Author: Edith Hotlham

Did you ever expect to borrow a ukelele from the library?

You can now. For free.

Working with the London Ukelele Project, and starting on November 20^th, Tate South Lambeth is lending ukuleles. The pack you’ll get includes a battery-operated tuner, a carrying case, and a set of songs to learn..

You can borrow this for up to three weeks.

For more information contact the library at 0207 926 0710 or southlambethlibrary@lambeth.gov.uk

And get strumming.

As from the end of October you can now visit the library freely. No appointment is required.

However you are asked to help keep the library a safe space for everyone – so  please wear a mask (if you are able), use the sanitiser available in the library and maintain social distance.

In-library events and activities are returning, with the capacity of the rooms reduced by 50%. In Tate South Lambeth’s case that means a ceiling of 40 adults and 30 children. CO2 monitors will check air quality.

Newspapers and magazine are also being re-introduced and YOU CAN BROWSE THE SHELVES.

The opening hours are unchanged, so the library will continue with the later morning opening  during weekdays ( 11am  instead of the tradiitiona  10am) introduced earlier this year. This allows for toddlers groups and school class visits to take place in a setting which prevents infection spreading.

Watch out for some of our favourite library activities to restart soon..

In

In September’s Lambeth Heritage Festival Naomi Clifford, the history author and long-time contributor to Friends OF TSL talks, will share her experience in self-publishing, covering research, preparation of the manuscript, print platforms, crowd funding, ebooks, marketing and sales,

This is your opportunity to get yourself into print.

The online talk is on Wednesday September 15th at 7pm. Free, Book here.

This is just one of the 50 events in this year’s Lambeth Heritage Festival. To see the full programme go to beta.lambeth.gov.uk/lambeth-heritage-festival-2021

 

Two young volunteers have come forward to run the gardening sessions in Retreat, the library’s courtyard garden.

Hear about them in their own words:

 We are very pleased to have been selected by the Friends of Tate South Lambeth Library to restore the garden and start running community projects. Our names are Gemma and Charlene, we both share a love of gardening and have an education background.

 So far we have focussed on clearing and cleaning up the garden to make it safe and ready to open on Saturday 7th August 2021 between 12-4pm. We are planning a meet and greet open garden event with a plant and seed swap/sale. We will be planting a plant in memory of Penny who took care of the garden previously before Covid. So please come along and see what’s growing and share your ideas. We’d love to meet you, hear your views on what you’d like and your interests for future events.

We are pleased to announce we are holding some family activities on:

 Monday 9th August 2021 between 12-2pm– Creating mini gardens

 Monday 23rd August between 12-2pm– Creating cress faces and painting stone bugs and garden markers

 Come along and meet Gemma and Charlene – the garden is an open, safe place. And we know you’ll get a warm welcome from our gardening couple.

Wednesday May 12^th 7pm

Join Lola Olefemi to discuss her latest book, with Yara Rodrigues Fowler.

Plastered over t-shirts and tote bags, the word “feminist” has entered the mainstream and is fast becoming a popular slogan for our generation. But feminism isn’t  a commodity up for purchase; it’s a weapon for fighting against injustice.

This revolutionary books reclaims feminism from consumerism through exploring state violence against women, reproductive justice, transmisogyny, sex work, gendered Islamophobia  and much more, showing that the struggle  for gendered liberation is a struggle for justice, one that can transform the world for everyone.

Free, book at eventbrite.com/e/149740486827

This is just one of many events in Lambeth’s Readers and Writers Festival . You can see the full programme at:

beta.lambeth.gov.uk/Lambeth-libraries-readers-writers-festival 

To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Paris Commune, Naomi Clifford explores the life of  Louise Michel, a prominent  figure in that episode.

Louise Michel, feminist, anarchist, poet, playwright and journalist, who survived the bloody end of the 1871 Paris Commune and subsequent exile to New Caledonia, loved London and visited several times.

Who was she? And why was she invited in 1883 to give her opinion on the Lambeth Workhouse?

This event is supported by vauxhallhistory.com, the online research database.

Book at eventbrite.com/e/anarchist-in-the-uk-louise-michel-heroine-of-the-paris-commune-tickets -145436986943

In early March Tate South Lambeth Library – closed under the lockdown imposed in January – re-opened for essential PC use, printing and scanning.

Now the select and collect service has returned.

So you can once again select books from Lambeth Libraries collection:

online at  www.beta.lambeth.gov.uk/libraries-and-archives/247-digital-library-and-catalogue/browse-library-catalogue

or by phone to the library at 0207 926 0710

or by email to southlambethlibrary@lambeth.gov.uk

As well as specific titles, you can also choose types of books you would like to read, or books for a child with special interests. You can reserve up to 20 books.

Once your items are ready a librarian at TSL will contact you to make an appointment to pick them up.

On January 11th Lambeth Libraries issued the following notice:

Lambeth Libraries regret to inform you that due to the increase in Covid-19 cases in London we have taken the decision to close all Lambeth Libraries until the situation improves.

So no PC use for the public, no select and collect. However digital services and online events continue – visit www.lambeth.gov.uk/libraries

Sad news – but not unexpected.

We all look forward now to the re-opening of our much loved and much needed library.