Hi everyone, Tonight’s meeting in Balloch Primary school was absolutely packed. The entire community was represented, from staff in the schools and library, to local people of all ages and backgrounds. We heard young mothers telling how important the library was to them, both for their children and to break their isolation. Another testimony came from a woman who suffered from dyslexia who owed her career to the help she received from the library. A disabled lady was very emotional as she explained that she needed the Balloch Community Library with its car park and couldn’t imagine how that would work in an already overcrowded school. We heard many testimonies from  parents of school children stating how incredibly overcrowded the school was and how impossible it would be to safeguard their well-being if a public library was inside the school. These same parents went on to explain how important the community library was to them and their kids and how they would fight to retain it. We heard how parents were not consulted and the P T A member went on to say how she was shown the plans for the library within the school but told she was NOT to share it with parents. One school worker told how their staff room was invaded one day by men measuring round about them in preparation for a library they knew nothing about ! As a group we decided we will attend the COUNCIL MEETING THIS WEDNESDAY AT 10 MINUTES TO 4. We will make our own placards to hold up asking that we SAVE BALLOCH LIBRARY. Please be there if you can, time is running out as the council are working behind the scenes to make the closure a done deal. We the people of Haldane and Balloch need to let them know that, No, it’s not happening. Thank you once again for rallying round and please continue to share this petition. Further updates to follow on Wednesday.