Speed read...
Tributes have poured in for ‘village stalwart’ Gordon Storey, who has passed away at the age of 72. Gordon was the ‘driving force’ behind starting Twyford Together’s Business Forum and was also involved in organising a number of events in the village.
Next week, RBWM’s proposal to close or reduce operating hours of some libraries will be discussed, and the fate of my local library among others will be settled.
RBWM assure us that they are trying to save money, but why are they targeting one of the most important services they can offer?
I can’t let go unnoticed Cllr Carroll’s justification for this proposal – or in my eyes, spin. He talks of a digital library model, and says it will allow more access for people with agoraphobia, social phobias and other issues.
I assume he means that by closing local community libraries he will enable more digital library access to people with conditions that prevent them from visiting, and hence save money. Just how the former will facilitate the latter, I do not know, especially as it’s a very vague term.
Can you obtain large print books for the partially sighted on phones, for example?
And do all these people have the means to use digital resources?
Ever since the dawn of the internet, and now the use of screens in school rather than books, there are homes where there is not one real book to be found.
I’m sure that there are a growing number of children who don’t encounter a real book until they go to school.
Yes, some parents will have let them watch a screen that tells a story, but it’s just not the same.
Where is the interaction, the discussion, the expanding of vocabulary, the beginnings of taking a critical view and learning to defend it? How does a child’s language and comprehension expand without this kind of nurturing?
Some of these children may have been lucky enough to be introduced to books at local libraries, having been attracted by story sessions and other activities.
If local libraries are shut down a vital community facility for preschool children in particular will be lost.
Yes, the central library may continue to offer these sessions, but travelling from Cox Green or Furze Platt is not always easy, especially as parking facilities in the building site that was once Maidenhead are worsening by the day.
RBWM seems determined to shut down facilities in local areas and move what little is left into the town centre, while at the same time making access more difficult and more expensive.
And, still thinking of young people, there is a glaring omission by RBWM of acknowledgment of a major problem.
Just recently a daily newspaper started a campaign to supply laptops or tablets to the many children in lockdown who have no access to the internet.
These are families who probably can’t afford to buy devices and pay for Wi-Fi.
They are rightly the priority, but there are also many families where even one laptop in a home is not sufficient. How can one device be shared when two, three or more children need to access online lessons or receive feedback?
Add on to this that one or both parents may well be trying to work from home, and the difficulties mushroom.
And now some RBWM councillors think it would be progress if the only possible access to library books is via these digital devices. What chance has any average family of enjoying reading?
Using a library means that every family member can read what they like, when they like. I do value the ability to use the internet as a reference book, but I do not see it as a source of literature – the reverse, if anything.
Experience of reading is so much better with a real book – one can stop and think and go back and reread to remind oneself of what happened earlier or just because you particularly enjoyed a passage.
It’s not so easy to browse on a screen. And do we really want to see our children cuddled up in bed with a pixelated screen shining in their eyes?
In her letter on the subject (Viewpoint, Janaury 28), Sylvie Howse mentioned a petition to save Boyn Grove library at petitions.rbwm.gov.uk/saveboyngrove
Please support it. Maybe someone could start another to save all the RBWM libraries that are threatened?
And finally, a positive note. I was lucky to have my COVID vaccination recently and was very grateful for and impressed with the slick, safe, speedy and smooth operation at the Town Hall.
Sincere thanks to all of those involved.
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