Deck the halls with boughs of holly!

Before Christianity came to Britain people used to decorate their houses with evergreens, including holly as part of their winter celebrations.

The Romans celebrated Saturnalia in mid-winter. People would send each other boughs of holly just like we send Christmas cards.

Ancient druids used to decorate their homes with branches of evergreen leaves so that the "little people" who lived in the trees could share in the winter celebrations. That's one of the reasons why people have fairies on the top of their Christmas trees.

When Britain converted to Christianity some of the old traditions carried on, this time to celebrate the Christmas festival.

In the old days you didn't put up your evergreen decorations until Christmas Eve and you couldn't take them down again until Candlemas Eve (2nd February)!

Books with more information about Christmas traditions.

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Cinderella!

You could be the lucky winner of free tickets to see "Cinderella!"

18 winners of the Library Service's Christmas Colouring Competition will be presented with family tickets for an evening performance of the pantomime at the Gracie Fields Theatre on Thursday 3rd January 2008.

Colouring Competition entry forms are available from any of our libraries.

Please note:

• The closing date for entry is Saturday 22nd December.
• Please make sure that you put your telephone number on the form so that we can get in touch with you!

Many thanks to Meredith Productions for the donation of the tickets.

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Wednesday afternoon riddles

It's drizzly weather and I've got a really bad cold so I need cheering up with some daft riddles. Let me know if you've got any that are as silly -- click on "comments" to tell me them.

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Q: Why don't ducks fly upside-down?
A: They'd quack up!

Q: Do restaurants serve crabs?
A: Yes, so long as they can pay the bill afterwards!

Q: What's the difference between an oak tree and a tight shoe?
A: One makes acorns, the other makes corns ache!

Q: What's yellow and stupid?
A: Thick custard!

Q: Where were English kings usually crowned?
A: On the head!

Q: What's the best cure for insomnia?
A: A good night's sleep!

(One for the oldies...)
Q: If King Midas sat on gold, who sat on silver?
A: The Lone Ranger!

Q: What's yellow and always points north?
A: A magnetic banana!

Q: What has 16 legs, a bra and whistles through the woods?
A: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs


Books of riddles in our libraries

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Remembrance Day

Sunday is Remembrance Day, when we commemorate people who have fought and died in wars.

It is also Armistice Day, which celebrates the ending of the First World War (which officially ended at 11.00am on the 11th of November 1918).

• Books about Remembrance Day
• Books about World War I
• BBC History: The Last Tommy Gallery

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A rainy day thought

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Some days you just want to stay inside where it's warm and dry and read a book.

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Bonfire Night

We hope you have a safe and careful Bonfire Night. Please take care around bonfires and fireworks. We want you to have fun, but we want to have you safe and sound tomorrow!

• Books about Guy Fawkes
• Books about firefighters

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Hallowe'en fun

We've lots of spooky books for you to read this Hallowe'en...

• Hallowe'en stories


• Ghosts and ghoulies and monsters


• Information books about Hallowe'en

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Who loves a monster?
His ghoulfriend!

What's got twelve legs, three tails and one eye and smells horrible?
Three blind mice and half an old kipper!

Why do you always find demons and ghouls together?
Because demons are a ghoul's best friend!

Why was the witch late for the party?
She'd lost her witch-watch!

What happened when the ghoulie met the ghostie?
It was love at first fright!

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Why did my granny knit me three socks?
Because my mum told her I'd grown a foot since I last saw her!

Which king was small, brown and woody?
William the Conker!

What's got twelve legs, three heads and wings?
A man riding a horse with a wasp on his shoulder!

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Masquerade!

We're having half-term fun with masks in our libraries this week!

If you enjoy making masks why not have a look at the Tate Gallery's "Make A Mask" page? As well as templates and instructions for making the masks you can also find out the story behind each one and the works of art in the gallery that inspired them.

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Books in the library about making masks

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What makes you happy

Littleborough Poetry Group is having a workshop for children called "What Makes You Happy" at Littleborough Library from 2.30pm — 3.30pm on Monday 29th October.

