For years the reading room at Central Library had a bucket in the corner. When it rained hard there were more, and the local history shelves were pulled into the middle of the room every autumn, just in case. The roof needed work, the council's repair list was long, and the library's turn kept slipping.
In the spring the Friends of Central Library decided to stop waiting. A retired roofer among the members walked the parapet with the building manager and wrote a list of what volunteers could safely do and what needed a contractor, and the council agreed to pay for materials if the Friends found the hands.
Ladders, a tower and a rota
The ladders were borrowed from neighbours. The scaffold tower came from a builder on Mill Road who lent it for the summer and checked it every week. The rota went up on the noticeboard by the issue desk and filled faster than anyone expected: retired teachers, students home for the holidays, a bus driver on early shifts who came in most afternoons.
The work was slow and careful: clearing gutters, replacing slipped slates, sealing the flashing round the old skylight. Anything that needed a harness was left to the contractor the council sent in August.
A dry reading room
The first heavy rain of the autumn came in October. The buckets stayed in the cupboard. The local history shelves are back against the wall, and the Friends have started a second list, for the windows.