Ed Vaizey MP, Shadow Minister for Culture and the Creative Industries, visited City Library today and kindly took the time to talk to Tony Durcan, Head of Culture, Libraries and Lifelong Learning within Newcastle City Council. You can listen to their conversation in the podcast below.
Come and design your own Charlie or Lola outfit which will be displayed at the Northern Stage or create a Charlie and Lola mobile to take home. You will also be entered into a prize draw to win tickets to see the Charlie and Lola show at Northern Stage and have the chance to hear a special Charlie and Lola storytime.
Tuesday 6 April, 2:00pm – 3:00pm, or
Friday 9th April, 2:00pm – 3:00pm
Both sessions are FREE, but children under 8 must be accompanied by an adult.
To book your free place, ring the City Library on 0191 277 4100. Also, check out the Charlie and Lola show at Northern Stage!
The Ladies of Blakelaw Library Coffee & Conversation Group have taken part in an Art’s Development project to celebrate International Women’s Day.
The Ladies were asked to bring in a photograph of themselves in younger days.
They talked about the photograph and, with help from a creative writer and a visual artist, constructed pieces of writing relating to the scene.
Images from the photographs, together with the description were then etched onto glass by the ladies.
Once sandblasted, these etched pieces of artwork in glass will be part of an exhibition of work by local women from across the city called “Her Story”
The exhibition will be on display in the Grainger Market Events Space on Saturday 24 April 2010, 10am – 4pm.
For more information on joining the Ladies of Blakelaw Library Coffee & Conversation Group contact Blakelaw Library.
Our libraries will not be open on 2 April (Good Friday), 4 April (Easter Sunday) and 5 April (Easter Monday).
A library due to be open on Saturday 3 April will be open as normal on this day.
For more information phone 0191 2774100 or email information@newcastle.gov.uk
Until the 1 April there may be some disruption in the music and media gallery due to the maintenance of the lighting. If you require assistance selecting a CD, DVD or other item please ask a member of staff when you visit. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.
Joanna Trollope visited us at City Library to promote her new book The Other Family which is set in the North East. She spoke to David Whetstone from The Journal about why she chose the North East as a setting and what she loves about Newcastle that inspired her so much. You can listen to the interview below.
Joanna discusses how her research in the North East into out musical heritage inspired her to write three songs in collaboration with musician Jason Kouchak. You can listen to the songs on Joanna’s website.
The above photograph of a worker at the Vickers Armstrong factory during the Second World War inspired Janet Davis to write a blog article based on an interview with one woman who’s experiences are an inspiration to many.
”Today, looking at the Tyneside Life and Times collection of photographs that Newcastle Libraries has put on Flickr, I saw this wonderful photograph. Since it is International Women’s Day today (8th March 2010), it seemed appropriate to write about a chance and very memorable encounter I had a few years ago. I cannot recall if she told me her name, but it may have been Annie.
It was a busy lunchtime in a department store café. The rather shabby and ordinary little old lady seemed shy when I asked if she minded my sharing the table with her.
We started to chat. She apologised for ‘not speaking clearly.’ It was obvious from the way that she pronounced words that she was deaf. I assured her I was able to understand her well, and told her a little about my work. I was selecting photographs to be digitised. That day, I was looking through photographs of women working during wartime at that time she somewhat hesitantly started to tell me about her life.
Annie had been born deaf. Her family considered that no man would want to marry her because she was deaf. She had to look after her father and brothers, doing the housework and cooking. She also had to work in her father’s launderette. It was hard, physical work. Her father did not expect to have to pay her a proper wage. She lacked friends, partly because she was always busy working.
The war started. Before too long, there were not enough men to work in the factories and to fight. When they asked for women to do their patriotic duty, the little deaf laundress applied. She was put in the machine shop and, along with other women, she learned to use the lathes.
It was dirty work. She told me with a radiant smile that she had enjoyed the job. It was the one time in her life that she was the same as the other women her age. The machine shop was so noisy that nobody could hear anyone else talk, so they all had to talk in sign language or by lip-reading. She was just ‘one of the girls.’
The photograph above shows some of the women Annie quite possibly knew. It was the image I had in mind when she was describing her work in the Vickers Armstrong factory to me. She told me about the importance of keeping hair out of the way. Hair falling loose and down towards the metal lathe would be lethal. Those headscarves, tightly twisted, were for practical reasons, not fashion. The scarves protected the women from getting hair trapped in machinery. Hair could drag skulls into machinery before any fellow workers even noticed.
After the war, the men came back so the women were no longer needed to work in the factory. Annie had to go back to working in the launderette and being unpaid servant to her family, and to social isolation again.
Finally, our teapots were totally drained and cold, and we put our coats on to leave the department store café. Annie looked at me with bemusement and admitted that she had never told anybody her story, and was not sure why she had told me. I smiled and suggested that it was because I wanted to hear it.
I have always wished I had hugged Annie. She had spent most of her life feeling alone because of attitudes to her deafness. She was not bitter, however. She simply treasured the brief time during World War 2 when she had been in an environment where she was the same as other women.
I hope that when you look at the little old ladies you see every day in the street, in cafés, on the bus, that you will consider that they may have fascinating, extraordinary tales to tell about their lives.”
Janet E. Davis
The blog post is available here.
You can view more images from the Tyneside Life and Times Collection on Flickr.
Venture again into London’s murky underworld with Inspector William Monk in Anne Perry’s latest novel Execution Dock.
