However the suburban area our house was located within a little area everybody just called the "Village". I never thought much of it at the time but I have come to learn that it was a reference to Roe Green Village, and its adjoining open space just called Roe Green. It is in fact, a 1000 year old village and it is referenced in the Domesday book of 1086. There was nothing that old in the village; However, there was a quaint setting of small cottages with beautiful thatched roofs. In the same location as those cottages was a small library, an offshoot of the main library in Wembley town hall. This little library on Stag Lane in the village served me well all my growing up years.
I had a library card almost as soon as we arrived and when my Nana joined us she too was an avid reader. I remember many occasions that she and I would walk from 16 Princess Avenue to that little library on Stag Lane to take out the three books that you were allowed at one time.
Whoever ran the library was culturally aware and a very astute person. The little reading room for newspapers not only had the obvious The Times, Daily Mail, The Daily Express, The Manchester Guardian (as it was known back then, now, simply The Guardian.) Our local paper naturally, but also many magazines. I went regularly every week to read the latest copy of Autocar, Motor, National Geographic, Scientific American and as I look back on it now I realize they did not stock any of the tabloid magazines. Something that would be unheard of in the modern world.
What was especially interesting as you walked in there was the check out and return desk facing you, but right in front of that, was a table displaying the new additions. The librarian must have particularly liked to read the Sunday Times and The Observer for their book reviews; because what had just been reviewed was prominently displayed. As those were two of the six newspapers we got every Sunday at No.16, I and my friends looked over the new books for the ones that might interest us. It was great to be able to walk around the corner and borrow them as soon as they were published. It may not seem like much in today's world of clicking on your computer or iPad and having access to millions of books and journals, but it was pretty rare back in the fifties and sixties to live in a little suburban enclave and have such ready access to current books. It was especially significant as the library often had the books before they made the bestseller list or became controversial and then everybody wanted to borrow them!
As I said it was a small library, it did not have tens of thousands of books but a very eclectic collection. It focused on fiction and then in one corner, it had a non-fiction stack of shelves full of science books.
Starting from the time I was about 12 until I emigrated to Canada in 1970, I can proudly claim that I read every science book in the library; regardless of which science discipline it was featuring. So began a lifelong love of science.
I am a staunch supporter of libraries and how empowering they are for all people in the community.
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Interesting to hear what it was like during another time and place!
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