Christmas crafts events

If you missed our Christmas crafts for children event at Widnes library on Saturday, don't worry. You can still take them to the session at Runcorn. It's on Monday 20 December and starts at 11.00am.

Our picture shows two of our library staff helping children to make gifts and decorations for the special day.

Exploring Halton’s Collections

Halton Lea Library is currently home to a display of fascinating objects from the public collections of Halton.

The current theme is ‘royal events and visits’. The theme will change to ‘war’ on 5 January and ‘work and play’ on 25 January. You can see more of the collections at Norton Priory Museum and Gardens, Catalyst Science Discovery Centre and Runcorn Town Hall.

Cataloguing of the collection has been possible with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund. There are over 2,500 objects and the catalogue will be published during Spring 2011.

Book of the year event postponed

Because of the bad weather we're having at the moment, we thought it best to postpone the 'Book of the year' event. It was due to be held at Halton Lea library tomorrow at 7.00pm. We're very sorry if this has caused any inconvenience.

Please stay posted and we'll let you know the new date as soon as we've made the arrangements.

Christmas crafts

CHRISTMAS CRAFT FAIR

Our Christmas craft fair will give you fun and easy ideas for homemade gifts and decorations.

Halton Lea library - Saturday 4 December 1am to 3pm

CHRISTMAS CRAFTS FOR CHILDREN

Come along to one of our special sparkly Christmas 'make and take' sessions.

Widnes library - Saturday 11 December from 11am.

Runcorn library - Monday 20 December from 11am

Back by popular demand

Did you miss our internet taster sessions? We had so much interest that we've scheduled another. It's at Widnes library on Friday 10 December at 10.00am. Just to remind you that you don't need any experience and we will get you started on the government's new webite called 'My guide' which is aimed at people who are completely new to the Internet. If you'd like to book a place, just come in and see us or call us on 1051 907 8383. Don't be shy!

Christmas style event 25 November

Looking to make the perfect fashion statement this Christmas? Come along to Halton Lea library and meet style guru Tanya Arturi who will help you choose the perfect outfits for the party season. Also featuring 'Bambu' Runcorn.

The event is on 25th November at 7.00pm and refreshements will be available

TWO for ONE offer on AV items

Every day from now until the end of December, if you borrow one audio visual item from the library (that usually incurs a charge), you'll get a second one completely free.

Instead of visiting your local store, why not pop in and see what we have in stock. You never know what else you might find that's absolutely free to borrow!

My guide

As part of the 'get online' initiative, Halton libraries recently invited members of the public along to computer taster sessions at Widnes and Halton Lea libraries.

The theme of the sessions was an introduction to the government's new website called my guide which is designed to "help people take their first steps in computers and the internet."

If you missed out, click here to check out how easy it is to get started

libraries @ my halton

Hello to all of you who came up to chat to us us at My Halton last friday.

Staff were on hand to talk to Halton residents about free services for library members and the many benefits of having a library card. If you missed us there, why not pop in to one of the libraries and have a chat to one of our staff members.

Two special visitors to the libraries' stand were the Mayor of Halton, Cllr Marie Wright and the Mayoress, Mrs Sheila Walsh.

Book of the Year 2010

The short list for Halton Libraries' book of the year has been announced and here it is:

Matthew Lampin - Devil’s Acre
Plampin’s historical research is impressive, as is his command of detail. He has a true gift of descriptive power.

Maggie O’Farrell - Hand That First Held Mine
O'Farrell has a remarkable ability to convey the texture of human emotion with precision. She demonstrates a masterful gift for storytelling'

Kathryn Stockett - The Help
A wondrous novel about three unforgettable women. A glorious read, daring, vitally important and deftly handled.

Justin Cronin - The passage
This is a 'fantasy epic' for people who either don't like them or have never read one. Imagine Danielle Steel had written The Stand and you'll get some idea

Anthony Quinn - Rescue Man
In a novel of cinematic denouements, Quinn has reclaimed an intriguing chapter of Liverpool's past'. The narrative is elegantly constructed.

Lee Child - Worth Dying For

In Child's exciting 15th thriller featuring one-man army Jack Reacher (after 61 Hours), Reacher becomes embrolied in a situation tailor-made for his blend of morality and against-the-odds heroics.

You can vote at one or our libraries or online here. The winner will be announced at our special book of the year event at Halton Lea library on Thursday 2 December at 7pm.

Poetry reading group - Widnes library

Do you enjoy poetry? Come along to our friendly and informal poetry reading group which is held at Widnes library on the last Thursday of every month between 7pm and 8pm.

