TV weatherman Derek Brockway joined Heritage Minister Alun Ffred Jones and Peter Clarke, Chairman of Monmouthshire County Council, at Monmouth Library on Thursday 20th January 2011 to launch ‘Fancy that’ – the Welsh Libraries Festival.
‘Fancy that’ encourages all generations of the family to try something new at their library.
Derek commented: “I’ve been set a challenge to try something new at different libraries across Wales. Today I’ve been shown how to make a traditional Welsh lovespoon using Sycamore wood by bushcraft expert Andrew Price. It’s been great fun and at the same time I’ve picked up a new skill. It just goes to show that libraries offer much more than books and cater for all types of hobbies and interests.”
Guests, including David Davies local MP, Giles Howard (elected member with responsibility for Libraries) and other local elected members, were privileged to see a sneak preview of a series of short animated films demonstrating how libraries are relevant to all generations of the family. The films show the ‘Bibli’ family visiting their library to access free books, free internet access, learn about family history, take part in a rhyme time session or to simply meet up with friends. The films and a new web site were launched during the festival – look out for them online.
Heritage Minister Alun Ffred Jones said: “Libraries are at the heart of the communities they serve, offering something for everyone. The festival is a great opportunity for the whole family to try something new and to bring libraries to the forefront of people’s minds.
Together with our programme of refurbishing and modernising libraries across Wales, projects like this are meeting our One Wales commitment to promote the public library network. And recently published figures show library usage is on the up in Wales.”
A group of pupils from Monmouth Comprehensive School made Friendship bracelets with Andrew Price. Fans of Derek Brockway, including children from Cross Ash Primary School, were treated to a question and answer session.
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