The workshop's suitable for children aged 7 or over.

If you're interested, please ring the library — (01706) 378219 — to reserve a place.

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What goes "Ha! Ha! Bonk! ?
A man laughing his head off!

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Heywood and Wheatsheaf Libraries — temporary closures

The Wheatsheaf Library will be closed for re-carpeting from Wednesday 7th November 2007 for about 3 weeks.

You can return your books at the Special Services unit which is opposite the main Library entrance in the Wheatsheaf Centre.

Heywood Library will be closed from Monday 12th November 2007 for around six months for building work.

Some of the books from Heywood Library, notably Best sellers and Graphic Novels, are being moved to Darnhill Library while Heywood Library is closed. Darnhill Library will also be open longer than usual:

Darnhill Library opening hours from 12th November 2007:

Monday	9.30-1	2-7.30pm
Tuesday	9.30-1	2-5.30pm
Wednesday	9.30-12.30pm
Thursday	9.30-1	2-5.30pm
Friday	9.30-1	2-5.30pm
Saturday	9.30-1	2-4pm

We still want to see you, even if these libraries are closed!

Borrowers from Heywood and the Wheatsheaf Libraries are welcome in all libraries in the Borough. Your barcoded library card lets you borrow or reserve items from any of our libraries.

Sorry for any inconvenience.

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What goes "Tick tock woof!"?
A watch dog!

Doctor! Doctor! I feel like a bridge!
Whatever has come over you?

What's yellow and stupid?
Thick custard!

I know a man with a wooden leg called Smith.
What was his other leg called?

Why does a frog never tell the truth?
Because it's an amfibian!

What's got fifty legs but still can't walk?
Half a centipede!

What's purple, sits in a tree and screams for help?
A damson in distress!

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Masquerade!

Half term week
Monday 29th October to Saturday 3rd November

Make a mask at your local library

What’s available?
Here’s a clue!
Witch pumpkin the cat make the wolf owl with?

Call in any time during usual library hours

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How does a cat find its way around in the dark?
With a cat nav!

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Building works

Balderstone Library

It will take longer to complete the building work at Balderstone Library than was planned. We have had to extend the closed period to 22nd October.

Some loans will be due back during this period; we have set the circulation system so that closed days are not taken into consideration for fines and charges, so please do not worry about not being able to return items by these due dates. The Library Service would like to apologise to all customers for this unavoidable delay.


Smallbridge Library

Toilet facilities for disabled people are now being installed at Smallbridge Library. The work does not require the library's being closed but there may be some occasional disruption to the library in the process. The Library Service would like to apologise to all our customers for any inconvenience.

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The Truth About Teachers

Shhh!!! Don't tell anybody, but we've got some books telling you about the secret lives of teachers. The secrets are disguised as a bunch of hilarious poems and rhymes that had us giggling for ages. See if you can read one out loud without laughing!

Remember: don't tell anybody we told you!

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Balderstone Library

Balderstone Library is closed from today for building work: toilet facilities for disabled people are being installed. The library will re-open on 15th October. We apologise for any inconvenience this will cause.

If you are a member of Balderstone Library you're a member of all the libraries in the Borough; your library card will let you borrow items from any of them. You can also use the Web Catalogue to browse our stock, reserve items and renew your loans.

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Roald Dahl Day

13th September is officially Roald Dahl Day across the world!

Take the Roald Dahl Day Challenge today, and see how many challenges you can complete

1. Wear something yellow – Roald’s favourite colour!


2. Wear one or more items of clothing backwards


3. Drop "gobblefunk" convincingly into a conversation


4. Swap a Roald Dahl book with a friend


5. Talk backwards


6. Tell a silly joke – Roald Dahl loved swapping these with his kids


7. Play an "unexpected" prank


8. Give someone a treat – Roald was a great believer in treats, whether it was a bar of chocolate or a lovely surprise


9. Write your own revolting rhyme


10. Make up an Oompa Loompa dance and get all your friends to join in!

(Hmmm... there's at least two people here who seem to think it's Roald Dahl Day every day!)

