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To All West Berkshire Libraries Customers
Welcome to our December news!
 Many of our regular activities have a festive feel to them this month, with Christmas-themed Rhymetimes, Storytimes and crafts. Additionally, you will find plenty of special, seasonal events taking place in libraries throughout December. Most of these are FREE, with materials provided where required and no need to book in advance. Some of the highlights include:
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Victorian Day – activities for children in connection with the annual Hungerford Victorian Extravaganza, Friday 8 December at Hungerford Library
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Children’s colouring competition – starts Friday 8 December at Mortimer Library, with prizes in categories for 5-7 year olds and 7-12 years
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Christmas crafts, new each week – 9 to 23 December throughout opening hours at Burghfield Common Library
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Christmas Storytime – Wednesday 13 December, 11.15-11.45am at Newbury Library
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Christmas Storytime followed by biscuit decorating (decorate a gingerbread man to take home) – Thursday 14 December, 4-5pm at Theale Library. Booking is essential for this event.
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Carols, crafts, children’s stories and refreshments – Saturday 16 December, 10am-12pm at Thatcham Library
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Christmas crafts – Saturday 16 December, 10.30am-12pm at Lambourn Library
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Storytime with music and drama – Thursday 21 December, 10.30-11am at Pangbourne Library
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Festive-themed LEGO session – Thursday 21 December, 2.15-4.15pm at Theale Library
Also for children: Pangbourne Library has a Treasure Hunt and Theale Library has a Gingerbread Man Picture Hunt, both running throughout opening hours until Christmas, with prizes for everyone who completes their hunt.
For full details about any of these events or to find out what else is on offer near you, please check with your local library or visit our Events website. Facebook users can also see what’s coming up by following @WBerksLibraries and going to our Events listing.
 Look out for our Christmas Storytimes on YouTube, including one over the weekend of 23-24 December. Follow @WBerksLibraries on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly known as Twitter) to find the links to these.
Our YouTube channel includes several videos by leading animator Tim Allen which provide a step-by-step guide to making your own stop motion animated films.
We also have plenty of easy, seasonal crafts on our social media every weekend. Get creative and find ideas for simple Christmas decorations that children and adults can enjoy making.
 The characters from our Summer Reading Challenge are back this month with an online Winter Mini Challenge for children. Sign up, set your own reading goal and finish your books by 19 February 2024 to join the fun! There are puzzles, games, author videos, suggestions for what to read next and lots of fun activities to keep youngsters busy over the coming weeks and it’s all free. Visit the Challenge website to find out more
 Have you already planned for lots of reading over the holiday period? If you can’t finish your book before it is due for return or get to a library in time, it may be possible to extend the loan period.
You can renew library loans up to four times if nobody else is waiting to borrow the items you have. You can do this online by logging in to your library account or via the West Berkshire Libraries app. Please note that if we have obtained something for you from outside West Berkshire we may not be able to renew it.
 Hungerford Library is planning a Poetry Festival for the town, which will take place 2-16 March 2024. This will include an exhibition of poetry by local residents, along with a poetry writing workshop and other events.
If you enjoy writing poetry, we invite you to contribute to the Festival by writing your own poem, which may be displayed in the exhibition. Poems can be on any subject, perhaps celebrating Hungerford and community, the library, our local countryside or any theme of your choice.
Please send your poems by email to hungerfordlibrary@westberks.gov.uk, by post to the library at Church Street, Hungerford RG17 0JG, or drop them off at any West Berkshire library.
Bookings are open now for our next 12 week course which introduces children to coding with Scratch. This free course starts on 8 January 2024. Each week we will email you a new project to try at home, with full instructions and a step-by-step video guide. For more information or to sign up, please email library@westberks.gov.uk.
All library buildings will be closed on the Bank Holidays as usual and all West Berkshire libraries apart from Newbury Library will be closed from 24 December until the New Year, including Saturday 30 December. Lambourn Library will additionally be closed on Saturday 23 December.
Newbury Library will be open on 27, 28, 29 and 30 December during normal opening hours, apart from Thursday 28 December when it will close early at 5pm.
Please ring your local library or check our website for current details before you visit: www.westberks.gov.uk/libraries.
Our e-resources and the West Berkshire Libraries app will of course continue to be available for you to use every day of the year.
 A consultation has started on proposals which will affect some of the services the council will provide next year. Before any decisions are made, we're inviting you to read more about our plans and how you might be affected by them.
You can find out more about the proposals and have your say on our website.
These decisions are being taken because, like many councils, West Berkshire is facing significant financial pressures with the funding we receive failing to keep up with the cost of delivering services. We’re working hard to protect our most vulnerable residents, and frontline services, and to deliver a budget which reflects the true cost of delivering our services.
You can find out more about the background to this decision and the steps we have already taken here.
Don’t forget that you can keep up with the latest news about everything that’s happening in our libraries by following @WBerksLibraries on Facebook, Instagram and X.
Our next newsletter will be out in early January. Meanwhile we would like to take this opportunity to thank all our library members for your support this year and to wish you all the best for Christmas and the New Year.
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