If anyone dared light candles next to bookshelves, they would need 75 candles to celebrate Lakemba Library and Knowledge Centre’s birthday this December.

Lakemba Library opened on 13 December 1947 at 31 Croydon Street, Lakemba. It was the first purpose-built library in the Municipality of Canterbury and one of the first Children’s libraries in the Canterbury area.

The new library was so popular that it had to be extended six years later. Thirty years later, with four times as many books on the shelves as when it first opened, Council resolved to build a new library.

The current building, a combined library and Senior Citizens Centre, opened on Monday 27 July 1987 on the corner of The Boulevarde and Croydon Street, Lakemba.

Lakemba library customers are invited to a birthday event on Wednesday 7 December in the Lakemba Senior Citizens Centre Community Hall, 23 Croydon Street, Lakemba (corner of The Boulevarde) from 2.30-5pm– join us with your memories, and bring along any photos, especially of the old library!

To book, or for further information, please contact Lakemba Library 9789 9419.