Author to sign FREE books at Widnes - 23 October

Local author Sarah Oliver will be signing FREE copies of her first biography ‘Robert Pattinson A-Z’ in Widnes library on Saturday 23rd October at 2pm. "I'm really looking forward to being back at the library because I worked there for two years whilst I was at university. I would never have imagined back then that I'd be doing a book signing.”

Sarah wrote Robert Pattinson in September and secured a deal after only two weeks. Sarah says: “I was shocked how quickly I heard back. I was expecting to have to wait months for a reply. A few weeks after getting the deal I travelled down to London to meet Robert Pattinson in the Dorchester hotel for a press conference. I was really, really nervous but I enjoyed having the opportunity to meet him and ask him anything I wanted. I also met New Moon director Chris Weitz and Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner. I also met lots of top journalists whilst I was there, the reporter from OK magazine was really nice.

“It was a dream come true.”

“I’m really thankful to my husband Jon and my parents who have supported me every step of the way. My mum in particular has always encouraged me to read a lot and to write and she gave me the desire to try and get my book published.”

Sarah’s other books are Glee A-Z, Taylor Lautner A-Z and The Wanted A-Z.

Get online week 18 - 24 October

Are you terrified of computers but have always wanted to get online? Next week is 'Get online week'.

As part of this national initiative, Halton Libraries are offering two-hour taster sessions for Internet novices. There will be one at Widnes library on Wednesday 20 October at 10.00am and one at Halon Lea library on Thursday at 2.00pm.

To book a place, call in and see us or phone Widnes on 907 8383 or Halton Lea on 01928 704455.

Railway collection open day

The railway history day at Widnes library, drew plenty of interest from railway enthusiasts and an interested public. There was particular interest in the model railway exhibition and exhibition of photographs of local railway history. This was accompanied by a talk from Paul Wright, author of Lost Termini of North West England.

Paranormal week - 18 to 22 October

Are you interested in ghosts, tarot, dowsing, Angel cards, astrology and things that go bump in the night? If you are, or if you're not sure but want to learn more, then come along to our Paranormal week.

There will be talks, demonstrations, workshops and much more. For a full programme of events, click here.

Members of Paranormal Investigation Groups: Eximius & Para-Projects will be available every afternoon and evening to answer any questions you have about paranormal investigation, or to listen to your stories about anything paranormal you may have experienced and wish to share.

Are you brave enough? See you there.

Viking Day - 9 October

Meet the warriors, traders and storytellers from the Vikings of Wirhalh Skip -Felag as they demonstrate life 1000 years ago.

There will be hands on activities including spinning, grinding corn, making Viking coins or test your combat skills against a Viking warrior.

If you're looking for excitement, realism, atmosphere, action and a family great day out - Viking Day has it all!

9th October
Halton Lea Library from 11 o’clock

Railway collection open day – 2 October

Did you know that Widnes library is the custodian of a nationally-renowned collection of books and videos about the railways of Great Britain?

Discover our railway heritage though this extensive and unique collection at our open day on Saturday 2 October between 11am and 3pm. There will be a model railway display as well as a talk at 1pm by Paul Wright, author of Lost termini of north-west England. Paul will have copies of his book for sale. For the children, there will be craft activities with a railway theme.

Coming up in October

Black history month
Continuous exhibition during all of October at Widnes library

Paranormal week
18 to 22 October at Halton Lea library

Events for readers
6 October, 6pm at Widnes library

Teen Lit festival
23 to 29 October. Various events at Widnes and Halton Lea libraries

Under 16s public library user survey
11 to 16 October during opening hours at all libraries

Get online week
20 October, 10am at Widnes library and 21 October, 2pm at Halton Lea library

For full details of these events please pick up our 'what's on' leaflet from one of the libraries.

Never too young!

Children are never too young to start loving books and they're never too young to join the library.

Come along to one of our libraries and find out about the benefits libaries hold for your children like our regular rhyme-time sessions and other events we have from time to time.

And just for fun, we've designed a brand new libary card just for our youngest members.

Farnworth heritage walk

Fifty-two people enjoyed our heritage walk last Friday despite the rain. Barry Horabin led the walk. It was fascinating to hear the history of this ancient village.

The village is really the heart of Widnes. The church was celebrating a flower festival and we could not have chosen a better time to see this Norman church in all its glory.

It was fascinating to hear how many famous people claimed Farnworth as their home. There was Richard Bancroft who during the reign of King James 1 became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1604, Ludwig Mond, whose second son Alfred founded ICI and became the future Lord Melchett and Roy Chadwick the creator of the famous WW2 Lancaster bomber.

