Friends of Todmorden Library

Newsletter
FoTL Festival 2011 Roundup News in brief
Town Council supports Library Festival Friends of Todmorden Library would like to extend their thanks to Todmorden Town Council for awarding the group funding to cover a large proportion of the costs incurred by the library festival in October. With libraries closing across the country, it is heartening that the Council has not only so far resisted this trend but has contributed to our effort to highlight and promote the library service. For anyone who attended and ejoyed any of the events, we would like to highlight the role the Council played in making the festival happen. We have a new website!
Childrens Football Writing Session with Tom Palmer

December 2011/January 2012

The first FOTL Festival took place on the weekend of Friday 30th September until Sunday 2nd October. Weve been finding out what participants thought of the events we laid on. Read some of their comments below ...

The new FoTL website is now up and running. It is regularly updated and contains news about libraries locally and further afield. Go to friendsoftodmordenlibrary.org.uk and take a look, and if you are on Facebook you can link to, and Like our Facebook page.

Friday Night
Poets and Pints with Cayn White: a free open mic session, held at the Queens Hotel 'There was a very varied range of topics, and different ages of participants and types of writing,' said Glenys Halliday, who had two of her poems read out during the event. 'Afterwards strangers were turning to one another and saying ''that was really good'', and there was a real sense of ''we should do this more often''.'

Ghazals: a workshop and English reading of the Urdu poetry from Winson Plowes and Nabila Jameel 'I have spoken to friends in Walsden about their thoughts on the Ghazals workshop.They enjoyed it because they had not known anything about Ghazals prior to this event,' says Elizabeth Pinkerton, who helped to organise this event. Mehndi Patterns/Hand Painting by Saira Hussain and Asia Bhatt An Asian friend of mine showed me photos of her sisters wedding and the bride having the Mendhi patterns applied to her hands and feet so it was something I felt was well worth coming to Todmorden to experience, said Veronika Murtagh who travelled from the Ryburn Valley to take part in the event. Todmorden has a diversity of communities and an event like this shows that the library provides a continues next page

About us
The Friends of Todmorden Library are a local campaigning group who aim to maximise the current use of the library, to increase the use of the library as a community resource and to resist any attempt to cut the service.

Joining us
Either use the contact form on our website or email us with your name and email address. If you would like to become involved with the Friends please indicate this in your email and include a phone number. Web: www.friendsoftodmordenlibrary.org.uk Email: info@friendsoftodmordenlibrary.org.uk

Saturday
Childrens Football Writing Session with Tom Palmer 'It was fantastic. I had fun playing football in the library', said four-year-old Louie Gordon. His mum, Jo Fowles added: 'Tom Palmer was very good. He engaged the children very well. I enjoyed the event myself.'

wonderful hub for people to come together. I found the process fascinating, and an opportunity to have a beautiful temporary tattoo which only took about 15 minutes, but lasted about 10 days. Writing for Television: Paul Mari, scriptwriter Listening to Paul talking about how much work goes into a tv script like EastEnders or Casualty was a real eye-opener, said Henrietta Bond, who writes fiction for young adults. You really appreciated the skill and flexibility needed to make a living in this field. You could write an episode based around a character then find the actor was away doing panto, had already worked their allocated hours or the relevant location for them wasnt available for filming at the time you needed. So the whole script would need to be rewritten sometimes many times over. Daddies Girls: Six Women Writers 'The range of the writing was amazing and the standard was so high,' said Lynda O'Dea, who attended this workshop of reading by the six writers. Lynda also stayed on to listen to our patron, Cate Haste talking about her book on Sheila Fell. 'I could really see why Cate was so fascinated by this woman's life. It seems that some women artists have a very hard time.' Annie, one of the members of the Women What Write Group, who performed Daddies Girls, sent the following comments: 'We were so pleased with the audience we had and the extra experience we gained ... Please convey my thanks to Steph and the rest of the team .... Also for my part, I really enjoyed Cate Haste and her illustrated talk about the artist, Sheila Fell. It had it all, didn't it? Genius, flawed beauty conquers the art world and her flame is quenched all too early. Tragic and inspirational. I really felt I'd been both entertained and educated. Brilliant evening!'

Author Tom Palmer with Lucy Sullivan (9), Ethen Cooling (9) and Finlay McGrath (8)

participants and allowed plenty of time for people to express their points of view. This event gave me a more rounded view of songwriting. Before that I though people started with the words and then created the music, but I realised there's far more than just one way to write a song...'. Avant Garde Art, an exhibition and talk with Duncan Hay, held at Water Street Art Gallery 'I really enjoyed delivering my talk for Friends of Todmorden Library. The venue chosen for the event was excellent and appropriate, and there was a lively audience

who were keen to debate the issues raised. I'd definitely return in future both as a speaker or as an audience member. ' 'It challenged my perceptions about Avant Garde art and led on to a really interesting discussion about the meaning of art in general, said Rachael Spurway, who attended this event.
Photographs courtesy of the 'The Halifax Courier'. Copies can be obtained from the Halifax Courier offices at King Cross Street, Halifax (01422) 260 277 or via their website at www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/ or direct from http://www.photostoday.co.uk/

Thank you for sponsoring the Festival in 2011

Todmorden Town Council The Polished Knob The Three Monkeys

Sunday
Poetry and Lyrics: Exploring the Connections by Andrew Creedy, held at Bare Arts This workshop had a very relaxed and welcoming atmosphere, and incorporated a lot of different ages and viewpoints,' said Glenys Halliday, who writes poems herself. 'Creedy was very responsive to the needs of

