Christmas Opening Hours

We will be closing at 1pm on Christmas Eve and re-opening with normal opening hours on Friday 27th December. We will then close at 5pm New Year's Eve and re-open with normal opening hours on Thursday 2nd January 2025.

We would like to wish all Derbyshire Library users a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and thank you all once again for all the kind words and support you have given us over the past 12 months. We look forward to welcoming you all back in 2025!

Adult Events in December

Come along to a variety of events and health information for adults in libraries:

• Tuesday 3rd December (until 24th January) - Hayfield Library - Brian Nolan Art Exhibition - a collection of paintings from the late Brian Nolan, local resident of Hayfield, will be on display - during opening hours - 01629 533438
• Saturday 7th December - Ashbourne Library - Time Swap - join us for our community gathering where we help each other by sharing time and talents - 10am-12pm - 01629 533950
• Tuesday 10th December - Ashbourne Library - A Georgian Christmas - local historian Julia Hickey will be giving a talk on how the Georgians celebrated Christmas - 2.30-3.30pm - 01629 533950 - BOOKING ESSENTIAL
• Saturday 14th December - Ashbourne Library - Forte - local group Forte will be playing Christmas music from the 1700s-1900s - 11am-12pm - 01629 533950
• Wednesday 18th December - Ashbourne Library - Citizens Advice Drop-in Session - Neurodivergence & Autism - 10am-4pm - 01629 533950
• Wednesday 18th December - Heanor Library - Craft Yourself Calm - bring your own crafts or join in with our Christmas-themed craft at our adult craft group - 1-2pm - 01629 533795
• Tuesday 24th December - Belper Library - Board Game Club - 10am-1pm - come and try our selection of classic and modern games with support from our volunteer to get you started! - 01629 533192
• Throughout December - Heanor Library - Library Community Jigsaw Puzzle - come along and help us complete Heanor Library's jigsaw puzzle! - during opening hours - 01629 533795

All events are free drop-ins unless otherwise stated. Please ring the phone number provided for more information.

December Activities for Families

Regular activities for children can be found on our website. You can also look out for the following:

• Saturday 7th December - Swadlincote Library - LEGO Challenge - can you and your family complete the Christmas building challenge? - 10am-12pm - 01629 533013
• Saturday 7th December - Belper Library - Festive Crafts - drop in for a selection of fun, festive crafts suitable for children aged four and over - 10am-3pm - 01629 533192
• Saturday 7th December - Matlock Library - Christmas Crafts - create a Christmas tree decoration in our fun craft event - 10am-3pm - 01629 533837
• Saturday 7th December - Ashbourne Library - Christmas Ukuleles - local primary school children will be playing Christmas music on their ukuleles - 12-12.30pm - 01629 533950
• Saturday 7th December - Glossop Library - Junior Book Club - join us to make decorations for our tree and more! - 2-3pm - 01629 531199
• Monday 9th & Monday 16th December - Shirebrook Library - Bubbles & Babies - bring your baby (0-12 months) to our informal and stimulating sensory sessions - 10-11am - 01629 537960 - BOOKING ESSENTIAL
• Wednesday 11th December - Etwall Library - Christmas Craft and Storytime - for under 5s and their carers - 10.30am-12.30pm - 01629 532633
• Saturday 14th December - Swadlincote Library - Family Christmas Craft - Make a shiny 'Norman the Slug who Saved Christmas' decoration - 10am-12pm - 01629 533013
• Saturday 14th December - Matlock Library - Christmas Crafts - create a Christmas tree decoration in our fun craft event - 10am-3pm - 01629 533837
• Saturday 14th December - Ilkeston Library - Bubbagrump Christmas - author event for children 5+ - 10.30am-1pm - 01629 533275
• Tuesday 17th December - Ashbourne Library - Christmas Storytime - join Andy and Caroline for an extra special festive storytime! - 10.15-11am - 01629 533950
• Tuesday 17th December - Ilkeston Library - Christmas Crafting - join us for some exciting festive crafts - 1.30-3pm - 01629 533275
• Thursday 19th December - Wirksworth Library - Children's Christmas Singalong - dance, sing, and shake your festive thing at Wirksworth Library's Christmas Singalong Party (with very special guests!) - 2-3pm - 01629 533730
• Saturday 21st December - Swadlincote Library - Family Christmas Craft - Make a fun tree decoration to take home - 10am-12pm - 01629 533013
• Saturday 21st December - Heanor Library - Christmas Crafts - join us for some fun children's Christmas crafts using recycled resources - 10.30am-12.30pm - 01629 533795
• Monday 23rd December - Buxton Library - Christmas Crafts - join us for some fun Christmas crafts for children - 10am-12pm - 01629 533460
• Monday 23rd December - Swadlincote Library - Christmas Storytime - old and new Christmas stories for 8 years and under - 10.30-11am - 01629 533013
• Monday 23rd December - Ilkeston Library - Children's Christmas Craft and Trail - find the elves on the shelves, and make an elf and reindeer - 1-3.30pm - 01629 533275
• Friday 27th December & Thursday 2nd January - Bolsover Library - Imagination Gaming - join us for learning and playing some of the coolest, smartest, fast witted and amusing board games from across the world - 10am-2pm - 01629 537800 - BOOKING ESSENTIAL (book online here)
• Monday 30th December & Friday 3rd January - Ilkeston Library - Imagination Gaming - join us for learning and playing some of the coolest, smartest, fast witted and amusing board games from across the world - 10am-2pm - 01629 533275 - BOOKING ESSENTIAL (book online here)

