Rae of Light

  Completing a reading challenge can put a bit of a strain on your finances if you’re watching the pennies or are a struggling author trying to make her way in the world. Unless - you come up with some inventive ways of getting cheap or free reads. My 1 st port of call has always been Carnegie Library on Red Post Hill. Sadly that was shut down by my local council. Boo Hiss It’s a long story which you can read more about in my post entitled Crisis: Ruskin Readers & Carnegie Library . However, I didn’t let my short-sighted council stand in the way of my reading addiction. The whole borough’s library catalogue is available to browse online. This means I can order any book which takes my fancy, reserve it and for a modest 50p get a notice to collect it from a library of my choice at a time of my choosing. When you have a schedule like mine that’s pretty priceless. Using this method of book procuring has several advantages: Convenience You have a never ending s...

11 Months ago Ruskin Readers , along with several other community groups, were ousted from Carnegie Library by Lambeth Council.  The council had made little effort to engage with the groups to ensure they would be safely housed and accommodated elsewhere. It was left to the community group leaders to find new premises and endure the agony of how they would do that with limited funding or none at all. As a Ruskin Readers tutor I found myself in the midst of the anxiety faced by our Lead Tutor (Caroline Knapp).  I was angry and astounded at Lambeth for their lack of thought regarding this matter.  And you know from my Private Protest post in January how I went about dealing with my anger.  But the fact still remained that Ruskin Readers was effectively homeless. At The Cambria For a while we had to split the club into two with the Monday night group putting up shop at The Cambria and the Wednesday group parcelled off to Norwood Library.  Our ...

Shortly after Lambeth Council shut Carnegie Library and before I became a trustee with the Carnegie Library Association , I felt such utter helplessness in the face of a government body and its relentless disregard for what local residents actually want and need.  Yes, I’d supported The Occupation.  Yes, I’d gone on the marches.  Yes, I’d inundated my Twitter feed with anything and everything to do with loving my library.  But I didn’t feel it was enough. As a tutor with Ruskin Readers I was in the midst of the plight faced by community groups ousted from Carnegie Library.  While I tried to assist our lead tutor Caroline Knapp as she emailed and made Facebook appeals for us to secure a suitable venue, I quietly seethed within. I wanted to do SOMETHING . Then I got a notification email from my Google Calendar to renew my library books.   I made a sudden resolution.    I would not return any of the library books I c...

So Lambeth Council have presented an ‘ exhibition ’ of their plans for the future of Carnegie Library in the church hall of St Saviour’s on Herne Hill Road.  The word exhibition has been misused in my opinion.  The council have provided the community with poster boards which contain little more information than the leaflets of spin regularly pushed through my door.  So no change there.  I cannot even bring myself to provide a photograph of their display as it is so pathetic in my view.  But if you really want to see it you can take a look at the great pictures on Brixton B uzz . Evidence my response card actually exists To say I am angry about this is an understatement.  After all, it’s what I’ve come to expect from this borough’s handling of the whole abominable situation.  I’m now so distrustful of Lambeth and how they deal with the community that I even resorted to photographing my response card so that I have a record that it actually e...

Sean Cameron A longstanding student Ruskin Readers had its first session at The Cambria on Monday.  Without the books for loan in Carnegie library, our laptops, student folders and exercise books - we had to improvise.  And improvise we did.  Many tutors bought workbooks for their students, created resources in their own time and downloaded worksheets.  Lead tutor, Caroline Knapp, brought along a selection of Michael Morpurgo books as well as a pile of free newspapers for the reading section of the evening. The current situation for our homeless literacy group is as follows: Tutors getting their read & tweet on during the tea break Currently our Monday evening group are kindly being rehoused by The Cambria.  They reserved several great tables for us and we were able to avail ourselves of tea, coffee and juice from the bar.  One of our generous tutors paid the bar bill. Our Wednesday afternoon session has now moved...

  Adult Literacy at Carnegie Library is on the eve of its 41st Birthday in May 2016.  Despite this astounding legacy, Lambeth Council’s decision to close Carnegie Library on 31 st March now threatens this heritage.  Ruskin Readers provides one to one tuition for adults with special learning difficulties using trained volunteers, under the guidance of a Supervising Tutor.  It operates out of Carnegie Library free of charge (nor does the club charge for its services).  Carnegie’s friendly and supportive atmosphere, its complex of rooms, large and small has been the ideal location for the club’s needs.  Over the years, it has been a venue which has generated considerable affection from tutor and volunteer alike; an affection which has been sustained and nurtured to this day. Founded as Amity Reading Clubs in 1977, the Adult Literacy club became Ruskin Readers in 2006.  While it is independent of its founder members, Ru...

While chatting about current reads with my friend Bev, she mentioned how much she enjoyed reading Bill Bryson’s The Road to Little Dribbling .   And how too it had made her think about the reasons she loves living in the UK.   So, considering it a blog worthy idea, I asked her to write a guest post (to feature later this month). Now however, it’s my turn. My residency in the UK was totally unplanned.  Back in 1987 my parents and I were all set to move to Canada where two aunts and an uncle live.  But the Canadians decided not to grant us entry so hey presto, lucky old Britain got us instead. After our arrival we lived in a variety of areas: Edgware, Arsenal, Fulham and finally Herne Hill.  But it is most definitely Herne Hill where I find I want to stay.  When I’m on my travels it’s the place I get homesick for if things are not going according to plan on my journey. And why exactly is that? ONE I have 4, yes 4 parks in my...