Special events for adults

Special events for adults

We host a range of special events and workshops in our libraries for adults such as:

  • author events
  • history talks
  • craft workshops

Events are popular and you will need to book your place in advance for most of them.

 

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You can book your place at an event by:

 

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Special events for adults: highlights​​​​​​​​​​​​​

 

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Paper Conservation Workshop

Meet the Conservator and volunteers from Westminster City Archives to learn more about conservation.

They'll be sharing their tips which can help you conserve your own collections. This is great opportunity to get a glimpse of some of their theatre programmes and tools.

English for health and wellbeing course

Practical course that will give you information about health services while teaching you English too.

To book a place call us on tel: 020 8962 5594.

 

Gotham Rising: New York in the 1930s

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Come along to this talk by Jules Stewart about New York in the 1930s.

New York is often described as the greatest city in the world. Yet much of the iconic architecture and culture which so defines the city as we know it today only came into being in the 1930s, in what was the most significant decade in the city’s history.

The 1930s was the only decade with a clearly delineated beginning and end, from the Stock Market crash and the Great Depression to the outbreak of the Second World War.

During this decade the city acquired the landmarks we recognise today: Rockefeller Center, the Empire State Building, the Waldorf-Astoria and other classic buildings. This talk will shed light on this exciting period in the Big Apple's history.

Spring mindfulness for the over-50s

Free eight week mindfulness course to help cope with stress and anxiety and create a more balanced life.

The course is run by coach Liz Hooper; a member of the professional organisation, the Complimentary Therapy Association.

 

 

Claws: confessions of a professional cat groomer

Join Anita Kelsey, author of Claws - a collection of delightfully entertaining stories that offer a rare glimpse into the fascinating and hidden world of the travelling cat groomer. Hear about Anita's feisty, challenging and sometimes fiendishly clever, but always wonderful mogs, as well as their eccentric owners, as battle lines are drawn daily, usually involving claws and teeth.

Find out how she came to be a holistic cat groomer and listen to the many heartwarming and hilarious tales involving characters such as Star, the diva cat and Tubbs, the fat cat caught in his flap.

W B Yeats, the faerie’s laureate

Join Nina Antonia to hear about Ireland’s faeries, The Sidhe.

What are faeries and how did W B Yeats, one of their most vocal aficionado’s,develop his fascination? What did the Sidhe mean to him? Where did he find them? Is there a connection between nature, standing stones, corpse roads and faery paths?

Yeats changed public perceptions of the faeries – outlining the differences between Celtic faeries and English faeries. He was fascinated by the beliefs of the Irish peasantry and used faeries as muses.

In this magical session we'll be looking at Yeats best faerie poems as well as his influence on other Irish poets who also became faerie-fixated.

Get expert help with your business idea

If you have a deep desire to get paid for doing the work you were meant to do, this seminar is a great place to start.

Portobello Business Centre Senior Business Advisor, Maria Stammers, will take you through the basics you need to know at the beginning. She will also help you to identify whether or not your business idea is viable and to make you feel more confident.

Book your free place for Get expert help with your business idea via Eventbrite.

Wilde Ransomed - lecture with short films

This hour long lecture by Anne Gaelan with two short films reveals a story of forgotten heroism while portraying the mainly white, homophobic England of just over one hundred years ago.

You will experience the majesty of Wilde the poet and understand how the world famous Swallows and Amazons author Arthur Ransome took on the literary establishment to re-establish Wilde as a recognised literary genius in the twentieth century in the face of a movement to marginalise his work.

This presentation also unlocks a link between Lord Alfred Douglas and Oscar Wilde lost in scandal for over one hundred years that casts a new light on their relationship.

The films were made in co-operation with Lancaster Film Makers' Co-op and Lancaster Royal Grammar School, which Arthur Ransome attended. Young actors from the school take the lead roles in both films.

Jung the mystic? - with Gary Lachman

Was Jung a mystic? Throughout his career the Swiss psychologist, C.G. Jung maintained that he was strictly a scientist, not a philosopher or metaphysician, and certainly not a mystic.

Yet Jung was fascinated with the occult, the mystical, and the esoteric, and it played a central role in his life, from his early childhood days to his last years. From seances to UFOs, alchemy to visions, Jung took the occult and mystical very seriously.

Gary Lachman will look at how the supernatural informed Jung’s life and work and how we can benefit from understanding his ideas today.

Book your free place for Jung the mystic? - with Gary Lachman via Eventbrite. 

Gef - the strange tale of an extra-special talking mongoose

During the 1930s, British and overseas newspapers were full of incredible stories about Gef, a ‘talking mongoose’ or ‘man-weasel’ who had allegedly appeared in the home of the Irvings, a farming family in a remote district of the Isle of Man.

The creature was said to have the ability to talk in several languages, sing, steal objects from nearby farms, and to eavesdrop on local people. The isolated farmhouse was targeted by journalists, spiritualists, ghost hunters and sensation-seekers, but there is still no consensus as to what was really going on.

Hoax? Collective delusion? Poltergeist? Spirit possession? Letters, diary entries and photographs (many of which hitherto unseen) will be presented by Christopher Josiffe as part of this talk, inviting the audience to make up their own minds.

 

Secret tunnels - underground folklore of England

This illustrated talk by Antony Clayton, author of 'Secret Tunnels of England: Folklore and Fact' and 'The Folklore of London', uncovers various examples of unusual underground folklore across England.

Enjoy legends of secret tunnels and passages, and phenomena such as the mysterious Green Children of Woolpit, the Knockers of Cornish mining folklore, fiddlers vanishing underground, buried treasure, fabled secret tunnels and treacle mines.

 

 

Read about regular library events for adults.