Roald Dahl's books in our libraries.

The Roald Dahl Day web site has lots of information, quizzes and fun things to do.

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Young readers have their say about services

Here's your chance to tell us what you like and dislike about our library service as part of a national survey of library users (not just members) under 16.

Every library in the Borough (including the Mobile Library) will be carrying out the survey between Monday 17th September and Saturday 29th September. If you come into the library we'll ask you to answer a few questions about the library and the services you'd like us to provide. (If we don't ask you don't be scared of asking us!)

We really want to know what you think about our libraries so that we can make sure that we're providing the services children and young people want and need.

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It's still not too late to finish the Big Wild Read!

Thanks to everyone who joined in this summer's Big Wild Read events. We hope you enjoyed them!

If you haven't finished the Big Wild Read reading game there's still time: the game doesn't finish until 22nd September.

• Wild Reads!

Stories for people who don't like reading

It isn't everybody who likes to read a great, big, thick book (although plenty enough folk have been reading Harry Potter!) so we've made sure to get in a lot of books for people who like their stories short and snappy. Pop in and have a look around!

We've listed some of these stories in our Kids' Portal. If you're a member of the library you can request a copy online to be picked up at your local library. We'll let you know when it's arrived (and it doesn't cost a penny!) And remember: if you've joined one of our libraries you're a member of all the libraries in the Borough!

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Patient: Doctor, doctor, I'm having real trouble with my hearing.
Doctor: Really? What are the symptoms?
Patient: They're those yellow cartoon characters on the telly.

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What do those numbers on the information books mean?

These are called "class numbers".

Class numbers are useful because they tell us what the book's about (the subject). Every subject has its own class number (it's a sort of code, but we don't keep it a secret). We put the books on our shelves in number order, starting at 000 and ending in 999, to help you find what you're looking for -- all the books on dogs are in one place, the books on the weather in another place and joke books somewhere else.

Here's a few examples:

• Bats are J599.4
• Castles are J728.81
• Disasters are J904
• Dogs are J636.7
• Dreams are J154.634
• Maps and atlases are J912
• Pirates are J910.4
• Relationships are J301.41
• Tractors and diggers are J629.225

Don't worry: you don't have to learn all the numbers by heart (we haven't!)

Story books don't have class numbers. We put these books on our shelves in "author order" (authors are people who write books) starting with the people whose surnames begin with the letter A and ending with the people whose surnames begin with the letter Z.

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What do you call a baby cat that works at the doctor's?
A first aid kit!

What's red and goes up and down?
A tomato in a lift!

What's green on top and yellow underneath?
Last week's custard!

"Would you like your pizza cut into six or four?"
"Just four, please. I don't think I could eat six!"

What howls at the moon in frilly knickers?
An underwearwolf!

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Homework Help (sorry!)

Did you know that we've lots of online reference books and encyclopædias which you can use for your homework? You can use them in the library on one of our Library Online PCs. Or you can use them at home by logging onto the web sites with your library barcode.

Titles include:

• The Encyclopedia Britannica
• Grove Art Online
• Grove Music Online
• The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
• The Oxford English Dictionary
• Oxford Reference Online

Links to these sites, newsletters, quizzes and help sheets are available on the Web Catalogue.

We also have lots of books which can help you with your homework. The "Homework Help" section of the Kids' Portal includes subject-based booklists and suggestions for useful websites. Why not have a look?

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If you put six ducks in a crate what have you got?
A box of quackers!

What goes ninety-nine bonk, ninety-nine bonk?
A centipede with a wooden leg!

Who's the boy in the glasses who writes down train numbers while riding a broomstick?
Harry Spotter!

How does a monster count up to twelve?
On his fingers!

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A quick joke for a wet weekend

What's red and sits in the corner?
A naughty bus!

We've lots of joke books in our libraries!

Make yourself a pirate mouse!

Here's a pirate mouse finger puppet for you to make. All you need is a little bit of glue or sticky tape to hold it together.

Click on the big picture of the pirate mouse and print that page out (you don't need any special paper for this -- cheap copy paper works very well).