A great day was had by all.

Family history event

Halton Libraries recently hosted an ‘Introduction to census and certificates’ event for people interested in researching their family tree. Linda Clarke, from Cheshire Record Office, talked to attendees about birth, marriage and death certificates and also census returns.

Family history is becoming more and more popular, with programmes such as ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ promoting genealogy. However, it is often difficult to start from scratch so this event aimed to provide an insight into how to begin your family tree.

Linda demonstrated many websites to attendees, some available free of charge and some available free through Halton Libraries, such as the popular Ancestry website. Individual questions were also answered; helping people who had begun their family tree research but had become stuck. She also demonstrated how to use the different websites to find out more information about families, using famous Widnesian Thomas Mottershead’s family.

Halton Libraries subscribe to the Ancestry and Findmypast websites, both of which contain census & births, marriages and death indexes. Visit any library in Halton today to find out more about accessing these websites.

Halton Libraries Teen Literature Festival

Why not join us at the Halton Teen Literature Festival?

Our feature event is a vote for your favourite book from the six that have been shortlisted. And just to help you, here is a bit about each book

Julie Hearn - Rowan the Strange
Rowan didn’t mean to scare his sister. He knows he’s a bit different but is he dangerous? In his right mind he wouldn’t hurt a fly. They say that there’s somewhere he can go to get his mind fixed. What experiments will he be subjected to?

Patrick Ness - The Ask and the Answer
What would it be like if everyone could hear your thoughts? Tod has escaped the nightmare of this constant noise and now he is carrying the dreadfully wounded Viola straight into the hands of the enemy. They are separated and he is imprisoned. What will he do?

Terry Pratchett - Nation
A giant wave destroys the entire nation. Mau seems to be all alone after losing his family and friends. But he meets Daphne, the daughter of a colonial Governor who has survived a shipwreck. How will they get on in this new world?

Louise Renison - Are these my basoomas I see before me?
Will Georgia escape the cakeshop of luuurve? Will the Sex God pop up again unexpectedly? And what about the accidental snogmaster? This is the last instalment of Georgia’s hilarious diary. Oh, so many boys – which will she choose?

Tim Bowler - Bloodchild
Will lies in a deserted lane. He only knows that he’s had an accident and his life is slipping away. He survives! But he’s lost his memory. He knows the truth is out there – but where?

Marcus Seddgwick - Revolver
The year is 1910 and it’s a cabin near the Arctic Circle. Sig is all alone except for his father who died earlier that day after he fell through the ice. There’s a knock at the door and a man there holding a gun. What happens next?

You can vote at here, at our online survey or why not meet our Facebook friends and vote there?

The winner will be announced at Widnes library on Wednesday 27th October at 6.00pm.

We’d love to see you there!

Pages Ago

Pages Ago is a new history promotion taking place in public libraries across North West England from May to November 2010. The promotion includes a varied range of author visits, readers’ days and events with a historical theme.

To promote reading Pages Ago has paired up fiction and non-fiction books to appeal to a wide range of readers. So, for example, Robert Harris’ foreboding thriller, Pompeii, is recommended alongside Simon Baker’s critically acclaimed, Ancient Rome, which explores the rise and fall of the first super power. Pages Ago would love to receive reviews on any of the promoted books or suggestions of other interesting pairings which could be included in the promotion.

Pages Ago also includes ‘Flashback Fiction’ a writing competition open to anyone living in the North West. Simply weave a historical tale of no more than 500 words and submit on-line at www.time-to-read.co.uk The winning entry from the region will receive £100. Budding younger writers can enter the under 16’s section to win book tokens. Local prizes will also be offered. A pick of the best entries will be published on the Time to Read website.

Read all about the launch in Liverpool at jane-time-to-read.blogspot.com

Fire Fighters in the Library

The day started with our rhymetime session but with a difference. This session was hosted with Carla Higgins from HLE library and FF Nick Bryson from our local Runcorn and Cheshire fire station. FF Nick visited HLE library with other FF members to highlight awareness of fire safety within the home. Runcorn and Cheshire FF’s visit many schools within the borough and run many projects such as RESPECT for teenagers as well as the Runcorn and Cheshire cadets and the Prince’s Trust project.

Visiting HLE is a significant integration initiative for both Library and Fire services to highlight what each service and resource provides.

