Author Carys Bray entertains for ‘The Library in the Gardens’

Author Carys Bray entertains for ‘The Library in the Gardens’.

In the lead up to World Book Day this year, ‘The Library in the Gardens’ and the High Park Project (High Park: Think Family, Think Community) worked together to bring the joy of books and reading to all ages in the community. It was a brilliant three days!

Local children’s author Peter Lynas (‘Madeleine Goes to the Moon’ and ‘Can You Draw the Dragosaur?’) read and chatted with the children at Bishop David Sheppard Primary School, Linaker children’s Centre, Canning Road and Home-Start Canning Road. On World Book Day, an afternoon tea with local author Carys Bray was held at Southport Community Centre to raise funds for Claire House.

The culmination of the three days of activities was a ‘Coffee Morning with Southport Author Carys Bray’, to raise funds for ‘The Library in the Gardens’. Carys is a great supporter of North Meols Library Association’s plans to set up a community library in the Botanic Gardens in Churchtown, to provide library services for the population of the northern part of Southport. Carys read ‘Sweet Home’ from her recently published book of award-winning short stories of the same name. This modern take on the traditional ‘Hansel and Gretel’ story was amusing and also very thought-provoking. Carys continued to entertain the audience with another short story written specially for a national newspaper, reading the increasingly funny correspondence between a character named Pauline and a chocolate club!

Carys’s books, ‘A Song for Issy Bradley’ (nominated for the Costa First Novel Award 2014) and ‘Sweet Home’, which is receiving great reviews, were available to buy at the event. Carys answered questions from the audience, signed each book bought and chatted to everybody. Look out for Carys’s much-anticipated new book ‘The Museum of You’, which is published on June 6th. The tea, coffee and delicious home-made cakes proved very popular, as did the raffle. A total of £95 was raised on the day, vital funds to help set up the community library in the old bowls pavilion in the Botanic Gardens.

Many thanks to Carys, Southport Community Centre, the High Park Project and all the ‘Mary Berrys’ who baked such delicious cakes!

For more information on ‘The Library in the Gardens’ (North Meols Library Association), please see:

Website: http://www.thelibraryinthegardens.weebly.com Facebook: https://facebook.com/newchurchtownlibrary Twitter: https://twitter.com/newchurchtownl