Sarah is a founding member of Stirchley Art Room and a member of the FOSL committee. Here she explains how she got involved with FOSL, and why she loves the library…
How are you involved with Friends of Stirchley Library?
I have been involved with Friends of Stirchley Library since 2019, when I set up Stirchley Art Room CIC with my colleague Nicki Allen, and we started delivering community art workshops in the library. FOSL was really supportive and instrumental in helping us to establish Stirchley Art Room, which aims to provide art & craft opportunities for our community. FOSL and Stirchley Art Room have supported each other on various projects ever since. At the start of 2023 I joined the FOSL committee. Since then I have been involved in writing funding bids for FOSL, and I have also trained as a volunteer and helped support FOSL-led library opening on Wednesdays.
What does the library mean to you?
Stirchley Library is at the heart of my community work with Stirchley Art Room. Stirchley Art Room has grown and thrived within the very special community space that is Stirchley Library, and hundreds of people each year have benefitted from this partnership. It is hard to put into words the wonderful qualities of Stirchley Library, which are a symbiosis of the building, its ethos, its staff, its service, and its users, and which make it such an important place for the community. Spending so much time in the library over the past five years, I have seen first hand just how vital the library is in the lives of so many people, and I feel enormous gratitude to the library and its team of dedicated librarians.
Can you recommend a good read?
A couple of years ago I discovered the work of Irish poet David Whyte. I’m not usually one to read poetry, but I heard him reciting some of his work, and I became an instant fan. I especially love his book ‘Consolations: the solace, nourishment and underlying meaning of everyday words.’ It is available to reserve in the library catalogue here –https://birmingham.spydus.co.uk/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/ENQ/WPAC/BIBENQ?SETLVL=&BRN=3170187