Libraries Gave Us Power - Manic Street Preachers

I enjoyed browsing in Newton Abbot Library today. It has various slogans on the wall, including the above. The opening line of the Manic Street Preachers' song 'Libraries gave us power' was inspired by the legend 'Knowledge is Power' above the entrance to the former library in Pillgwenlly, Newport, near the band's home town of Blackwood in Wales

The Railway Studies Collection which opened in 1991, is on the first floor of the
Passmore Edwards Centre in Newton Abbot. The town was chosen for the Collection because of its historical significance as a railway centre.

Thi library is now part of the Passmore Edwards Centre, a Grade II Listed building in the centre of Newton Abbot, built in 1904. The Centre opened in June 2012 following extensive renovation and extension that blended the old with the new.


Who was John Passmore Edwards?
"He did more good in his time than almost any other of his contemporaries"
The Times 24 April 1911

From a humble home in a little Cornish village he became a City journalist, MP for Salisbury, Editor of a leading London newspaper, life-long champion of the working classes and is remembered as being a Benefactor Extraordinary ( R S Best 1981)

In just 14 years over 70 major buildings were established as a direct result of bequests from John Passmore Edwards as well as many other gifts and donations to further their good work. Hospitals, Libraries, Schools, Convalescent Homes and Art galleries were provided, many of which continue to serve the community to which they were given. Top man.