Anne’s career as an author began in 1979 when she published the first of many succesful Victorian detective novels. The William Monk series began later in 1990.
Anne says, ‘I have continued with the Victorian mysteries because I have come to love both the characters and the period. I like the contrast between glamour and squalor, the endless variety in the capital of Empire, largest port in the world, with men and goods for every quarter of the earth, and the immense energy of optimism’ (http://www.anneperry.net/aboutanne).
Anne spoke to us when she visited City Library last week and you can listen to the interview below. Find out more about Anne Perry on her website.
Mara Menzies is passionate about sharing African folktales from her childhood and had great fun at City Library entertaining children from Moorside School. Mara grew up in Kenya where she heard first-hand the stories which exposed the rich cultural tradition of African beliefs and values. Find out more about Mara by visiting her website, Toto Tales, or listen to the podcast below.
Julia Soares McCormick delighted us with her beautiful renaissance costumes at her recent fashion show at City Library. Julia has a background in theatre studies and the arts having completed her degree at Nottingham Trent University and then going on to work on the costume design of theatre companies across the country. Julia creates gowns, corsets and accessories including jewellery, headdresses and fans. She has designed unique one-off costumes for theatre productions and masquerade balls.
Before designing a gown, Julia researches many sources including literature, films and portraits. She drafts her design using an historical pattern as a basis and then makes a toile. A toile is a garment made up in cheap fabric such as cotton so that alterations and experiments can be made. After completing the design it usually takes from 2-3 weeks to complete a gown depending on its complexity. Julia then designs the accessories when the dress is complete.
You can listen to Julia talk about her work in the podcast below and there is a video of the dresses she presented on YouTube.
Don’t miss the opportunity to have a free tour of City Library and the Lit and Phil. Places are free but you must book by phoning 0191 2774100 or emailing information@newcastle.gov.uk.
Tuesday 13 April
11am – Meet at City Library for a tour of the building
12noon – Break for lunch
1:30pm – Meet at the Lit & Phil for a tour of the building and an introduction to the music collection
Saturday 17 April
11am – Meet at the Lit & Phil for a tour of the building and an introduction to the music collection
12noon – Break for lunch
1:30pm – Meet at City Library for a tour of the building
The Lit and Phil and Newcastle City Library have come together to present a series of five lunchtime concerts. No booking is required, just turn up.
Thursday 22nd April, 1:10pm – 2:00pm
Vocal music, with Mary Houlton & Erla Nolso
Venue: Lit & Phil
Sunday 25th April, 1:10pm – 2:00pm
Folk music, with fiddle band Flash Company
Venue: City Library
Thursday 6th May, 1:10pm – 2:00pm
Folk music (details to follow)
Venue: Lit & Phil
Sunday 16th May, 1:10pm – 2:00pm
Classical guitar music, with Kirill Gara
Venue: City Library
Thursday 20th May, 1:10pm – 2:00pm
Flute music, with Rebecca Chalmers
Venue: Lit & Phil
Bookstart Book Crawl takes place in all libraries across Newcastle until 19 June 2010. Book Crawl is for children aged between 0-5 years and encourages a love of books and reading.
Each time children visit the library to borrow books they will be given a colourful sticker for their collectors card. Once they have four stickers they will receive a bright, fun certificate designed by a popular illustrator. There are three different certificates to collect.
Ask to get involved at your local library or ring 0191 2774100 for more details.
For the past few months I have been working with a group of colleagues from across Newcastle City Council to help refresh the look and feel of the Council website. Although our website recently received a top rating of 4 stars in a SOCITM report called Better Connected 2010 (which compared council websites across the country), we have been looking at ways to make it easier for people visiting our site to find what they want. Work is now progressing well and we hope to be ready to unveil the new Council website at the end of March. This will just be the first stage in a series of improvements.
I have also been working with colleagues at Fenham Library to install self-service facilties at the end of March. This will mean that Fenham will benefit from the same technology as City Library and it will be easier than ever to use the library. The excellent staff at Fenham will still be on hand to help customers get used to the new service. At the same time our Home Delivery Service will also be moving from Brinkburn to Fenham. The Home Delivery Service take library materials like books and audiobooks to the homes of residents who can no longer visit a library. It’s a valued part of Newcastle Libraries that is much appreciated by the people using it.
It will soon be easier than ever to reserve items with the introduction of online reservations. We are currently working with our library catalogue suppliers to introduce a much more streamlined system for book, CD and DVD reservations. It will notify you by email that your item has arrived and is waiting to be collected at library of your choice.
I have recently been to a meeting in London with a group of publishers to discuss the lending of e-books. A number of library authorities are now starting to loan e-books, which can be downloaded onto a variety of handheld devices. We hope to be launching a trial e-books service in Newcastle in the not too distant future. If you think e-books are a good idea (or not) we’d love to hear from you.
I’m off to Iceland for a couple of days for a short break. I’m going to try to find some examples of Icelandic libraries (well I will be wearing an anorak!) and if I do, I’ll post some pictures on the blog when I get back.
Please get in touch if there is anything you would like to say about the library, good or bad. I’d be delighted to hear from you.
David Fay
City Libraries Manager
david.fay@newcastle.gov.uk
Fenham Library will be closed for one week from 22 – 28 March. This is to enable the installation of self-service terminals and to relocate the Home Delivery Service. During this time there may be some slight disruption to the Home Delivery Service however we will do our best to keep this to a minimum.
The library will open again as normal on Monday 29 March.
For renewals or for further information phone 0191 2774100 or email information@newcastle.gov.uk
