PEOPLE


integrating with the existing service. Towns now served by the county included Worthing, Littlehampton, Burgess Hill, Haywards Heath and East Grinstead. In the years following local government reorganisation the building programme continued apace, with new libraries opened at East Grinstead, Hurstpierpoint and Horsham. Many smaller libraries were extended or refurbished, giving them a new lease of life to meet growing public demand. By 1987 almost half the population were registered as members – well above the national average.


From 1970 until his retirement in July 1992, Roy presided


over a service experiencing radical, constructive change. New or extended libraries were opened, specialist librarian posts in the children’s, music and drama, reference and local studies fields were created, and issues of books rose substantially. Roy stated on record that ‘his libraries’ were not only popular book lending ser- vices but “information powerhouses of the community”, linked to regional and national sources of information – all in a time before the World Wide Web!


Beryl Saich B


eryl Saich, who died in January aged 92, was born Beryl Pamela Powney in Coventry. Educated at King’s High School for Girls, Warwick, she moved to London to read history at Westfield College, University of London, and never looked back.


Following the grant of her degree, Beryl began work as a library assistant at Islington public libraries – determined to learn librar- ianship from the bottom up. She studied part time, to gain Associateship of what was then the Library Association. It was while working at Islington Central


Library that Beryl met Michael Saich, then also a library assistant (see obituary, Information Professional Oct-Nov 2023). After their engagement, Beryl moved to Westminster public libraries, to keep their professional lives separate. By the time of the re-organisation of London boroughs in


1965, Beryl was working as a senior assistant at Tottenham public libraries under A.W. McClellan, who had introduced the concept of ‘Service in Depth’ – an approach that was to have a great impact on her.


After moving to south London, Beryl left public libraries to work for the NHS in 1970, becoming librarian at Netherne Hospital, a psychiatric hospital near Coulsdon, Surrey. The library at Royal Earlswood, a hospital for patients with learning disabilities, also fell under her remit. She continued to promote accessibility to reading for all. Talking about her career to granddaughter Laura, later, Beryl said she wanted the library to be a place where people could come and feel comfortable – maybe as a quiet place to read but also as a place to find someone to talk to. Beryl became District Librarian for the East Surrey Health Authority in 1988. Tasked with developing a small hospital library into a professional library service. She helped with planning for


the library at the new East Surrey Hospital, where the team moved in 1991/2. From here, Beryl and her team provided a streamlined service for what were then still separate hospital libraries across the Redhill district, untill three hospitals merged in 1995. Colleagues remember Beryl as supportive and encouraging – keen to see her staff study for qualifications and to progress their own careers. Always happy to join in the social side of work life, at Netherne Beryl wrote for the hospital newsletter Network and appeared annually in the pantomime.


On retirement, Beryl and Michael became members of the Retired Members Guild, enjoying many of the events and trips organised by Tom Featherstone (see obituary, Information Professional Jan-Feb 2024). Both Beryl and Michael were council members of the Surrey Gardens Trust, with Beryl also a keen member of their researchers’ group. It was during a visit to the Royal Horticultural Society’s Lindley Library that Beryl found a topic that would combine her love of gardens with her love of books –Blanche Henrey’s three-volume British botanical and horticultural literature before 1800, published by OUP in 1975. Finding that little was known about the author, Beryl undertook wide-ranging enquiries. Initially presenting her findings as a talk, Beryl was encouraged to publish and her article ‘Blanche Elizabeth Edith Henrey (1906-83), Photographer and Author Rediscovered’ was published in Garden History in 2019; later reproduced in the Royal Photographic Society’s The PhotoHistorian. Sadly, by this time, her health was beginning to fail. Beryl battled on, supported by a wide circle of friends, determined to be there for the family as long as she could – outliving Michael by six months, she leaves daughters, Nancy and Dinah, proud of her achievements.


Dinah Saich (daughter), with contributions from Beryl’s colleagues Eileen Luker, Barb Hartley and Freda Knight.


For obituary submissions and guidance please email rob.green@cilip.org.uk with subject “obituary”, or write to us at Obituaries, CILIP, Room 150, c/o British Library, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB.


June 2024 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL 55


Roy’s interest in libraries continued through his retirement, and he and his wife Jeanne edited a series of books entitled Who Writes Like? A reader’s guide to fiction authors, copies of which are still available today.


Roy, always known as Mr Huse by his colleagues, expected very high standards from those around him and was known for having robust conversations should these standards not be achieved. His legacy lived on and for many years one would hear the expression “Mr Huse would have expected…”


We are grateful for the culture Roy instilled in our service, to always strive for the highest standards on behalf of our customers and we continue to benefit from so many of the fundamen- tal developments he led; the buildings we operate from, the technology we have evolved and the relentless focus on remaining relevant to our residents’ needs.


Russel Allen, Head of Libraries & Heritage, West Sussex County Council


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