Blaenavon World Heritage Centre and Library

The library is now fully open in the Blaenavon World Heritage Centre and looking good. There's so much to see and do.

Take time out for a story in the children's library.

Get to grips with the new self service machine.

Keep up with the daily news.

Check out the teenagers' space.

Take it easy on the comfy chairs and dip into a good book.

Round it off with a visit to the cafe to enjoy some delicious refreshments and take in the gorgeous view.

Blaenavon Library Has Moved

Blaenavon Library has moved to the Blaenavon World Heritage Centre. It will be fully open from Tuesday 18 August 2015, though it has been operating a select service since 11 August.

Here's a sneak preview of the main Adult and Children's Library which will be unveiled next week.

Books Aloud! Shared Reading Groups

At one of my recent “Books Aloud!” shared reading groups we read Joanne Harris’ short story “Fule’s Gold” which appears in her anthology “Jigs and Reels”. 

This is a tale of a disillusioned teacher who believes that there are no original stories left in the world, that everything that is written is a rehash of something that has gone before. While marking a pupil’s work he realises that he may just have found the last completely new story and decides to steal it, make it his own and fulfill his lifelong ambition to be a writer. However, fate has other ideas. 

The story led to a lot of discussion among the group and reminiscence of their own school days. One lady, who has dementia, told us of her first boyfriend whom she started dating when she was just thirteen. She went out with him for years and everyone, family, friends and neighbours were convinced they would marry. As in the story, fate intervened. She went on an all girls holiday to Weymouth, met and fell in love with a sailor, and after a whirlwind romance married him much to the consternation of all those friends and neighbours who turned against her taking the side of the disappointed boyfriend. Thankfully her story has a happy ending, the sailor turned out to be her one true love and they were very happy together. 

It amazes me sometimes, the paths that sharing stories and poetry can take us down.

Library Full Of Kids

Cwmbran Library was full of kids on Saturday 25 July. Around 200 children took part in the free “Library Full of Kids” fun day.
With lots going on including circus skills, balloon modelling, story times, craft making, face painting and a treasure hunt, it certainly was a great day out! 



Holly aged 10 said “The day was amazing! I loved the treasure hunt the most. Please do it again next year.” And Kayla (9) said “I had the best time ever!”

Parents enjoyed it too, “Lots of fun for my children and a good way to get them to read more books over the summer when they are not in school”. 

Hundreds of children have signed up for the Summer Reading Challenge in Torfaen Libraries and are eagerly reading their six books and collecting their stickers and other goodies. If yours haven’t started the challenge yet, it’s not too late they still have plenty of time to complete the challenge.