Christmas in the North Pole(Libraries)!
Mince Pie drop-ins and Christmas Crafts
We kicked off the festive celebrations with our mince pie drop-ins which took place during our coffee mornings. Alongside these we also ran some craft sessions for adults where they could make lovely Christmas cards.
Fabulous Christmas Displays
We’ve had some fantastic displays in our libraries from crocheted post boxes and Christmas trees to book displays and even Santa’s Grotto!
Tiny Tots and Toddler Time feat. Father Christmas
During all of our Tiny Tots and Toddler Time story and singing sessions, we had a special guest. The children all enjoyed their festive songs and stories before being visited by none other than Father Christmas! They all received a nicely wrapped book as a little gift to take home kindly provided by Read Manchester.
Christmas Parties
Some of our libraries had Christmas parties with their regular groups where they played games such as ‘Who Am I?’ and ‘Pass the Parcel’. They received goody bags or gifts and had plenty of tasty food and nibbles!
As well as attending library parties, some of our groups attended Manchester Central for a Christmas party too. Manchester Central hosted around 200 guests for a festive Christmas lunch and party, including older residents from the Age Friendly Manchester Older People’s Board, Assembly and Libraries groups who also invited along isolated friends and neighbours. Entertainment for the event featured performances by the Bridgewater Halls Singers, Incandescent, Violinist Greg Scott and the Wai Yin Dancers. Manchester’s Lord Mayor Paul Andrews and Elaine Unegbu Chair of the Age Friendly Older People’s Board also welcomed guests. Three raffle winners from the group came away with a bottle of wine, two tickets for the ballet and a weekend away!
‘Brilliant time had by all… three cheers for Newton Heath Library…’
Hello Saturday
Our regular children’s craft sessions ‘Hello Saturday’ and Lego Clubs also joined in with the festivities. At North City Library they made gingerbread houses and used Lego to build Father Christmas and at Beswick Library they made snow globes. Avenue Library had a Christmas party where they played games and made crafts.
The Gruffalo
On the Saturday before Christmas staff at Abraham Moss Library ran a Gruffalo workshop for children and families. They had the story read to them, searched for the characters around the library and added them to a forest backdrop and then they took part in a craft making headbands of their chosen character. The children were then gifted a copy of the book to take home and keep (provided by Read Manchester).
‘A great impromptu event at the library. The kids had a great time listening and making Gruffalo hats.’
‘Excellent session – the kids loved it! Would love to see more events like this :)’
‘A wonderful family-orientated event! Thank you so much. Both library volunteers were lovely and helpful too. Would love to see more events like this 🙂 10/10!’
