Purley Festival promoting Croydon libraries!

Purley Festival runs from 25th June to 1st July and their Twitter account has tweeted about "special events" being run in Purley Library as part of the festival.

A regular weekly event promoted under the banner of Purley Festival.

Seems this is, yet again, a case of Croydon residents taking the matter of promoting Croydon libraries into their own hands. Whilst we await details directly from Purley Festival organisers we sought out the details for ourselves, on the Croydon Council website.

Nothing listed under Events in Croydon Libraries

Nothing additional under the events listed in Purley Library tab, other than the regular activities on offer.

Nor is there anything out of the ordinary listed in the Events listings for the week of Purley Festival.

We look forward to receiving full details of the additional events and are keen to promote them as we regularly hear of residents struggling to find details of events in Croydon libraries as advertising is so poor and erratic.

But it will come as no surprise to many of us that Cllr Tim Pollard, newly appointed to the role for overseeing libraries, is quick to follow in the steps of his predecessor, Cllr Sara Bashford, in taking the credit for the work of residents promoting libraries and denying problems with the service on offer.

In the Croydon Guardian, online Cllr Pollard is quoted,

"The events at Purley Library during the festival week cater for all age groups with a range of interests and many encourage whole-family participation. 

Some of the activities are regular events at the library, while others are one-offs, adding extra dimensions from music, fashion and craft as well as literature and discussions about China and Croydon- a measure of the diverse nature of what our libraries offer." 

Dare we remind Cllr Pollard of the events regularly cancelled in Sanderstead Library, the library in his own ward?  The promised list of volunteers, he claimed were so keen to help, that never materialised for the Summer Booktrail, resulting in activities being cancelled, just one example.

Cllr Bashford was caught out by the Bookseller for the lack of any promotion of any events for National Libraries Day, which resulted in hard pushed staff cobbling together displays such as this at only a day's notice.

UK Citizenship test or Highway code anyone?

Let's hope that a community pulling all the stops out, in their own time, to promote Purley and its facilities, including its library; a library who campaigners believe is still lucky enough to have a qualified librarian attending, unlike many other Croydon libraries, is supported by Cllr Pollard and Croydon Council.

We'll post full details of all events in the library that week when we can establish details.