by Admin | 6 Nov 2018 | featured |
Well, that was fun! We held our first event actually in the library on Sunday – a table sale of kids’ stuff, with coffee, cakes and entertainment for the kids thrown in.
The marvellous Alec and his team did a great job of getting the sale organised, tables delivered, set up and all the electricals logistics sorted. Luckily it wasn’t too gloomy a day (for November) so when the fuse blew we still had enough light to work in to get the emergency cables sorted out and the lights (and the coffee machine!) back on.
It was a very jolly event, and we made some money, and although I don’t think anyone’s going to retire on the proceeds, it was lovely to see the community come out and support the library, meet the neighbours and have a cuppa. It was particularly nice to see all the little ones in the library – we’re so looking forward to the day when we have a nice, bright, comfy, well-stocked children’s reading nook for them to enjoy, listen to stories in and discover the joy of reading for themselves.
A big thank you to Alec and Nadia, to all those who donated buns and biscuits to sell, to James from Cricklewood Coffee for his cheery refreshing beverage ser
by Admin | 11 Oct 2018 | featured |
It’s that time of year again! We’re carolling by candlelight on Sunday 16 December, from 5.30pm. We’re hoping, by then, to have a key to the library and be able to carol indoors, but failing that, we’ll be huddled round the glühwein as usual, freezing our toes off and singing lustily. It’s a great family affair, so wrap up warm, bring your candles and your reindeer horns and join us for another round of carolling in support of the library. There will be the usual refreshments of glühwein and mince pies.
If you’re up for a bit of harmony singing, email info@cricklewoodlibrary.org.uk to let me know and I’ll mail over the sheet music we’re using. Tenors and basses particularly welcome!
Some photos from last year’s extravaganza to give you inspiration.
by Admin | 10 Oct 2018 | featured, funding, latest, news |
We are over the moon to announce that we’ve been granted £125,000 by the Garfield Weston Anniversary Fund to pay for the finishing works on the library. The Garfield Weston Foundation is a family-founded charitable grant-making trust which supports a wide range of charitable activities across the UK. Established in 1958 by Willard Garfield Weston, the Foundation has donated over £960million, becoming one of the largest and most respected charitable institutions in the UK. In the last financial year the Foundation has donated over £62million. The Trustees are descendants of the founder and the Weston Family takes a highly active and hands-on approach. Over 1900 charities across the UK benefit each year from the Foundation’s grants.
We were chosen from over 2,200 applicants to the anniversary fund, which is completely amazing. Garfield Weston were particularly impressed by our level of proactivity and committment to supporting our local community.
The money will kick start the work that we’ve been dying to do for two years, ever since the building was completed. Now all we’re waiting for is a signed lease, which is in the hands of our landlords, Octavia Housing, and the lawyers. We had hoped to be in by Christmas, but it’s looking like work will start in the new year. But this is a real shot in the arm for the campaign. Thanks for sticking with it guys! Our community’s in it for the long haul!
If you want to be sure to hear about how we spend this money, make sure you head over to our mailing list and sign up. Monthly mailings always include a section on the library building.
by Admin | 1 Oct 2018 | featured, latest, library event, table day |
Grab yourself a table for a tenner and flog your unwanted kids’ stuff at our Table Sale on Sunday 4 November, 1030-1330. This exciting event will take place INSIDE THE LIBRARY, so there’ will be a chance to have a poke around and see the space.
There will be free kids entertainment from Monkey Music and Tyan Archer, and we’ll be selling cakes and refreshments. Cake donations welcome!
Entry £1 per adult with all proceeds to Cricklewood Library. Donations for sale also welcome. To book your table use the button below. You do not need an account with Paypal to do this.
Book Your Table
by Admin | 14 Sep 2018 | featured, latest |
Someone recently kindly donated to us two huge (and I mean HUGE) boxes of children’s books. They were lovely books, in good condition, despite being ‘pre-loved’ by someone’s little darlings. And there were loads of them, which is fab, as our children’s books collection is somewhat underfed. Sadly, though, instead of calling or emailing us to say there was a donation coming our way, the donor left the books outside the library. By the time I found out they were there, the local low life had started using the boxes as bins for their empty booze cans and fag packets. Not so nice.
So, the books will not be going into the library collection after all, which is a great shame.
If you have books to donate, we’d love to have them. If they’re a bit tatty, please donate them directly to any one of the pop up libraries around the borough. We have off-shoots now at Cricklewood station, Willesden Green Station and at St Catherine’s Church in Neasden. If the books are a in good nick, we’d love them for the library when it opens. Please email Sonja on books@cricklewoodlibrary.org.uk, and she’ll arrange to collect them or tell you where to bring them, whichever is most convenient.
But please, PLEASE, dear book lovers, don’t just leave books on the doorstep of the library. They’ll get ruined, and become an eyesore, which is not going to make us popular with our new neighbours upstairs in “Chronicle Heights”.
Thanks all!
by Admin | 21 Jul 2018 | featured, latest |
We’re in the news! The Brent and Kilburn Times recently covered the issues we’ve had with Octavia Housing taking forever to complete the remedial works we need in order to get into the library and begin our fit out. They were supposed to start at the beginning of the year and take just a few weeks, but here we are nearly in August and we’re none-the-wiser about when they’ll be finished.
