AN HISTORIC stage in the construction of one of the town’s most prominent has been observed by a host of invited guests.
The foundation stone at Ashbourne’s new library, in Compton, was unveiled by Derbyshire County Council leader Andrew Lewer and the county council’s strategic director of cultural and community services Martin Molloy OBE on Wednesday.
Mr Molloy spoke to the gathering, at the front of the on-going construction site, to say he never loses the excitement of bringing new services to communities, despite being in his job for decades.
Councillor Lewer, who had brought along his wife Gabriela and his son Phillip to watch the ceremonial event, which heralds the final stages of the building’s construction, said the building of the library was an act of ‘fairness’ to redress the fact that the town has been overlooked in the county in recent years, when it came to receiving investment.
Derbyshire’s Poet Laureate Matt Black read a poem about the stone and its significance to the town and the building and announced he plans to have another poem ready for when the facility opens.
The new library, which will be twice the size of the old library it replaces in Cokayne Avenue, is scheduled to be ready by late spring.
