Tales from the OLCS Library

This Summer the Justham Library at Amherst is undergoing an exciting redevelopment to create a new learning space for the whole school and we would love for you to share your memories of the library and school! 

We would love to hear any memories that you may have – whether they are from a few years ago or decades ago – we want to hear them. They might include the time you ‘hid’ in the beanbag corner for a whole lunch hour or how about the time the book you had been yearning to read finally arrived and you were able to borrow it? You may have helped out in the library and have some ‘behind the scenes’ stories to share? Or you may generally have fond memories of your time at the school. 

Whatever memories you have, we would love to hear from you so that we can share them on our social media channels, please get in touch with the Alumni Team at olcs.alumni@lsf.org

So, to start us off on our trip down memory lane, Miss Bradshaw, Amherst’s school librarian, has spoken with Sister Celine… 

Memories of the Justham Library – by Sister Celine 

The original library for OLCS was housed in the main Convent building. It wasn’t a library as such, it was a classroom with book shelves. I remember the Parents Association fundraising in 1976 to build a new space that would provide our pupils with a purpose built library space where they could search for information and discover new reading experiences. As the works began, books started to come in too – we had lots of donations from many kind parents and friends of the school. 

When it was completed, we had supervised study after school until 17:30 and it was my job to look after the children. I remember there was once some dancing on the tables but I won’t talk about that! 

I remember Mrs Taylor, the librarian, she was lovely. I liked her very much, she was a very nice lady. She introduced computers and did classes for the infants and juniors and then she set up computers in the infants and primary. 

In 2014, when Miss Bradshaw (LHS 2001) our current librarian joined us, we refurbished the library to keep it updated for the pupils. Mrs Justham, an alumna of the School, was one of Sister Mary Angela’s 6th formers and she very generously donated money for the library update. She came back to visit the library for the opening and we re-named the library after her in recognition of her generosity. 

Now we have an exciting new library space being created for our prep and senior pupils. I am so pleased that this will be a whole school resource and am looking forward to visiting the library for the opening and meeting with pupils both old and new.