News

Sign the petition! Before the last election, the Prime Minister, David Cameron said he planned to introduce a scheme whereby any petition that raised 100,000 signatures would trigger a debate in the House of Commons. The WI wants to call on the PM to honour this commitment and would like to see every member sign their petition with their family and friends to demonstrate just how much the WI really values libraries. You can sign the petition online via the Government e-petition site. Open Letter to Calderdale Council FoTL had an open letter to Calderdale Council published in the Todmorden News. As yet we have not received any direct reply but many of you will have seen letters from Council Members in both the Todmorden News and Halifax Courier explaining the need for a new library in Halifax. Visit the Todmorden News and Courier websites to take a look. Heres the letter: BOOKS BEFORE BUILDINGS! Given Calderdales decision to axe its book buying budget for all libraries in the area, its shocking and puzzling to read of plans for a state of the art library in Halifax. Under normal circumstances a new library would be an exciting prospect. However, given the cutbacks libraries such as ours in Todmorden, are facing, how can this project be justified? Firstly, whats the point of a new library with no new books or resources to put in

it? Secondly, surely the rationale behind libraries is to provide access to books not just classics, but the very latest publications. Any money available should be put into buying reading resources. Why should a town like Todmorden, where the library is so much at the heart of our community, have to do without new books when money is being ploughed into an unnecessary new building? Our library provides a vibrant, communal space where people without the fares to travel into Halifax can and do - access the resources they need. For example: - if youre studying in Todmorden, you need easy access to new books and resources your teachers or trainers recommend - if youre living on benefits and looking for a job, you need newspapers, periodicals, company directories and skills development publications - if youre a child in Todmorden, its important to have access to the latest Jacqueline Wilson or Michael Morpurgo, before your attention is diverted away from books forever - if youre a senior citizen then you deserve to read the newspapers and the latest books, you probably cant afford on a pension. Central Library in Halifax is less than 30-years-old. Surely at this time of cutbacks it would be better to focus on consolidating and developing existing

Alan Bennetts best wishes to FoTL

Alan Bennett slams Leeds library closures Speaking at his former school, Alan Bennett told the Yorkshire Evening Post: Closing down libraries is child abuse. Youre preventing the development of children and thats monstrous really. Some families are so poor they cant afford computers, so the only way children can keep up with their fellows is with a library. When a child wants to learn, if you dont help them, youre damaging that child. WI - Love Your Libraries Campaign The Women's Institute believes it is time for communities to love their libraries; to use them and share why we value their services, and to raise awareness of the threats to their future. The WI has launched the Love Your Libraries Campaign A resolution was passed at the WI's 2011 AGM in Liverpool with a 98% majority: The Closure of Local Libraries - This meeting urges H.M. Government to maintain support for local libraries, as an essential local educational and information resource. More information and a great set of resources can be found on the Love Your Libraries Campaign webpage on the Women's Institute website.

libraries? Libraries should be living, contemporary resources for everyone - no matter where they live in Calderdale. Steph Booth, Chair Friends of Todmorden Library Our Freedom of Information Request FoTL made a Freedom of Information (FoI) Request about the cut in the Book Buying Budget this year. The request has been made through the WhatDoTheyKnow website (http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request /calderdale_libraries_book_buying) The full text of our request is as follows: Dear Calderdale Borough Council, Calderdale Libraries' Book Buying Budget We are contacting you on behalf of the Friends of Todmorden Library about the recent decision to reallocate the Book

Buying Budget. Specifically we are asking for the following information under the Freedom of Information Act: - When the decision to reallocate the budget or cut the budget was made - The amount of savings made by cutting the Book Buying Budget - How the decision was made - By whom the decision was made - Why the decision was made while the consultation on changes to Calderdale Libraries is ongoing - What factors were taken into account during the decision-making process - From what date does/did the cut start and when will the Book Buying Budget be reinstated - Which budget the money that was allocated to book buying for Calderdale Libraries has been reallocated to now the decision has been made

- Whether any of the Book Buying budget will remain allocated to libraries during the period in question above - The percentage of the overall Libraries Budget that the Book Buying Budget before the cut represented - The total Libraries Budget for 2011/12 both before and after 'in year' budget changes - Details of any additional 'in year' cuts for the year 2011/12 to the Libraries Budget designed to make savings - Details of any planned cuts in the Libraries Budget for the year 2012/13. The council have until the end of December to respond to our request. Any information supplied by the council will be published to the WhatDoTheyKnow website and to our website.

Quotes about libraries

We cannot have good libraries until we first have good librarians -- properly educated, professionally recognized, and fairly rewarded Herbert S. White When I got my library card, that's when my life began Rita Mae Brown Libraries are the one American institution you shouldn't rip off Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams Perhaps no place in any community is so totally democratic as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest Lady Bird Johnson The richest person in the world - in fact all the riches in the world - couldn't provide you with anything like the endless, incredible loot available at your local library Malcolm Forbes A good library will never be too neat, or too dusty, because somebody will always be in it, taking books off the shelves and staying up late reading them Lemony Snicket Libraries enable the past to talk to the future Edward Cornish When I discovered libraries, it was like having Christmas every day Jean Fritz