COUNCILLOR Keith Mitchell thinks that library supporters “value (libraries) above youth services, social care and vulnerable children” (Saturday’s Oxford Mail).

This either/or attitude is misguided. My reason for supporting our library is not selfish.

As a child, I learned to love books through access to libraries. My parents could not afford to buy them.

The pleasure both of reading and of writing has enriched my life and I don’t want that opportunity denied to coming generations.

That is why the Friends of Kennington Library’s main function was to fund and run the story and rhyme time activities and the children’s summer read, etc.

The Kennington Festival Group, mostly over 80 and many disabled, will continue to enjoy access to books in an inclusive social setting.

Older people who keep their minds active tend to be less dependent. We baby-boomers have already benefited from free university education and affordable housing. We should not destroy, for future generations, what we have enjoyed.

As a Kennington Overseas Aid supporter, I have observed that people who give in one context usually give in others.

For example, the hard-working chairman of Kennington Good Neighbours, Barbara Boyne, helps, every week, the people Mr Mitchell refers to, but like many of her volunteers she also works hard for Kennington Overseas Aid and is a library friend. Love is a plant that watered spreads and grows and will not be confined.

SYLVIA VETTA, Chairman, Friends of Kennington Library