May Bank Holidays 

Our libraries are closed for the two May Bank Holiday Days:

• Monday 5 May - May Day
• Monday 26 May - Spring Bank Holiday.

Why not call into one of our libraries and borrow a book for the holiday or try an emagazine, ebook or eaudiobook?  Find out more here.

Adult Events in May

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

• Throughout May - Hayfield Library - Display of artwork by local artist Brian Nolan - during library opening hours - 01629 533438
• Saturday 3rd May - Ripley Library - VE Day Coffee Morning - free coffee morning to celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE Day - 10am-1pm - 01629 532982
• Tuesday 6th May, and Tuesday 20th May - Bolsover Library - Live Life Better Derbyshire - Health advice, signposting and free blood pressure checks - 9:30am-12:30pm - 01629 537800
• Wednesday 7th May - Heanor Library - Craft yourself calm - adult craft group - bring your own crafting or join in with a themed craft - 1pm-2pm - 01629 533795
• Wednesday 14th May - Bolsover Library - Craft Workshop, Meandering Books - make & decorate your own small book with Irena - 10:30am-12:30pm - booking advisable - 01629 537800
• Tuesday 20th May - Ashbourne Library - We Are All Derbyshire - talk and display of portraits from the We Are All Derbyshire project - 2:30-3:30pm - for tickets ring 01629 533950 - further info here 
• Tuesday 20th May - Bolsover Library - Dementia Awareness - advice & support - 10am-12:30pm - 01629 537800
• Tuesday 20th May - Heanor Library - Live Life Better blood pressure checks/Body MOT - 10am-12pm - 01629 533795
• Wednesday 21st May - Heanor Library - Craft yourself calm - adult craft group - bring your own crafting or join in with a themed craft - 1pm-2pm - 01629 533795
• Tuesday 27th May - Belper Library - Board Game Club - Come and join us for a range of classic and modern board games to try - fun and welcoming to all ages - 4-6pm - 01629 533192
• Thursday 5th June - Chesterfield Library - Mark Eklid - From Fact to Fiction - how a career in journalism influenced my approach to writing crime thrillers - 5:30pm-6:30pm - tickets £5 plus 50p booking fee - to book look here.
• Tuesday 10th June - Ilkeston Library - Roger Clough - Oldenland: A journey in search of the good last years. This is Roger’s first book for a non-academic audience and is a funny reflection on his journey in the land of old age, and making the most of your senior years - 11am-12:30pm - tickets £5 plus 50p booking fee - to book look here.
• For information on further exciting author events in Derbyshire Libraries in June - look here.

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

May Activities for Families:

Lots of exciting events are planned:

• Saturday 3rd May - Alfreton Library - Mix & match morning - Pirate crafts, board games and Lego for all the family - 10am-12:30pm - 01629 531484
• Saturday 3rd May - Belper Library - Family Craft Drop-In Session - Drop in and try a fun, simple craft, suitable for families with children aged four and over - 10am-1pm - 01629 533192
• Saturday 3rd May - Swadlincote Library - complete this month’s LEGO family challenge - 10am-12pm - 01629 533013
• Thursday 8th May - Heanor Library - Story and Rhyme times, 0-5 years - 11am-11:30am - 01629 533795
• Saturday 10th May - Alfreton Library - Lego Club - join us to build your own Lego creations using our lego or duplo and then display them in our cabinet - 10am-12:30pm - 01629 531484
• Saturday 10th May - Swadlincote Library - VE Day Crafts, making decorative medals - craft activity for children - 10am-12pm - 01629 533013
• Thursday 15th May - Holmewood Library - Rhyme Time - join in the fun with action rhymes and songs for young children - 10:30am-11am - 01629 533355 
• Saturday 17th May - Alfreton Library - Crafty Saturday - Fairy Tale themed crafts suitable for all the family - 10am-12:30pm - 01629 531484
• Monday 19th May - Heanor Library - Story and Rhyme time, 0-5 years - 2pm-2:30pm - 01629 533795
• Thursday 22nd May - Heanor Library - Story and Rhyme times, 0-5 years - 11am-11:30am - 01629 533795
• Saturday 24th May to Saturday 31st May - May Half Term Crafts - Belper Library - Drop in throughout half term week for fun crafts and colouring, suitable for children aged four and over - during library opening hours - 01629 533192
• Saturday 24th May - Alfreton Library - family-led board games - join us to play a selection of board games as a family, or do puzzles - 10am-12:30pm - 01629 531484
• Thursday 29th May - Holmewood Library - Rhyme Time - join in the fun with action rhymes and songs for young children - 10:30am-11am - 01629 533355 
• Thursday 29th May - Matlock Library - Junk modelling session suitable for children aged 3+ - 10:30am-12pm - 01629 533837
• Saturday 31st May - Alfreton Library - Mix & Match Morning - artist collage crafts, board games and Lego builds for all the family - 10am-12:30pm - 01629 531484
• Saturday 31st May - Swadlincote Library - animal story and craft session - fun storytelling session with a chance to make animal crafts afterwards - 10:30am-11:30am - 01629 533013

