You are cordially invited to…

Pictured: Crayford Library, circa 1956 (photo c Bexley Local Studies and Archives Centre)

~ AN INVITATION ~

Bexley Libraries request the pleasure of your company to join us at the commencement of the new Crayford Library at any time from the 17th November onwards.

Menu: a wide selection of books to suit all tastes and ages, magazines and newspapers, public network computers and internet access; Storytimes, Chaterbooks and Toddlertime sessions; Reading group meetings and the Friends of Crayford Library; Events and Activities to follow: Coffee will be served on the first Tuesday of each month.

And, for those of you who have not visited a Bexley Library for some considerable length of time -  kindly note -

Jacket and tie NOT required.

Carriages (By rail, or autobus services 96,428 or 492) daily.

No need to RSVP – all are very welcome!

TTFN

BIOGRAPHIES IN BEXLEY...
I spy ...with my little eye ... some biographies beginning with ... B


A brace of Bexley bookish thoughts occurred to me recently, dear readers (no small feat for – as you’ll appreciate – we chaps tend not to be able to think of more than one item at a time…)


Thought A) was that we've got a splendid collection of biographies about the Obamas, so now would be a good time to revisit them...
For, without any hint of political bias, nothing becomes so obsolete so rapidly as a biography of a recently defeated overseas politician - and, while we've got various books about Romney (Marsh) we've nothing about Romney (Mitt)...

Thought B) popped up shortly afterwards, whilst my extensive research team were gathering material regarding our library collection of new biographies - and, "my! - what a lot we've got!"...There are certainly some absolute corkers popping up on the catalogue, and - as one of my colleagues perceptively pointed out - lots of the best ones are about B's...

Well, this called for an investigation, without a doubt...And yes - how right they were. Here are some of their top biographical tips...(Sadly, they failed to fully complete the task, and you'll need to uncover the actual B's yourself, so please try...)

One brave B perished in a heroic Antarctic quest - (but did you know, he went to school in Sidcup?)

Another crafty  B also had some Bexley links: a close pal of our own William Morris, he was the greatest artist of his age...
  And then there's  a colleague of our own Len Goodman - but this one's a saucy Italian B

Or how about a feline, ginger B?...

Or some Tudor B's?

Or perhaps your tastes are more musical? Then here's a classic B, or - my own personal favourite "Get it on" and "Ride a white swan" - a groovy B

So - to sum up, dear readers  - we've lots of biographies beginning with 'B'...we've got biographies about the Obamas...but, obviously, if you want even more new biographies to get your (ahem) mitts on, then just try these: ACDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

TTFN

Trees please...
(Or, ashes to ashes?...)

If you go down to the woods today, dear readers, (as the popular song reminds us) you’re sure of a big surprise…


For, rather than cuddly teddy bears or ruggedly autumnal picnics, you’ll probably find an unpleasant case of Chalara fraxinea – ughhh



Do you share my woodland worries and ash-anxieties, dear readers? The news is certainly troubling about the state of our beloved ash tree population – apparently 90 % of Denmark’s ashes have this dreadful disease , and now it’s spreading here…

Ash trees are one of our unsung heroes in the countryside, not showy, not spectacular, just grand… As dear old Rudyard reminded us “Of all the trees that grow so fair, Old England to adorn, Greater are none beneath the Sun, Than Oak, and Ash, and Thorn”…and now they might be gorn (He didn’t actually write the last bit, obviously, as Mr. Kipling did make exceedingly good poems…)

So, is there any good news to be had?...Well, a little: Bexley are involved in the Trees to Treasure scheme, which will benefit local communities…

And Bexley Libraries (naturally) has some splendid tree-themed reading available at many (ahem) branches…root them out and leaf through them. (Try Wildwood by Roger Deakin – a very fine book).

So, there we have it, dear readers – now, how to conclude?...Perhaps, in this November week of Remembrance we should recall the words of the poet Alfred J Kilmer (who died in the Great War in 1918):

“I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree”…

“Poems are made by fools like me

But only God can make a tree”.

TTFN.