Library of the Month: North City Library
At the beginning of January, our library of the month, North City Library, turns 20 and we will be celebrating in style!
We have the following activities planned – feel free to come along and join in!
Monday 5 January
11am-1pm Join our local neighbourhood team in a herb planting workshop
12:30-2:30pm Grand Day Out (for over 55s) – we’ve got a music quiz, a picture quiz and a game of Play Your Cards Right with prizes to be won! We’ll be making it a celebration with cake and refreshments.
3:30-4:30pm Comic Club, create your own comics! (for ages 7-13)
Tuesday 6 January
11am Bring your under 5’s to our Tiny Tots and Toddler Time group where you can listen to stories, have a singsong and even meet the Bookstart Bear!
3:30-4:30pm Chess Club, come along and have a game! (all ages)
Thursday 8 January
10am-12noon Coffee morning with cakes and biscuits
4:15-4:45pm Local children from the Manchester Youth Zone will be performing for us, come along to see some fantastic dancing and singing!
Saturday 10 January
10:30-11:30am Meet at the library at 10:30am to take part in a nature walk to Boggart Hole Clough and see what nature you can spot! This session will be run by RSPB in the run up to the Big Garden Birdwatch on the 24th and 25th January. Suitable for families, please dress appropriately for the weather! After this come back to the library to warm up and take part in some crafts!
10:30-12noon Come along to Beyblades Club where you can build, spin and battle!
11am-1pm Get your creative juices flowing with some craft sessions during our Hello Saturday group for children and families and see what you can build in LEGO Club – something befitting a celebration!
Earlier this year, North City Library underwent a lovely refurbishment where the children’s library had a new floor installed, lots of lovely new chair and tables were bought and the library was painted freshening it up ready to celebrate it’s 20th birthday!
North City Library has been serving the community for the past 20 years and has lots of wonderful things on offer every week. The Grand Day Out group for over 55s were established only a few short years after the library opened meaning they have been meeting there for at least 15 years and over the years they have taken part in many fantastic crafts, events and days out. The group is still as popular as ever and have recently been learning to crochet with our apprentice Louise. If they just want a brew and chat, that’s okay too!
We also have lots of regular activities for children with plenty of choices depending on their interests. We have a fortnightly Comic Club for ages 7-13 where children can learn more about comics and have a go at writing their own. We have LEGO Clubs where a weekly building challenge is set but children are also welcome to build freely and be as creative as they can. We have chess club (for all ages) where you can play a game or two and on the first Saturday of each month we have a Beyblades Club where you can build, spin and battle; no equipment necessary! then last but by no means least, we have Hello Saturday every week where children can come along and get crafty.
North City Library is the Creative Space of the North area of Manchester Libraries. For this, we run three main events each year; International Mother Language Day in February, Festival of Libraries in June and Fun Palaces in October. These are great events with lots of different activities taking place; in the past we’ve had slime and science workshops, face painting, seed planting, yoga, music workshops and lots and lots of different craft activities.
We currently have in situ, ‘Building Stronger Communities Together’; an exhibition by Afrocats and local community groups (see here for more information about this). This will be in place until the 10th January.
We will also be launching, during the celebration week, an exhibition of portraits taken of local people during a project titled ‘Up North’.