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

Derbyshire Makes - Dare to Dream

Be a part of a monumental artwork celebrating Derbyshire’s textiles heritage. Inspired by Derbyshire’s history of innovation, Dare to Dream invites everyone from across the county to create new flags embodying hope, aspiration and radical thinking.

Alex Murphy, Derbyshire resident and recent contestant on the BBC’s The Great British Sewing Bee, is personally inviting you to take part – whether you are an individual, community group, artist or business, you can get involved from anywhere in the county. For inspiration and ideas, download the free Dare to Dream Resource pack here.  

Derbyshire Makes is a three-year cultural programme of making-related events and activities across the county. This includes community-produced projects and artist-led commissions for the Derbyshire Makes Festival and year-round Countywide activity. For more information, look here and follow @DerbyshireMakes on socials.

(image by Richard Tymon)

Derby Book Festival

Derby Book Festival celebrates it's 10^th anniversary in 2025.  It will hold two Festivals: the Summer Festival from 23 May–1 June and the Autumn Edition from 14–16 November.

This year’s Summer Festival programme will include the usual eclectic mix of genres with some highlights being the Poet Laureate Simon Armitage; poet Hollie McNish; former MP and Home Secretary, Alan Johnson; political commentator and podcaster Gabriel Gatehouse; Guardian journalist and author Lucy Mangan; former Radio 4 Today presenter and BBC News Special Correspondent James Naughtie; Horrible Histories author Terry Deary; historians Alison Weir, Christian Wolmar and Anne Somerset; Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction 2025 shortlistee Chloe Dalton; novelists Sarah Moss, Clare Chambers and Andrew McMillan plus debut novelists and nature writer Simon Barnes. Topics range from conspiracy to cricket and railways to running – we hope you find plenty to interest you. There will be an expanded children and families' programme with events and activities across half term, including another Bookworms, the popular nature-themed event with Down to Earth Derby.

You can find full details on the Festival website with tickets on sale from 7 April.

Derbyshire Record Office

The Eckington Stick and Wheel Club

We were a bit perplexed by the name of one of our most recent accessions when it transferred to us from Chesterfield Local Studies Library, but the Eckington Stick and Wheel Club turns out to be an organisation that was established in 1960 to support people with physical disabilities in the Eckington area – i.e., people using walking sticks and wheelchairs. You can read more about this fabulous organisation and what kind of records it left behind (such as photos and magazines) in this blog post:

(Image: Photo of members of the club)

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Derbyshire Adult Community Education Services

Our health and wellbeing courses can help you improve or support your physical health or mental wellbeing.

Learning is one of the 5 ways to wellbeing. When you join one of our wellbeing courses you will learn skills alongside tools and techniques to help you improve and support your wellbeing.

