The New Forest’s past can be discovered at the Christopher Tower Reference Library’s Open Day on Saturday 18th January. If you’ve ever wondered what the New Forest looked like 100 years ago, this is your chance to find out.
Staff and volunteers will be on hand to help with enquiries in the Library, which is situated on the first floor of the New Forest Heritage Centre in Lyndhurst, between 10am and 3pm when members of the public are invited to drop in. There is no need to book.
“We have held several successful library open days recently and are pleased to be able to showcase our ever-increasing collections” said Centre Manager, Giles Gould. “I hope our visitors will not only take advantage of the opportunity to explore this wonderful historical resource, but also come in to find about our redevelopment plans, which are primarily driven by the need to store, display and provide access to what is unquestionably the ‘jewel in our crown’”
The Christopher Tower Reference Library was opened in 2004 following the building’s renovation funded by the Heritage Lottery and the Christopher Tower Foundation.
Christopher Tower, who was educated at Eton Christ Church, Oxford, was the author of nine poetry books and travelled extensively in the Middle East. He spent his later years in Athens and the New Forest.
The Library contains one of the largest collections of books, maps, photographs, reports and ephemera on the Forest, available to the public in a single location. It is also home of New Forest Knowledge, a growing digitised record of our collections (https://nfknowledge.org/).
The New Forest Heritage Centre will also be holding a book fair on this day, to raise funds for the charity which owns and runs it, the New Forest Ninth Centenary Trust. If you have any books that you would like to donate for the fair, please drop them in to the Centre before Friday 10th January.