September 2023

Welcome to this month's News & Events podcast from Westmeath Libraries. Our new host is Caroline Barry, and she will be talking about some upcoming events as well as chatting to participants of past events.

What is The Westmeath Libraries podcast?

Join us for a monthly library chat. We'll talk about a variety of library related topics, from books to events, and plans for the future.

Hello everybody, and welcome to Westmeath Libraries podcast. My name is Caroline Barry. I'm delighted to be with you here today and we had a fabulous summer. We had the Fleadh here in Mullingar and over 600,000 people visited. It was hugely successful. So well done to everybody who organized and who took part. Naturally, the libraries were very busy during that period, particularly Mullingar Library.I believe one day they had 700 people in the library, all of them trying different instruments.

So well done to all the staff and well done to anybody who came to visit us following on from the Fleadh, we had, of course, Heritage Week and the library celebrated our wonderful heritage. Here in Kilbeggan we had basket making, over in Athlone they had a heritage crochet Irish lace and over in Castlepollard, I believe Bill Ryan, the local historian, gave a fantastic talk on the buildings in Castlepollard.

So the evenings are drawing to a close. The summer is over. We are now moving into autumn. But don't worry, the libraries have a whole load of things that you can partake in.

We're running amazing events this autumn, so this podcast will give you a rundown of what we're going to run during autumn and perhaps something might interest you. Remember, there's always book clubs and craft groups that you can attend and if there is none running in your local library, why not pop in and ask your local librarian, Can you set a club up?
So anything that you want to know about this podcast you can also find on our website and our website is w w w dot Westmeath culture dot i e so anything you need to check out or if you want to register for some of our exciting courses, you go to Westmeath Culture Dot I E and of course never forget that you can always pop in to your local library and have a conversation with your librarians there.
You'll be surprised what little seeds get planted in conversations that grow into wonderful trees.

So just before we move on to the autumn scheduling, I'd like to take a little look back at what we did during the summer in the libraries here. We really focused on running events for children and we had a fantastic array of workshops and creative events that included people like Mudbugs. There were nature workshops, shops for children where they created a nature weave using sticks and flowers. We also had a Vroom town with the wonderful Emer Conlon. She did storytelling and coloring. You could go in all the time and to your local libraries and always ask them, Please, can we have the Lego? Because we love to encourage creating and building in the libraries.

And then we also ran a stop motion film making workshop with Brickflicks and I have some of the participants here, and you might like to have a listen to how they found the workshop.
I am with a gang of children here who've just completed the what was it called, brick flick, stop motion moviemaking. Hi, everybody.
Hi.
Did you have a good time?
Yeah.
Okay. So I'm going to ask some of you to come forward. So I've Owen here. Owen, what did you do and what did you make?
Well, I helped make the Ninja PortalsI and I was doing all the pictures.
It was kind of hard, but yeah, yeah, it was eventually easy the further we gone through.
So you got to understand.
Yeah.
What's your name
Ora
Ora come up closer to the mic here. What did you make?
I made Portal Mayhem.
Portal Mayhem! And did you enjoy this morning?
Yes.
Was it fantastic?
Yes. Very good. So who else have we here. Lets have a girl. What's yourname?
Rosa
Rosa. Come towards the microphone Now, tell me, what did you make?
I made Ninja Portal.
Ninja Portal? And did you enjoy it?
Yeah.
And these films are going up online aren't they?
Yeah.
Where are they going?
On YouTube.
On YouTube.
I'm Oisin and we did the Lego or Ninja Portals.
You did another ninja portal and you use Blue Tack in this?
I did, yeah. That was a portal.
And that's the portal. And they made it swallowed people up. So for anybody else who wants to see these movies, where do they go?
YouTube. The BrickFlicks Academy.
Anybody else want to say something? Come forward.
It's the hair of truth, about a hairdo. Oh, the hair of truth!
yeah,
The hair of truth. spelled H A I R. and I believe we've got a second viewing is that right? Whats that?
Showed it twice! So does everyone what to give themselves a clap and, well done
Good Job

So that was a wonderful noisy bunch. They had a fabulous time here and in Kilbeggan Library. And I know that BrickFlicks did other workshops in other libraries in Westmeath.

Now all of those very noisy children have gone back to school and perhaps you're a mum or a dad and you have children that have gone to school, maybe you don't have any children, maybe you're retired, maybe you just have time on your hands and perhaps you'd like to do something unusual and creative over the coming autumn.
Well, how do you feel about creative writing? Westmeath Libraries are running two exciting new creative writing courses for any of you out there who want to start a book or maybe a short story, who are already working on something, and would like to get a bit of feedback. So we have a fabulous two new writing courses. One is taking place in Athlone Library and one is happening in Mullingar Library.

So perhaps you could do the both because they both happen on separate evenings of the week. Or if you can't make one, perhaps you can make the other. So the course that's starting in Athlone Library is with Liza Costello. Now, Liza had her first novel, The Estate. It was initially released in 2020 as an audible original and then it was picked up by Hachette after had been chosen as Thriller of the month.