Types of wellbeing courses we offer include gardening, cookery, yoga, photography.

Brightside courses can be a helpful part of your mental health recovery. It can be enjoyable to learn a new skill, build confidence and meet new people with similar interest.

Ring 01629 531241 or email: adult.education@derbyshire.gov.uk for more information, or visit DACES website to book.

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 May are:

In eBook & eAudio:

• The Love Letter - Lucinda Riley
• Caledonian Road - Andrew O'Hagan
• The Devil Stone (DCI Christine Caplan, Book 1) -                 Caro Ramsay

In eAudiobook only:

• The World's Worst Children 1, 2 & 3 - David Walliams
• Dementia - June Andrews

In eBook Only:

• Lies - T.M. Logan

New Adult Books

We’ve chosen to highlight three non-fiction books and a fiction book published recently for you to enjoy. 

Little Englanders: Britain in the Edwardian era - Alwyn Turner

In Little Englanders, Alwyn Turner reconsiders the Edwardian era as a time of profound social change, bringing their history alive through music halls and male beauty contests, the 1908 Summer Olympics and the real Peaky Blinders.

Bored of lunch. Six ingredient slow cooker - Nathan Anthony and Dan Jones

A revolutionary collection of calorie-counted recipes for your slow cooker. Say farewell to mealtime mayhem with recipes easier than ever before, guaranteed to be used time and again.

Grow food anywhere: how to plant the right crops in the right place and help your garden thrive - Lucy Chamberlain, Royal Horticultural Society 

Following the principle of “right crop, right place”, everyone can grow fruits and vegetables that will thrive in their space, large or small. Including varieties of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and edible flowers, there is something here for everyone – from favourites like chilis and figs to honeyberry, wasabi, agretti, and amaranth.

Murder on the Marlow Belle - Robert Thorogood - (The Marlow Murder Club mysteries 4)

Oliver, founder of the Marlow Amateur Dramatic Society, had hired The Marlow Belle, a private pleasure cruiser, for an exclusive party with the MADS committee but no one remembers seeing him disembark. And then Oliver’s body washes up on the Thames with two bullet holes in him – it’s time for the Marlow Murder Club to leap into action.

Oliver was a rather complicated chap and he wasn’t short of enemies. Judith, Suzie, and Becks are convinced they’ll crack the case in no time. But things are not as they seem in the Marlow Amateur Dramatic Society, and the gang will need to keep their wits about them, otherwise a killer may sail away scot-free …

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:

Never dance with a dinosaur - Pamela Butchart and Marc Boutavant (Illustrator)

Peri LOVES dancing and dinosaurs. So when she tags along to her sister's ballet class and the teacher asks everyone to pretend they are dancing with a beautiful creature, Peri knows the perfect partner. But Miss Tippytoes is furious! "Never dance with a dinosaur!" she says.

But does Peri listen? She does NOT - and what happens next is a boogying, bashing, shimmying, crashing, waltzing whirlwind!

Big Jim begins - Dav Pilkey and Dav Pilkey (Illustrator)

In Dog Man: Big Jim begins, discover the origin of our beloved characters from the Dog Man series as they join forces to stop the Space Cuties from destroying the city. Will the past predict the future for Dog Man and his friends? Will goodness and bravery prevail? Can anything happen if you truly believe?

Boing!: a bouncy book of bugs - James Carter and Neal Layton (Illustrator)

Bestselling poet James Carter and illustrator Neal Layton love bugs and minibeasts and here they celebrate them all – from grasshoppers, ladybirds and dung beetles to moths, flies, wasps – and even bedbugs. Including the extraordinary tardigrades who can live in outer space.

With 24 poems, including shape poems, riddles, rhyming poems and free verse, plus amazing and informative facts about each bug or minibeast on every page, the world of insects is brought buzzing to life, matched by Neal Layton’s bugtiful colour illustrations.