Christmas Party 2018
On Saturday 22nd December the library opened early for a few select guests for games, food, singing and fun! There was even a very special visitor who parked his reindeer outside and came in to chat with the children.
Alice In Wonderland Escape Room Event.
Time stood still in Batley Library. The Hatter had nodded off with the Dormouse at his tea party while the March Hare was away doing ‘harey things’ in the woods. Alice was nowhere to be found, but the tea party was rudely invaded by a variety of costume festooned characters. Children and adults alike were encouraged, nay forced, to chemically conjugate a cup of green tea for the Hatter to bring him round from his sleep for the quest to begin. The Hatter was woken not once, not twice, not even thrice, but fourice times from his slumber by groups of potential escapees, all of whom had entered the library with the sole intention of getting back out as quickly as their powers of riddle and puzzle solving would allow them. ‘NO ROOM! MOVE!’ cried the Hatter, and the game began.
‘SPARKLE!’ Shouted the Hatter and many did, though sadly, not all. With a forty-minute time limit to solve the six Wonderland challenges, time was short and so was the Hatter’s temper. A quest began to find number, word and directional lock combinations, collecting red rose clues as they went. The groups encountered the invisible and the visibly reversed.“Curiouser and curiouser,” a trick of the looking glass, nothing was as it first seemed. With time and the groups’ credibility running out like an hourglass with an enema, the pressure was palpable. Beads of sweat were forming on the Hatter’s forehead as the obvious was ignored in favour of the unfathomably wrong!With the mercury streaming through his grey matter, the Hatter was relieved and a little saddened by the ultimate success of every group, with the fastest group coming in two minutes under time and the slowest group coming in 25 seconds under time. No one was ultimately locked in the Library for the rest of Halloween, and all participants had a lovely tea party of their own in the basement with tea, beverages, jam sandwiches, an assortment of fancy cakes and jam tarts.
‘BRING ON THE NEXT CANDIDATES. I WANT MORE!’ exclaimed the Hatter. And he’ll get more on Saturday 15th December! Check out Ticketsource for details on tickets!
Aviva Community Fund – Voting Now Open!
We applied to the Aviva Community Fund for some funding to run adult education classes at Batley Library and the good news is, we made it through to the voting stages!
This is a project designed to deliver adult education from September 2019. This is an area that has become non existent within the local area, with people having to travel miles to enable themselves to achieve the education they would like and need at a later stage in their lives.
This will be a huge boost to our community and provide much needed skills to those benefiting from it.
The aim is for the participants to achieve a GCSE in Sciences as a stepping stone to continue studying at A level (this would be done locally too with the funding).
The money will make a difference, as it will be used to equip a classroom with an interactive whiteboard and Tablets / IT equipment, which are vital to the course criteria.
There are also course books and fees for exams, which would enable the participants to fully engage in the project.
The money would also enable the participants to take part regardless of their own financial situation / background.
We would like to encourage people to vote for this project to inject some much needed further education into the area and enable people to reach their potential regardless of circumstances.
You can sign up to vote for the project here. You get ten votes so you can use them all on our project, or spread them out amongst other worthy causes, whichever you choose!
Malcolm Haigh – This Is Your Life!
On Wednesday 1st August we celebrated the life of local historian, and Friends member, Malcolm Haigh in a special event at the library. 2018 sees the 40th anniversary of Malcolm’s book A History of Batley 1800 – 1974 and we decided that Yorkshire Day was the perfect day to celebrate. Unbeknownst to Malcolm!
With the help of the Batley Local History Group and Malcolm’s friends and family we organised a ‘This is Your Life’ event for him, where people came together to share their memories of Malcolm and what makes him so special. At the end he was presented with a painting, by local artist and Friends member Steve McGrath, a cake by Nix Catering and Cakes and, of course, a big red book!
Summer Reading Challenge 2018
The Summer Reading Challenge is here once again, and this year the theme is Mischief Makers! This year we’re headed to Beanotown to help Dennis the Menace and friends find a hidden treasure chest full of pranks.
Joining in with the fun is easy. Step one: be a child aged 4-11 (sorry grown ups!) step two: read six books over the summer holidays. For every two books you read, you will receive a reward pack with special prizes and clues to the location of the buried treasure. When you return your sixth and final book, you will be rewarded with a certificate and a shiny medal! Step three: wear your medal with pride!
The challenge starts today (14th July) and you have until the 15th September to complete it. So what are you waiting for? Get down to the library and read your first two books now!
