Events and activities in libraries
The following are events and activities that are taking place in Lambeth libraries.
We have organised them into three categories, current events, major council events, and other annual events.
If you need any further information, please contact your local library, call 020 7926 1000 or email: libraries@lambeth.gov.uk.
For a full list of other events taking place in Lambeth visit the Explore Lambeth Events Calendar.
Current events
Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month 2009
Join Lambeth Libraries in celebrating Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month which offers us all the chance to raise awareness and explore the history, culture and language of these communities. We can challenge myths, tackle prejudice and be in a position to offer a balanced debate about the issues. We will all be able to celebrate the richness that Gypsy, Roma and Travellers communities bring to our everyday lives through their many and varied academic and artistic achievements.
Event: Celebrating GRT History Month
Date: Friday 12 June
Time: 9.30am -9pm
Venue: West Norwood Library
West Norwood Library will be hosting a whole day of events and activities for children and adults. The day starts with film showings for school children and storytime for under 5s. There's something for everyone from Art workshop's to music and author talks. For full details of the day pick up a brochure in your local library or ring Sandra Davidson on 0207 926 1104
For more events and information visit the national Gypsy Roma Traveller month website www.grthm.co.uk.
The Story of London
The story of London is a festival celebrating London’s past, present and future, an attempt to tell London’s story and celebrate with the capital’s fantastic cultural resources. The month-long festival is targeted at all Londoners and visitors to London.
Boris Johnson, Mayor of London said: 'London. Londinium amo. A little place by the river that is home to millions and is a colossus on the world stage. There are so many stories to tell, in so many different ways, and the Story of London will be a kaleidoscopic exposition of the city's past, present and future. It will bring together some superb attractions for visitors and Londoners, who will also be able to 'revisit' their city with fresh eyes'.
Lambeth Libraries and Archives are pleased to be part of The Mayor's Story of London heritage festival in June 2009. Here are some of the Lambeth highlights:
Event: Walk: John Tradescant’s Rest
Date: Tuesday 9 June
Time: 6-8pm
Venue: Meet South Lambeth Library
In seventeenth-century Britain, a new breed of curious gardener was pushing at the frontiers of knowledge and new plants were stealing into Europe from East and West. Lambeth resident, John Tradescant and his son were in the vanguard of this change - as gardeners, as museum collectors and above all as exemplars of an age that began in wonder and ended with the dawning of science. Join archivist Jon Newman on a walk that follows the route of John Tradescant's funeral
cortege in 1638 from his house and gardens in South Lambeth to his magnificent monument in St Mary's churchyard by Lambeth Palace.
Event: Streatham’s Muslim Heritage project
Dates: 10 June - 27 June
Venue: Streatham Library
Lambeth is a place of movement, of communities arriving and leaving. To capture some of these stories Lambeth Libraries, along with Streatham Mosque, are running an intergenerational community development project to involve local Muslim youth, adults and older Muslims from the Streatham area, to record the stories of how they and their family members migrated from their homelands and settled in the local area. If you have a story to tell, contact Abdul
Q Aziz at aaziz@lambeth.gov.uk. The collection of stories, recorded on DVD, will then be made accessible through Lambeth Archive services.
Event: Walk: William Blake’s Lambeth
Date: Thursday 11 June
Time: 6-8pm
Venue: Meet Waterloo Library
William Blake is one of Britain’s most world renowned poets,
artists and thinkers. His life in Westminster is widely celebrated; yet his decade in Lambeth from 1790 – 1800, when he produced arguably his greatest works, is undervalued and little known. Discover the traces of Blake's Lambeth with archivist Jon Newman, and while you walk, enjoy highlights such as the site of William Blake's House, Lambeth Palace and the inspiration behind 'London's charter'd streets'.
Funded by MLA London. For full Story of London listings visit www.london.gov.uk/storyoflondon
Paddy Ashdown - A fortunate Life
Date: Monday 29 June
Time: 6.45pm
Venue: Durning Library
Join the friends of Durning Library and Paddy Ashdown to discuss his new autobiography, A fortunate Life. It is the story of a life lived to the full, as a Royal Marine Commando, a member of the Special Boat Service and an international peacemaker, as well as an MP and a party leader. Don't miss this event.
Streatham Festival 2009
Now in it's 7th year, Streatham Festival has grown into an acclaimed week-long community arts festival with numerous events held in locations, from bars to churches and parks to youth centres, attracting over 7,000 people in 2008.
Event: Project Adorno's A-Z of London
Date: Thursday 9 July
Time: 7pm
Venue: Streatham Library
Performance poets Project-Adorno recreate their own unique A-Z of London via tubes and trains, mapping an alternative cultural travel-guide to underground (and overground) London.
Includes songs, monologues and poems detailing unusual facts, historical significances and surreal connections associated with the capital’s quirkier corners. Contains humour and wistful melancholy for a city that continues to re-invent itself.
For further details contact Tim O'Dell at email: to'dell@lambeth.gov.uk
for full details go to the Streatham Festival website or email info@streathamfestival.com.
One Mile Away with Playwright Kat Joyce
Date: Monday 20 July
Time: 6.45pm
Venue: Durning Library
One Mile Away is a new play about a one-mile-radius area of London, being created by playwright Kat Joyce and theatre director Nathan Curry, commissioned by literature development agency Spread the Word.
From Parliament to Elephant, Vauxhall Farm to Lower Marsh, Kat and Nathan are collaborating with many local people to build a literary picture of the many narratives in the area. Kat will be weaving all the ideas into a new play, which will be performed by a professional cast in the summer.
On 20 July Kat will be the guest of The Friends of Durning Library, talking about the project and discussing the complexities of creating this innovative play.
Kat and Nathan are running free writing workshops for local people who want to share their stories, contribute to making a new piece of theatre and learn about creating drama from our own narratives. Anyone who has a connection to the area or a story to tell can contribute to One Mile Away. Share your story with them at the One Mile Away website.
Activities
BBC Breathing Places library project
Breathing places is a three-year campaign from BBC Learning, which aims to get 1 million people involved in nature and their local environment. Lambeth Libraries are pleased to be able to join the BBC in this campaign.
Do you remember Olive Morris?
Did you know Olive Morris? Lambeth Council has one of its main buildings named after her and yet Google finds little or no information on her. Can you help? Do you know more than Google?
Although the Internet delivers very little information, Olive was a key figure in Lambeth's local history. She worked with the Black Panther movement; set up Brixton Black Women's Centre, was a founder member of The Organisation of Women of African and Asian Descent (OWAAD) and was central to the squatter campaigns of the 1970s. She died tragically young in 1979 at age 26.
Award winning researcher and artist, Ana Laura Lopez de la Torre, has linked up with Lambeth Archives to correct the Internet knowledge gap by creating a living archive of recollections on Olive Morris. Check out what has already been contributed and donate your own knowledge at the Remembering Olive Morris Weblog.
Major council events
October
Black history month – Events arranged throughout our libraries, aimed at both young and old.
Celebrating Age – Again a variety of activities throughout the borough's libraries and usually an event in the assembly hall of the town Hall – we work closely preparing this event with Age Concern Lambeth.
Age Concern Lambeth
336 Brixton Road
London
SW9 7AA
Telephone: 020 7733 0528
Email: admin@aclambeth.org.uk
Other annual events