There’s an action-packed April planned at Balham Library! Library manager Alex Martin, previews the month ahead in his latest guest blog. Take it away Alex...

-----

Balham Library had a fantastic March with a range of exciting activities and events, from author visits to amazing International Women’s Day celebrations. We even found time to squeeze in a book sale… and were very happy to see so many of you there! April looks just as stimulating, with activities planned from Oomph! Wellness taster sessions to Rubik Cube workshops and Easter Egg Hunts, so come on down, try out an event, and check out a book (or ten!)

Easter Activities

Our fabulous children’s librarian Lucinda has put together a cornucopia of crafts and activities for the Easter break. With 10 free activities to choose from, there’s certainly something on for everyone to enjoy...

We’ll be making, designing and creating all holiday long: from a spring crafts session at 11.30 after story time on the 8th April, to a cardboard challenge afternoon from 2-4pm on the 15th, culminating in badge making from 11.30am on Thursday 18th.

The wonderful folks from Explore Learning are back as well, with two very different workshops to make learning fun. On April 10th at 4pm they’ll be turning their hand to phonics in a workshop for ages 4-6, and on April 12th at 2pm they’ll be launching their creative writing prize with a workshop designed for young writers of all ages!

For the little ones, we’ve teamed up with Balham Children’s Centre again to run two Messy Play sessions in the Library Hall. These sessions are always incredibly popular, and this Easter they will run on Friday 12th April from 10-11 and 11.30-12.30.

Cubing with Carole will be joining us on April 10th to teach the art to solving a Rubik’s Cube (I’ll be sneaking into this one - they absolutely baffle me!). This half-hour workshop is for ages 6 and will take place on the 10th April at 11am.

And finally, to wrap it up, on Saturday 20th April there will be an Easter Egg hunt and quiz running upstairs in the children’s library all day! This drop in event shouldn’t take too long, but promises to be fun, interactive… and maybe even chocolatey?!

To sign up for any of these events, or to get the full list (yes – there’s more!) just contact the library on 020 8673 1129.

Heritage Awards

Wandsworth Council and GLL have teamed up again for the 5th annual heritage awards for schools. The award aims to get key stage 2 pupils engaged with the with the borough’s history. Participants can submit written or visual work. The written element could be in the form of an essay, short story, poem or song.

The visual element could be a piece of art, short video or photography. We’ve had some wonderful work in recent years and look forward to seeing 2019s entries.

There are some big prizes up for grabs for both the school and individual participants and specially designed medals and certificates will be presented by the Mayor of Wandsworth at a special Town Hall Awards ceremony.

Make sure to get your entries in by Friday 7 June.

To find out more about the competition and to submit your entries email [email protected]

Oomph! Wellness

Something we’re really looking forward to getting involved with is running Oomph! sessions at Balham Library. Oomph! are one of Britain's leading wellbeing organisations catering for older adults, with an aim to increase fitness levels and positively change the impact of ageing. Staff had a blast with great games like chair hockey, bean-bag petanque at the training, and are hoping to share that excitement at taster sessions on the 26th April and the 3rd May. For more details and to sign-up contact the library on 020 8673 1129 or at [email protected]

Keep an eye on the council’s website and the hashtag #gettoknowyourlibrary for more news stories about the library service across the borough (even a surprise appearance on the One Show by our colleagues at Wandsworth Town Library).