The libraries in Lambeth closed at 1pm today.

Susanna Barnes, the Head of Libraries, gave this statement:

"The rate of infection is just too high and is a real risk to staff and public. As soon as the rate reduces to a reasonable level we will reopen."

The library is currently not open for regular visits due to covid-19 restrictions - but there are services still available.

Opening Hours: Monday to Saturday 11am to 4pm

(to maintain social distancing and keep everyone safe you will need an appointment to use the library)

to make an appointment call:
020 7926 6050

Services on offer:

PCs, printing, photocopying and scanning

Select & Collect - Reserve books online or get in touch and the librarians will help you select items

Home Library Service - the library can deliver books to you if you are housebound and cannot get to a library.

There is an extensive online service on offer for you to enjoy. For ebooks, audiobooks, film streaming and more visit:

www.lambeth.gov.uk

Our 20th annual Winter Fair will be held in St Saviour's Church Hall with the usual festive and community stalls, raffle, music and games.

The council has announced the 2nd phase of the Carnegie Library redevelopment works: the fit-out of the gym and removal of the library space to one front room. The cost is approximately £1 million, additional to the £1.8 million spent so far on the basement excavation and additional buildings on the library garden. A `roof terrace' or `roof garden' has also been proposed by the CCT, but this would require planning permission and an additional £100,000 which is not included in the budget. The works are expected to be complete by December.

The proposal also confirms that the current provision of 2 hours librarian staffing per day is only a temporary arrangement - funded by one-off Section 106 funds - and gives no assurance of any specific librarian staffing for the eventual re-opening of the library.

The opposition Green councillors submitted a call-in of the proposal, on the grounds of the lack of details of the financing of the work. This call-in was rejected but Greens leader Scott Ainslie is appealing this rejection.

The `community liaison' group meeting with the council over construction issues has been re-activated. Please contact the Friends if you would like to be added to this group.

The Herne Hill Forum are hosting a hustings for Herne Hill (Lambeth) & Village (Southwark) wards, at 7pm on the 17th April, at Herne Hill Baptist Church (Winterbrook St).

Library campaigners will be requesting that the Herne Hill candidates sign the Defend the 10 libraries pledge. So far the Green, Lib Dem and independent candidates have signed.

The Friends are working as community partner with Lambeth Archives on a project to restore the memorials formerly in Carnegie Library basement. Having discovered them there many years ago, we felt it was a shame to leave them on the floor gathering dust. Liaising with Herne Hill Society, we met with one of the Lambeth Archives managers in 2009 to list and photograph them, with the idea of cataloguing them and trying to learn their provenance. When the library was closed and preparations being made to excavate the basement and clear out the building, we expressed concern that the memorials needed to be carefully moved to a place of safety and their future ensured. They are in Brixton Library basement for now.

The 24 memorials range from brass plaques to alabaster marble and other stone monuments; two came from schools, others are from the Boer War, WW1, WW2 and also to individual vicars or parishioners, etc. A book on St Saviour's Herne Hill (then in the local history section of the library) confirmed that the alabaster WW1 memorial in two sections had been in that church (including a middle section with St George, now missing), as was one to a woman parishioner, Harriot Nicholson who died in 1918. Preliminary sessions have taken place in St Saviour's School (built on the site of the church), including Year 6 learning about Harriot and her family.

St Saviour’s Church was demolished in 1981, the same year the library and the parish hall were listed Grade 2. Its memorials were taken down and stored in the library undercroft alongside plaques from All Saints Church, South Lambeth and elsewhere. We are working with Lambeth Archives staff to secure funding to restore all the memorials. Conservation specialists Taylor Pearce have given advice and City & Guilds of London Art School are interested; the War Memorials Trust may be able to offer match funding.

The restoration project includes workshops about conservation, research, and community memory. At the end of the project it is hoped that the fully-restored memorials will go on display.