 A warm reception for all things reading
Some of the youngest pupils from Crosfields School in Shinfield took a trip to Lower Earley Library recently.
Three reception classes took turns to visit in groups of 16 and the children had a lot of fun discovering new stories.
The visits, which ran over two weeks, were organised to encourage children to develop a love of books.
The children learned about how to look after books and had a look around the library with help from staff, who also read stories to them.
For more about school visits, or to book a class visit to the library, please email us.
New Covid vaccination centre and books bounce back
A new walk-in vaccination centre has opened at Wokingham Library. The site will be open from 2pm to 7pm on Fridays and 11am to 4.45pm on Saturdays and Sundays, with no appointment necessary.
According to the latest statistics on the items borrowed from Wokingham Borough Libraries, we have been back to pre-Covid levels since September 2021. We are now going even better, with more than 77,000 items borrowed since January.
 Take Him to the Tower: An illustrated talk
Peter Must from the Wokingham Society will be giving an illustrated talk about the life of the Hon. Adam Williamson, owner of Montague House in Wokingham, on Wednesday 23 March at 10.30am.
Williamson was a soldier under the Duke of Marlborough in the war of the Spanish Succession and chief military commander of the Tower of London from 1722 to 1747.
This is a virtual talk for adults and will take place on Microsoft Teams. You will be sent joining information and a link to the talk the day before.
Click here to find out more and to register your interest or you can email us.
 Virtual highlights for children and young people
Our teen writing group Igniting Writing will be joined by Patrice Lawrence on Saturday 12 March. Her debut novel Orangeboy won the Waterstone's Book Prize for Older Readers and the YA Book Prize.
Lawrence was born in Brighton and brought up in an Italian-Trinidadian household. She has been writing for as long as she has been reading and loves crime fiction and sci-fi.
Her second novel Indigo Donut won the Crime Fest Best Crime Fiction for Young Adults and was shortlisted for the YA Book Prize.
This online session will run from 10.30am to 12noon and is suitable for young people aged 11 to 18.
Virtual Storytime promises lots of fun for families with children aged seven and under, with this session taking place on Tuesday 15 March at 11.30am.
To sign up email libraries@wokingham.gov.uk with the session you would like to attend, your name and library card number and you will be sent details of how to join the day before.
Women in Art: A series of talks on femme fatale
Join artist Chris Holley for the first of three online illustrated talks about the lives, loves and creative legacies of three femme fatale artists' models.
The first of these free sessions is being held on Thursday 17 March from 2pm to 3pm, with parts two and three following in April and May.
This is a virtual talk and will take place via Microsoft Teams. The direct link and joining information will be sent to your email the day before the talk.
Click here to find out more and to register your interest or you can email us.
Community centre springs back to life
The community centre at Arborfield Green is open again for bookings. We also run a pop-up library at the centre in Sheerlands Road from 9am to 1.30pm on Mondays and 9.30am to 12.30pm on Saturdays, so we hope to see you there.
It's hoped that regular events will start again soon at the venue, covid figures and official safety advice permitting. Anyone wishing to join its events committee, or find out more about the classes and sessions it hosts, should email community@arborfieldgreen.co.uk.
Ancestry and award winners in our libraries blog
Do you want to find out more about where you came from? For anyone wishing to research their family history, Ancestry.com is available to use on the library computers in all of our libraries. You can find out more by reading our blog.
Another highlight of our blog is a spotlight on the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards, which celebrate the best travel writers in the world.
Finally, you can learn more about the Branford Boase Award and this year's longlisted titles for the best children's debut novel.
What you might have missed
Sign up for emergency alerts newsletter
We’ve launched a new emergency alerts email newsletter in response to Storm Eunice. This will be used as required when we have extreme weather, potential flooding and emergency incidents which impact large parts of the borough.
We’ll send you the latest local advice and updates on key services like roads, bins and where to go to get more help.
It will be the newsletter we use to provide multiple updates a day with key information when responding to incidents like the recent storms. You can sign up using the button below.
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