Tea party celebrations to mark Birkenhead Central Library’s 75th birthday

Jun 24 2009 by Lorna Hughes, Birkenhead News

BIRKENHEAD’S iconic Central Library – now earmarked for closure – is celebrating its 75th anniversary next month, and anyone present when it opened is being invited to a celebratory tea party.

This week’s exclusive Memories photo shows King George V arriving for the library’s official opening on July 18, 1934.

As this photo shows, the occasion caught the imagination of the whole community.

Anyone present will be invited as a special guest to a 1930s-themed tea party at the library on July 18, hosted by Roses Tea Rooms of Heswall.

Birkenhead was one of the first towns in the country to offer a free library service.

Although the Central Library has been open for 75 years, the first public library in Birkenhead opened in Price Street in April 1856. The library had 3,034 books.

The service moved to rooms over the old Post Office in Conway Street in 1857 before a purpose-built facility was opened in Hamilton Street in April 23, 1864.

In 1904 it was decided there was a need for a larger Central Library and Branch Libraries. The committee approached Andrew Carnegie, who agreed to contribute £15,000 to the building of a new Central Library in Market Place South.

In the 1920s, to make way for the Kingsway Tunnel entrance, the premises changed again. The Reference Library rented a disused wartime canteen from Cammell Laird, and premises in Argyle Street were temporarily acquired for newspaper and magazine readers.

Many sites were considered for a new purpose-built facility and in 1934 Birkenhead Central Library moved to the existing site on Borough Road.

Celebrations on July 18 will include music from the Port Sunlight Lyceum brass band, a display of 1930s memorabilia and an Agatha Christie display

Anyone who was present can contact Diane Fairhurst at Birkenhead Library on 652 6106.

l WHAT are your memories of Birkenhead Central Library? Contact Memories by e-mailing lorna.hughes@liverpool.com or write to: Memories, Wirral News, PO Box 48, Liverpool L69 3EB.