Practical Workshop on Reading Aloud to Children with Ruth Carson

Does your child or grandchild love having you read stories to them? Do you want to learn how to help your child or grandchild develop important language skills? Would you like to bond with your child or grandchild through an interactive and engaging experience at the City of Tea Tree Gully Library?

Then bring your little ones and their favourite book along to the City of Tea Tree Gully’s Practical Workshop Event; ‘Reading Aloud to Children,’ featuring guest speaker, Ruth Carson. This special event will be held in part of the Reader’s Festival on Saturday, 7^th of August, 2010 from 11:00am to 12:00noon in the Children’s Area of the Library.

Ruth Carson is a foundation member of the Storytelling Guild of South Australia, as well as a member of the National Storytelling Network in the United States and the Australian Network of Storytellers. Ruth has worked in public libraries for 40 years and believes the love of reading and storytelling is the greatest gift we can give children.

There is fun for the whole family at the City of Tea Tree Gully Reader’s Festival!

Another succcessful patron purchasing excursion.

Local resident Carrie-Anne browses the shelves

Last week, fifteen lucky patrons were invited to be librarian selectors for an afternoon when the City of Tea Tree Gully Library took them on a purchasing excursion to Borders bookstore in the City.

 A team made up of our regular borrowers from all ages and with a variety of interests were invited to choose a selection of titles that the library would stock, in a range of formats. “It’s a great way for us to have direct input into what our library has,” said one participant.

Our friends at Borders were very hospitable, supplying afternoon tea and helping us find the books on the shelves. A great time was had by all and a great way for library users to have a say in what their library stocks. Keep an eye out next year when we ask for our next round of applications!

Romancing the Chinese Characters

Local resident and Tea Tree Gully councillor Joy Ricci, is launching her second non-fiction work, Romancing the Chinese Characters in Classical Chinese Poetry at a special event on Saturday June 26th. Joy’s work is a result of her PhD study, which focusses on translation and historical mis-translation of Chinese poetry. Lieutenant Governor Mr Hieu Van Le is set to officially launch the book! Come along for a taste of Eastern culture. More details are on the website.

Bus tours

How much do you know about the first settlers in the Tea Tree Gully area? Fifteen brave history fanatics braved the wet and wild weather last Saturday to find out about some of our cemeteries and the local identities buried there.

Our day started out at Golden Grove Cemetery, where unfortunately we didn’t get to spend much time due to the torrential rain. We were all glad to dry off indoors at the Golden Grove Uniting Church (above) and look at their wonderful History Week display, while listening to some facts about the church itself.

From there we headed out to Houghton Cemetery, and by then the rain had fortunately eased up. We heard stories of the Newman, Haines and McEwin families to name a few, then it was off to the Highercombe Hotel Folk Museum for a delicious home-cooked lunch.

Our final cemetery for the day was Hope Valley (below), where prominent figures such as the Wilkey and Kloepper families are buried. A fun and educational day was had by all!

Touring Tea Tree Gully

Have you ever looked at some of the old buildings in the Tea Tree Gully area and wondered about their history? Or maybe you’ve heard of some of the local pioneers from the 19th century and wanted to know more about their lives.

The Library has two Historic Bus Tours coming up that are a must for history enthusiasts. The first one will be Time Travelling in Tea Tree Gully, on Monday 24th May from 9:30am-2:30pm. It is a ‘history mystery’ tour, so as well as learning about the historical significance of the area you can collect clues and solve some mysteries along the way.

We will then have A Grave Matter – Golden Grove, Hope Valley and Houghton cemeteries. This exciting cemetery tour will be on Saturday 29th May from 10:00am-2:00pm. Come along and learn about the lives of some of those who are interred at our local cemeteries.

As with all our bus tours, a home-cooked lunch at the Old Highercombe Hotel Folk Museum is included in the cost of $25.00 per person. Bookings can be made by phoning 8397 7333.

Memory books

Along with the Photo Frame making workshops, in the April School Holidays we also ran Memory Book workshops. The highly talented and creative kids involved decorated the pages and covers of their scrapbook/memory book in a variety of ways using collage materials such as coloured paper/card, foam stickers, mottos, letters of the alphabet and stickers. Both sessions were well attended and everyone involved had a fun time producing amazing memory books to keep precious photos in.

Alway in Denial – Ray Clift’s second novel

Local author Ray Clift is launching his second novel, Always in Denial, at a special launch on May 19. Always in Denial draws on Ray’s experiences as an SA Police Officer and a Court Sheriff Officer to create a story based on those people he has met on both sides of the law. Ray describes it as a story that is as topical yet as old as mankind, featuring denial, justification and revenge. More info is on the website.

Tales of a Reformed Social Irritant – Peter Goers visits the library

ABC 891 radio host and Sunday Mail columnist Peter Goers was invited by the Tea Tree Gully Library Writers group to speak to what was a capacity crowd in the library last Tuesday morning. After arriving slightly behind schedule due to some self confessed op-shop deviations in his ‘heritage listed Volvo,’  Peter spoke with his usual inimitable approach, leading the audience through a maze of humorous past experiences, punctuated with spots of social commentary. An entertaining morning was had by all!

Cultural Extravaganza!

This year The City of Tea Tree Gully Library celebrated Harmony Day over two fabulous and fun filled weeks. In the first week of celebrations we held several Harmony Day themed Storytime sessions and Hand Decorating workshops both specifically designed for the littler members of our Community. These sessions were not only lots of fun but also educational, promoting respect, fairness, inclusion and a sense of belonging for all.

In the second week the Community was invited to an evening of culture when the Library played host to the annual Kulture Klub event. Held every year to mark Harmony Day, this event, run by the City of Tea Tree Gully Council’s Youth Development Team, is a celebration of cultural diversity featuring dance, art and cuisine from around the world. Those in attendance were treated to displays of Tai Chi, Karate, Irish Dancing, Salsa and African Drumming. Guests were also given the opportunity to sample multicultural food including Japanese, Italian and Indian as well as participate in various craft workshops.

With the key message of Harmony Day this year being ‘Everyone Belongs’ it was fantastic to see so many people  joins us in celebrating this very important event.

Burundian Drummers performing at Kulture Klub Event

Meet Aussie author Lenny Bartulin

Lenny Bartulin, Australian author of mystery thriller books, A Deadly Business and most recently The Black Russian will be visiting the library as part of a national Big Book Club tour on February 22. This is your chance to meet the author and hear him talk about his life and his writing, and have him sign a copy of the book for you. The library will be supplying a cheese and wine supper, so book now to secure a place. More info can be found on our website.