West Berkshire Libraries newsletter

Read the latest issue of our monthly newsletter.

To All West Berkshire Libraries customers

Welcome to our November news!

10 to 14 November is World Nursery Rhyme Week and what better way to celebrate than to have fun at one of the free Rhymetimes held every week in West Berkshire libraries.

Nursery rhymes play an important role in early childhood development, as well as being greatly enjoyable for children, parents and carers. You don't need to book for our Rhymetimes - simply come along and join in the fun.

Burghfield Common Library: every Thursday throughout the year, 10.30-11am
Hungerford Library - every Wednesday throughout the year, 10-10.30am and 11-11.30am
Lambourn Library - every Friday throughout the year, 11.30am-12pm
Mortimer Library - Tuesdays in term time, 2.30-2.50pm
Newbury Library - every Tuesday throughout the year, 11-11.20am
Pangbourne Library - Thursdays in term time, 10-10.30am
Thatcham Library - Mondays in term time, 10-10.20am and Fridays in term time, 11.15-11.35am

Theale Library - Wednesdays in term time, 11-11.30am

Introducing our Ready to Learn Kits

Ready to Learn Kits are now available to borrow for free through all West Berkshire libraries. Each kit contains three books and a range of resources and activities to help young children build skills and enjoy experiences to support them prior to starting school. They are designed to be playful and adaptable and are suitable for ages 3+.

For more information and to borrow or reserve a Ready to Learn Kit, please ask in your local library

Book Fair at Newbury Library

Drop in to Newbury Library on Saturday 15 November between 11am and 2pm to meet some of our local authors and learn about their work. Our authors cover subjects from Fantasy to Children's Fiction and Military History, so there is something for everyone. Books will be on sale too - come and shop early for Christmas!

Throughout the event, several authors will be giving short talks:

Fiction talk with Beverly Cross 11:10am to 11:25am
History and Travel with Rupert Wieloch 11:30am to 11:45am
Stories with Children's Author Debi Evans 11:50am to 12:05pm
Alternative Routes to Publishing with Andy Smithyman 12:20pm to 12:50pm
Ella's Ghost Thriller talk withSarah Harper 12:40pm to 12:55pm
Three Voices talk with Lesley Hawkins 1:15pm to 1:30pm

Come along, be inspired, and support your local literary community!

Let's Talk with West Berkshire Council

West Berkshire Council's Community Outreach Service aims to empower individuals and communities by providing early support locally, whether that's assistance with form filling, sign-posting, referrals or technology help. Residents can speak face-to-face with council officers and volunteers at the following times:

Newbury Library - Thursday 6 November, 10-11.30am
Theale Library - Monday 17 November, 3.30-4.30pm
Thatcham Library - Thursday 20 November, 9.30-11am
Burghfield Common Library - Thursday 27 November, 10-11.30am
Mortimer Library - Friday 28 November, 1-3.00pm

For more information and other dates and venues, visit Let's Talk - West Berkshire Council

New club for 11-18s

Love fishing or want to learn how to catch your very first fish? Come and join our new Fishing Club!

Fishing Club will run every Thursday at Theale Library, 3.15 to 4.15pm. We'll be chatting about cool fishing spots and share all the tips you need to make your next catch a big one.

Fishing Club is most suitable for secondary school pupils but younger fishing fans are welcome too.

Sing along with Berkshire Music Trust!

Enjoy a mixture of old favourites and songs you'll want to sing along to with Berkshire Music Trust. No experience necessary - just join in or sit and watch on the following dates:

Newbury Library - sessions for adults on 10, 17 and 24 November and on 1 and 8 December, all at 10.45-11.45am
Newbury Library - sessions for children on 10, 17 and 24 November and on 1 and 8 December, all at 9.45-10.30am
Hungerford Library on 11, 18 and 25 November and on 1 and 8 December, all at 4-5pm

Theale Library on 12, 19 and 26 November and on 3 and 10 December, all at 2-3pm

More November dates for your diary

Jigsaw Puzzle Sale - Saturday 1 November to Saturday 15 November at Pangbourne Library
Autumn Knitted Decorations Workshop: create your own decorations - Thursday 6 November, 3.30-5.30pm at Lambourn Library. Advance booking required, £2 per person
Christmas Card Making Workshop - Tuesday 11 November, 2-4pm at Thatcham Library. Advance booking required, £5 per person
Encanta Tots Pop-Up Session: a bilingual music session for young children in Spanish and English - Tuesday 11 November, 2.30pm at Mortimer Library. Book a free place with Ana: hola@encantatots.co.uk
Read with Ruby: Ruby, a Pets as Therapy dog, will be happy to listen to children read - Saturday 15 November, 10.30am-12pm at Hungerford Library
Big Book and Jigsaw Sale - Friday 21 and Saturday 22 November throughout opening hours at Hungerford Library
Period Pants Party: your chance to find out how they work and pick up free samples - Saturday 22 November, 10.30am-12pm at Thatcham Library
Decorate You Own Pencil Case - Saturday 29 November, 10.15-11.45am at Theale Library. Advance booking required. £2 per person.
Poetry in the Library: Bring your own poems or a favourite ode to read and discuss with our group - Saturday 29 November, 12.30-1.30pm at Pangbourne Library

Pop-up Libraries in November

- Leckhampstead Village Hall: First Wednesday of each month, 10am to 12pm.

- Upper Basildon, St Stephens Church: 10 November and every second Monday of each month, 10am to 12pm

- Compton Village Hall: 13 November and every second Thursday of each month, 10.15am to 11.45am

Free dual language books for children

West Berkshire Libraries work closely with the charity BookTrust, which offers a free picture book or board book for young children to all families who speak English as an additional language.

At the moment we have dual language books available in the following languages: Albanian, Arabic, Bengali, Bulgarian, Cantonese, Croatian, Czech, Dari, Farsi, French, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese (picture book only), Korean, Kurdish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malayalam, Mandarin, Nepalese, Oromo, Pashto, Patois, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Shona, Slovakian, Somali, Spanish, Swahili (picture book only), Swedish (board book only), Tagalog, Tamil, Telugu, Tigrinya, Turkish, Twi, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese, Welsh, and Yoruba.

Email library@westberks.gov.uk to ask about availability and to arrange collection of your dual language book from your nearest West Berkshire library.

Newbury Library closure on 15 and 16 December

We will shortly be conducting our regular checks of stock in all West Berkshire libraries. This is a big task, involving individual, manual scans of every book we own. To allow for this, Newbury Library will be closed for stocktaking on Monday 15 and Tuesday 16 December. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. No items will be due for return on these dates

Our e-library is always open!

Don't forget that with a West Berkshire Libraries card you can read or listen to books, e-magazines and e-newspapers for free from your computer, smartphone or tablet.

Our e-library is open 24/7, throughout the year.There are no late return fees and we are always adding titles to our collection, so keep checking to see what's new.

Download the BorrowBox app to find all of our e-library resources in one place!

Cards for Good Causes at Thatcham Library

As the festive season approaches, why not make your Christmas shopping count for more this year? Cards For Good Causes will be available at Thatcham Library this year, offering you the chance to support both charities and your local community with every purchase you make. Come and browse a wonderful selection of Christmas cards supporting a wide range of UK charities.

Our next newsletter will be out in early December.

Meanwhile you will find a full list of events and activities in libraries on our website.

Keep up with the latest news about everything that's happening by following @WBerksLibraries on Facebook and Instagram.

We look forward to seeing you again soon!