Dudley Worcs

I heard from the newspaper that some of the old libraries built by
The Earl of Dudley
were to be demolished
........................................................................
the one which played a major role in my pursuit of learning from early days was the one entitled =
The Free Library
in the main road from Dudley to Stourbridge at Holly Hall
I was dismayed to find that this cetre of a community all of my life... even when I lectured at the Dudley College when there were lectures at the Holly Hall campus
was to close and nothing would remain of an attempt by the Earl to educate the local people with free books
and unheard of phenomenon...... I am advised.......... at the time
Apparently an Appeal was made to Parliament in London to enable this to happen
That being the case this is a witness to an enlightened Baron
who allocated his money to education of those less well endowed
My Grandfather William Bowater-Wright was Manager at The Earl of Dudleys Steelworks a major emplyer of local people
and he had his own farms ...I feel sad that now we do not treasure this... our heritage
as we should........ I have been invited to many countries where people would be so delighted to have just one building like this
and in England it seems that we have so many that some people wish to deprive the local populace of this amenityI

I WAS ASKED TO ATTEND THIS MEETING WITH THE
DUDLEY COUNCILLOR AND LOCAL RESIDENTS
TO TRY TO RETAIN THIS HISTORIC BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE OF THE LOCALITY