Fay Gyde, Coordinator (left) and Audrey Pike, former Treasurer
On the corner of Noella Place and Tenth Avenue in Budgewoi sits a community centre.
At certain times of day a small sign on the front announces that the library is open. Nothing in that statement is enough to indicate the years of service this library has given to the elderly or book-loving members of our little community. Entirely run by volunteers it is staffed from Tuesday to Friday, 10am to 2pm, as it has been for many years.
In the two women in the photo are almost thirty years of dedication and this is just the staff of one day. The same dedication is to be seen in the staff who attend this place every day.
Sale of tea towels, tea caddies, scarves and other things assist to keep new books on the shelves
In the past the library was assisted by funds and administration from Wyong Council but like everything else the assistance has largely dried up. Now these women and their families run twice yearly charity sales at the community centre as well as raffles. They even sell hand-made products from the library itself.
For the elderly and the ill who are not able to travel to more distant libraries this place makes life easier and is a precious resource. For the book-worms it is a treasure trove and for the people who care about community it is a refuge in the madness of a profit based world view. Once upon a time communities all over Australia were held together by the glue these women represent. They are still to be found in the Country Women’s Association and this library and a hundred other organisations that exist just because people care about one another.
You could do a lot worse than popping in and grabbing a few raffle tickets or just donating a gold coin or two so that the quiet ones in our world have another avenue for their lives to be enriched
Bookshelves and crocheted scarves