My first contact with St Cuthbert was when visiting his shrine at Durham Cathedral, where I had a religious experience that convinced me to go through the process for ordination. I next visited Lindisfarne and Northumberland, visiting those places connected to St Cuthbert. This has become something of a pilgrimage for me and the opportunity to support the preservation of the St Cuthbert Gospel means a lot to me.
Gillian Price
I first learned about St Cuthbert when I studied for a Master's degree in Theological Research at Durham University. Since then, I have visited Northumberland many times, discovering more about the early roots of Christianity in England and the role St Cuthbert played in the religious and cultural life of the North East. The opportunity to support the preservation of this precious book is one that I am very happy to take.
Ian McDonald, Adopt A Book donor
I have recently been asked to support Jamie Mathews who is climbing Kilimanjaro on behalf of Cancer Research. His Grandmother and my wife both died of cancer. My late wife, Jackie, knew Jamie when a child living in Bahrain where we lived for 2 years. Jamie (Welsh) had just arrived from living in Barbados with his parents Mike and Jackie of www.petits_papillon.com who became close friends. I therefore adopted Wonders of Africa.
Elsie Herron
As a child Elsie loved reading, Charles Dickens was a favourite author who lived in Clerkenwell and Bloomsbury both where Elsie lived and worked. In her later years she became an adult literacy helper, teaching adults to read as she felt this to be both a necessity and a pleasure and would have been happy to support the library in this way so as her daughter I am doing this on her behalf and in her memory.
Ian Davison
I travel from Durham to London regularly on research trips and the British Library is always one of the highlights of my trips. It reminds me of Durham Cathedral, and I find its peaceful and restorative spaces a welcome retreat from the frantic activity of King's Cross and the Euston Rd. It's a precious place and something to be very proud of as a nation.
Alison Beech, Adopt A Book donor
I saw the "Adopt a Book" scheme details during a recent visit to the library and thought it would be a perfect gift to mark my cousin's 60th birthday. He's an avid reader and book collector and I'm sure he will be delighted with the gift.
Ian Gunter, Bouygues UK
The Magnificent Maps workshops made a huge difference to the way children and young people understand the influence that maps have in shaping the world, and provided an excellent supplement to this fascinating exhibition. This was a great schools programme from the British Library and we were really pleased to support something that inspires education and learning in such innovative ways.
Anna McDuff, Adopt A Book donor
I adopted HG Wells' In the Days of the Comet in memory of my great aunt Annajane who, although she was the daughter of HG Wells, was actually raised as the daughter of my great grandfather Rivers Blanco-White. She came to know her biological father when she was eighteen and formed a relationship with him then. Great Aunt Annajane lived to be 100 years old, and after a distinguished career lived mostly abroad, she died this October in New Zealand. My mother Dusa, my brother Thomas and I thought that preserving one of her father's books would be a fitting way to remember her.