All events are free drop-ins unless otherwise stated. Please ring the phone number provided for more information.

Derbyshire Record Office

A fascinating school log book

In our latest blog post we look at the log book from Hamlet Lane School in South Normanton (now Glebe Junior School) to get an idea of life in schools in the 1910s. There are entries about the coronation, Christmas, the Spanish flu, and of course about the First World War. The log book gives a fascinating insight into the daily life of teachers and pupils alike: Hamlet Lane School, South Normanton | Derbyshire Record Office

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(Image: Excerpt from the log book)

Buxton Museum and Art Gallery 

The Big Move

Following Derbyshire County Council’s decision in May that Buxton Museum and Art Gallery (BMAG) will move permanently from its present location in Peak Buildings due to the potential costs and length of time which could be needed for the council to bring the building back into use as a modern day museum, the staff have been preparing to move. As you can imagine, with around 100,000 museum objects in the collection that all require individually checking, documenting and repacking, they are quite busy!

The collections will move into secure storage until a new home is found. In the meantime, the museum team will be based at Buxton Library where they will run an interim service. More details released soon.

Two new staff have been appointed to oversee the transfer and help shape the future of BMAG. New Derbyshire Museums Manager Martha Jasko Lawrence brings a wealth of museum experience with her, as well as a fresh vision. Martha once worked at BMAG as Assistant Manager so is well acquainted with the collections. New Assistant Collections Officer Nancy Wilson has also brought additional knowledge, skills and ideas.

You can read more about the museum and its history here.

Derbyshire Adult Community Education Service (DACES)

Have a Calm Christmas

With Christmas on the horizon, would you like some strategies to help make it an organised, calm and enjoyable time? You may already have this sussed but for many it can be a stressful and exhausting time.

Step forward our experienced adult education tutors who are offering FREE online courses to help you cope in the lead up to Christmas and beyond. Courses cover:

• Getting out and about. Encouraging winter walks and getting close to nature for our wellbeing
• Mindful Drawing. Learn simple drawing activities and breathing techniques to help you to relax and reduce your worries
• Top Tips for surviving Christmas. Helpful techniques and strategies for staying calm over the festive period.
• Calm and Wellbeing. Chatting about the ideas behind creating calm and wellbeing plus some short practical activities like self face/hand massage, slow calm stitch and breathing techniques
• New Year, New Ideas, New You. Planning ahead by writing a ‘diary in advance’ to help predict what you may encounter and how any challenges can be best handled for you and others in your life.