Women’s Peace Blanket
At the moment, Batley Library is very proud to be hosting The Women’s Peace Blanket, a piece of art inspired by the life of Batley and Spen MP Jo Cox, who was killed in 2016. The blanket is the creation of artist Di Hewitt and was put together by women, mainly in the Stockton area. The aim was to bring women from different communities together to create something beautiful.
It’s display in Batley Library is the first time that the blanket has been on display outside of Stockton and we are honoured to have it.
Harry Potter Night – 23rd October 2017
The Harry Potter night organised by The Friends of Batley library on the 23rd October was a great success. Over 50 children & adults attended the event in fancy dress. It started with a sorting ceremony where the children were put in to Hogwarts houses then everyone took part in various activities including a potions class, crafts and meeting real owls. The library had it’s own version of Diagon alley where you could visit Gringotts Bank, Ollivanders and Flourish & Blotts.
Animal Agents Summer Reading Challenge 2017
This summer we have been encouraging children to take part in the Reading Agency’s Summer Reading Challenge. This year the theme was ‘Animal Agents’ and to celebrate we hosted a selection of our furry friends at the library!
There is still time to get involved before the summer holidays end, so if you’d like to take part all you need to do is return two books to the library and ask to join the Summer Reading Challenge. Finish six books and you will win a medal and a certificate!
Easter Holiday Events
The Easter holidays are nearly upon us and there is TONS of stuff going on at Batley Library over the next fortnight. Here’s your handy day-by-day guide.
Monday 10th April
- The calm before the storm. We’re open as normal for all the regular library activities.
Tuesday 11th April
- Try it Tuesday – The first of our new monthly Tuesday sessions. Each session will contain something completely different, so come on down and give something new a try! Runs 1:30pm to 3:30pm on the first Tuesday of every month. Aimed at adults.
- Rap with Rappaman! – Rappaman, aka Donavan Christopher, will be performing a selection of his poetry and hosting a workshop to inspire young writers to write their own poems. 2pm – 3:30pm, book tickets through the Pageturners Festival website. Suitable for ages 8+
Wednesday 12th April
- Modern Sculptures (plaster/modroc figures) – The Creative Arts Hub will be running this all day session where children will be encouraged to build their own sculptures. 10am – 3pm, children are asked to bring a packed lunch. Book your tickets here. Suitable for 8-12 year olds.
Thursday 13 April
- Primitive Coil Pots – The Creative Arts Hub will be running this all day session where children will be encouraged to build their own coil pots. 10am – 3pm, children are asked to bring a packed lunch. Book your tickets here. Suitable for 8-12 year olds.
- Be a Hero! With Steve Skidmore – Steve will be talking about all things heroic, be prepared to join in! 11am – noon, book tickets through the Pageturners Festival website. Suitable for ages 7-12.
Friday 14th April – Library Closed for Good Friday
Saturday 15th April
- Code Club – our weekly session designed to encourage children to learn to code. 10:45am-11:45am. Suitable for 8-12 year olds.
Monday 17th April – Library Closed for Easter Monday
Tuesday 18th April
- The Search for Wonder – a family workshop based around music run by the 154 Collective. 10am-noon. Suitable for ages 4-10, places are limited to 15 (including any supervisory adults) so book now!
Wednesday 19th April
- Modern Sculptures (Moore and Hepworth) – The Creative Arts Hub will be running this all day session where children will be encouraged to build their own sculptures. 10am – 3pm, children are asked to bring a packed lunch. Book your tickets here. Suitable for 8-12 year olds.
Saturday 22nd April
- Art Workshop with the Children’s Art School – join them to work together on a large scale art project, and make a mask to take home. 10am – noon, book tickets through the Pageturners Festival website. Suitable for all ages.
- Code Club – our weekly session designed to encourage children to learn to code. 10:45am-11:45am. Suitable for 8-12 year olds.
- Lego Club – our fortnightly Lego Club. No need to book, just show up! 2pm – 3:30pm.
Love Batley Event 10th February 2017
Friday 10th February saw our ‘Love Batley’ Event featuring a short film made by Simon Roadnight, Chair of the Friends of Batley Library Committee, where local residents extol the virtues of our town. The film is now available, in full, on Youtube.
The film was preceded by a talk from local military historian John Rumsby about two lovers during World War One, based on their old letters he found in an attic in Huddersfield. John told the story of Henry Coulter, a young tramways clerk who enlisted in 1915, and his lover Lucy Townend. As we discovered, their letters gave no real insight into the war or other military details, but they did give us a look into the hopes and dreams of two young people during this period.
If you have any ideas for events that the library could host, or talks you think we might be interested in, feel free to contact us with your suggestions, we would be interested to hear them!