WILBRAHAM TO FALLOWFIELD; THE REGENERATION OF A COMMUNITY RESOURCE

THE HISTORY Wilbraham District Library (now re‐modelled as Fallowfield Cultural Centre) was first opened on 31st October 1932 by the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, Chancellor of the University of Manchester, amid a great deal of ceremony‐presided over by the Lord Mayor and in the presence of Manchester's hew Chief Librarian Charles Nowell. The Annual report of the Manchester Libraries Committee for 1932–33 states that the Earl dutifully borrowed the first book, The mediaeval woodwork of Manchester Cathedral by Henry A. Hudson. As early as 1923 the Libraries Committee had applied for the use of the important corner site occupied by the new library on the new housing estate in Wilbraham, believing this to be a “pivotal point” for the whole estate and the close proximity with the nearby school enabling “the services to co‐operate successfully in their work with children”.