Daffodils in March

Lovely to see the daffodils that the Beavers planted last October starting to bloom.

Pictures taken on 19th March 2011 - a lovely sunny spring day!

Thank you to the Beavers for weeding and planting

On Tuesday 15th March a local Beavers group - led by Oliver - helped in the Rock Road Library Garden by doing some weeding, and by planting a bed of sunflowers, corflowers and californian poppies...it will be lovely in the summer to see how many flowers bloom.

The daffodils the beavers planted last October are doing well and nearly in flower...

Many thanks for your work!

Wine tasting - Friday 4th March

Many thanks to Brenda Purkis for organising a great wine tasting on Friday. The wines were provided and introduced by Anthony of 'Hedonist Wines'. The event made approximately £200 for the Friends of Rock Road Library.

Meeting about library cuts

On Wednesday 2nd March 2011 around 100 local people attended a meeting at Rock Road Library to find out more about the review of libraries in Cambridgeshire and the implications for Rock Road Library. Christine May - Acting Head of Libraries, Archives and Information for Cambridgeshire gave a very informative talk. There is a great deal of concern that Rock Road Library may be closed. Although it is well used it is not prioritised by the Council because it is in an area which is assessed as having less need. There will be a more formal consultation meeting in early April.

From Trees to Violins...

From Trees to Violins

We had an excellent talk yesterday at Rock Road library from Juliet Barker all about the art of violin making. Many thanks to Juliet for bringing lots of tools and giving a real insight into the whole process. We now understand much more about what happens in the workshop just across the lane behind the library.

Consultation on Library Cuts

The following Summary of the planned Library Cuts has been provided by Cllr Tariq Sadiq (Labour, Coleridge Ward). Please use the comment facility to add your views about this.

The County Council has carried out a review of the Library Service as a consequence of which it has ordered a further review of Libraries in Cambridge. The main driving force behind this is cuts of 29% (£2.215m) in the Library Service Budget by 2013 and the impact on usage of the new Central Library in Cambridge. The savings target for the community library network, which includes Rock Road, is £100,000 and is described as 'Potential Library Closures'.

The Council wants to look at both 'externalising' the service (partnership with other authorities, setting up a trust for the County, or privatisation) and 'transforming' it which includes introducing more self-service technology, reducing paid staff, and increasing involvement by community volunteers. If this can be done it could prevent library closures. If not then they will consider factors such as 'library performance' and 'community need' to decide which libraries will be closed.