Gareth Armstrong – performing his award-winning play – Shylock – on Tues 9th Nov 2021 @ 7:30pm in Ashley Gardens, Wembley, HA9 8NP
TO BOOK: https://shylock.eventbrite.co.uk
Tickets £10.00, £5.00 concessions. (Limited seating)
Preston Community library will be moving temporarily to Ashley Gardens, whilst our existing home is to be demolished and rebuilt. We thank you for all your support and are looking forward to seeing you soon in our new temporary home.
OUR LAST OPENING DAY @ Carlton Avenue East
SATURDAY 4th SEPTEMBER 1:00pm – 3:00pm
We will be moving to Ashley Gardens in the coming weeks. Please keep any borrowed books for the time being. All Summer Reading Challenge participants will be contacted.
Start at Preston Community Library Carlton Ave East, Wembley HA9 8PL
Head east- on Carlton Ave East
towards Preston Road – 40m
Turn right to stay on Carlton Ave East – 45m
Turn right on to Preston Rd – 418m
Turn left onto Ashley Gardens, Wembley HA9 8NP
204 or 79 bus from opposite Preston Road Station: 2 stops
| Windrush Day double bill documentary screening + Q&A Profile of two Notting Hill artists from the Windrush generation Tuesday, 22nd June, 2021. 7 – 9pm [Zoom event. Book Free Ticket Here ] |
| Please note: this event is on Zoom as a webinar and your Eventbrite ticket will contain a link to access it. A reminder email will be sent by Eventbrite on the day, 15 minutes before the event begins at 7pm. Dear library supporter, Partnering with Charmaine Simpson of Black History Studies we are celebrating the monumental contribution that the Windrush Generation has made to the cultural landscape of Britain, with two short documentaries about the artists, Charlie Phillips and Carl Gabriel, followed by a conversation with the artists themselves  Film 1: Rootical – UK, Directed by Nike Hatzidimou Jamaican-born photographer and documenter of black London, Charlie Phillips, arrived in London in 1956. Working in his parents’ restaurant, he began his photographic career by accident when he was given a Kodak Brownie by a black American serviceman. He taught himself to use it and began to photograph life in Notting Hill, making prints in the family bathroom after his parents would retire to bed. Phillips is now best known for his photographs of Notting Hill during the period of West Indian migration to London, but his subjects also include film stars and student protests. Film 2: Carl Gabriel: The Mas Man with the Magical Touch – UK, made by DDX Channel Trinidad-born photographer and wire-form sculptor, Carl Gabriel, came to London in 1964 as a specialist sheet metal worker and trained photographer. From early on in his career, he was a pan player for the Ebony Steel Band, and then later became a carnival artist, specialising in wire-form sculptures that have been presented at large scale festivals globally. His work has also extended to sculptures that have been exhibited at Durham Cathedral and the British Library. Carl Gabriel’s work has been seen in our library sunken garden, with his generous loan to us of two vibrant sculptures, as well as his specially commissioned sculpture Inspiration for Brent Borough of Cultures 2020. Both artists are multi-disciplined in their approach to their practice and the conversation promises to range far and wide. To Book a FREE TICKET for this special event, click here Book Free Ticket Here   Best wishes from, Preston Community Library |
Tickets can be reserved through Eventbrite, to register use this link.
https://spyprincess.eventbrite.co.uk
If you missed the book launch of Invisible Ink – A Family Memoir By MARTHA LEIGH, a recording is now available – see link below:
We would like to invite you to an online event with the library. This is an illustrated talk from former local resident Louise Dryden who will tell us about her experiences as a Jewish child growing up in Brent and her family history. Her talk will last about 45 minutes, and there will be an opportunity to ask questions about the talk. More information is on the poster below.
This is a Zoom event. If you would like to participate then please email to prestoncommunitylibrary@gmail.com and we will send you a link.
Saman has been supporting our library campaign for the best part of eight years joining in Children’s Events on National Libraries Day and many other occasions. When the library was first started in the office of Notary Public, Jackie Bunce-Linsell, Jackie commissioned Saman to write a delightful short story for the children of the library , The Hurricane Fairy, which Saman reads here:
The other two videos are short readings from her books:, The Adventures of Slothful Slough-Off …
and The Magical Woods, published by Oxford University Preface.
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In 2015 Saman, launched the Saman Shamsie Summer Creative Writing Challenge. 0pen to young writers between the ages of 4-14, this unique project asks entrants to create their own stories and make them into book form with covers designed to include key features of published books.
The stories are collected in tree volumes. Sir Michael Morpurgo the distinguished children’s author, has written a Preface to the ‘Young Writers’ Anthology’ as it is called. The inaugural volume was launched and ‘published’ – placed on the Library shelves – by the children themselves.
To date, some sixty-five budding authors have received impressive Certificates from the hands of Ms Shamsie.
This year, Saman was unable to come to the UK from Pakistan where she teaches at Karachi Grammar School because of travel restrictions. She is extremely grateful that our local writer, Hashi Mohamed, author of People Like Us, has kindly agreed to present the Certificates in her stead.
Below quote from https://www.brent2020.co.uk/site/assets/files/1015/brent_biennial_2020_leaflet_small_size.pdf
“New and existing work by artist Carl Gabriel is presented outside of Preston Community Library. Gabriels’ sculptures often depict the human form and have appeared on carnival floats and community processions across the country and internationally for decades.
His practice is anchored in carnival culture, and draws on its traditions and themes. In the wire structures he creates, he draws on the Caribbean tradition of wire-bending. Bamboo and wire frames are covered with layers of paper and PVA, and hand painted or sprayed.
For his presentation at Preston Road Library a series of these sculptures are displayed as static works, alongside a new off-site commission that has been developed in conversation with library staff. In addition, a presentation of photographs and paraphernalia from
the artists’ archive presented online and at the library chart the development of his ‘social sculpture’, and its relationship to community and identity.”
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| Brent2020 — BRENT BIENNIAL: CARL GABRIEL, PRESTON COMMUNITY LIBRARY Exploring the stories, art and emotions that hold life in Brent together. London Borough of Culture 2020. http://www.brent2020.co.uk |
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
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:
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.
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
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 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.
Redevelopment Proposal PDF Format
Dr Cooper was bored with his 1924 semi-detached home, so he decided to make some radical changes!
Back again by popular demand, as part of the Family Funday! Categories for best-tasting; best presentation etc.
Get your entry forms from the Library and get baking!
A fun-packed afternoon for all the family.
To celebrate her internationally acclaimed novel ‘Home Fire’
Starts on Monday 11th June. A weekly session of useful information & support for people living with Dementia -Carers & anyone wanting to improve their memory.
A talk by Dr Edward Cooper former Lecurer in the history of Art & Design at Liverpool School of Art & Design, and Sir John Cass, City of London.
The Arabic class will be restarting as from Saturday 12th May.
‘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.)
A talk by Dr Edward Cooper former Lecurer in the history of Art & Design at Liverpool School of Art & Design, and Sir John Cass, City of London.
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For ages 6-12 years.
Bring your own laptop, tablet, or smart phone.
Children under 8 years must be accompanied.
Preston Community Library 