A woman's work...?

Do you remember the times when washday was always on a Monday, or when a proud housewife never failed to donkey stone her front step?

If the answer is "yes" - then you are welcome to join us for a morning of reminiscence at Alkrington Library.

(And if the answer is "no" you're still welcome!)

Thursday 29 April 2010 at 10.30 am (refreshments served from 10 am)

Celebrating Rochdale's Literary Heritage

Rochdale has a rich heritage of authors who have written in Lancashire Dialect or about Rochdale life. John Collier, who wrote as "Tim Bobbin," is said to have started the tradition locally and the tradition continues today with organisations such as the Edwin Waugh Dialect Society and local writers who include: Mark Hodkinson, Trevor Hoyle and Nicholas Blincoe.

Touchstones, Rochdale is celebrating our literary heritage with the exhibition "History, Mystery and Myth: Local stories and storytelling," which runs until September 2010.

Link4Life is also running a series of creative writing workshops, drawing inspiration from material in the collections at Touchstones, Rochdale.

Link4Life: Literary Tradition - including links to the exhibition and related workshops

Lancashire writing on the Web Catalogue - Lancashire dialect writing and local authors

The Edwin Waugh Dialect Society

Some local dialect authors

• Tim Bobbin - "the Lancashire Hogarth."
  
• John Trafford Clegg - "Th'owd Weighver."
  
• Oliver Ormerod .
  
• Edwin Waugh

Contact

Touchstones Rochdale
The Esplanade
Rochdale OL16 1AQ
Telephone: 01706 924492

Local History meetings at Heywood Library

Heywood Library has a Local History meeting on the third Monday of each month.

The next meeting is on 18 Jan 2010 at 6pm and will feature a talk by Sheila Hill on “A History of Queen’s Park.”

At the February meeting we shall be looking at Ancestry.com and using the Microfilm Reader to look at Census returns.

The meetings are free and there is no need for you to book ahead.

‘Tell My Story’ Event’

Middleton Library held a ‘Tell My Story’ event on Tuesday 2nd June. We wanted to showcase some of our local studies materials, to encourage people to write down their memories and to have an enjoyable social morning.

• Local residents, Alice Mellalieu-Campbell and Albert Findlow came to talk about their autobiographies.
• We pulled out all the books from our collection which give first hand accounts of people’s lives in Middleton.
• We had representatives of the ‘Middleton Memories’ reminiscence magazine and a member of Langley Library writing group.

All those who attended had a good time and left positive comments.

We were disappointed that we didn’t attract more people. We would have liked to attract some younger people and some who were new to the local studies service. We suspect the theme of the event was a bit off putting (people seem to have thought they would have to contribute).

When we hold similar events in future we will use more publicity and direct it more toward younger people to see if we can encourage them to join in.

Tell Your Story

Do you have a story to tell?

Samuel Bamford was the first to publish his account of everyday life in Middleton. In his diaries published in the 1840’s, he describes the daily life of the local handloom weavers, the customs and celebrations which they enjoyed and their struggle for political reform.

In her biography, Alice Mellalieu-Campbell describes working in the Middleton Junction jam works in the 1930’s. Basil D’Oliveira wrote about the welcome he received from local folk when he joined Middleton Cricket Team in 1960. Helen Tse wrote “Sweet Mandarin” in order to tell the story of her grandmother, Lily Kwok, who opened the first Chinese restaurant in Middleton in the 1950’s. And not forgetting Alfred Howarth’s ‘Memories of a Middleton Moonraker’, his
recollections of life during the twenties and thirties.

All these books are available in the local studies section at Middleton library. We also have a wealth of unpublished accounts of local people’s lives.

Do you have memories of day to day life or significant events in Middleton history? If so we would like to invite you to a “Tell your Story” event at Middleton Library on Tuesday 2nd June from 10 – 12pm.

Come and view these first hand accounts of Middleton life.

• Alice Campbell will be there to tell people how she wrote her autobiography and had it published.
• The ‘Memories of Middleton’ Team will also be present. They can tell you how to write a short article for their magazine.
• Why not write a page or two and bring it with you. We will also have a member of a local writing group to tell you about the group she attends and maybe advise you on how to write your own life history.

