So 2019, the year we started work on The Old Library, is coming to a close. There's been some exciting progress recently with 95% of the windows now glazed and plastering underway in the Boys & Girls reading room and Entrance Hall. All the roof truss repairs are now complete, which is brilliant news, along with the joists of the first floor gallery and the wooden panelling from the centre of the building has been removed to allow internal works to progress. Some of the replica cornices have been made and recently arrived on site (see the photo below). These will start to be installed once the final timber repairs to the frameworks that support the plaster ceilings are finished.

On the outside of the building, repairs to the external masonry & pointing are underway and restoration of the cupola (the tower over the main entrance) is now complete. The scaffolding has started to come down so the view from Green Lane is beginning to look quite impressive!

However, we're not out of the woods yet. Those who receive our monthly newsletter will know that the level of damp inside the building after standing empty for so long has caused serious rot across much of the wood inside the building, including that which supports the historic plaster ceilings. Sadly, this meant that we lost the Entrance Hall ceiling a few months ago after it collapsed and the dramatic central rooflight above what will become the cafe area is also at risk. We cannot afford to lose any more of this special building’s unique & historic character. Work is already underway to re-mould and recreate these beautiful structures over the next few months but the additional costs of this mean that we desperately need some extra help from our supporters.

We have set up a Just Giving page for anyone who would like to play their part in restoring these iconic elements of The Old Library. Your donations are vital in helping us raise the additional funds we need to complete these historic repairs in our beloved building and meet the shortfall we face after discovering the extent and severity of damage throughout The Old Library.  Any donation - no matter how big or small – will make a difference. It’s your way of putting something real back into the fabric of the building &continuing the legacy of The Old Library. 
 
Donate here to ensure that The Old Library remains a source of support, opportunity & inspiration for local people and can be enjoyed by our community for many years to come.

We had such a lovely evening at our community Christmas party here at Lister Steps. Over 50 people joined us to enjoy mulled wine and mince pies plus we had fantastic entertainment from the JLC Choir who serenaded us with Christmas classics and crowd pleasers.

It was a great way to say thank you to everyone for another year of support for Lister Steps & The Old Library project and to wish all our friends & neighbours a very Merry Christmas!

Despite the cold, we had a brilliant day on Saturday 9th November opening up The Old Library once again for over 200 people to come and see the latest progress. For the first time we were able to provide access to the first floor via our new staircase, something that most people had never been able to do, even when the library was open, as upstairs was out of bounds to everyone except staff!

If you missed it, check out the video below and join us for our next open day on Saturday 18th January, 10am - 3pm.

This final photo competition of the year was a little different to previous months...there was no theme but you only had one week to send photos in so we could start getting our 2020 calendar ready. However, we were not disappointed as we received so many amazing entries from across our beautiful city. Big congratulations to Chantelle Owen, who is our November winner with her wintery shot taken in Croxteth Park.

However, because this is the last photo competition of 2019, we've also selected two more winners from all the entries we've received throughout the year to make up the 12 months of our calendar. Congratulations are therefore also in order for Chris Scott, with his shot of the ADHD Foundation umbrellas installation in Church Alley, and Phil Longfoot, with his panoramic shot of the Royal Albert Dock. See the winning shots below as well a wonderful selection of others that were sent in this month - thanks to all who entered!

And now it's over to you! We're giving the top prize of a camera for one overall winner so we need you to vote for your favourite shot from the year. Head to our voting page to cast your vote by Sunday 1st December. The winner will be announced before the end of the year!

We received some marvellous entries this month in our 'Colours' photo competition, they really cheered us up with all the rain we've been having. Check out the gallery below and you'll see why it was hard to pick a winner this month but our favourite shot was from Niall Cullen, aged 15. We love how the rainbow perfectly hits the boat on the Mersey - it looks like it's colouring it in and bringing it to life!

Our final photo competition is a special one. There's no theme so it's a free for all and we're looking for people's best shots from across out beautiful city. However, you only have until Wednesday 6th November to enter so send your entries to info@old-library.co.uk as quickly as possible! It's your last opportunity to feature in our 2020 calendar and then face the public vote for your chance to be our overall winner with the prize of a camera up for grabs at the end of the year.

We had a brilliant turn out at our local history talks evening on 16th October, with 60 people joining us at St Cecilia's Club to hear from our speakers.

First up was Dr Oriel Prizeman from Cardiff University who has been investigating surviving Carnegie libraries, both in the UK and the USA, to see how they're being used today. Oriel gave us a fascinating insight into the similar design features of many of these libraries, which were built to reflect the environmental challenges of the time, and explained how she has been using laser scanning software to map the buildings in greater detail. As Lister Steps & The Old Library are one of the partners in her ongoing research project, we're looking forward to seeing how this work progresses over the next few years.

We then heard from Katie Taylor, one of our research volunteers, who told us about the impact of the public library movement on children, the kind of books they might have read in the early days of the Lister Drive Library and the strict rules that they had to follow!

