Sir – In 1971 the Oxford Civic Society published a small booklet I wrote entitled Summertown — towards a comprehensive community. In this booklet I explored the concept of community schools.
I referred to the Peckham experiment, the work done at Countesthorpe in Leicester and the sharing of school facilities with the greater community. A fully integrated Community School attended by both adults and children.
One of the discussions on Newsnight on BBC2 March 15, 2010, concerned cuts in public spending and the reduction in the use of and possible closure of public libraries.
Perhaps it is time to return to one of the suggestions made in my booklet, namely that public and school libraries could, in some instances, be merged; preferably on the school campus. The cost savings would be significant. On the cover of the booklet I drew trees in front of the Summertown shops. I was delighted to find that, almost 40 years later, they have appeared.
V. N. Berry, Oxford
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