Book your place here: DACES Course List

Multi Use titles 

Every month we get a new selection of titles on our FREE BorrowBox app of both eBooks and eAudiobooks that can be taken out by multiple users at one time. These stay multi-use for 60 days, so if you have a book club and you're looking for your next title then one of these could be your next choice! 

You can find these titles on the main BorrowBox page, identified as a collection with 'No Waiting!' or 'Available Now!'

Titles available from December are:

In Ebook & Eaudio:

• Days at the Morisaki Bookshop - Satoshi Yagisawa
• The Twelve Days of Murder - Andreina Cordani
• Enchantment - Katherine May

In eBook only:

• The Ambassador - Tom Fletcher

In eAudiobook only: 

• Winter Blunderland - James Patterson
• A Highland Christmas - M.C.Beaton

New Adult Books

We’ve chosen to highlight three books published recently for you to enjoy. You can reserve them via our online catalogue.

In a Place of Darkness - Stuart MacBride

Detective Constable Angus MacVicar has just landed his dream job - transferred out of uniform and assigned to Oldcastle's biggest ongoing murder investigation: Operation Telegram, hunting the 'Fortnight Killer'. Every two weeks another couple is targeted. One victim is left at the scene, their corpse used as a twisted message board. The second body is never seen again.

This should be the perfect chance for Angus to prove himself, but instead of working on the investigation's front line, he's lumbered with the forensic psychologist from hell. A sarcastic know-it-all American, on loan from the FBI, who seems determined to alienate everyone while dragging Angus into a shadowy world of conspiracies, lies, and violence.

It's been twelve days since the Fortnight Killer last struck, and the investigation's running out of time. Angus's shiny new job might just be the death of him...

The Midnight Hour - Eve Chase

Present day Paris: Maggie Parker receives a call. The new owners of her family's old Notting Hill home are digging up the basement. They've no idea what might lie beneath . . 

London, twenty-one years earlier: teenaged Maggie, babysitting her little brother, waits in vain for her mother to come home after a night out. Seeking clues to her mother's mysterious disappearance, she's drawn away from the neighbourhood's grand terraces and into its hustling backstreets - and the arms of someone else living on their wits.

Over two decades later, the clock is ticking on a secret set to shatter Maggie's grown-up life. But the draw of the past is irresistible . . .

The Peculiar Garden of Harriet Hunt: A Novel - Chelsea Iversen

True magic is found among the bluebells and brambles...

Consequently, she's been deemed a little too peculiar for popular Victorian society. This solitary life suits her fine, though - because, outside, magic awaits. Harriet's garden is special. It's a wild place full of twisting ivy, vibrant plums, and a quiet power that buzzes like bees. Caring for this place, and keeping it from running rampant through the streets of her London suburb, is Harriet's purpose.

But a woman alone in the world is vulnerable. Soon, a sinister plot involving her father's disappearance begins to take shape, with Harriet herself at its center. Everything she holds dear - from the thorny roses she tends to her very freedom itself - is at stake. To save herself, Harriet will have to unearth her past, discover the secrets of her garden, and finally embrace the wild magic inside of her.

Children's Book Recommendations

One of our favourite things to do is recommend amazing children's books to you! This month we recommend you check out these titles:

Dog Man: Big Jim Begins - Dav Pilkey (Author & Illustrator)

Will the past predict the future for Dog Man and his friends? Will goodness and bravery prevail? Can anything happen if you truly believe? Find out in the latest adventure the popular series!

I Am Going! An Elephant & Piggie Story - Mo Willems (Author & Illustrator)

Piggie ruins a perfectly good day by telling Gerald she is going. If Piggie goes, who will Gerald skip with, play ping-pong with, wear silly hats with...? Make sure you give the latest adventure of this hilarious series a go!

STEM Heroes: Keeping Us Safe/Keeping Us Healthy - Tom Jackson (Author) & Rea Zhai (Illustrator)

Two information non-fiction books to help children understand how certain roles involving Science Technology Engineering & Maths play an important part in our lives.

You can reserve them via our online catalogue.