Our New Library

I have a cold and am feeling "proper poorly" so will be doing this and then going to bed!

Originally our town was a small Wiltshire market town, which expanded rapidly in the 1840s when Isambard Kingdom Brunel built the Great Western Railway here.  

These days Old Town, which is "up the hill", is a distinct community in itself.  I worked in Old Town for most of my working life, and it retains much of its Victorian character, with many lovely old buildings, plenty of shops, cafes and bars and the Museum.

However, my photograph is taken "down the hill" in what used to be called the new part of the town and shows our library.  It was opened in October 2008, so it's not that new now, but we waited a long time for it.  

Previously, and for nearly 40 years, the library was housed in old, single storey, prefabricated huts, so when this new library was opened, it was a tremendous boost to the town.  It has 77,000 books and 60 desks available for internet access.  The new three-storey building also features a cafe, a Learning Zone for tuition in computer skills, a Leisure Zone for families and a specialist Family and Local History section.  It looks lovely at night, with ever-changing lights, so that it looks like a "living building" and it has won Environmental Awards.

Mr HCB and I enjoy going into this library and always find the staff very helpful - they were particularly helpful to me when I started researching our Family History.  Roger Trayhurn, who was in my class at school, started working at the library in 1964 and retired in 2011 to write a book about the town's Empire Theatre.

I can remember, as a little girl, going into the library, which I loved to do, and pushing all the books to the back of the shelves whereupon the librarian, a dear lady, who always seemed very old to me, called Miss Nockels, used to come along behind me and say "Don't do that, dear," in a Joyce Grenfell voice.  Thankfully, it never put me off reading!

Behind the library is the Town Hall, which was built in the late 19th century to be a centrepiece of the new town and the the library complements that building perfectly, I think.

I quite like the way you can see the blue sky and clouds in the windows of the library and also the buildings on the other side of the street.

It may not be a wonderful town architecturally, but it's MY town and I love living here.  Lots of people have made derogatory comments about the town, but home is where the heart is, and my heart is definitely here!