8:00am Sunday 7th January 2007
By Lucy Clapham
MICKLEFIELD library has been officially handed over to the group of volunteers that battled for 14 months to keep it open.
The registered charity, Micklefield Matters, made up of five trustees, will now be running the library in Micklefield Road taking over from Buckinghamshire County Council (BCC).
On Monday the group, along with volunteers and Wycombe District councillors, ripped off the former BCC sign and replaced it with their own.
Dave Cannings, Micklefield Matters chairman, said: "It was a great way to start 2007. Every hurdle that was placed in front of us, we jumped. Every challenge we have met with fantastic gusto, and people have really rallied to the cause.
"We are just ordinary people that have got together to keep this facility and improve it. People have devoted an enormous amount of spare time to this. All we have got to do is build on that enthusiasm and get people in there using it."
The library was one of eight that BCC planned to close last year in a bid to save money, and although the library is now officially being run by the charity, it is not yet open for business as the IT systems and phone lines are still being handed over. But Micklefield Matters hope it will be up and running soon and is aiming to keep the original opening hours in place.
Mr Cannings added that there is still work to be done. More materials are needed for the library and the group's fund raising needs to continue - the next event being a St Valentine's disco.
He said: "It's actually very daunting because now we have a massive responsibility, financial and legal, to not just the public but to ourselves. We stuck together and that's exactly the way we are planning to do it in the future."
In December the group appealed for books to be donated to help stock the library shelves, but they are still short of children's and teenage books, large print and talking books.
To donate any unwanted paperbacks, take them to the library or call 01494 530 688.
The St Valen-tine's dance is on Friday, February 16 and tickets are available from Keith Hill Butchers and S S Food and Wine on Micklefield Road.
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