Month: September 2017

Every year more than 533,000 visitors pass through Winchester Discovery Centre’s doors, making it one of the city’s most visited destination. This year Winchester Discovery Centre celebrates its tenth birthday. From Saturday 25 November to Friday 1 December there’ll be a whole host of events to mark the anniversary – look out for updates for what’s going on.

Over the last ten years, the centre has lent out more than 3 million books and hosted thousands of exhibitions, concerts, comedy gigs, events and talks. It’s a much loved setting in the heart of the city, providing a centre for creativity, learning and culture. Home to Winchester’s main library, it also houses an 180 seat theatre, two free public art galleries, learning spaces, an IT suite and a café, as well as a vast digital library of books and audiobooks you can download for free.

Join with us this year to celebrate its 10th anniversary. On Saturday 25th November Winchester Discovery Centre hosts a free variety day showcasing some of the best attractions that the building offers…

From book groups to dance troupes, the Winchester Discovery Centre has been at the heart of the local community, and we can promise you a day packed with fun and fascination. The Discovery Centre likes nothing more than to support community projects, and we’ll be welcoming some of the friends and organisations that we have worked with over the years including:

– Art Talk, who will be running FREE family craft workshops
– World record challenging roboticist James Bruton, who will be bringing his electric Lego skateboard!
– The Winchester Science Centre; look out for some crazy experiments!
– Artist Alice Kettle, with some fascinating talks and workshops.
– Popular children’s author Richard Hardie will be reading stories in the children’s library.
– The Winchester Fusion Choir
– Hampshire Wardrobe, with lots of fun costumes for you to try on!
– Winchester Churches Nightshelter.
– The Speaking Volumes and Crime Reading book groups.
– The Winchester Chamber Orchestra with some of their super musicians.
– A raffle with brilliant prizes.

Lots more fun and special guests will be announced so stay tuned for more details!

Do you have a talented artist in the family?  Now’s the chance for Hampshire children aged 4-11 to showcase their design skills! 

Help Winchester Discovery Centre celebrate its 10^th birthday this autumn by taking part in its children’s Christmas card competition.  The closing date is Sunday 5 November, so now is the time to sharpen your pencils and dust off your paint brushes.

 Download your entry form here, and read through the rules carefully to make sure your entry is eligible. Once you’re happy with your card design, you need to take it into Winchester Discovery Centre or post it to arrive by the closing date.  You’ll need to include your name, age, telephone number and email address.  Entries can be posted to: Christmas Card Competition, Winchester Discovery Centre, Jewry Street, Winchester SO23 8SB.

Card designs can be any theme you want: maybe you’ll go for a traditional Christmas scene with snowmen and reindeer, perhaps a snowy scene in Hampshire, or you might prefer to use the lovely architecture of Winchester Discovery Centre itself as your inspiration. It’s up to you!

Winners will have their card printed and sold in Winchester Discovery Centre this Christmas, all proceeds will be donated to SSAFA.

The shortlist for the Man Booker Prize 2017 has been revealed!

Click on the title to reserve your copy and collect it from your nearest Hampshire Library!

4 3 2 1, Paul Auster

Archibald Isaac Ferguson, the only child of Rose and Stanley Ferguson, is born. From that single beginning, Ferguson’s life will take four simultaneous paths. Four Fergusons will go on to lead four parallel and entirely different lives. Family fortunes diverge. Loves and friendships and passions contrast. Each version of Ferguson’s story rushes across the fractured terrain of mid-twentieth century America, in this sweeping story of birthright and possibility, of love and the fullness of life itself.

History of wolves, Emily Fridlund

Fourteen-year-old Linda lives with her parents in an ex-commune beside a lake in the beautiful, austere backwoods of northern Minnesota. The other girls at school call Linda ‘Freak’, or ‘Commie’. Her parents mostly leave her to her own devices, whilst the other inhabitants have grown up and moved on. So when the perfect family – mother, father and their little boy, Paul – move into the cabin across the lake, Linda insinuates her way into their orbit. She begins to babysit Paul and feels welcome, that she finally has a place to belong. Yet something isn’t right. Drawn into secrets she doesn’t understand, Linda must make a choice. But how can a girl with no real knowledge of the world understand what the consequences will be?

