Our Old Library: A Community Researcher’s Journey

I have sat so many times to write this, and found it hard to know where to begin. My head is fizzing with the stories people have told, the delightful quotes, the gems I’ve found in the archives and wanting to do it all justice, for the people who have so generously shared their memories and experiences with me. I’ve found it fascinating. I was drawn to this project because of my love for libraries, community, history and storytelling.

It is perhaps especially hard to write, because I recently left London for a big move to the North East. This project has come at a time of enormous upheaval, and new adventure, but also all the complex emotions that go with saying goodbye to my hometown. This project is, in a way, my own farewell to Newham – and as a place which I love, has shaped me and which I take great pride in being from, I wanted to do my very best for it.

After School at the Library 

I grew up going to Canning Town Old Library. I would walk there on a Monday after school, with my friends, twins Edwin and Eileen Duah, to do our homework. Six general knowledge questions set by Miss Swan. She was tall and elegant, much like her name, and I probably also wanted to do my very best in my homework too. We would use the big encyclopedias. I think they were on the bottom shelf, but memory can get distorted. Perhaps I just sat on the floor to look at them. I’d find the volume which corresponded to the first letter of the general knowledge topic, e.g. ‘A-C’ for a question about ‘Birds’, and find the required page using the index. I remember being pleased when more than one question topic started with the same letter – fewer encyclopedias to look through. I think my mum used to collect me when she finished work, but my memory of it is hazy – even though it wasn’t so long ago.

Hearing other people’s memories of the library through this project, it struck me that I perhaps didn’t appreciate the privilege of using that building as part of my day to day life back then. The grandness of the architecture, the wealth of free resources available, the independence of walking there after school on my own. I do remember it felt like a really long walk, even though it wasn’t much more than half a mile – and I was always glad to arrive.

From Homework to a History Degree – and Reuben’s First Library Card

I moved away from Canning Town as an adult, and then came back years later when I was pregnant with my son Reuben, now 19 months old, to live by Royal Victoria Dock. I took him to the new Canning Town Library to get his first library card when he was 8 months old. He participated in the Summer Reading Challenge 2025. I’d take him in the daytime to choose books on the ‘garden/outdoors’ theme, and my husband would read with him before bed. When we’d completed the challenge (reading six books) the library staff were so encouraging and gave him his very first certificate, medal, badge and bookmark, which he enjoyed showing his proud grandparents. We’ve also had a lot of fun at Rhymetime sessions at Newham’s libraries.

So, it seemed fitting to put myself forward for the Community Researchers project about the Canning Town Old Library. I have always been interested in history, doing a degree in it at Warwick but not really doing anything else with it since – and so now when people ask me the question “so what do you do with your history degree?” I’ll have an answer. I am mostly driven by my love of connection and community though, and a natural curiosity (bordering on nosiness) about other people’s lives.

Following Leads, Finding Stories 

My absolute favourite part of this project has been going out and meeting people in the community, telling them about the project, and hearing their stories. I drew up a list of people who might like to be interviewed, starting within my own family and friends, and I got out and about locally following other leads to people who may be interested in being involved. My detective work wasn’t always up to scratch though. During one session in the archives I saw a reference to a librarian “David Coleman”. I know that name, I thought. I got in touch, via a family friend, with the Colemans I knew, to be told that David Coleman had been a banker all his life.

I had the pleasure of speaking with the following people, who agreed to be involved. There were a few others I spoke to who shared memories but didn’t want to be formally interviewed, or who I put in contact with others in the Community Researchers team.

1. My brother Mark said he would be interviewed, although he found it hard to pay attention to reading as a child. It’s possible he viewed the interview in the same way as the library back then: “Something to do”.
2. Immediately my mum’s friend Kathy came to mind as I’ve always thought she’s a great storyteller. When she visited me recently to meet my son, she was full of stories about the old docks and Tate & Lyle factories where we were living at the time. My interview with Kathy led me down a couple of other avenues. She spoke about the Knit and Natter group and told me it was still running at the new library. So off I went on a Friday morning, to introduce myself and see if anyone would be interested…
3. That led me to Jo, whose speech to save the old library building from being turned into a Nando’s captured the sentiment of much of her local community. It was a privilege to interview someone so integral to this iconic moment that made history.
4. Kathy also introduced me to her friend Joan, who I had the pleasure of a very fun telephone conversation with about her memories of the library.
5. Deborah responded to the Newham Heritage Month call-out about the project, and I’m so pleased I got to interview her. It turned out we’d both gone to the same secondary school, St. Angela’s, both had Irish heritage, and had some similar reading interests. So much of what she said about the library as a place of community and belonging resonated with me. She has done brilliant work as part of the Newham Libraries team to ensure the library is inclusive and accessible to everyone in the community.
6. Beverley also responded to the Newham Heritage Month call-out. I really enjoyed meeting her. It was lovely to see her face light up as she spoke about her love for reading as a child, her memories of helping out at the library from time to time, and the sense of pride this gave her.
7. Another part of my childhood in Newham was violin lessons and the Saturday orchestra at the Newham Academy of Music in the late 1990s. When I heard about an exhibition about the music academy, hosted by Community Albums as part of Newham Heritage Month, I jumped at the chance to go. There, I bumped into Margaret who I had known from the church I went to as a child. She was with her brother William, who had a summer job at the old library, and I was able to arrange an interview with him.
8. I sometimes still see Edwin who I walked to the old library with as a child. I asked if he also remembered our library days, and he sent me this:

Adventures in the Archives

I’ve also enjoyed three blissful days squirreled away in the archives at Stratford Library, coming across so many gems. Old photos; rule books; newspaper articles; meeting minutes; library staff, children’s and community newsletters; and business advertisements from all the way back to the library’s opening year. Some of this became inspiration for questions I might ask people in the interviews, but most of it reflected back to me what people had already spoken to me about . Although there were many changes over the years, there was a lot of commonality across the interviews on the themes of community; social connection; escapism; a building and architecture to be proud of; and the life-changing impact of the library on people.

Discovering Community Voices 

On my contributors’ page you can read a summary of each of the interviews I did, and listen to them in full if you would like to. Much like the people I interviewed stepped into a different world in the books in Canning Town library, I got a small insight into their worlds through this project.