Spooks and Books at Balderstone Library

We had an afternoon of scary fun for children and their families this afternoon!
Justine and Maureen organised lots of crafts, games and stories. Children came in fancy dress with lots of witches, wizards, ghosts and ghoulies. And Ray came along to tell them some scary stories.

Two staff from Sandbrook Children's Centre came along to join in the fun and two food workers also came to make spooky sandwiches with the children

Maureen Watson said ' It was lovely to see so many families in the Library having such a good time. The session was really well attended with children, parents and carers making lots of things to take home.

Justine Smith said "I was thrilled with all the children who came in fantastic costumes and how successful the afternoon was."

33 adults and 51 children came to the party. Everyone seemed to have a good time and several people have already asked if we would be doing more sessions in the future.

More Halloween pictures from our libraries

Quest Seekers meet the Mayor

The Mayor of Rochdale, Councillor Keith Swift, presented the prizes for Design Your Family Shield competition and the Quest Seekers at The Wheatsheaf Library on Saturday 10 October. The children also had the chance to have their photograph taken with the Mayor and Mayoress Sue Etchells.

Before presenting the awards the Mayor spoke to the winners and their families, he said:

"It is really good to see all the winners here this morning with their mums, dads, grandparents and carers.The time and effort that you as parents put in with your children is well recognised, your support is pointing them in the right direction. Children are the future of the borough and with them the borough can progress."

The overall winner of the Family Shield Competition was Zanib Ashraf (aged 13) who was presented with an iPod Touch.

• The runners-up were Eve Whelan (aged 10) and Callum Purcell (aged 11) who won book tokens.
• Highly commended were Abigail Heslin (aged 10), Rebecca Shaw (aged 4) and George Denson (aged 5).
• Winners of the Quest Seekers prize draw were James Crompton (aged 11) who won a family day out to York Dungeon, and Danielle
  Cain (aged 8) who won a family day out to Leeds Armouries.

Well done everybody!

• More photos of the presentation

Backstage pass 1

Ever what goes on backstage with our Special Services Team? They're the people who provide the services for people with special needs, as well as the Doorstep Library Service and the Mobile Library.

Albert Shark RN joined them for a day to find out. Check out the pictures here.

Late news

Smallbridge Library recently accepted two slightly overdue Library books – one from 1978 and an earlier one from 1973.

We didn't charge hundreds of pounds in overdue fines!

Riveting Reads

To celebrate World Book Day on Thursday 5th March, we ran a book review competition called “Riveting Reads” for children across the borough. There were 2 age groups, up to 11 and 12 to 16, and children were asked to write about one of their favourite books, explaining why they like it and why others should read it too.

We had a fantastic response, receiving over 250 entries, from children as young as 5, right up to 16. Entry forms were available to pick up in libraries or could be downloaded from the council’s website but the best form of publicity proved to be contacting primary and secondary schools via the school’s intranet. Some schools really went for it and obviously had whole classes writing reviews.