E-petiition Save Brentford Library

Please sign the e-petition to save Brentford Librarygo tohttp://petitions.hounslow.gov.uk/BrentfordLibrary/Please encourage others to sign up quickly!

RUTH GARNER ● 5585d18 Comments

Hi Dawn,Thanks for your reply and update. I also heard from Hazel Dakers. I will keep in touch with the website for news of the library and hope to add my support if you have to start another protest in due course.

Lynn J Hayter ● 5551d

Hi Lynn,It's nice to know that the Old Brentonions still care about the old town, as you are aware it is thanks to Ruth for starting the petition, I think it shocked the Council that so many people responded to all the Library Petitions. However the battle has not been won the council have just postponed the decision. Maybe with luck something completely unexpected can be achieved and out beautiful library will be saved. High hopes for the others too.

Dawn Hardy ● 5552d

I grew up in Brentford and used the library as a child. I now live in Berkshire and only just got to hear of the proposed closure of the library. I have just tried to sign the petition against the closure but just too late, as it closed on the 17th February 2011. I am making contact in the hope that you will know if there is another petition that I can sign and would be grateful if you could let me know the current position in respect of the closure plans. Thank in advance for your help.RegardsLynn J Hayter

Lynn J Hayter ● 5552d

Ruth,Could you please do a Template exactly the same as the on line one except for signatures, so that we can involve local businesses and household's, I know that there are forms at the Library however people who work do not have the time. I would really appreciate it and it would open a whole new forum. I ask you because it was your initiative and thoughtfulness that got us started. If you put it up I can run it off and start the ball rolling.A great big thank you!!!

Dawn Hardy ● 5576d

I did check that the e-mail address was correct, however I did'nt think of Spam, I appreciate your help, if I have not received the LBH e-mail I shall just register once again.

Dawn Hardy ● 5578d

Two possibilities - check that the email is not in Spam, and did you enter your email address correctly?

Mary Blyth ● 5579d

Hi Ruth,I have signed the petition but have not received the e-mail promised by LBH, they say that one has to press the link for my signture to be counted, is this right.

Dawn Hardy ● 5579d

Amalgamating with Waterman's would be a good idea methinks.

Keith Iddon ● 5582d

Could another service be combined with the Libraries or is this cut a step to selling the properties for a short term cash gain, as well as closing them down?I have hardly used the library in recent years and the last couple of times it was through the on line ordering service which was great!I had a number of conversations with the outgoing Librarian at Osterley a while ago about how MacDonalds might have their eyes on the Library for a drive through!  :-(

Sarah Felstead ● 5582d

I've got three volunteers for a read-in on 5 February so far, which is not enough! If anyone else would be willing to take part please say so, or if anyone has any other/better ideas for trying to save Brentford Library please say so. I'm willing to co-ordinate.

Jill Allbrooke ● 5582d

Hazel, you'll be surprised with this posting then!I've lived in Isleworth for the last 40 years..and currently use Osterley and Brentford Libraries (and Ealing!). Prior to that I lived in Chiswick for 25 years. A further two hardcore years in Libya (whilst Gaddafi was still at school) and Cyprus (under the cloud of Makarious, Eoka,Grivas)..and four years in sunny Surrey adds up to a pretty sum!So I'm not all right Jack(being a priviledged resident of Chiswick)! Indeed I lived throughout WW2 in Chiswick with bombs killing 5 neighbours across the road one night...and daily passed by Prisoners of War in their barbed wired compound in Magnolia Road near Strand on the Green!!  So there you have my life!But I'm a fan of Brentford and have been heralding it's fascinations for the past five years on these Forums. I would say that I do my fair share of supporting and promoting Brentford. It's Brentfordians who need stirring as we've said on many occasions. Give the stirring task to someone like Linda Massey or Jan Jones (who achieve great successes with Boston Manor Park and the Brentford Festival)..and you'd probably achieve greater results.I don't think there's even a Notice Board to say it's Brentford Library. An old Council Notice Board there on the corner was an absolute eyesore with remnants of old notices etc etc. That conifer tree obscures a view of the entrance and the hedges at the front (from memory) could be more friendly. Perhaps more imaginative thought should be given to using the spare rooma in the building for Commumity events/meetings..although I appreciate that disabled access may be a problem.Anyway,as John Connelly says..reducing the opening hours is not a cost efficient remedy for the reasons he stated in his fine posting.I presume Schools have their own Libraries, Old Folks Homes have theirs, but it's statistics that are needed..and none are being posted. As Cllr Sam Hearne has said on the Chiswick Forum ..something like.."if service is not used..service will go".I don't want the Brentford Library to close, nor Osterleys or Chiswicks.