The Rhymetime was a complete success; the children had a lovely time singing FF themed nursery rhymes and listening to ff books like Hugo the flying fireman and fireman sam. The children also enjoyed ff themed crafts and colouring in. FF Nick joined in with all the activities and answered any questions raised from the children.

The FF’s had a stand set up in the coffee bar for the day and gave advice to anyone with questions relating to fire safety, they also booked appointments to visit homes within the community and asses safety issues.

Two lectures were also held by the FF’s; the first was a prevention, detection and vulnerable people talk hosted by Steve Twigg who is the lead advocate for the FF service. The lecture highlighted things that are easily overlooked within the home that can become a danger to young and vulnerable people things like candles burning through acrylic baths (keep in candleholders or trays). Also materials such as oxygen in the home can have devastating impacts when mixed with flammable products, even products not considered flammable can become dangerous when combined with oxygen saturation. Steve also demonstrated Fire detectors used by people with hearing and visual difficulties called the Fire Angel. Overall this was a very interesting lecture and Steve received many enquiries as a result.

The second lecture was hosted by Kate Pope from Halton Borough Council’s environmental health department who discussed bonfires and the law both public and private. Kate also talked about the dangers of dark smoke and how to detect and report in to the department. Again another interesting lecture of great benefit to the public and FF’s.

The day lasted until 4pm with FF’s at the stand giving out valuable advice and fun FF freebies for children and informative leaflets for the public.

Children's services

Halton libraries is very proud to have possibly the world's youngest library member on it's books! Noel Harris, a janitor at Halton Lea library, signed his little grandson, Charlie Harris, up to the library services when he was just 8 hours old! In an article in The Liverpool Echo, Noel says 'My whole family understands the importance of reading and the earlier children get comfortable around books the better'.

We totally agree with what Noel says and have lots of events for little ones. 3 of our libraries hold Rhymetime events, a fun time for little tots to be read a story, sing songs and play games. Rhymetime is held at the following times:

Ditton Library - Every Wednesday, 10.30am to 11.30am
Halton Lea Library - Every Thursday, 10am to 11am
Widnes Library - Every Wednesday, 1.30pm to 2.30pm
 

Rhymetime is a free and fun time for kids from birth to 4 years to get involved in the library. For more info, visit the Rhymetime page on our website. We also work together with Bookstart to get children involved in the library from a very young age.
 

 
For older children, we have a great children's library area in each of our libraries, stocking the latest books for every age range. Visit our Children's Library page to find out before about the different services we can provide for children.

The TV book club

Last night saw the much awaited launch of The TV Book Club on More4. Brought to us by the woman behind the Richard & Judy Book Club, Amanda Ross, The TV Book Club is a weekly ten-part series that each week reviews a different book. If you missed the first show last night, you can still catch it on Channel 4 today at 12:05pm.

Yesterday's show covered The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters, which is described as a 'A beautifully crafted post-war ghost story.' Over the next 10 weeks, The TV Book Club will cover books ranging from thrillers, non-fiction, humour and everything inbetween. For a full list and more details of the books that will be discussed, visit The TV Book Club website here. Of course, all the books are available through Halton Libraries. Drop into your local library to pick up a copy of any of the books, or reserve them online at the Halton Libraries website.

Our Reading Groups

We’ve got some great books for our Readings Groups to get stuck into this year. With novels from renowned authors like Carlos Ruiz Zafon as well as debuts such as The Rescue Man by Liverpool author Anthony Quinn there's something to appeal to everyone.

The groups are proving really popular and several are now full, however, you can add your name to the waiting list and we'll let you know when a place becomes available or a new group is started. Contact Trudy Jones to find out more.

Here’s a sneak preview of what we’ll be reading;

The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Set in Barcelona in the early 20th century this macabre Gothic novel centres on a young journalist whose talent leads him to become a successful novelist. Before long it turns into an intricate tale of love, murder and obsession. With touches of Wilkie Collins, Dickens and even the Penny Dreadfuls - it’s a real page-turner.

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel – Winner of the 2009 Man Booker Prize. Mantel’s retelling of English history between 1527 to 1535 with Cromwell as the hero succeeds in making this well-known subject both gripping and, on occasion, shocking to the reader. It can also be very funny at times. Read Times review.

The Boy With the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne – This simple, yet hugely affecting, tale of the holocaust is told from the perspective of the 9 year old son of a Nazi commandant who is both innocent to and ignorant of what is happening around him. The Guardian describe it as a ‘small wonder of a book' - see what you think. Read Guardian review

If you would like to start your own reading group we’d love to hear from you. Please contact Janette Fleming