Sherman Nunes of Liverpool watches on Saturday as his kids Luke and Lisa play in the new children’s area of the Thomas H. Raddall Library. (Rick Conrad)

The Thomas H.  Raddall Library officially opened its doors on Saturday, as about 70 people helped usher in a new chapter for the Liverpool branch.

The library has been open for about six weeks in its new interim home at 54 Harley Umphrey Dr. People were impressed with the new digs, with some hoping the library stays where it is, with others wishing for a permanent location closer to downtown.

The event on Saturday featured local and provincial politicians, as well as many library staff.

The Region of Queens budgeted up to $1.26 million on renovations to the space in the municipally owned Liverpool Business Development Centre off White Point Road. The library had to leave the Rossignol Cultural Centre in downtown Liverpool by Dec. 31 because the building’s owner Sherman Hines was selling the building.

Tom Raddall and his family have allowed South Shore Public Libraries to continue to use the famed Nova Scotia author’s name on the Liverpool branch for another five years. 

Raddall said he’s happy the library is in a better, newer space.

“Hopefully, it’s a step in the right direction,” he told QCCR. “Certainly it’s in a far better space than it was before. The location has been a controversial one over the years. But this library needed to be in a newer spot and this will suit the purpose until another one is built in the appropriate location.”

Many residents were concerned that the new location isn’t easy to walk to, with no sidewalks and limited lighting. 

Region of Queens Mayor Scott Christian said that he’s excited about the new space, with its expanded program rooms, commercial kitchen and children’s section.

“The plans are to make this space as great as we can make it. And we need to, as a community and as a council, figure out what makes sense in terms of either bringing a future library closer to town or bringing town closer to this library

Christian said it’s too early to say what the future holds for a more permanent location. But he said the region has to work out its priorities for the next few years, and address whether Liverpool needs a new, multipurpose community centre which could include meeting space, a gymnasium and the library.

“I think the focus right now, both for the folks at South Shore (Public) Libraries and also for the Region of Queens staff and the work that they’ve done to make the built environment really work, is to figure out how, for now, to make this the best space that we can make it.

“And the space is great in there, so it’s what do we need to do with the surrounding environment to remove barriers, … make sure that users who want to be accessing the space are provided that opportunity.”

Queens MLA Kim Masland said she would support a request for provincial funding for a new space for the library. But she said Saturday that she was impressed with its interim location.

“I think today we see as many people that are here, lots of smiling faces, lots of people really excited about this. This is also an interim facility here for now and so hopefully we’ll see a new library built in town, that would certainly be my wish someday. But we’re here for now and this is certainly a great interim facility.”

Lin Ireland of Liverpool was one of the many local library lovers taking it all in on Saturday.

“I think this is great,” she said. “It’s going to be used. And people complain about the location but I don’t think it’s all that far out. … I’m happy with it right where it is. A lot of money went into building this and why not leave it here?”

Susan McGibbon of Liverpool said her gardening club had their first meeting in the new branch a couple of weeks ago, and turnout was double their usual attendance. While she likes the new larger, brighter space, she hopes the region can build a new space in a more central location. 

“I don’t think there was another option, and I think they’ve done a good job making it a good option,” McGibbon said.

“Do I think we need another location that’s part of a community hub? Yes, absolutely. And I think a new library committee getting struck is going to happen very soon, so that work can get going.”

Sherman Nunes of Liverpool was at the library on Saturday with his four-year-old Lisa and his two-year-old Luke, as they played in the new children’s area.

“It’s beautiful, it’s spacious, it has a lot of light. I’ve been to the previous library. This is a step up. It’s very nice. 

“We like to take the kids out, and previously we did not have an indoor space around here in Liverpool, where we could take them out for a day or something, so we had to drive up to Bridgewater. But I think with this new addition, it would be nice to get them over here every weekend, especially so that they can run around, read some books, play with the toys. As you can see, they’re already occupied.”

The Thomas H. Raddall Library is open six days a week and closed on Mondays. Queens County Transit offers free rides to and from the library. That service runs every Thursday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. from the market shelter beside Hell Bay Brewing.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to the audio version of this story below

Lynn Cochrane is the vice-chair of the Astor Theatre Society. (Rick Conrad)

Liverpool’s historic Astor Theatre is launching a new endowment fund to help put it on firmer financial footing.

About 60 supporters of the Astor turned out at the theatre on Tuesday evening for the announcement.

The Astor Theatre Endowment Fund is separate from the theatre’s annual fundraising campaign. It’s a longer-term investment fund that would accept larger legacy donations from corporations or people’s estates.

Once the fund is built up to a certain point, the Astor could then use interest from the investments to cover yearly operational expenses and invest in new programs.

Outgoing Astor Theatre Society board chair John Simmonds said ticket sales from events account for about 40 per cent of revenues. Grants and fundraising are the theatre’s main sources of revenue.

Lynn Cochrane, vice-chair of the Astor Theatre Society, spearheaded the effort to set up the fund.

