Building Hedgehog Hotels at Dawley Library Garden!

Children from 5 -11 years old joined staff at Dawley Library during the October half term to learn all about hedgehogs and their habitats over the cold winter months. Helen Trotman from the Shropshire Wildlife Trust visited the library and talked to us about hedgehogs and other wildlife and how they survive throughout winter.

We made some special Dawley hedgehogs and built shelters for them out of twigs and leaves. Despite the cold (but not the rain!) we all had a great time, so thank you to Helen and to all the children who participated.

Build a hedgehog hotel at half term!

Join us at Dawley Library and Garden at half term for stories and games all about our hedgehog friends.

The activities will include building hedgehog hotels in our garden - will your hedgehog stay safe and snug in its hotel and survive the winter? You will be able to come back to Dawley library garden to find out and see how your hedgehog is getting on.

The activity will take place on Tuesday 28th October 10.30am - 12.00pm and is suitable for children 5 -11 and their parents or carers. To find out more and to book your place contact Liz or Kate on 382901.

Katherine Swift's visit to Dawley library and garden

On 11th September author Katherine Swift visited Dawley Library as part of the National Year of Reading to talk about her book The Morville Hours.

Answering questions from the audience, Katherine told us how she arrived at Morville and how the garden developed through various trials and triumphs. She also detailed the process of writing the book itself, from arranging a house swap in order to get the book finished to discussions over the artwork for the cover.

Visitors were then able to purchase signed copies of the book and have a look around the garden at Dawley library, which is now on its way to full bloom.

Thanks to Katherine for her fascinating talk, to the audience for their questions and to all those who contributed to a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.

Author Katherine Swift to visit Dawley Library

As part of the National Year of Reading Dawley Library is delighted to announce that Katherine Swift, author of The Morville Hours, will be visiting us on 11th September to talk about her book.

The Morville Hours details how Katherine transformed the garden at The Dower House in Morville near Bridgnorth and how she drew on the medieval Books of Hours for inspiration.

Join us at 2.30pm on 11th September and visit Dawley Garden Library. Refreshments will be served.

To reserve your free ticket in advance contact Dawley Library on 01952 382901.

Summer Activities at Dawley Library Garden

Join us at Dawley Library for our summer activities! On Tuesday 12th August storyteller Lenny Alsop will be performing stories, myths, legends, riddles and rhymes.


Come along on Tuesday 26th August and "Don't be Board"! We will have stories and activities where you can make your very own board game based on your favourite book or characters.

All activities are suitable for children 5 - 11 and their parents or carers. To book your place on these events contact Liz or Kate on 382901.

End of grant period - beginning of new garden

This Breathing Places project came to a close at the end of May 2008 but is really just the exciting beginning of developing this area as a community wildlife garden. The garden appeared on BBC SpringWatch on June 11th and more people are now visiting and using the library and garden. Here is a photo of someone enjoying a quiet read under the Silver Birch tree.

More activities are planned during the summer and there will be the results of the Giant Sunflower growing competition, so if you entered make sure you take a photo of your sunflower and send it with the measurements to Dawley library during the week beginning Monday 21st July. The winner will be announced on Tuesday 29th July.

Planting annuals

9 children and adults helped to plant some colourful annuals as part of our half term activity. The Rainbow border is really taking shape now and it will be lovely to see the colours develop into the summer. We also had interest from 3 people in volunteering to help with the ongoing maintenance of the garden.

Anyone else who is interested in becoming a gardening volunteer should contact Kate or Liz at Dawley Library on 01952 382901.

Half term activity Friday 30th May 2008 10.30am-12noon

Come around the world with us this half term on a voyage of adventure. Stories and poems from other lands for children aged 5-11 and their parents/carers.

See how our garden is growing and also help to plant the rainbow walk with some more colourful plants.

If you are interested in volunteering to help look after and maintain the new garden then do call in and have a chat with the staff.

