Plympton Library has recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of its phoenix-like rise from the ashes of its devastating fire in August 2008.
Staff who still work there vividly recall arriving for work on August 20 2008 to find their library a smouldering ruin after a blaze which started at around 1am completely gutted the mostly wooden 1960s constructed building and destroyed the 25,000 stock of books inside. The cause of the fire was never fully determined.
A temporary library was later established in the old Plympton job centre (now the Stannary Court Pub) but the opening of that was to be marred by tragedy when then Stannator Roger Coleman uncharacteristically did not arrive for the opening ceremony. It was later learnt that he had been killed in a motor accident earlier in the day when the vehicle he was travelling in was in collision with a bus near Kingsbridge.
The charred remains of the original library were subsequently cleared and in 2011 work began on building a more fit for purpose replacement of better design and quality and this new library, which was 50% bigger, was opened in February 2012. The building was constructed by Plympton-based construction firm Ryearch and it was a winner of the 2012 LABC Building Excellence awards.
The emergence of the new £641,000 library in the wake of the fire and against a backdrop of cutbacks and library closures elsewhere in the country was described at the time by one local author as ‘serendipity of the highest order.’
To mark the 10th anniversary of the opening of the new building a special day of celebrations was put on which included a cutting of the cake by Lord Mayor Terri Beer as well as character visits to the library.
The library’s current opening hours are Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9am to 6pm and Saturdays from 10am to 1pm.
(story courtesy of the Plympton Podcast).
