Page 81 of Twilight at Croftwood Library
‘So now we move to my favourite category, the award for Community Spirit. I know you shouldn’t have favourites, but this award shows which libraries make the biggest difference to their communities and we have some fabulous contenders tonight.’
She went ahead, listing the other five libraries in the category. Then said, ‘And Croftwood Library. I have to say this is my favourite entry, and I can say that because the actual result has already been decided.’ She waved the envelope. ‘Any library that uses books as a matchmaking tool is a winner in my mind.’
Everyone laughed and clapped. Oliver took Lois’s hand under the table and squeezed it, his other hand holding his phone up to record the moment. David crossed his fingers dramatically and grinned at his colleagues around the table.
‘And the winner of the Community Spirit award is…’ Lois scrunched her eyes shut. She wanted them to win so badly but it seemed so unlikely.
‘Croftwood Library in Worcestershire!’
Everyone around the table stood up while the rest of the room erupted with rapturous applause. David made his way to the stage with a huge smile on his face and shook hands with Sue Perkins, reaching into his pocket for his speech as he waited for the applause to die down.
‘No offence David,’ said Sue, looking his name up on her cue cards, ‘but you don’t look like the kind of chap who would have been the mastermind of this date-with-a-book club.’
Everyone laughed and David blushed. If he’d been involved in it, he probably could have made a witty comeback but Sue was right and he knew it.
‘Come on David, who do we have to thank for this genius idea?’
Oliver stood up and began clapping as he looked down at Lois who stared at him in a state of mortified embarrassment. The rest of the room joined in, and Sue began gesturing for Lois to join her on the stage. Oliver grabbed her hand and led the way between the tables to the front of the room.
‘What’s your name, my love?’ asked Sue, once Lois had climbed the couple of steps onto the stage, thankfully assisted by Oliver because the heels were a hindrance.
‘Lois Morgan, I’m the manager of Croftwood Library.’
‘And who’s your handsome friend? And did you meet at the date-with-a-book club, more to the point.’
Everyone laughed apart from David, who Lois could feel seething next to her having had his moment of glory snatched away.
‘This is Oliver Jones. He runs the coffee house in Croftwood where the book club started,’ explained Lois.
‘Marvellous! And wonderful to meet a success story from your book club.’ She made her hands into a heart shape and won another laugh from the audience.
‘Thank you to everyone who voted for us,’ said Lois into the microphone. ‘We love Croftwood Library and all our customers, and we hope that the date-with-a-book club carries on even after it closes.’
Lois was past caring that everyone was misunderstanding the book club and thought it was a dating service and instead was enjoying the fact that Sue had thwarted David’s speech-making opportunity. And what did it matter if everyone knew that Croftwood Library was due to close? It was wrong. This award should help to celebrate and save the library. That was what was important, not what the County Libraries PR people said.
‘Well done Croftwood Library!’ The room erupted again and Lois, Oliver and David returned to their seats.
‘God, David looks cheesed off,’ Lois said to Oliver while the room was still noisy.
‘This is your night, Lois. Serves him right for trying to gate crash our party.’
After another hour or so, the category awards were over, and it was time for the big overall Library of the Year award. David had lost interest now, sure that Croftwood wouldn’t have a hope in hell of winning the main award and Lois was inclined to agree with him. The competition was stiff, very stiff, so she was just enjoying the rest of the night with Oliver while it lasted.
All the same, while the contenders were being listed by Sue, Oliver squeezed her hand when Croftwood Library was mentioned again.
‘And now I hand over to Sebastian Caulder from the British Library who will present the award.’
Sue melted into the shadows at the side of the stage while Sebastian stood at the podium.
‘The British Library was delighted to be represented on the judging panel for this year’s awards. We were incredibly impressed with the standard of entries we received this year which truly represents the valuable work being done in libraries right across the country. This year’s winner was chosen because we believe it illustrates the resilience that libraries have had to demonstrate over the past few years. Many libraries have been lost to cost-cutting and the digital revolution but there is a way forward. Our winner for Library of the Year is Croftwood Library in Worcestershire.’
The room erupted with applause and cheers while Lois sat, dazed, not sure whether she had just hoped for him to say Croftwood Library or whether he actually had. Then David appeared at her side and held out his arm for Lois to take. He had clearly got over his annoyance now that he was on the winning table.
She stood up, looked at Oliver who took her face in his hands and gave her a big kiss, with tears in his eyes as he pulled away.
‘Go on, Lois. This is your moment,’ he said.
Lois took David’s arm and they walked to the stage, people congratulating them as they went.