Jim Lawes ● 5583d

"When I visited the Brentford Library the other day..there was hardly a sole there"It's never been a good place for fishing Jim, however the simple fact is that these premises provide one of what are these days very few options for members of the public to meet, work in peace, relax and generally interact.I would agree that we need to look at the way we use our libraries, accept that book use and borrowing is in decline and will continue to fall, and consider other uses for these facilities to supplement the traditional function rather than to replace it.This won't be achieved by closing them.PS I know you live in Osterley, but Hazel's point about town centre libraries being inaccessible to people who are unable to travel is no less relevant.

Phil Andrews ● 5583d

Jim. You, I believe, are a privileged resident of Chiswick. Funding has been given to Chiswick and the other two so-called main libraries at the expense of branches like Brentford. So you're all right Jack! This has gone on increasingly in the 30+ years I've lived in Brentford. If book stock quality and quantity diminishes less people visit......This happens in any library. My husband sometimes goes to Chiswick Library for a wider selection. However when his health is bad he cannot. Should he - and others in the same position - be denied library services because he doesn't happen to live in Chiswick? He still pays his Council Tax just like Chiswick residents!

Hazel Dakers ● 5583d

I've just signed.From the list of signatories quite a few on here haven't.Come on,get yer fingers out!

Keith Iddon ● 5584d

This is today's news item on the Hounslow Council  website. There must be some 200,000 residents in the Borough who could use the Library Service. How many of that hugh number are required to sign the petition?ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooCouncil asks residents to decide the future of their librariesTue, 18 January 2011Hounslow Council is to consult with residents about the future of the borough’s libraries after the impact of government cuts could result in branch closures.The libraries at risk of closure are Beavers, Bedfont, Brentford, Cranford, Hanworth, Heston, Isleworth and Osterley, with the council agreeing to consult on library savings up to a value of £870,000.Cllr Pritam Grewal, Hounslow lead member for leisure and wellbeing said:“In the past 18 months we have undertaken significant improvements to libraries. We are in the process of developing a strategy for the future operation of our service and have been consulting with both residents and users on their priorities and the gaps they would like to see addressed.“Unfortunately the sheer scale of the savings we are being required to make due to funding cuts from central government means that we have to take very difficult decisions in a short period of time. Therefore we want to hear residents’ views on these initial proposals to reduce the current library services and potentially close up to 8 local libraries. Residents views are critical in helping us to make informed decisions and minimising the impact that savings have on our service.”The council has reduced the cost of the service by approximately £1 million in the last 18 months through efficiency savings in back office costs and the introduction of self service terminals. We are also investigating whether the current provision in Chiswick could be improved or relocated.Hounslow Council is the only council in the country to have put library services into private sector management, and the libraries are currently operated by our partners John Laing Integrated Services Ltd on a 15 year contract.We need residents’ comments by Friday 28 January 2011. Comments can be made online at www.hounslow.gov.uk/libraryconsultation, via email to Library ConsultationLondon Borough of HounslowCivic CentreLampton RoadTW3 4DNThe council is also consulting on this proposal as part of a wider budget consultation. As a resident you can also make your views on this proposal by completing the online consultation form at www.hounslow.gov.uk/consultations or by returning the consultation leaflet you should have received through the post.

Jim Lawes ● 5584d

from "Brentford as it was" on loan from the Library!isbn 0-86067-082-1

Jim Lawes ● 5585d

"It has a large collection of books and other media for loan as well as an extensive research section and some interesting pieces of local history"I don't think that's the case these days. Your extract must be from a historical website!When I visited the Brentford Library the other day..there was hardly a sole there. Maybe three male staff and perhaps 4-5 members of the public..including a forum chum I bumped into.When you think there are some 25,000 people in 10,000 residences in the area that's not over impressive. We have no statistics to make judgements really..but,of course, we all want the Library to remain.I believe there are fewer books on the shelves.. perhaps more selective..and no research is undertaken there as far as I understand. To Hounslow or Chiswick..if you want local studies in depth. There are none the less a handful of good reference books..and a dozen or so in the lending sectionBut where are the crowds..at the Library or on these Library Threads.I love Brentford even though I don't live in the town.. but usuage does look iffy these days.We need facts, figures and ...support.

Jim Lawes ● 5585d

Thanks will do,A reminder from a website:Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish American philanthropist and businessman funded this tremendous Victorian building in the heart of Brentford. The library has for well over a century served as one of the central focuses of community life in the suburb. It has a large collection of books and other media for loan as well as an extensive research section and some interesting pieces of local history

Steve Allum ● 5585d