As a 15-year-old, I was on study leave for my Standard Grades. I went to my local library to revise.
As anyone who’s been that age will know, motivation can be hard to come by.
After half an hour’s procrastination, I started browsing the shelves, and found an Everyman hardback edition of The Outsider by Albert Camus.
For no other reason than the beautiful cover, I pulled it off the shelf and sat down to read. I’d never even heard of Camus.
From the first line: ‘Mother died today. Or maybe it was yesterday, I don’t know’, I was hooked.
Seven hours later, I had read my first proper work of grown-up literature.
I didn’t get any revision done that day.
What I got instead was a lifelong love of literature, which, in the 20 plus years since, has brought me more joy and understanding of the human condition and the world around me than a Standard Grade in maths ever could.
Aberdeen libraries decimated by council cuts…
Luckily that library was one of the Aberdeen City libraries to survive the recent council cuts.
Residents in Cornhill, Cults, Ferryhill, Kaimhill, Northfield and Woodside weren’t so lucky.
They’ve all been without a library since the spring when swingeing council cuts saw them shut down.
Local crime writer Stuart MacBride, whose books are sold all over the world, said the closures would “impoverish chunks of Aberdeen”.
Libraries might not be ‘cool’. But the reaction to their closure – which included demonstrations across the city – speaks for itself.
Put simply, they were used.
I had no money growing up. My dad was a labourer and my mum did everything to make ends meet. Men worked hard. Women worked miracles. But education was free. As was the local library. I knew books were my passport to a better life. Happy #WorldBookDay pic.twitter.com/CvWcvzUard
— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) March 2, 2023
Even before the cost-of-living crisis tightened its grip on the city, libraries were a fundamental part of family life.
From parent and toddler Bookbug groups, to simply somewhere for youngsters to get out of the house, whether to get internet access, do homework, or, like me, lose themselves in book after book.
This was particularly true of kids from deprived backgrounds who didn’t have entertainment – or even reliable internet access – on tap at home.
…as well as the swimming pools
It’s not just libraries that have come under the council chopping block this year.
And the iconic Beach Leisure Centre shut its doors in April, closing the book on 34 years of childhood and family memories.
My kids adored the pool and flumes there and were devastated when it shut.
They now do ice-skating lessons at the rink next door. Can I say with confidence they’ll still be able to a year from now, or will that be next on the hit list?
Ice-skating lessons are a lot of fun. But swimming lessons save lives.
Nobody wants to be the kid who reaches secondary school and is unable to swim.
I do wonder where all those kids who took swimming lessons at the Beach Leisure Centre have gone. They can’t all pile in to the pools at Tullos and Bridge of Don.
Each generation has it better than the last – until today’s kids?
My last column looked at the goings on at Union Square, an issue which has provoked strong reaction locally.
I don’t agree with the readers who blame the Union Square carnage on a lack of things to do for youths.
You’re still responsible for your own behaviour, at the end of the day.
But they raise a pertinent point.
As a 90s kid, my childhood memories may be a little sepia-tinted, but they consist of being spoiled for choice as far as weekend activities were concerned.
I don’t remember seeing the anti-social behaviour that I now witness pretty much every time I’m in the city centre.
I realise that money doesn’t grow on trees. Books need balanced, and Aberdeen City Council had a harder job during this year’s budget than many past administrations.
But the kindest thing I could say of the council is that they may wish to reconsider their priorities.
One of the fundamental roles of the council, surely, is to leave the city in a better state than they found it – without blaming outside circumstances.
You do that by improving the lives and life chances of the next generation. That’s not rocket science.
At the very least, they should be given the same opportunities their parents had.
Do today’s kids have the same opportunities 90s kids did for a fun, diverse and fulfilling childhood which broadens their horizons and rounds them into adults ready for the world?
I’m not even sure that’s worth putting to a poll.
Calum Petrie is a father-of-three and writes features about schools, education, and family matters.
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