During the break, we were able to look at some of the finds from our archaeological dig back in June which were brought along by Vanessa Oakden, Curator of Community Archaeology at the Museum of Liverpool. Vanessa talked us through the process of the dig - including when we had to reschedule it due to heavy rain! - which led to the discovery of 582 finds and the foundations of 19th century Brook Cottage, which stood on The Old Library site in the1800s.

Next up was Susan Bennett, another of our research volunteers, who has been looking into the history of the three local streets - Russian Drive, Kremlin Drive & Moscow Drive. This is a huge task which involves going back through each house to see who has lived there since the 1860s, generating a spreadsheet with over 4000 entries! It's shown us a really interesting picture of the diversity of our local neighbourhood through the years, the huge range of occupations & the varied lives people have lived right on the doorstep of the library.

We finished off with Kate Deegan-Munro, also a member of the volunteer team, who entertained us with a fictional account of the day in the life of a boy-runner, based on her research into the people who used to work in Liverpool's public libraries when they first opened.

A huge thank you to our speakers for putting so much time and effort into their presentations and giving up their evening to share their work with our community. It was a really enjoyable event and it was great to meet so many people who are interested in the history of the local area. With such a positive response, we're looking forward to putting on similar events when we're up and running in the library!

This year, we ran various poetry taster workshops to celebrate National Poetry Day and to have a go at getting creative with words.

In the first session, we were joined by local writer Emma Prior who brought along some props to get our senses going and think about the memories that the various sights, sounds, smells, touch and tastes brought back. We then had a go at writing, step-by-step, our own poems based on childhood memories using different senses to describe what we could remember.

For our evening session, we were joined by Arts Groupie who had us working fast, starting off by making mind-maps and then using these words to create poems which we then revised & chopped & changed & re-ordered until we'd written about five different poems in an hour!

Both sessions were really fun & we were all surprised at our hidden poetry talents!  Plus we got some great feedback from those who came along:

Excellent session. Amazing what you can achieve with direction.

Excellent, thoroughly enjoyed it. Re-awoke my enthusiasm for poetry.

We were really pleased that the workshops went down well and will definitely looking to run more in the future when we move into The Old Library!

Wow, we've had some fantastic entries for our September photo competition theme 'Liverpool's Heritage'. It's been great to see people's creative shots of The Old Library after our Heritage Open Days but also to see images from across our city which has so much history and so many interesting stories to tell.

However, as always there can only be one winner and this month we've chosen Jim Burrows' shot of the ceiling of the Princes Road Synagogue. We love the light and rich colours brought to life in this image, as well as how it reflects the diversity of Liverpool's culture and heritage. Congratulations Jim! You can see more of the stunning images we received this month in our gallery below.

Now that the days are getting a little darker and colder, we've decided that the theme for October will be COLOURS to cheer us all up. We've left this open to interpretation so are looking forward to seeing lots of creative shots from across our vibrant city and we love seeing photos from L13 and surrounding areas. To enter, send your entries to info@old-library.co.uk by 25th October for the chance to be our next winner.

Thank you to everyone who came along to our Macmillan Coffee morning and baked, bought & cake. We had a lovely morning meeting old friends and new, plus we raised around £120 for a fantastic cause! 

Right, what has fifteen legs and makes great videos? The answer, of course, is the six Community Journalists who, thanks to Lister Steps and Jon and Paul from Periscope Productions, have been transformed from ardent amateurs to, well, if not quite the Steven Spielbergs of this parish, to a group who have acquired the necessary skills to put together a series of short videos charting the progress of the Lister Steps Project to be uploaded to the likes of Facebook.
 
We were quite a diverse band, ranging from an A-Level student to a grey haired old codger whose refusal to enter the 21st century was evident by his initial enquiry as to where does the roll of film go in a digital camera (the Periscope lads knew they had a job on with this dinosaur – I’ll own up, it was me).
 
But, over six three-hour sessions in July and August (the first four at our very own Lister Steps and the remaining two at Periscope’s state of the art studios in Bootle) , we were taught how to interview people; camera techniques; lighting principles; video and audio editing; and how to upload the finished product to the relevant social media platform.
 
Special thanks must go to Jon and Paul from Periscope whose enthusiasm was so contagious that each three hour session flew by – and this from a man who hurls abuse at the inanimate objects such as traffic lights which have been on red for more than three seconds. Honestly, they could convert the world to a planet of Marmite lovers if they put their minds to it.
 
And thanks to the fabulous Lister Steps for facilitating this course. Seriously, we enjoyed every single minute of it and, from a personal perspective, I met a great bunch of people, so thanks to you as well.
 
So, we’ve got the journalists, all we need now is the community i.e. YOU! Happy to be filmed, giving your views, getting involved and helping us to record the rebirth of the library and the progress of the Project and the benefits it will bring to your community.
 
By the way I cheated – six people equals twelve legs I know; but I counted in the three legs of the camera tripod; an essential part of the team!
 
Steve Sneade, Community Journalist (yes, the grey haired dinosaur …)
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