Open day 9th May 2008

Around 100 people attended the launch and enjoyed tours of the garden, meeting the designer and other people involved in creating it. Brightly coloured ribbons and balloons were hung from the pergola posts and following the welcome speeches, Cllr Kuldip Sahota, newly elelcted Chair of Great Dawley Parish Council, cut the ribbon and declared the garden officially open.

In his speech Cllr Denis Allen, Cabinet member for Community Services, said that the garden "provides Dawley with a wonderful tranquil setting that the community can use for relaxation, storytelling and other activities. This is an innovative project that has given local people the chance to have their input into an original project for all the community to enjoy."

Under a large gazebo in the centre of the lawn, children from three local schools (Ladygrove, Dawley C of E and Captain Webb) helped community artist, Natalie Toplass, to create a large tree mural using their handprints. Some of the winning poems from our poetry competition were also incorporated on the mural as well as painted on the posts of the pergola.

Radio Shropshire also joined us, as well as a film crew from BBC Springwatch who are producing a series of short clips about lottery funded projects for their forthcoming series.

Open day Friday 9th May

Local residents are welcome to come along to our open day on Friday 9th May 2008 10.30am - 1.00pm. Meet the designer, enjoy a tour of the garden, take part in creating a tree mural and find out about volunteering opportunites to help maintain the garden. Refreshments provided. Welcome speeches at 11.00am.

Planting the garden

14 volunteers from the Green Gym worked hard again in April planting up the woodland, storytelling and sensory areas. Plants include foxgloves, bugle, flowering currant, buddleia, pyracantha, thyme, oregano, honeysuckle and jasmine. The volunteers also made some homes for ladybirds and lacewings out of bamboo sticks.

An update on the garden and our most recent event

The Green Gym were busy again in March, putting in benches, trellis, pergola arches, a bird table and seats in the storytelling area. There was a fantastic turnout and everyone worked extremely hard, and it looks brilliant! Planting will begin on 9th April.

Our own seed planting and garden trail event was very popular with 21 children attending, aged between 3-11 years. It began with stories about plants and sunflowers in our newly created storytelling corner of the garden, before planting 'Russian Giant' sunflower seeds to grow on at home. There will be a prize in the summer for whoever grows the tallest sunflower.

Parents and children then took part in our garden trail, finding the answers to questions about the folklore of plants that will feature in the garden. Someone also spotted a blue tit who was making a nest in one of the 3 nest boxes in the Silver Birch tree.

We received some lovely comments about the garden and the event. Click on the Comments link in the previous entry to read them.

Seed planting, garden trail and coffee morning

Join us on Friday 4th April 10.30am - 12.00 noon to take part in our seed planting competition and find out about plant folklore on our garden trail.

Also see how the garden is taking shape, as planting will begin mid-March. Planting plans and photographs of all the plants that will be included in the garden are available to look at in the library.

Making bird boxes and bird feeders

13 children and adults braved the cold weather and came along to this event. Members of the Green Gym helped everyone to make nest boxes, some of which will be put up in the garden, and Shropshire Wildlife Trust showed the children how to make bird feeders from pine cones, lard and seeds. These were then hung around the garden. Here are a few of the comments from those who attended:

I have enjoyed it a lot. It was so amazing and brilliant.

I have had fun at the library. I liked making bird boxes and bird feeders.

I really enjoyed learning about birds in the garden even though it was cold! I am really proud of my bird box.

February half-term activity

On Friday February 15th 10.30am - 12.00 noon children aged 6-11 are invited to come along to Dawley Library to help build nest boxes and other wildlife habitats for the library garden. Members of the Green Gym and Shropshire Wildlife Trust will be leading this activity. Places are limited so early booking is recommended.

Choosing books for the library

At our event on Saturday 19th January, library customers enjoyed a break from their shopping and helped us to select some adult and children's books with a nature theme, such as guides on identifying birds, butterflies, insects and plants.