ONCE upon a time the leader of Plymouth City Councillor read aloud to children to mark the opening of a new library.
Cllr Vivien Pengelly chose The Adventures of Larry the Pirate when she entertained youngsters at Plympton Library.
The building, which replaces the one destroyed by fire in 2008, was opened this week and among its early events was a session called Chatterbooks, a national reading group programme for children aged four to 12.
The book Cllr Pengelly chose is part of the Rockhoppas adventures, written by Plymouth author Kevin Kelway, and illustrator Stuart McGhee, and featured as a comic strip in The Herald.
The stories feature a penguin’s escapades in Plymouth and on Drake’s Island.
Cllr Pengelly said: “As an ex-teacher I know how important it is to get young children to enjoy reading at an early age.
“It’s not often I get the chance to do this, and it is particularly nice to be able to read aloud a book which features locations around the city.
“Kevin told me Posh Edna is based on me.”
Mr Kelway, who was at the reading event, said children that attended received complimentary copies of the book and put on their “best pirate voices for the occasion”.
He added: “It was a great afternoon reading to the children and certainly made me proud that many of the characters were based on a community I grew up with on Plymouth’s historic Barbican who are longer with us. But they live on in my book.”
The new library has been built next to Harewood House on the same site as the building that burned down.
But the new building is 50 per cent bigger and includes a large meeting room that can be booked by members of the community.
It also has a quiet room with computers in it, a staff room and toilets.
The building features renewable technology including solar electric panels connected to the National Grid, an air source heat pump, light presence and daylight sensors, and it has achieved a top energy performance rating.
The library was officially opened by Plympton Stannator Fred Lethbridge, and attended by Cllr Glenn Jordan, Cabinet member for community services, members of Plympton Community Council, and representatives from Ryearch, the main contractor, and the building’s designers AWW Architects.