Everyone is welcome to attend. Refreshments provided. Please phone Middleton library on 643 5228 to book your free place.

A morning of memories

Langley Library held a Langley Schools Reminiscence Morning this morning.

Thirty people attended the event, including past employees and pupils of the schools. Mr. Little, the presenter, kept everybody's attention and had them laughing at some of his anecdotes.

A display of photographs from the Local Studies Collection helped to support the event.

Memories of Langley

We are inviting local people to attend a ‘Morning of memories’ on Friday 29 February 2008 at the new Langley Library in partnership with Cartwheel Arts. The library, now part of the Langley Children’s Centre on Windemere Road is hosting the event to capture memories from those who have lived or worked in Langley over the years.

Maria Payne, one of our librarians working in Middleton Library, and Kim Haygarth from Cartwheel Arts will be happy to note your memories whilst you enjoy a cup of tea or coffee and a chat. Don't worry if your memory is less than perfect, we will have photographs to spark your recollections! Kim will also help put your memories into poetry or prose.

We are also asking for you to bring your photographs of life on the estate. Cartwheel Arts are producing a book around ‘Life on Langley’, so if you are a budding writer this is an opportunity to get your words in print, although everyone is welcome even to just listen and see the new library for yourself.

The ‘Morning of Memories’ is between 10am and 12noon on Friday 29 February 2008. Anyone not able to attend can write their memories and send to Langley Library, Windermere Road, Middleton, M24 3PY or to Kim by email.

More events planned!

The event is the first of many at the new Langley Library. On 3 March 2008 the monthly Reading Group will meet between 2pm and 3pm to discuss ‘Lancashire Legacy’ by local author Anna Jacobs. Complimentary copies of the book are available from the library, so collect yours from Langley library now!

Middleton Library

Middleton Library is an historic building dating from 1889 situated in a pleasant Victorian park (opposite The Old Boar’s Head pub) within the town’s conservation area.

Access to the ground floor Adult Lending Library & Reading Room is via a steep cobbled ramp plus several steps. The Reference/Local Studies & Children’s Libraries are situated on the first floor, accessed via a staircase. Our friendly, helpful staff, recognising the difficulties presented by the library’s layout do all they can to assist those with limited mobility. If you require help, don’t hesitate to ask.

Limited free parking is available immediately next to the building.

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Adult Readers
In addition to the wide range of constantly replenished fiction & non-fiction stock that you would expect from a central library we also offer for example, books in large print, books on tape, graphic novels, audio “learn a language” packs, a selection of local & national daily newspapers & materials for those wishing to improve their literacy & numeracy skills.

Looking for something new? - check out our Author Of The Month display.

No time to browse? - try our Quick Choice selection.

No need to buy the latest bestseller - we have multiple copies available free of charge.

Book Sale – a varied selection of ex-library stock is always available at very reasonable prices. Pop in & pick up a bargain.

Free Reservation service – Any item on the library catalogue can be reserved free of charge from this website, in person or over the phone.

Please ask any member of staff for details about services for housebound customers & those with special needs. For example, our Talking Book Club, offering unabridged popular titles in cassette form for the visually impaired & those who have difficulties with other formats (visits every 3 weeks.)

Middleton Reading Group – meets in the library once a month on Monday evenings 6-7.00pm to discuss a chosen book.

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Children & Young People
We have a very well stocked & self-contained Children’s Library offering something for all ages from babies to teenagers. A study area provides a quiet space for homework, whilst our information & reference sections cover the full range of National Curriculum subjects. Story packs, offering a picture book & accompanying audio tape can be borrowed free of charge.

An under 5s’ storytime, which includes a simple craft activity, takes place every Thursday at 2.00pm during school term times. All young children & their parents & carers are welcome.

Young library members wishing to use our free, filtered Internet access for fun, homework, word processing & e-mails, can join the Young Surfers Club. Please ask staff for an application form.

Look out for free fun events throughout the school holidays, including the Summer Reading Game.

