Crown Street Library (which was recently in danger of closure) was given a reprieve and hopefully will flourish well into the future in Crown Street. Thank you to all the people who campaigned so hard to make this happen.

Under pressure from public opinion, Darlington Borough Council had to decide the future fate of this iconic institution which was gifted to the people of the town to be used as a library forever, by the Pease family.

For financial reasons, the cabinet members on our council had decided that it was in the best interests of the town that the building should no longer be used for this purpose. The members of DBC were asked to decide whether or not the building which is in Crown Street, would cease to be a library and the books and archives and art collection split up and relocated in The Dolphin Centre (a sports and hospitality complex) and various other places around town. At the eleventh hour and after a lot of stressful and expensive legal tussles it was finally decided that our library should remain open at its traditional location. We believe that Darlington’s main town library belongs in this particular building and is an important part of the heritage of our town. Furthermore, we want to see it stay intact and go from strength to strength for as long as it possibly can. This place is the soul of the town and to lose it would be to lose part of our Quaker history and not only dilute our own sense of identity but deny future generations their hometown pride.

Photograph by Peter Giroux