Last Saturday saw Ventnor Library probably at one of its busiest times ever.
Library supporters from across the Island made their way to Ventnor to take part in the Ventnor Rocks event at the library.
Throughout the day, readings from authors, musicians and poets shared their talent with the library audience.
During the lunch hour when the library was closed, a protest took place outside, during which Ventnor East county councillor, Chris Welsford spoke out against the closure. The afternoon saw more people flood into the library to enjoy the music, readings and cake which was donated by volunteers from the local Ventnor Community Cafe.
Dan Roberts was present with his excellent printing press and local authors Wendy K Harris, John Goodwin and David Yates all gave readings.
Musicans rocked the library
Fred Woodworth had asked many local musicians to take part, and had a superb response from them. It’s worth noting that Paul Armfield is the manager of the Newport branch of Waterstone’s, as well as a well-known local musician.
Those who took part included, Mick Watson, Paddy & John, Alex Welsford, Keri Highland, Lucid, The Longdown Ladies, Jenny and Emma Burke, Paul Arnfield, “Ventnor Library Sympathy Quartet” (IoW Symphony Orchestra), The Hillmans and Cephalodidge.
Library users read to audience too
Rowan Adams, one of the organisers of the event, told us that she’d asked people to read something that had inspired them.
As well as the authors mentioned above, the readers included Valerie Bridgeman (formerly Ventnor Librarian) who talked about the history of Ventnor Library.
Pam Carter read from Charles Dickens ‘Great Expectations’ – Dicken stayed in Bonchurch in the east of Ventnor, and heard the story of somebody who inspired the tale of Miss Havisham.
Rob Wilson read a poem he’d written for the occasion, Fran Noctor read from Vikram Seth ‘An Equal Music’, Maggie Nelmes spoke about how libraries changed her life and Graham Benson read some more from ‘Great Expectations’.
John Carter read from John Wyndham ‘The Day of the Triffids’ with a great little adaptation of his own – when Bill Masen and his family are invited to the Isle of Wight, Ivan asks them to brign as many books as they can, since the local council has just closed down the public libraries.
Ventnor Town Councillor David George read from Philip Pullman’s speech about threatened public library cuts in Oxfordshire. Steve Brook read about the life of Edward Edwards, one of the campaigners who established public libraries in Britain, and who is buried in Niton Churchyard, a few miles west from Ventnor and in a village whose library is threatened with total closure.
Rowan Adams herself finished with a reading from J.K. Rowling ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’ chosen by Shami Chakrabarti for Radio 4’s A Good Read’, with the moment when Harry and his friends start to resist tyranny.
Video footage of the morning
Christian Beasley from Virtually Wight was on hand with his video camera and shot some footage during the morning and of the protest outside.
Images: © Coralie Young
