World Book Day

Today we celebrated World Book Day in the company of Black Horse Hill Infant School.The chiildren come to the library in classes for stories and fun, dressed as their favourite storybook characters. To add to the fun, the teachers dress up too! This year Laura and I (Julie) also dressed up as the characters Meg the witch and Mog her cat from the "Meg & Mog" stories. We had a really great day!

I did not take any photos of the children; but I wanted to capture some of the flavour of the day so here are pictures of the adults!

Our thanks go to Mrs Crook (Paddington Bear) who organised it all, to the teachers who enter into the spirit of the day so enthusiastically, the children who make it all worthwhile...and not forgetting the parents, grandparents and other helpers who accompany the children and keep them safe.

My personal thanks to Laura, who is just so good with the children and who worked so hard today!

Bob the builder

Jack (without his beanstalk!)

Peter Pan

The wolf from Red Riding Hood

Little Red Riding Hood herself!

Cinderella

Another Bob the Builder

Bob AGAIN!

Maid Marion meets Paddington Bear

The Granny from Red Riding Hood

Princess Leia from Star Wars

Robin Hood

The lovely Meg

Meg and Paddington planning the day...

Adult Reading Group - March

The Adult Reading group meet to discuss "Double Fault" by Lionel Shriver on Thursday, 6th March between 6 and 7 pm. Refreshments will be served. All welcome - even if you haven't read the book!


The Bookseller, Feb 3, 2006
'Purposeful and provocative novel... fans of Kevin won't be disappointed'

Observer Review, May 7, 2006
‘A brilliant tale of doomed love’

Do you agree with the reviews?

News from Knit & Natter

The next meeting of the knit & Natter group will be on 29th February.

The following meeting (14th March) will be to plan the "Children's Knit-in" session.

The "Knit-in" will take place on 28th March.

Regular meetings will resume on 11th April.

Introducing "KNIT CLUB"
"The first rule of Knit Club is never talk about Knit Club...."
Knit Club is the "younger sister" of Knit & Natter and will be held on Thursday evenings at West Kirby Library, from 5.30 7.00 pm. All ages are welcome, especially young mums and teenagers.Informal tuition, fun and great refreshments...come along and join us! The first meeting will be held on 10th April.

Some library facts and figures...

Some facts about public libraries in England:

There are about 3100 public libraries in England and 460 mobile libraries.
More than 60% of people have a library ticket
96% of people believe that public libraries are a valuable community resource
There were over 274 million visits to public libraries during 2002/3, an increase of almost 4 million on the previous year
35% of the population visit public libraries at least once a month
More people visit libraries than go to cinemas or attend football matches
There are 92.4million books in 3,500 public libraries and every year more than 318million book loans
There are a further 34million issues of other material, including DVDs, videos, talking books
Libraries provide over 60million hours a year of high speed access to the internet through the People's Network
Library staff answer 58.5million enquiries a year
More thatn 22,000 library staff run the service.

Cakes & Makes with the West Kirby Knitters

The Knit & Natter group invite you to a sale of work and homemade cakes, plus refreshments. Beautiful handcrafted items will be available at very reasonable prices.

Join us on Friday, 22nd February from 10.am to 4 pm.

Valentine's Day

The "Friends" invite you to spend Valentine's Day afternoon at West Kirby Library for an hour of song with "The Concourse Singers". Join in or just listen; we promise this event will be most enjoyable! Then we will serve a delightful afternoon tea, with both sweet and savoury items to tempt you!

The afternoon starts at 2.30 and will end around 4 pm. Tickets (available from both Hoylake & West Kirby Libraries) are priced at just £3 (£2.50 for "Friends") and includes the cost of refreshments.

Adult Reading Group - February

The adult reading group will meet on February 7th at 6 pm to discuss "Frankie and Stankie" by Barbara Trapido. All welcome, and refreshments are provided!

In "Frankie and Stankie" Barbara Trapido returns to her South African roots
with a highly autobiographical novel which tackles one of the most divisive
political issues of the twentieth century as she tells the story of Dinah
growing up in 1950s South Africa. Using simple straightforward language, Trapido
wields humour to great effect in exposing the lethal combination of prejudice
and ignorance.Dinah’s father, a maths lecturer, shouts loudly at the daily
championing of apartheid on the radio. Her mother, a quieter dissenter, makes
friends with Francis-the-Gardener, an Indian who helps her create a gorgeously
exotic front yard. Since racism is not a part of the de Bondt household, Dinah
is mystified when she is asked at school if she would ‘rather have a native girl
or a koelie to make her sandwiches.’ (page 30). She has never heard a black
women referred to as a ‘native girl’ and has no idea what a ‘koelie’ is. The
novel follows Dinah through the increasingly dark days of the National Party’s
rule, to her marriage to a one-time political activist and the couple’s arrival
in 60s Britain. As Dinah grows from a thin asthmatic little girl into a bright
stylish university student, she makes a succession of increasingly colourful
best friends: Angela chooses the non-academic domestic science route and is
displaced by a wilder friend; Catherine, the daughter of a rabidly anti-Catholic
mother, eventually converts to Catholicism; and Maud is the daughter of a
coalminer’s wife and her racehorse-owning lover. Shortly after Dinah arrives at
university in Durban she begins a three-year affair with the urbane but slippery
Didi which finally ends when she realises that he has betrayed her. Her
friendship with Sam leads to marriage and then to London, as Sam flees the
persistent attentions of Special Branch.