Julie Winn

Growing up we lived in Berkshire Road, near to Acre Rigg Infant & Junior School, which I attended up until the age of eleven. Most of my classmates from junior school went to Acre Rigg Secondary Modern, but those of us who passed their eleven plus were given a place at Peterlee Grammar School. The building isn’t there anymore. It was demolished to make way for East Durham College’s new campus. There was a group of us who remained close friends right through Grammar school. Most came from Murton, so I spent a lot of time travelling back and forth between Peterlee and Murton.

After leaving school I went to Hartlepool Art College to do my A Levels with two friends from the grammar school, Anthea Alderton and Yvonne Nord. From there I got my first job working at Murton Library, before leaving to have a family. I then rejoined the library service in 1992, which is when I started work at Peterlee Library. The old library was built in the late 1950’s or early 60’s on the same site as Peterlee Technical College. This is where Lidl and Starbucks are now. Originally, they were separate buildings joined together by a walkway, but shortly after I started, they refurbished the library, joining it to the college building. I loved working at the old library. The amount of space it had meant we were able to accommodate theatre shows and all sorts of different events and activities. Outside the entrance there was also a gallery space, which we shared with the college. When they demolished the old building, the library moved to its current site within the Leisure Centre.