Kingsclere party to honour librarians

Official opening of community library on Saturday

Kingsclere villagers bade a fond farewell to their librarians with a special party before an official grand opening of the community library opens on Saturday morning.

After 24 years, librarian Rowena Hensman has put away her last book at the library, which is contained within the Kingsclere Village Club, in George Street.

The library had been under threat of closure due to Hampshire County Council cutbacks, until a 34-strong group of community-minded villagers stepped in to continue running it on a voluntary basis.

Ms Hensman, together with two other librarians – Jo Quittenton and Andrew Bolton, who provided cover – were thanked for everything they had done at a recent tea party at the club.

Ms Quittenton, who worked at the library for seven years, also took a special interest in the children’s library and ran baby rhyme time, as well as arts and craft classes for local youngsters.

All three were presented with gifts from the people of Kingsclere in recognition of their contribution to the village.

Ms Hensman, who officially retires from the library service in June, said: “I loved my time working at Kingsclere library and I couldn’t have asked for a better place to work.

“It was a joy to be there. Everyone was always so nice and pleasant.”

Since she started working at the library in 1991, there have been a lot of changes, the biggest being the introduction of a computerised system, while she noticed fewer schoolchildren coming in to use reference books for their homework.

She said: “Everyone has computers at home now and they do their research for their homework online.”

One of her biggest joys, she said, had been enrolling generations of families into the library, initially parents, then their children and grandchildren.

“It’s been lovely seeing the families grow,” she said.

“I have handed the library over to the people of Kingsclere and I hope that everyone will support and use it.”

The new community library will be officially opened at 10.30am on Saturday by Sir Timothy Sainsbury and his wife, Lady Susan Sainsbury.

All are welcome, with refreshments available.

Volunteer coordinator Sarah Davis said: “We really hope that lots of local people from Kingsclere and the surrounding villagers will come along.

“Lots of people have worked really hard to keep our library here in the village and we hope as many people as possible will support it.”

Kingsclere Community Library is open on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, from 1pm to 5.30pm, and also on Saturday, from 10.30am to 3pm.

n For full coverage of the official opening of Kingsclere’s community library on Saturday, including photographs, pick up a copy of next week’s Newbury Weekly News.