Local schools, nurseries & playgroups are very welcome to visit by prior arrangement.

A collection of new & classic picture books, pop-up books & simple non-fiction for pre-schoolers is available for loan to nurseries, playgroups & registered childminders. Please ask for further details.

During school term times the Children’s Library opens at 2.00pm. However a selection of picture books is available downstairs in the reading room for those with young children who prefer to visit in the morning.

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Reference & Local Studies
We have a well-stocked reference collection including encyclopaedias, business directories, phone books, advice guides & maps. A coin-operated photocopier is available & we also offer a fax service.

Local History resources for the Middleton area include an extensive collection of photographs featuring Middleton streets, buildings, town centre, etc; books & pamphlets on the history of Middleton; local maps; historical register of electors. The Middleton Guardian newspaper since earliest dates is available on microfilm. For family historians we have the Middleton parish registers & census records on microfilm. Please ring to book a reader. We offer free access to Ancestry.com via our public access computers.

A member of the Manchester & Lancashire Family History Society holds a drop-in advice session on Monday afternoons between 2-4.00pm.

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Computers
Computers (some with scanner), offering free access to the Internet, e-mail, word processing etc. are available & can be pre-booked. Colour printing costs just 10p per copy. You don’t even need to be a library member!

Need some help setting up an e-mail account or just need someone on hand to boost your confidence if you’re new to the net? Why not try one of our popular “Free ‘n’ Easy” sessions which are held every 2 weeks on Tuesday mornings from 10-12.00pm. No need to book – just drop in. Our friendly, knowledgeable staff will prove to you that computers don’t bite! Please ask for details of the next session.

From time to time, we also host special “Silver Surfer” events and taster sessions for beginning your family history on the web.

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All the staff at Middleton Library will make you feel most welcome, so come & visit us soon & we promise you won’t be disappointed!

Co-operative history

The Rochdale area is famous for its historic links with the co-operative movement, including the Rochdale Pioneers and the formation of the Co-operative Wholesale Society.

We put a lot of material on the Co-operative Movement onto the old version of the Rochdale Council web site as part of our New Opportunities Fund funded digitisation project.

That material has now been successfully migrated to the Leisure Trust's Link4Life web site, which houses Rochdale's Local Studies pages.

The Local Studies Portal now includes a section providing detailed links to these pages as well as preset searches of the Library Catalogue for materials in the Co-operative Collection and the Local Studies collections and a selection of preset searches of the Newspaper Index.

The Co-operative Collection

Rochdale was the birthplace of the Co-operative Movement, and home of the Rochdale pioneers. The Wheatsheaf Library has a collection of material on the subject of co-operation.

The collection holds nearly 1,500 items, published from 1829 to date, relating to co-operation both in the UK and internationally. There are books; pamphlets; yearbooks; bound volumes of newscuttings; and also the weekly paper "Co-operative News." Material charts the birth of the Co-operative Movement in Rochdale and the history and development of co-operative societies around the world to the present day

A small number of the books may be available for loan for a short period, if there are duplicate copies. Otherwise, the material is available for use in the reference library only.

Newspaper Index update

The Newspaper Index is a catalogue of newspaper cuttings and articles held on microfilm in our local studies collections. The Index started as a project in Middleton Library in the 1980s; in the late 1990s we started transferring the data in the old card index to the searchable database that's part of the Community Resources Module of our Dynix library management system. As part of the NOF-funded digitisation project we worked on with Local Studies a few years ago we expanded the remit of the Index to include material from across the Borough and to make a special effort to get most of the original work online. At the moment there are just over eighty thousand entries. There is still a considerable way to go (especially as more articles are being added to the Local Studies collections every week).

The Newspaper Index is available online as part of our Web Catalogue. We've just updated some of the pre-set searches on the "Themes" page. This includes a new list of locality-based searches. These are searches for articles about places around the Borough (as opposed to articles that just mention locations in their text). It's early days yet for parts of the Borough as we're still catching up with 150 years or more of material.

If you're interested in seeing some of the other material derived from the digitisation project, have a look at the Link4Life web site.