News & Events

80th Birthday Party

In 1939, on Tuesday May 16, Cobbett Road Library was formally opened. A little later than usual in the year, we are celebrating the birthday. The party will be a Strawberry Cream Tea with scones, jam, strawberries, cream, cakes, tea, coffee and squash.

All are most welcome from 11am to 12:30pm on Saturday July 27. We hope to have some archive material on display, and there is also the opportunity to see some of the Art Group's work - including some by our late friend Dot Adams currently featured at the City Art Gallery's Foyer, see below.

You can download an A4 poster for the event if you would like to publicise it.

An Exhibition
of Dot Adam's Art

When our good friend Dot Adams died earlier this year, the Friends wanted to arrange an exhibition of her art, to commemorate and celebrate her life, and the joy this talented, cheerful and modest lady brought to so many.

Unfortunately, it has not been possible to mount a display of her work at Cobbett Road Library, but instead the Civic Centre Art Gallery has kindly agreed to present a selection in their temporary exhibition space on the ground floor. This runs from Saturday June 8 to Saturday August 3.

Dot's family have been very supportive of this enterprise, and most of the paintings on show are for sale, with proceeds going to support enhancements to the Library. Other works have been loaned by family and friends.

The exhibition poster (click on the image above to see the full-size version) includes a lovely summary of Dot's artistic life, written by her daughter, Helen Davies:

My mother told me she was never without pencil & paper even as a young child. Her formal education was interrupted by the 2nd World War. Evacuated to the Isle of Wight, her schooling was basic and didn’t include formal art classes but creativity was still encouraged.

She started work aged 15 and was trained in architectural drawing, having a natural talent in that direction.

From my childhood I remember her always with pad & paints on camping holidays sitting on rocks oblivious to the incoming tide or on dangerous cliff edges.

In the late 60s & 70s, in keeping with the times, she attended some interesting progressive, experimental art classes taught by Jack Chick. He encouraged her in a more abstract approach and she held an exhibition of rather “avant garde” mixed media paintings using unusual techniques and subject matter. She found some of the comments of the public very amusing.

Later she joined various art groups and began selling more paintings, exhibiting with fellow artists at local events & country pubs.

Finally she became a very active member of the Cobbett Road Library Art Group and campaigned passionately to keep it open.

We hope this exhibition will help this aim.

There are some photos of the exhibition on the Photogallery page.

General Data Protection Regulations

The Friends' Data Policy was adopted at our AGM on September 29. You can download a copy for information.

Greening Cobbett

Our gardeners were successful in applying for a Community Chest grant from the City Council. The funds have been used to improve the beds around the Library, to turn the small enclosed area at the back of the building into a pleasant seating area and to provide additional planting near the statue. Plants have been chosen, in part, to cope with the heavily-polluted air at this busy road junction, and should make a contribution to absorbing that pollution.

The free-standing courtyard walls were pressure-washed, and received a coat of masonry paint. The bricks are the London Rustic type with a wavy pattern, used in many Southampton buildings. Their surface detail means they used up far more paint than plain ones would have done!

Planters for the courtyard were bought from the Southampton Wood Recycling Project, and most of the plants came from Mayfield Nurseries.

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