17/5/2010 - Royal tea party for library staff

Library staff in Cockermouth who helped deal with the November floods will soon be enjoying a Buckingham Palace garden party hosted by the Queen as a thank you for their hard work.

Six librarians and staff will enjoy a regal afternoon on 20 July after Cockermouth library was left under four feet of water with everything on the ground floor ruined and nearly £90,000 of books lost.

But staff at the Main Street building defied the odds to open a new temporary library in Christ Church within a week with stock from other libraries in the county, and from elsewhere in the country.

And on 12 April, after work was completed to dry out the building and repair the damage, Cockermouth library re-opened, less than five months after the terrible floods.

Cumbria County Councillor Gary Strong, Cabinet member for the county’s library service, said: "Library staff across the county and especially in Cockermouth have gone way beyond the call of duty and have assisted with everything that has been needed or asked of them.

"They have been brilliant, and this invitation to Buckingham Palace is a thoroughly deserved reward for that."

ENDS

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