Spanning the eras in Alcester

Published: 12:30, 17 April 2016

Diana Jones,12, a Year Eight pupil from Alcester Academy is pictured with Cllr Izzi Seccombe, leader of Warwickshire County Council, Cllr Mike Gittus, chairman of Stratford District Council, Professor Cllr Clive Neal-Sturgess, Mayor Alcester, and Mick Parker, historian and Roman re-enactor. Photo: Mark Williamson

ALCESTER’S local community got the chance to meet a Roman soldier and a humanoid robot at the official launch of the newly refurbished Globe House.

Globe House now houses the county council’s new library, which has joined together with Alcester’s Roman Museum and Town Council to bring local services under one roof.

The library idea, first conceived in 2011, has seen five years of sustained effort by councillors and the local community to improve the Globe House site. Contractors worked last year to transform the building to accommodate Alcester’s Library, Roman Museum and Town Council services.

At the launch, children from Alcester’s primary and secondary schools met NAO the humanoid robot and took a tour of the new library space. NAO is one of the robots used by the county council’s ICT Development Service in schools to inspire students to get involved with science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects.

The Mayor of Alcester, Professor Clive Neal-Sturgess, said: “This has been great for Alcester residents, bringing together the library, museum and the Town Council so that we can provide an integrated service to the community through partnership working.”

A poem was also written for the event by Warwickshire’s Young Poet Laureate Harry Jenkins.

Stratford-upon-Avon Simon Woodings