TEMPORARY CLOSURE DUE TO CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19)

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Dear Library members and supporters,


TEMPORARY CLOSURE DUE TO CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19)

In light of recent UK Government advice that public venues should no longer be visited, we have made the difficult decision to close the library with immediate effect, for the time being. 


We have decided this with the health of our community in mind and apologise for the inconvenience that this will cause. We feel that this is the responsible approach to minimise the transmission of Coronavirus (COVID-19) to ensure the safety of all of our volunteers, visitors and members.

Be assured that we will continuously review the situation as it evolves and will post further updates as necessary through our mailings and social media. We ask that you bear with us during these unprecedented times and thank you for your ongoing loyalty and continuing support of the library.

We intend to resume our services as soon as possible.


Other Precautions 

If you have the virus, or have been in contact with someone who has the virus, then follow the link below:
 
NHS advice: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/ 

For Facebook and twitter, see: https://www.facebook.com/prestoncommunitylibrary/ and @PrestonLib  

with regards,

Linda Green
Preston Community Library

A Woman is a Woman – [Certificate 15] Film, Saturday 1st February, 2020 doors open at 7.15pm for 7.30pm start.

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This Saturday, together with Queer East Film Festival and The Hidden Voice Film Festival, we are co-hosting a special screening of the Hong Kong transgender drama ‘A Woman is A Woman’, as part of LGBT+ History Month. This will be a ticketed event. Tickets will be free, but donations are requested.

Please book tickets using the link below:

https://wordpress.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=289a19750ba777710969ee4f0&id=b0a3cad5eb&e=3dcd5615a4

Film website:  https://www.awomanisawoman.org/about

The film is widely considered as a landmark in Hong Kong cinema, for both it’s portrayal of transgender characters from Hong Kong and for being the first feature film production in the region where women occupy all of the key production roles.  The story follows two transwomen, one going through puberty and the other midway through her life, who both crave integration and acceptance in a hostile environment. The Film is in Cantonese with English and Chinese subtitles.

Author Julian Daizan Skinner reading from his book Rough Waking: Tuesday 17 September 2019 at Preston Community Library 7.30pm

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Tuesday 17 September 2019 at Preston Community Library, 7.30pm

Please join us for an evening with Julian Daizan Skinner Roshi, the first Englishman to go to Japan and become a Zen master in the rigorous Rinzai tradition. He will be talking about and reading from his new book, Rough Waking.

Dazian is also the teacher of Samantha Warrington, Preston Community Library’s yoga and meditation teacher.

Rough Waking is a project to raise funds for and awareness of people who are homeless or in prison, and to provide them with yoga and meditation, under the motto:

CHANGE YOUR BODY; CHANGE YOUR MIND; CHANGE YOUR LIFE
These are the three elements to the book.

Prize-winning photographer and meditator, Laz, uses words and images and an intimate knowledge of homelessness to illustrate his path through brokenness to creativity.

Inspired by Zen Master Shinzan’s joke that Zen life combines prison and homelessness, “Autumn in the monastery and other poems,” by Julian Daizan Skinner depicts pains and joys arising through his three decades in the Zen world.

Zen artist Kazuaki Okazaki who, after 18 years incarceration on death row was executed last summer, contributes a sequence of images depicting a spiritual journey from lostness and wandering, through the intense confinement of Zen training, and then onwards into a new homelessness – a vastly expanded realm of liberation and service.

The whole book underscores the Zen emphasis on direct confrontation with reality and how for all of us that alone leads to liberation. 

Please join us for this unique event.

For further information, please contact Samantha Warrington on

07801 697712

By Kazuaki Obazaki; numbered limited edition shikishi card print
Julian Daizan Skinner Roshi

INVITATION TO LOCAL ARTISTS TO PRODUCE ART WORK FOR THE LIBRARY

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Invitation to Local Artists to Produce Art Work for the Library

For the Brent London Borough of Culture 2020, the Council is commissioning local artists to work with each of the libraries.  This includes the four community libraries.  More information, including the brief for Preston Community Library, is on the LBOC website. Go to  https://www.lboc2020.com/opportunities, then look at column headed Museum of All Brent Life: call out for artists and click on link to download the brief. The closing date for submissions is Friday 12th July at noon.

October 30: 6.30pm. Elisa Segrave talks about her book ‘The Girl from Station X’

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October 30: 6.30pm at Preston community library, Elisa Segrave talks about her book ‘The Girl from Station X’ – a moving story of a hidden life about her mother, among the first women to enlist, who worked throughout WW2 at Bletchley Park and elsewhere.

Elisa Segrave event

Film Saturday 21st April

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‘Winstanley’ our second Kevin Brownlow film shown on April 21st. Oscar and BAFTA winning director addressed us last week for screening of ‘It Happened Here’. Tonight we were entertained by celebrated Leon Rosselson (Children’s author and songwriter) and Introduction by Historian Professor Ann Hughes (co-editor of Winstanley’s writings.)

Film: It Happened Here Certificate PG Saturday 14th April- Doors open at 7.15pm for 7.30pm start.

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This week’s film is a drama exploring how British people would have responded if the Germans had invaded the UK in World War Two. The Director, Kevin Brownlow, is coming along to introduce the film.

Films free to members [join at the door], but donations are requested to finance future films.

Police Surgeries at the Library

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Police Surgeries at the Library 
The Preston Safer Neighbourhood Team have organised weekly contact sessions at the library. Residents can report crime in person to a Police Officer of seek general help and advice.  A Police Offer will drop in at the dates and times below.  Their contact details are: prestonwardsnt@gmail.com or 07920 233 753.

Dates they will attend:

Friday February 23 5-6pm
Saturday March 3 3-4pm
Friday March 9 2-3pm
Friday March 16 4-5pm
Saturday March 24 12-1pm
Saturday March 31 12-1pm
Friday April 6 5.30-6.30pm
Friday April 13 2-3pm
Friday April 20 5-6pm
Saturday April 28 12-1pm

On Saturday 7th October 2017 Documentary: ‘The Night Cleaners – The Story of a Hidden Strike 1970 – 72 at the Ministry of Defence Which Defined an Era’ – to be Shown At Preston Community Library

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On Saturday 7th October 2017 Documentary: ‘The Night Cleaners – The Story of a Hidden Strike 1970 – 72 at the Ministry of Defence Which Defined an Era’ – to be Shown At Preston Community Library

DOORS OPEN AT 7:15PM. SCREENING STARTS AT 7:30PM.

Tickets are free at: thenightcleaners.eventbrite.co.uk or from the library.

Our film this week is a documentary ‘The Night Cleaners’.  The producer,

Humphry Treveyan, will introduce this film made 1970-72, about the campaign to unionise women who cleaned office blocks at night and who were being victimised and underpaid by their employers.