Exit west, Mohsin Hamid

Civil war has come to the city which Nadia and Saeed call home. Before long they will need to leave their motherland behind – when the streets are no longer useable and the unknown is safer than the known. They will join the great outpouring of people fleeing a collapsing city, hoping against hope, looking for their place in the world . . .

Elmet, Fiona Mozley

Daniel is heading north. He is looking for someone. The simplicity of his early life with Daddy and Cathy has turned sour and fearful. They lived apart in the house that Daddy built for them with his bare hands. They foraged and hunted. When they were younger, Daniel and Cathy had gone to school. But they were not like the other children then, and they were even less like them now. Sometimes Daddy disappeared, and would return with a rage in his eyes. But when he was at home he was at peace. He told them that the little copse in Elmet was theirs alone. But that wasn’t true. Local men, greedy and watchful, began to circle like vultures. All the while, the terrible violence in Daddy grew.

Lincoln in the bardo, George Saunders

In a matter of days, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returns to the crypt several times alone to hold his boy’s body. From this seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins an unforgettable story of familial love and loss that breaks free of realism, entering a thrilling, supernatural domain both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself trapped in a transitional realm – called, in Tibetan tradition, the bardo – and as ghosts mingle, squabble, gripe and commiserate, and stony tendrils creep towards the boy, a monumental struggle erupts over young Willie’s soul. Unfolding over a single night, Lincoln in the Bardo is written with George Saunders’ inimitable humour, pathos and grace.

Autumn, Ali Smith

Elisabeth, born in 1984, has her eye on the future. The United Kingdom is in pieces, divided by a historic once-in-a-generation summer.Love is won, love is lost. Hope is hand in hand with hopelessness. The seasons roll round, as ever . . .’Terrific, extraordinary, playful…

September 13th marks Roald Dahl day, a day that is celebrated on his birthday. Join in the celebration and re-read or begin a new adventure! Below are just some of Roald Dahl’s fantastic stories to choose from.

Boys: tales of childhood

Boy: Tales of Childhood is the story of Roald Dahl’s very own boyhood. Including takes of sweet-shops and chocolate, mean old ladies and a Great Mouse Plot – the inspiration for some of his most marvellous storybooks in the years to come. These tales are full of exciting and strange things – some funny, some frightening, all true. ‘An autobiography is a book a person writes about their own life and it is usually full of all sorts of boring details. This is not an autobiography’.

The BFG

Giants are known for eating children. So when Sophie is snatched from her bed by the BFG, she fears for her life. But luckily he is far more jumbly than his disgusting neighbours. They become good friends and cook up a plan to rid the world of bad giants.

Danny the champion of the world

Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl is the much-loved tale of how Danny and his father outwitted the mean Mr Victor Hazell. Danny thinks his dad is the most marvellous and exciting father a boy could wish for. Life is happy and peaceful in their gipsy caravan, until one day Danny discovers his dad has been breaking the law. What’s more, soon Danny has to join his father as they attempt to pull off a daring and devilish plot against horrible, red-faced Mr Victor Hazell.

Charlie and the chocolate factory

The famous story of Charlie Bucket and his Golden Ticket, and Willy Wonka and his amazing chocolate factory. Mr Willy Wonka, the most wondrous inventor in the world, opens his gates of his amazing chocolate factory to five lucky children. Gobstoppers, wriggle sweets and a river of melted chocolate delight await – Charlie needs just one Golden Ticket and these delicious treats could all be his.

The giraffe and the pelly and me

This novel is about a window-cleaning company with a difference. Join Billy as he makes friends with three amazing animals and gets up to some thrilling adventures.

