Sir Ed Davey officially opens the new Fair Start Charity library in Kingston

Staff and children at St Joseph's Catholic Primary School welcomed Liberal Democrats leader, Sir Ed Davey, MP for Kingston and Surbiton, into their school on Tuesday 29 September 2026. A special assembly took place to officially open the new school library which had been refurbished and restocked by the charity Fair Start, which focusses on providing libraries in primary schools in areas of book deprivation. The school also welcomed Deputy Mayor Councillor Jane Lim, John Conway, CEO of Christ the Redeemer Catholic Education Trust, the school governors and David Cope, founder of Fair Start Charity.

Headteacher of St Joseph's, Lorraine Flower, led the assembly and said: “Reading is the gateway to all learning and this wonderful new library has instantly become a favoured space in our school. We are immensely grateful to Fair Start for their generosity and vision, not just in its creation, but in their commitment to supporting us long after the official opening today through their wonderful team of volunteers.”

Sir Ed Davey officially cut the ribbon, saying that it was wonderful to open St Joseph's new library. He continued, “Fair Start has done an amazing job of changing the lives of children for years to come. I love the idea it's a lending library teaching the children all that real life experience.”

David Cope, the Founder of Fair Start Charity, says, “The volunteers at Fair Start Charity have spent the summer holidays converting an old ICT suite into a new fiction library and refurbishing the existing library area into a comprehensive new non-fiction library. New paintwork, new shelving, new library furniture and a new electronic library system have been installed so that the children now have a colourful and vibrant area to enjoy their new books which have been kindly donated by the local community and friends. St Joseph's is the third library which Fair Start has refurbished and it now joins St Richard's CE Primary School in Hanworth and Buckingham Primary School in Hampton. We are delighted to see the excitement for the opening of the St Joseph's library and our thanks to Sir Ed Davey for taking the time to officially open the new school library.”