Then she had her second novel, Crooked World, also published by Hachette, and that was published in 2022. So Liza is a pretty seasoned writer. Now, the course that she's running in Athlone is focusing on how you would write a psychological thriller. MM Tasty. So that course is taking place on Thursday evenings from 6 to 7.45, and it starts on the 7th of September and will run until the 12th of October.

Now, Liza has said because her course is really workshop based, she's invited participants who may already have some stuff written to submit a thousand word manuscript. They have this as an option. You don't have to do it, so don't freak out. If you've nothing written, you can just go to the course. Don't worry. But for those of you who do have something written, Lisa has said, by all means, submit an a thousand word manuscript in advance to the workshop, and your work could be workshopped in class.

I mean, how fantastic is that? A fabulous opportunity to have your work critiqued and to get feedback there and then. Brilliant. And Liza also has a recommended reading list and you can find all of the information about this course online on our website at WW W Dot Westmeath Culture dot I E. Now you do have to register if you want to go on this course.

If all the places are taken, we do also have a waiting list. So if anybody drops out, you can usually get contacted by the library. So what a fantastic opportunity. That is so good. I'm very tempted to go myself. Well, if you can't make it over to Athlone Library to study with Liza Costello, don't worry about that, because over in Mullingar Library they're also running a creative writing course.

And this time it's a four week course, and it is with a writer called Lorraine Murphy. Now, Lorraine wrote a book called Into the Woods, and actually she's just had another book published called Be Careful What You Wish For. Lorraine is extremely experienced and she's going to help you focus on writing a short piece of fiction and really getting in touch with your own authentic voice over the four sessions.

Lorraine is going to touch on things like dialog, structure, flow, and she's going to help you polish up a piece of writing so that it becomes ready for publication. That's not to say she's publishing it, but it would be ready at least to submit to some place for publication. So you never know where this will take you.

I hope you're going to be inspired. Her course begins on Tuesday, the 12th of September, and it will run until the 2nd of October. They're evening courses. They take place from 6 p.m. the evening until 7 p.m.. Now as with Liza's course over in Athlone, the spaces are limited on both courses. So you really do need to register and to register you need to go to our website and our website is WW W dot Westmeath Culture Dot I E.

Well now would you like to grow your own culinary herbs? We have Anna Brown from Big Sky Flowers. She's going to give a talk and a tasting session in Mullingar library about injecting your cooking with a bit of flavor. She's also going to discuss nutrition. And that talk is taking place on the 16th of September at 10 a.m. to 12. Remember to go online to book.

Well if you can't make Anna's course over in Mullingar how about gardening without digging? Are you interested in growing your own food? Are you interested in keeping chickens? Maybe you'd like to brew some cider or wine. Well, over in Athlone, there's a homesteading course being run for three weeks. It starts on the 12th of September and it'll run at 5.30 in the evening until 7.30.

So homesteading is all about producing and preserving your own food and the workshop hosts sat that it's a great way of improving your own quality of life and also saving you money. You can learn the basics of homesteading. They've 20 years personal experience. They say it's suitable for beginners and for advanced. In week one, you'll be growing your own food using the no dig gardening method and also preserving your own food to teach you how to can store and also how to wax cheese.

In week two. They look at the whole idea of keeping chickens for egg production and then also give you some home and herbal remedies. In week three, they look at backup power. So looking at solar energy battery powers or lights and generators. So really what you need to keep your house and home running. And then they also look at home brewing so where you could make your own beer or cider or country wines.

And then with regard to is it easy to grow your own food? Well, the workshop hosts would say yes, it is particularly using the no-dig gardening method. It brings joy back into gardening by reducing the maintenance of the garden and it makes the garden highly productive. You will have fresh, homegrown produce, which is more flavorsome and healthier and satisfying.

And they say, Don't worry, if you don't have a garden or access to a garden, you can get started and practice with container gardening. And with regard to preserving food, they say it's an almost forgotten skill. You will build your self-reliance during times of plenty, whether you produced it yourself or you bought it in the shop. They'll show you the basic techniques of preservation, such as waterbath canning, pressure canning, dehydrating, freezing, storing.

They'll also teach you how to wax cheese and glassing eggs. So each of the workshops you have individually registry register for each of the workshops and if you want to go on or three, by all means do register for all three. But remember, you can also go one at a time if that's what suits you. That's it for this podcast.

Thank you very much for tuning in. I've just given you a brief taster of some of the events that are taking place. Remember, we run a much more extensive program. We have regular groups that meet once a month. For example, most of the book clubs meet once a month. We have groups that meet once a week, for example, knitting groups.And ICA groups, we have baby and toddler groups. So tune in to the podcasts or go to our website, take a look at the array of events and see if you can find something that suits you. Until next time. I'm Caroline Barry. Thank you very much.