James and the giant peach

This novel tells the story of James who has lived with his two beastly aunts ever since his parents were eaten up outside London Zoo. Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker are really horrible people and make poor James’s life a misery.

The magic finger

The little girl in this story is very unusual. When someone makes her angry – and when she can’t stop herself – she zaps a punishment on them with a magic, flashing finger. The results are quite fantastic and very funny.

The Twits

Mr Twit is a foul and smelly man with bits of cornflake and sardine in his beard. Mrs Twit is a horrible old hag with a glass eye. Together they make the nastiest couple you could ever hope not to meet. Down in their garden, the Twits keep Muggle-Wump the monkey and his family locked in a cage. But not for much longer, because the monkeys are planning to trick the terrible Twits, once and for all.

Matilda

Matilda’s parents have called her some terrible things. The truth is, she’s a genius and they’re the stupid ones. Find out how she gets the better of them and her spiteful headmistress, as well as discovering that she has a very special power.

The witches

BEWARE.Real witches dress in ordinary clothes and look like ordinary women. But they are not ordinary. They are always plotting and scheming with murderous, bloodthirsty thoughts – and they hate children. The Grand High Witch hates children most of all and plans to make every single one of YOU disappear. Only one boy and his grandmother can stop her, but if their plan fails the Grand High Witch will frizzle them like fritters, and then what . . . ?

World Alzheimer’s month is a campaign that takes place every September to raise more awareness of dementia. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia affecting up to 90% of people.

Hampshire Library Service offer a range of materials and resources that can be loaned out to help improve and stimulate discussion and memory.

Books on prescription – Dementia collection

This is an informative collection of titles chosen by The Reading Agency, and recommended and endorsed by health professionals.  It is designed to provide information and advice about dementia plus support for relatives and carers. The selection Includes personal stories and activities to share.

Reminiscence collection

The collection helps to stimulate memories and past experiences. It includes posters, games and quizzes, postcards,  recorded music, smell boxes and memory boxes, jigsaws, photographs and books which can be used to stimulate and support reminiscence.

Audio resources

Sometimes listening to the rhythm of a voice reading a story can be relaxing in itself. Audio resources can also help if someone wakes during the night, or when attending medical appointments.

• Playaways

Individual books are pre-loaded onto an easy to use MP3 player about the size of a pack of cards. The user can slow down the reading pace to suit their needs.

• MP3 CDs

A whole book on 1 or 2 discs that can be listened to, paused, rewound or fast forwarded as needed so that people with dementia can still enjoy the pleasure of a book

National talking newspapers and magazines

Library staff are happy to load your favourite newspapers and magazines onto your own memory stick. Over 150 audio titles are  available including, Reader’s Digest, Which?, Country Living and People’s Friend.

Quick reads

Shorter, easy to read paperbacks by popular authors in larger clear print.

Pictures to share collection

Books with large simple images designed for people with dementia to help stimulate conversation between them and their families and carers.

Home Library Service

For anyone who finds it difficult to get to the library because of ill health, disability or caring responsibilities. We carefully match customers with local volunteers who are DBS checked, recruited and trained by library staff. Each month these volunteers will  select  and deliver  library items based on your preferences.

Stephen King is famously known for writing horror, fantasy, science and supernatural fiction novels which are so popular that some have been created into films and TV shows. Stephen King’s IT will be the next horror story floating into cinemas on September 8th.

Come and grab your copy of IT and read the book before you see the film and let us know what you think … Did you prefer the book or the film?

Stephen King has written well over 50 novels and if you’re not sure what book of his to read next, see below for a selection of some of our favourite Stephen King novels.

The green mile

The Green Mile: those who walk it do not return, because at the end of that walk is the room in which sits Cold Mountain penitentiary’s electric chair. In 1932 the newest resident on death row is John Coffey, a giant black man convicted of the brutal murder of two little girls. But nothing is as it seems with John Coffey, and around him unfolds a bizarre and horrifying story. Evil murderer or holy innocent – whichever he is – Coffey has strange powers which may yet offer salvation to others, even if they can do nothing to save him.

