Ore Library Re-opening, Community Centre Retained
The community group Big Local North East Hastings (BLNEH), a partnership of residents which dispenses national lottery funds, last week announced a grant of £6,000 to Ore Community Library Group to finance the re-opening of the library in Old London Road. The grant is aimed at supporting the venture – provision of a community library and other services to locals – for an initial year only. East Sussex County Council (ESCC), who own the building and shut it following a decision in May last year to withdraw funding, has nevertheless confirmed that it will now offer a three-year lease to the Group at a peppercorn rent for this purpose.
Committee members and volunteers of the Library Group pose in celebration
PICTURE: Allyson Breeds
The Group, which is also composed of local residents, are not precluded from renewing their application to BLNEH for further support in the second year. However, it is hoped that they will obtain funding from elsewhere in the future and eventually become self-supporting. Secretary of the Group, Jim Breeds, says they are “very grateful to BLNEH for this vital funding and for their confidence in our plans”, but he acknowledges that “we very much need to do additional fund-raising”, and says they will be “reaching out to other organisations over the next weeks”.
The target date for the reopening is early in the New Year, though Mr Breeds says that’s dependent on a number of matters which are difficult to predict, including finalisation of the council lease in particular.
Business Plan
Many of the members of the Group had been active in an original Save Ore Library campaign group set up in 2017 to oppose the closure. That campaign failed, as did an initial rescue bid. But the reconstituted Group made another application to reopen the library in July this year. After a very busy period of meetings and planning, a business plan was put together and submitted to ESCC at the end of August, and that has now come to fruition.
Juliet Harris, co-chair of the Group said: “This is fantastic news for the residents of Ore and surrounding areas….The Community Library has a vital role to play in widening local residents’ access to quality, focused resources (including access to digital resources such as computers, the Internet, printers and scanners) that will bring both pleasure in reading and enhanced numeracy and literary skills. This will in turn create greater learning and employment opportunities for local residents which will benefit the wider local economy. The services, information and advice provided by Ore Community Library working in tandem with partnership organisations (such as local schools) will also have a positive, empowering effect upon the health and wellbeing of local residents.
“There is now much work to be done before we can open the doors of the community library to the public. We need to fundraise, recruit volunteers to help run the facility, and install IT equipment, among other things. We will be inheriting the Library’s existing stock of books, etc., but we will also be working on refreshing that stock with new and popular titles.”
PICTURE: Jim Breeds
Grant to Community Association
BLNEH have at the same time announced a one-off grant of £9,750 to Ore Community Association to keep open the Ore Community Centre, also sited in Old London Road, for another year. As with the library grant, the hope is that the Association will find other funders in future years, though they are not precluded from re-applying.
Chair of the BNLEH partnership, Richard Street, said: “One of our key priorities is to support community facilities in the area to ensure that there are places where activities can be held to benefit our residents. The Ore Community Centre has long been an essential hub in the centre of the area. We were happy to support the Community Association, so the Centre can remain open and prosper in the future. The closure of Ore Library last year was a very disappointing blow and we are delighted to support the dynamic team that has come together to re-open the building for the community.”
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