Neston Library Centenary
by Susannah Hill, Librarian-in-Charge.
Neston Library is here for the whole community and is situated on Parkgate Road, just down from The Cross.
The library opened to the public on 6th December 1907 and has been in the same building ever since. Neston Library is a Carnegie Library and is now the only one remaining in Cheshire. Andrew Carnegie 'the patron saint of libraries' donated £1,200 to Neston Urban District Council to build the library on the condition that the authority provided site and maintenance. The site was donated by the Russells of Vine House, Parkgate Road, Neston. Things have changed a lot since 1907 though, most noticeably the fact that borrowers are now allowed to go to the shelves and choose their own books! There have also been extensions to the library building; most recently in 2003 to cope with the changing way in which services are delivered.
Neston is a vibrant welcoming library with a wide variety of services ranging from storytime and teenage reading group to IT Buddies. We also hold regular events including author talks, poetry readings and sometimes music and dance! There is a very active Friends group who meet monthly and get involved in all sorts of activities. Why not come along? What would you like to do? Or go online and check out the blog http://uk.360.yahoo.com/nestonlibraryfriends
2007 was an important year for Neston Library as we celebrated our Centenary. 100 years of delivering a library service to the people of Neston is quite an achievement. We held a varied programme of events throughout the year; highlights of which included 'taking the library out' to Neston Village Fair dressed as our favourite book characters, 'Big Wild Rhymes' in the library garden with Craig Bradley and a photographic tour of Neston in 1907 with local historian Edward Hilditch.
To commemorate our milestone the Friends were successful in securing funding to produce a special mosaic which symbolises Neston 
over the last 100 years. The mosaic was created by local artists Verity Blakeman, Eileen Miller and Russell Kirk from ideas created in community workshops at the library. The project was sponsored by Cheshire Libraries, Neston Market Town Initiative and the NWDA, URENCO, Arriva Trains Wales and Town Building Materials. The mosaic was unveiled on Thursday 6th December at 2pm with the help of children from Neston Primary School.
We ended the 6th of December with a fantastic party! The Mersey Morris Men got the festivities started. Guests were treated to Cheshire Poet Laureate Jo Bell reading her commisioned piece in honour of the occasion: 'Bear Ye One Another's Burden'. (See "Things to see").Kate Williams, author of 'England's Mistress: the infamous life of Emma Hamilton' then treated us to tales of one of Neston's most famous daughters. No birthday party is complete without a cake and Daniel Lee who was also 10 that day, blew out the candles and cut the cake for us.
Why not pop in to the library and have a look at what we have been doing for the past century and see what we are going to do for the next.
Would you like to get involved with the Friends of Neston Library! Click on the link below:
Friends of Neston Library at Yahoo! 360
For more information please contact Neston Library: 0151 336 5486 or
neston.infopoint@cheshire.gov.uk
See also - on this site
Elsewhere on the web
Neston library info - From Cheshire County Council
More about Andrew Carnegie - from Spartacus Schoolnet