Carrie

An exciting reissue of Stephen King’s debut novel about an outcast teenager with a frightening power which put him on the map and set him on his journey as a household name. Carrie White is no ordinary girl. Carrie White has the gift of telekinesis. To be invited to Prom Night by Tommy Ross is a dream come true for Carrie – the first step towards social acceptance by her high school colleagues. But events will take a decidedly macabre turn on that horrifying and endless night as she is forced to exercise her terrible gift on the town that mocks and loathes her . . .

Pet sematary

Behind the house and far away from the road: that was safe. Just a carefully cleared path up into the woods where generations of local children have processed with the solemn innocence of the young, taking with them their dear departed pets for burial. A sad place maybe, but safe. Surely a safe place. Not a place to seep into your dreams, to wake you, sweating with fear and foreboding.

The shining

Danny is only five years old, but in the words of old Mr Hallorann he is a ‘shiner’, aglow with psychic voltage. When his father becomes caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, Danny’s visions grow out of control. As winter closes in and blizzards cut them off, the hotel seems to develop a life of its own. It is meant to be empty. So who is the lady in Room 217 and who are the masked guests going up and down in the elevator? And why do the hedges shaped like animals seem so alive? Somewhere, somehow, there is an evil force in the hotel – and that, too, is beginning to shine . . .

End of watch

The cell rings twice, and then his old partner in his ear . . . ‘I’m at the scene of what appears to be a murder-suicide . . . Come and take a look. Bring your sidekick with you.’Bill Hodges, who now runs a two-person agency called Finders Keepers with partner Holly Gibney, is intrigued by the letter Z written with a marker at the scene of the crime.As similar cases mount up, Hodges is stunned to discover the evidence points to Brady Hartsfield, the notorious ‘Mercedes Killer’ who they helped to convict. It should be impossible: Brady is confined to a hospital room in a seemingly unresponsive state.But Brady Hartsfield has lethal new powers. And he’s planning revenge not just on Hodges and his friends, but on an entire city. The clock is ticking in unexpected ways.

11.22.63

WHAT IF you could go back in time and change the course of history? WHAT IF the watershed moment you could change was the JFK assassination? 11.22.63, the date that Kennedy was shot – unless . . . King takes his protagonist Jake Epping, a high school English teacher from Lisbon Falls, Maine, 2011, on a fascinating journey back to 1958 – from a world of mobile phones and iPods to a new world of Elvis and JFK, of Plymouth Fury cars and Lindy Hopping, of a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and a beautiful high school librarian named Sadie Dunhill, who becomes the love of Jake’s life – a life that transgresses all the normal rules of time.

The dark tower, the gunslinger

The Dark Tower, introduces one of his most enigmatic and powerful heroes: Roland of Gilead, the Last Gunslinger. Roland is a haunting figure, a loner, on a spellbinding journey toward the mysterious Dark Tower, in a desolate world which frighteningly echoes our own. On his quest, Roland begins a friendship with a kid from New York named Jake, encounters an alluring woman and faces an agonising choice between damnation and salvation as he pursues the Man in Black.

Misery

Misery Chastain was dead. Paul Sheldon had just killed her – with relief, with joy. Misery had made him rich; she was the heroine of a string of bestsellers. And now he wanted to get on to some real writing. That’s when the car accident happened, and he woke up in pain in a strange bed. But it wasn’t the hospital. Annie Wilkes had pulled him from the wreck, brought him to her remote mountain home, splinted and set his mangled legs.The good news was that Annie was a nurse and has pain-killing drugs. The bad news was that she was Paul’s Number One Fan. And when she found out what Paul had done to Misery, she didn’t like it. She didn’t like it at all. And now he had to bring Misery back to life. Or else . . .