“I’ve been on the board for a couple of years now and every year we come up with a bit of a shortfall,” she said in an interview, “and I started looking at ways of helping the theatre counteract that shortfall, talked to a number of other theatres and they have endowment funds or investment funds that donors can donate to and their money lives on for yers and the returns come to the theatre to cover those shortfalls every year.”

Cochrane and Simmonds said that they hope that in a few years, the principal in the fund will grow to about $1 million. At that point, the Astor can decide whether to use the annual interest earned or reinvest it and continue to grow the fund.

It will be managed by Mark Sapp at Scotia McLeod in Bridgewater.

Jean Robinson-Dexter, former interim executive director of the theatre, said the endowment fund is a great step toward securing the Astor’s future.

“I think there’s lots of work to do in the whole fund development area for the organization. So I think this is a great launch for the sustainability and long-term care of the organization.”

Tom Raddall, whose family are longtime supporters of the Astor, said he believes the community will support it.

“I know the community appreciates this theatre. I know our family does. I mean, my grandmother played the piano in the silent movies in this theatre. There’s a connection for probably for most of the people that have been born and brought up here and a connection for the people who have moved here.”

“I think a lot of people including myself will give this a hard look when we go home tonight and talk about our future plans.”

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to the audio version of this story below

Queens regional councillors will vote Tuesday on whether the Liverpool library will move to the Liverpool Business Development Centre until a new one can be built. (Rick Conrad photo)

The library in Liverpool may be moving temporarily to the Liverpool Business Development Centre on White Point Road.

Region of Queens councillors are set to vote on a recommendation Tuesday from CAO Cody Joudry to move the library to the same building that houses the Global Empire call centre and Belliveau Veinotte accountants. It would be there until a new site can be chosen, designed, financed and built. 

The council meeting is set for 6 p.m. in council chambers on White Point Road.

The Thomas H. Raddall Library is currently in the Rossignol Centre on Old Bridge Street close to downtown Liverpool. The lease expires this December. Last year, the region spent $51,680 on rent.

The building owner Sherman Hines has been trying to sell it since at least November 2022. Joudry claims in his staff report that “staff are of the opinion the property is likely to be sold before the lease expires”.

Joudry is recommending that staff immediately begin renovations of the vacant space at the call centre building so that the library can move in by December. He estimates the renovations would cost from $1.05 to $1.26 million. 

He is also suggesting that staff work with the library board to create a public consultation plan on a new library.

Councillors decided at a December meeting not to move the library to the call centre building permanently. Residents flooded them with emails and public comments about that plan. Most were against it.

Finding a new home for the library has been fraught with delays and controversy since the spring of 2022, when the region allocated $3 million from an unexpected budget surplus to its construction. Joudry says a new library would likely cost much more than that.

“Consulting the public about (the) library matter, selecting a site (and acquiring land if needed), creating design options, costing the project out, acquiring funding, tendering then constructing and moving the library will, realistically, take several years,” he says in his report.

“If council takes the recommendation to move the library as recommended, input and feedback would be beneficial to inform decisions on designs, renovations, and furnishing of the new space. As such the CAO and library CEO would work collaboratively to ensure the community and users are consulted on these matters.”

The library steering committee twice recommended an area by Queens Place Emera Centre for the relocation. Council declined the first time but decided to accept the committee’s recommendation a second time.

But council scuttled the plan once more when it learned that connecting the site to existing road and infrastructure would cost close to a million dollars.

At the December council meeting, many residents spoke against the plan to move the library to White Point Road permanently. Some also were worried that if the library moved there temporarily, council would stop looking for a new location.

Susan DeChamp was one of three community members appointed to the region’s library steering committee in April 2022. She spoke at the council meeting in December when staff were recommending the call centre building as the permanent site for the library.

“The main issue everyone had was the location itself,” she told councillors. “The first time we recommended the sledding hill location (near Queens Place), we had councillors object that you can’t move it that far from where it currently is and it would be unreasonable to expect library users to  walk across the bridge. Now you’re asking library users to walk to the fringes of town where the street lamps are fairly far apart, it’s not brightly lit and there are no sidewalks.”

Jessica Joudrey and Tom Raddall resigned before the December meeting. Raddall told councillors that they were “frustrated and disillusioned”.

In response to public comments at the December meeting, District 6 Coun. David Brown summed up the general mood on council when he said that using the call centre only as a temporary space would give the region time to do more thorough public consultation. 

“So I think we have to do a better job of getting more engagement from the public so that we can build what the public wants and needs,” he said.

“If we can make this a temporary, it gives us a chance to take a deep breath, look at it, analyze it and do that job right in the long run. And I think the public will be much better served if we get it done right rather than if we get it done quick.”

Joudry’s other recommendations include: a high-level public engagement process begin on what people want from a new library and a new advisory committee be formed with clear direction and support from council. 

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to Monday’s news update below