My Account
Wellsford Library stalwart Lesley McLean flanked by colleagues Glennis Flintoff (left) and Rochelle Gray.
A lifetime’s connection with the Wellsford Library was celebrated when senior library assistant (part-time) Lesley McLean retired last month.
Community library manager Megan Livick paid tribute to Lesley’s long service, which encompassed both volunteer and paid service, at a special afternoon tea. The event was organised by library staff and Friends of the Library volunteers.
“Lesley started when the library was run entirely by volunteers,” Megan said. “In fact, she was actually volunteering at the library before I was born so I’ve been very careful not to try to teach her how to suck eggs!
“She is held in great esteem by staff and members of the library, and only the other day I had a little girl ask me if she could talk to ‘Nana Library’ and I knew exactly who she was talking about.”
Lesley was introduced to libraries through her mother Paddie Flamank who was a Wellsford volunteer when the library was in the basement of the Culpams Building.
“I started helping when I was 14,” Lesley said. “It was the days of the pocket and card system, and my first duty was to stamp people’s books out – I thought I was so grown-up.”
When the Memorial Library opened in the brick and tile house on Rodney Road in 1954, the library shared the building with the Citizens Advice Bureau, the Wellsford Town Council and the Wellsford traffic officer.
The Friends group was hugely instrumental in lobbying Rodney District Council for the new library in Port Albert Road, which opened in 2013.
“I love my library,” Lesley said. “After my family, it’s the library.”