Carefully cut along the outside lines to make the finger puppet shape. (If you want to colour in the picture it's easiest to do it before you cut it out).

Now roll the mouse into a cone shape: starting at the nose, join the two long sides together so that the dotted lines meet. The puppet should now look like a small ice cream cone. It'll look like this:

Now stick the ends together with a dab of glue or some sticky tape.

Finally, fold the mouse's hat so that it sticks up instead of lying flat

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Big Wild Summer!

Your local library is Going Wild this Summer!

If you are aged between 4 and 11 years of age why not join THE BIG WILD READ?

• If you want to take part, pick up your FREE folder and wild flower seeds - available from 30 June at libraries across the borough.
• Visit your local library throughout the Summer for a variety of free WILD events and
  collect stickers and other surprises as you read.
• Free swim tickets, medals and certificates for all children who make four visits to the Library to complete the BIG WILD READ CHALLENGE.
• All who complete the challenge will be entered into a draw to join in a local tree planting event.
• Big Wild Reads

Special events at your local libraries

Places are limited, please ring the relevant library to book your FREE place.

Guy de Paul’s Magic Show
For children aged 4+

• Friday 27 July 10.30am at Heywood Library
• Monday 13 August 10.30am at the Wheatsheaf library
• Monday 13 August 2.30pm at Junction Library
• Tuesday 14 August 10.30am at Norden Library
• Tuesday 14 August 2.30pm at Brimrod Chapel

The Bug Box
Roger Swailes introduces a variety of big wild insects. For children aged 5+

• Thursday 2 August 10.30am at Castleton Library
• Thursday 2nd August 2.30pm at Spotland Library
• Thursday 9 August 10.30am at Milnrow Library
• Thursday 9 August 2.30pm at Wardle Library

The Wild Road Show
Animals galore! For children aged 5+

• Thursday 26 July 10am at Alkrington Library
• Thursday 26 July 11.30am at Langley Library
• Thursday 26 July 2pm at Belfield Library
• Thursday 26 July 4pmat Smallbridge Library

Big Wild Rhymes with Craig Bradley
Entertaining, dynamic and fun performance poetry show complete with bongos. For children aged 5+

• Friday 3 August 11am Littleborough Library
• Friday 3 August 2pm Middleton Library
• Friday 3 August 4pm Balderstone Library

John Piper’s Puppets
For children aged 4+

• Friday 17 August 10.30am at Smithybridge Library
• Friday 17 August 2.30pm at Middleton Library
• Monday 20 August 10.30am at Heywood Library
• Monday 20 August 2.30pm at Darnhill Library

Join a local Bug Hunt with a countryside ranger
Family event. All ages welcome

• Monday 23 July 2.30pm starting from Balderstone Library
• Tuesday 21 August 2.30pm starting from Littleborough Library

Curly Cat
Make your own shoebox theatre For children aged 7+

• Friday 10 August 2-4pm Wheatsheaf Library

Drop in events
No need to book, everone welcome.

Animal Face-painting

• Tuesday 24 July 2.30-4.30pm Middleton Library
• Tuesday 31 July 2.30-4.30pm Langley Library
• Monday 6 August 2.30-4.30pm Heywood Library
• Tuesday 7 August 2.30-4.30pm Spotland Library
• Thursday 23 August 2.30-4.30pm Castleton Library
• Tuesday 28 August 2.30-4.30pm at Milnrow Library

Wild craft activities
Try a different Craft Activity each week throughout the Summer at your local library. Don’t forget to bring your BIG WILD READ folder and choose new books at the same time!

• Week beginning 23 July - Ugly Bugs
• Week beginning 30 July - How does your garden grow?
• Week beginning 6 August - Wild Life Masks
• Week beginning 13 August - Butterflies
• Week beginning 20 August - Wild Summer cards
• Week beginning 28 August - Animal Crafts

Note: All Libraries CLOSED on Bank Holiday Monday 27 August.

The fun doesn't end with the school holidays - look out for the autumn events in our libraries!