Dear Councillors John Cotton and Saima Suleman (cc Councillor Julien Pritchard and Al Carns MP),
We are Druids Heath Book Club, a group of local residents that meets at Druids Heath Library to share the joy of reading. We take turns to choose a book to read and meet on the first Saturday of the month to discuss it.
When we started the group in November 2021, people said a book club in Druids Heath wouldn't last. We have now grown to 10 members, and counting. The book club gives us a sense of belonging, motivates us to read and is a way for us to discover and explore all kinds of books. When we meet each month we laugh, lament, share, discuss and disagree. We are a community.
At the end of June we learned that from next Monday 22 July, Druids Heath Library will be closed every day except Tuesdays and Thursdays, leaving Druids Heath Book Club without a home. We are saddened and angry and, determined for the book club to keep going, have managed to secure a temporary venue for the months of September until December this year. But from January, the future of the book club is uncertain.
Closing our local library on a Saturday is shocking. Apart from being the only day our book club is able to meet, Saturday is an important day for families (including ours) who want to visit the library, and is also the day Druids Heath Library runs its lego club for children.
Most importantly, we want our library to stay. We are highly sceptical that these closures are temporary and question the Council's decision to do this while the consultation is ongoing. As Birmingham Loves Libraries have eloquently put it, we fear that our libraries are being closed by stealth.
As well as being vital spaces for culture and learning, our libraries are places people come to be safe, warm and connect with others. While it has a strong community and much to celebrate, neglect of Druids Heath means it is now deemed the most deprived part of Birmingham, and the Council's plans for the area leave residents facing an uncertain future.
In this context, Druids Heath Library represents something essential - a common space that is open to everyone, for free. Its closure would be a devastating loss not only for our book club, but for the entire local community.
We call on you to save Druids Heath Library and all libraries under threat of closure across Birmingham.
We look forward to hearing how you plan to respond to the concerns we have raised.
Yours sincerely,
Emily Churchill Zaraa
Rita Patel
Tessa Dowling
Vicki Willinger
Rebecca Tedstone
on behalf of Druids Heath Book Club
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