Library Visits and Borrowing in Lewisham

Using two different reports to the council it has been possible to see the changes in library usage since the first community libraries were set up in 2011. The figures are detailed below:

Library	Type	Visitors in Oct 2010	Visitors in Oct 2014	% Change in visitors	......	Borrowing in Oct 2010	Borrowing in Oct 2014	% Change in borrowing
Lewisham	Council	31,855	31,756	0%		22,025	17,387	-21%
Deptford	Council	n/a	39,561	-		n/a	10,387	-
Forest Hill	Council	12,208	14,266	17%		9,461	8,853	-6%
Downham	Council	35,799	30,692	-14%		8,853	7,307	-17%
Catford	Council	23,973	18,975	-21%		10,197	6,905	-32%
Manor House	Council	17,749	19,533	10%		9,779	5,952	-39%
Torridon Road	Council	n/a	5,085	-		n/a	4,101	-
Crofton Park	Community	7,550	8,000	6%		6,036	2,419	-60%
Blackheath	Community	7,897	10,548	34%		5,044	1,672	-67%
Sydenham	Community	5,382	6,570	22%		4,035	934	-77%
New Cross	Community	4,033	6,113	52%		2,770	726	-74%
Grove Park	Community	3,743	3,692	-1%		3,764	391	-90%

Libraries ordered by October 2014 borrowing figures.
Full Excel download available with all years.

Three trends emerge over time:
1. Visitor numbers to community libraries have increased faster than other libraries in Lewisham.
2. Book borrowing is on a general downward path.
3. Decline in book borrowing has been far worse in community libraries.

Looking specifically at Forest Hill Library, the decline in borrowing has been least of all Lewisham libraries. Forest Hill has also seen the largest increase in visitors of all council run libraries (not including Deptford and Torridon Road which were not open in 2010).

Community libraries are almost certainly better than no library at all, and volunteers have worked hard to make these smaller libraries work, but based on the experience with existing community libraries over four years, transferring more libraries to Community management is likely to result in massive reductions in borrowing (core library services).

The Forest Hill Society opposes the community model as a method of providing services in Forest Hill Library and believe it will have a negative impact on children and adults in the local area.

We urge you to complete the survey provided by Lewisham council on cutting library services and make your views known.

Vote for Water for Horniman Play Park

Vote now!

For a number of years Horniman Triangle Play Park has been without water, we are looking to change that.

The Play Park has lots of equipment designed for use with water, sadly the hand pump was broken off, replaced, vandalised,and removed for health and safety reasons. We have looked at various options to bring water back to this play equipment, and the simplest is to replace this hand pump with a drinking fountain - a tap that provides a small amount of water when pressed for drinking or for filling buckets to play in the sand and play equipment.

To make this happen we need approximately £3,000 according to the council (this is no ordinary tap, it is a council approved drinking fountain that will hopefully withstand the type of use it will get from small children).

We have submitted a bid to the OneFamily foundation for a grant to make this happen, all we need now is your vote.

https://foundation.onefamily.com/projects/horniman-play-park/
You will be asked to register on the site, which is easy to do with Facebook, Twitter, or Email address. This is so that they can prevent multiple voting and it will not post anything to your social media account and you should not get advertising emails from the organisation.

In the past the local community has been brilliant at supporting these types of on-line votes, so please vote and share on social media to encourage your friends to support this project.

Forest Hill Society AGM

Member and non-members are welcome to the 10th Forest Hill Society AGM on Thursday 22nd October, 7:30pm at the Honor Oak Pub, St German's Road / Brockley Rise. Meeting takes place upstairs in the 'Whisky Room'.

We are always keen for new people to join the Executive committee of the Forest Hill Society. So if you are a long-term resident or moved in last week, you would be perfect to join the committee and work with a team that have a track record of helping make Forest Hill a better place to live.

Forest Hill Library under Threat

Lewisham council are consulting about options for library services in the borough. Forest Hill lends the third most books (after Lewisham and Deptford) but is under threat of reduced opening hours or Lewisham council's preferred option of transferring management to a community group.

Transfer to community libraries in Crofton Park and Sydenham have resulted in reduced lending with three times the number of books issued from the two libraries in 2010 compared to 2014 (based on October figures). By contrast, Forest Hill library lending in 2014 is at 94% of the 2010 level, higher than any other library in the borough.

You can find out more about the proposals at:
​Wednesday 7 October, 7:30pm,    ​Broadway Theatre, Catford
​Monday 19 October, 7:30pm,    ​Sydenham School, Dartmouth Road

Or you can respond to the online consultation.

The Forest with the Big Hill presents: The Mouse Bride and other Indian Tales

Stories for children

The Mouse Bride and other Indian Tales

at Seniors, 260 Stanstead Road, SE23 1DD

Tales of wise kings, foolish men, proud elephants, and a mice family – join international storyteller Peter Chand for a collection of some of his favourite stories.

Peter has performed all over Britain as well as in Canada, Singapore, Ireland, Austria,  France and other countries.

Suitable for 6 years and over.