Friends of Modderfontein Library look forwards to the future

The Friends of Modderfontein Library was the brain-child of Ms Sue Grant from Lakeside and Ms Dale Cherrington from Thornhill.

They invited interested local people to the inaugural meeting in August 2011.

The purpose of the Friends is to support the needs of the library and stimulate interest among the community.

Their main challenges were membership and funding. Initial projects included story time, donated book sales and the opening of the library on Saturday mornings.

Initially, Ms Grant was in the chair, Ms Cherrington was the secretary and Mr Hugh Ireland was the treasurer. A Facebook page was created, titled The Friends of Modderfontein Library.

The first story time was held in February 2012. It was held on a Friday afternoon and proved to be popular.

Volunteer readers took turns to read to young children who were found to be mostly enthusiastic. Anything to promote an early interest in the written word.

Book sales were held on the first Saturday of the month and were busy.

“Some people thought we were taking the library books from the shelves and selling them. Nothing could be further from the truth. Books were donated by the friends who encouraged the public to do likewise. Money received was used to buy new books to help freshen up the library shelves,” said Ms Sheila Bagnall, one of the founding members of the Friends of Modderfontein Library.

She said the library hierarchy had very little money available and so the reading matter had started to become somewhat stale.

In May 2012, Ms Cherrington took the chair position and Ms Eileen Powell became secretary.

The first coffee morning was held on a Friday morning in February 2013 and regular talks have been held ever since. Guest speakers were invited to come to the library and address the group, and any other interested attendees, on a variety of subjects.

“Authors were welcome and brought their own books for sale. These were personally autographed and well received. Mr Robert Capper was one of our more popular speakers and his talks on The Tudor Queens had us all spellbound.

“The editor of the Greenstone Guide, Mr Gregg Cocking, who also puts the Thornhill Magazine together, gave one of the early talks which was an hilarious commentary on the vagaries of journalism. Perseverance eventually paid off and at last the library opened its doors for the first time on a Saturday morning on June 1, 2013,” said Ms Bagnall.

“Unfortunately on March 1, 2014, the powers that be decided to close the library on a Friday afternoon and story time had to be moved to a Saturday morning. This did not prove to be popular and sadly it has proved no longer feasible to continue,” she said.

Even more bad news was the curtailing of opening hours still further from January 1, 2015, when the library was closed on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. This necessitated changing the times of monthly meetings, and coffee and talk mornings.

The development of the new shopping centre meant big changes. Book sales were suspended for the immediate future as there was too much dust and disruption.

A casual passer-by to the Modderfontein library today will see a seedy looking old building in unkempt grounds surrounded by barbed wire, in the middle of a building site.

Ms Bagnall said they have been told by the developers that the library is due to be demolished to make room for a restaurant.

“A new location has been promised in the coming new shopping centre and we are excited to hear this welcome news,” she said.

“For the past five years, the Friends of Modderfontein Library have been working tirelessly to promote the library and we will not stop now. We look forward to a new and vibrant library, hopefully a Phoenix rising from the ashes, and we invite you all to visit the new premises when they become available,” said Ms Bagnall.

“We are a small group of people and we have lost some of our founding members. For example, Ms Sue Grant left for Calitzdorp to do her own thing, and is sorely missed. We would love to welcome new members who might wish to help in taking us forward. If you are interested, please contact modderfriends@gmail.com,” said Ms Bagnall.