Wirral News readers’ views: 11/2/09

Feb 11 2009 by Lorna Hughes, Birkenhead News

Library is at heart of community

THANK you for the helpful publicity you have given to our campaign to save Hoylake Library, which is our only central community point.

We can’t help feeling that our area has been sidelined, as it has no representation on the committee which makes recommendations. There was no-one to put our case.

In a library you can obtain information free of charge and this will be very useful in a recession, when more people are jobless and thinking of re-training.

You can stay and read as long as you like. My husband and I would especially miss the computer facility.

It would be impractical to go as far as West Kirby on a regular basis. It is not true that everyone can afford books and computers.

The library is situated opposite schools and has an excellent children’s section.

At a recent public protest, children’s voices were much in evidence, pleading “save our library”.

Present government policy is to avoid bland and sterile towns with no community facilities.

Please continue to support our cause to retain our one remaining community focus.

MRS M.A GREEN

Ridgeway call

WITH all the comments and pleas for leisure facilities and libraries to remain open I have not seen an appeal for the retention of Ridgeway Library.

This is an important feature of that particular educational and residential area.

I have been associated with this for many years in my work with both the educational and small business sectors and feel it would be a devastating lack of a valuable resource in the area.

This is used by all members of the community, from the very young, primary and secondary schools students to readers and researchers who use books and internet access for a wide range of purposes - tracing of family histories, learning new skills and gaining new insights into a myriad assortment of subjects.

Whilst it can be acknowledged that Upton Library will remain open and these facilities can still be accessed, it is far from easy for parents/grandparents with one or more children and pushchairs, or the more mature users who have difficulty walking long distances to use connecting buses.

Consideration of weather conditions and time delays have to be brought into this equation.

I would urge a re-consideration of the closure of this library and allow the benefits to the community to be allowed to continue.

BARBARA SINCLAIR

WEST KIRBY

Lack of concern

MAY I congratulate Michael Burns on his letter (Stop whingeing, Letters, February 4).

He has done a wonderful job of showing every reader his ignorance, arrogance and lack of concern for other people.

Firstly, the library service is available to all people who wish to use it, as are the leisure facilities which he fails to mention.

Secondly, perhaps whilst he is reading the books that he is able to buy he might consider buying some of those published by the Child Poverty Action Group in which he would be able to check the amount of benefit that people receive.

Once he has read these he may wish to consider how a person receiving £60 a week JobSeekers Allowance as their only income and having to pay for food, electricity, gas, water rates and clothing (to name but a few) out of that sum can afford to purchase the books they would like to read while they wait for the replies to their job applications.

Of course if that person is under 25 years old they receive less than £50 per week but still have the same expenses.

He may also wish to consider the fact that libraries also have computer access and photocopying facilities which jobseekers can use to copy their CVs and search for jobs.

Obviously not all library users are in receipt of JSA. Let us not forget the pensioners, also in many cases managing on very low incomes, who often have difficulty getting to a local library let alone one that is three miles away.

Perhaps Mr Burns also considers that parents will be only too happy to let their young children (who are encouraged through schools to read as many books as possible) walk three miles through the dubious safety of our streets.

I envy Mr Burns his ability to buy the books that he wishes to read, with prices for paperbacks these days averaging £6-£14 (we are talking about the books people want to read) many people, not just those in receipt of benefit, cannot afford to buy all that they would wish to.

From the uproar that has greeted the council’s plans it is to be hoped that the idiotic, self- centred views of Mr Burns are in the minority.

STUART JOHNSON

WALLASEY

Hearts of gold

I WOULD like to praise the fantastic service that we received from the district nurses, Marie Curie Cancer Care and the Macmillan nurses in Wallasey during my mum’s recent illness.

We can say they were only doing their jobs, but these nurses went more than the extra mile and nothing was too much trouble.

Not only did they look after mum with their nursing care and genuine friendship, they made sure that I was coping.

There were days when you knew that the nurses were stretched to breaking point but the care and concern never altered.

If you are giving out hearts of gold on Valentine’s Day you do not need to give any to them - they already have them.

M HIGGINS

VIA E-MAIL

Crime fears

IN RESPONSE to Michael Burns' letter, I presume by "the rest of us" you mean the small minority who as yet have not been affected by the recession?

Libraries are the lifeblood of communities and the whole idea is to have a wide and varied selection of literature for the community to share in, a very good majority of whom "do not want for something" and pay the very taxes that fund the libraries.

Not every family can afford to buy their children a new book every week to discard once read.

Local libraries are not just places "to meet and update people on local news”. They provide activities for children during school holidays, keeping them entertained while their parents are hard at work providing for them and trying to keep a roof over their heads.

And can you really be so pig headed to suggest that it's easy for disabled members of the community to just hop outside their homes and then down to the nearest library, which may well be three miles away once the council has finished?

The libraries were key in expanding education to the community as a whole. They provide internet access and valuable research and educational materials that disadvantaged households (who will be hit further by the recession) may not otherwise be able to afford.

I suggest you stop being so selfish in your thinking and consider the effect the library closures will have on youth crime.

I am sure that you will be the first to campaign to reinstate many of the closed libraries when you cannot walk down any road for fear of the unruly children and teenagers who have had their libraries and youth centres taken away from them and have no other distractions.

S NORRIS

VIA E-MAIL

Vital services

I’M not sure if Michael Burns (Wirral News, February 4) was trying to be ironic, funny, or just plain ignorant.

His letter he says he doesn't want something for nothing - the public pay council tax for the library service and have every right to use this service to read books they couldn't afford, which the library buys.

Free heat and light! This is supplied for the staff who work in the buildings all day, not just for the short time the public attend.

Among the libraries that are closing are many services that will be missed - toy library, reference depts, computer access and information points, and a wide range of books on every subject required.

Once the libraries are gone, they are gone.

JAN PEDDIE

PRENTON