News

SAFFRON WALDEN TOWN LIBRARY SOCIETY
Invite Submissions for the

MARY WHITEMAN LOCAL
HISTORY COMPETITION

on an aspect of the history of the Saffron Walden area

Prize £100

Further details and application forms are available from:-

The Secretary
Saffron Walden Town Library Society
2 King Street
Saffron Walden
Essex CB10 1ES

Entrants must be aged 17 or over, and should seek the Secretary's approval of their topic.

Lecture on Victorian Bookbinding

On Wednesday 13th October, at 8.00p.m. there will be a talk on Victorian bookbinding by Bruce Tice, who lectures on bookbinding at the British Library. The talk is in Saffron Walden Library and will be followed by a private view of the exhibition.

Exhibition: Saffron Walden Library, Then and Now, (guided tours of Saffron Walden Town Library) Saturday 16 October 2004

The exhibition “Saffron Walden Library, Then and Now” will be held at Saffron Walden Library during Family Learning Week, on 14th to 16th October 2004. Exhibits include a five hundred year book published by one of the earliest printers, Peter Schoffer, as well as posters and photographs from the earlier days of the Town Library, and details of current Essex Library services available to all. Local historian Barbara Hughes helped write the exhibition, which will be held between 10 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. There will be short guided tours (lasting about fifteen minutes) on Friday and Saturday; tickets will be available at the library counters from 6th October. Children are welcome on the tour too. The Victorian Studies part of the library will be closed for study during the exhibition and people will have to book tickets in advance to come in during the times of the guided tours.

Town Library Relaunch

Over 100 people attended the relaunch of the Town Library on Wednesday 21st April. The event marks the conclusion of our successful fund-raising project designed to provide compact shelving in the Gibson Room, and refurbishment of the study room to provide an increased number of study spaces. As part of the project 25,000 volumes in the collection are being added to the Essex Libraries online catalogue.

During the evening a plaque was unveiled by Tony Peel (Chairman of Essex County Council) to acknowledge help received from the organisations that have supported the project. These include the Heritage Lottery Fund, The Scarfe Charitable Trust, The Pilgrim Trust, Essex County Council and Essex Heritage Trust.

Photographer Gordon Ridgwell took several photographs during the evening, and they can be seen here.