A High Wycombe library was demolished 12 years ago today.
Campaigners who fought for years to save Micklefield Library celebrated as they watched builders tear down the building on January 27, 2009 – to make way for a bigger and better space for residents to use thanks to £750,000 of Lottery funding.
The Micklefield Matters group was formed in 2006 to save the library, after Buckinghamshire County Council shortlisted it for closure.
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They were told they could keep the library open by taking over the running of it, so they started a concerted fundraising campaign.
While residents fought to keep the library open in 2006, The Bucks Free Press and its then-sister paper Midweek also campaigned to save the community facility.
At the time of the demolition in 2009, Chris Turner, the chairman of the group of eight trustees, said: “We have demolished what was once described as a ‘public lavatory’.”
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He added: “I think a lot of communities are having their assets stripped away, so to keep the library in Micklefield is fantastic.”
The facility was refurbished and re-opened in 2009 after the successful Lottery funding bid, in partnership with the then-Buckinghamshire County Council (BCC).
Campaigners celebrated the start of a new chapter again in 2015 when it was confirmed it would continue to be run by BCC.
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