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!