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THE CLUB LIBRARIAN
Here is a story about the Club Librarian position that existed for only a brief time, the story has been written from memory only, and you never let the truth or a bad memory spoil a good story. If you were to go through all of Ray's lists that had all the Office Bearers of the club you would not find a listing for the Club Librarian. However, for a very brief time back in the late 60's there was a Club Librarian. The title was not official and the decision to appoint a Librarian was made by some of the club members at the back bar of the Coronation Hotel very late at night after many thirst quenchers.
The members who made the decision to appoint a Librarian had a vote and Peter Land was the unlucky member that was appointed to be in charge of the Boomerang Club Library. The idea was to start small and only get a couple of sporting books, and if the library was a success more books would be purchased.
As Bob McCormick was working for Gordon and Gotch at the time, Bob was delegated to buy a couple of squash books which he did, the two books that Bob selected were 'The Story of Squash' written by Rex Bellamy & 'The Khan Game' written by Hashim Khan.
The two books were presented to the Club Librarian, who was taking his job seriously; he had purchased a large volume in which to make the entries. His idea was to record when a book was lent out and when it returned and also to record who next took the books out. Peter also purchased some stickers to put inside the cover of the books, saying this book is the property of the Boomerang Squash club.
The two books were lent out several times and the idea seemed to be working well, so the decision was made to purchase some more books, but before Bob was able to purchase any more books, the Club Librarian went against his own rule and lent the books out while he was under the tree and also under the influence of alcohol. So there were no entries in the volume as to who had borrowed the books.
But Peter decided to wait until the books came back and then make the entry into the volume and just carry on lending the books out as if nothing had happened. But after 4 weeks the books had not been returned, the Librarian reluctantly had to report to the unofficial Committee that he may have lost the only two books in the Library.
Obviously whoever borrowed the books was in the same condition as the Librarian and had forgotten that they had borrowed the books. So another decision was made at the Coronation Hotel to close the Library.
If Peter had stuck to his rule of not lending out the books when he was drunk, things may have turned out differently. Bob McCormick was overheard saying one night that if Peter had stuck to that rule the books would never have been lent out.
Approximately 30 years later when Mike Sheil was moving to Bundaberg, his partner who was helping him pack found this Squash book that had a sticker inside the front cover saying it was the property of the Boomerang Squash Club, Mike asked Bob McCormick to return to the book to the Librarian.
A letter was despatched to Mike demanding some late fees, as the unofficial committee thought it might be a good idea if the fees were paid and that the committee could have a few quiet drinks with the money that (hopefully) would be returned from Mike. All that arrived back from Mike was a letter to say that some of his drinking mates had some very effective ways of dealing with Debt Collectors, so the fees were not followed up after that very aggressive letter.
This is a copy of the letter forwarded to Mike Sheil, when he returned the Library book 34 years late.
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We never forget you Debt Collecting Company Hope Street South Brisbane Dear Mike, We have just been contacted by past Officers of the Boomerang Squash Club, which was situated just down the road from were our office is now located. We have been contacted by a Mr Robert McCormick from what we understand was and still is held in very high esteem by the members of the above club. He has asked us to redeem some unpaid "late return fees" for a library book called "The story of Squash written, by Rex Bellamy"; the book was borrowed by you on the 1st of April 1970 and returned recently. As the length of time books could be borrowed was a week, we have been advised by the club that you owe 34 years late return fees. Back in 1970 the charge was $1.00 per week, even though that would work out you owe the above club $1768, they have generously decided to drop the fee to $500, as the club no longer exists, Mr McCormick has decided to pass the money on the the Chief Librarian of the club at the time Mr Peter Land, "known as Podge to you". Because of his easy going nature Peter was not suited to the job as Librarian; it was "Pricks" like you that never returned the books to Peter that forced the closure of the Library. We have decided to send your late fees to Peter, he may like to hire some DVD'S out, hopefully the people that hire out the DVD'S return the DVD'S on time and don't wait 34 years before they return same. Just in case you consider not paying this fee, we will have to pass this letter on to our main enforcers Donald Cory and Desmond Crabbe, they have been very successful in obtaining back money in the past. From what I gather their methods of collecting are a bit rough, but they have a 100 percent success rate. Yours Truly R. Arnold Secretary We never forget you Debt Collecting Company |