Speaks Volumes 9 September 2017
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Speaks Volumes Volume 9 September 2017 1 Speaks Volumes Volume 9 September 2017 Welcome to the ninth edion of Speaks Volumes... Dear Members We hope you are all enjoying the summer and are having the chance to catch up on plenty of reading. Throughout the summer, we have been working to develop an events programme for the autumn that we hope will appeal to members and new visitors. Key events to men on include our annual contribuon to Heritage Open Days which will run from the 7th to 10th September, and ‘Out of Hours’ a series of immersive theatre performances in partnership with local theatre company ‘A Quiet Word’ and Leeds City Council. These will take place from the 5th and 6th October. In conjuncon with the Big Bookend fesval, we will be welcoming our member Frances Brody who will be launching and reading from her new book ‘Death in the Stars’ on the 7th October. On the 13th Octo‐ ber the Library will welcome Caryl Phillips, our newly elected Patron, along with Glyn Maxwell and Im‐ az Dharker for an evening of poetry to remember David Oluwale. The event organised with the Re‐ member Oluwale Trust and in associaon with Leeds University will feature an evening of poetry and readings from three of the country’s leading poets and mark what is hopefully the first of many visits for Carl Huon Caryl to the Library as our patron. Details of all these events, including mings and admission prices (where applicable) can be found both on our website and within the Library. We are ancipang further events to be scheduled alongside our ongoing Film Club which takes place on the first Sat‐ urday and third Wednesday of each month. This commitment to working collaboravely is extended beyond just our events programme. Over the last two months Librarian Jane Riley has been leading tours for the staff of Leeds Central Library. This month we are playing host to a tour of Yorkshire and Humberside regional branch members from the Chartered Instute of Librarians and Informaon Professionals (CILIP) and we are also being visited by our increasing number of friends from the Independent Library Associaon who are keen to share ideas with us in terms of good pracce. As we approach our 250th year we will keep members informed on the other events and partner projects that we have planned which will include working the Milim Fesval, Brish Library, Leeds Central Library, many of our colleagues in the Independent Li‐ braries Associaon and cultural organisaons and instuons ein th city. We hope that over the coming year you all have the me and opportunity to check out one or more of these projects. Best wishes Staff: President : Dr. Kevin Grady Chief Execuve : Carl Huon Patron : Caryl Phillips Librarian : Jane Riley Trustees: Assistant Librarians : Anna Goodridge and Helen Chair : Marn Staniforth Holdsworth Deputy Chair: Stuart Rawnsley Library Assistants : Nichola Holmes Treasurer : Chris Holmes and Aidan Thackray Chair of Books : Michael Meadowcro Administrator : Sarah West Chair of House : Chris Webster Finance Officer : Liz Jones Chair of Research : Stuart Rawnsley IT/Communicaons Officer : Claire Buckley Chair of Staffing : Richard Hainsworth Caretaker/Cleaner : Phillip Robinson Chair of Outreach & Development : Simone Ivas Consultant Bookbinder: Brian Cole of The Castle Other Trustees : Bruce Buchan, Elizabeth Minkin, Bindery Chrisne Stead, Philip Walker 2 Speaks Volumes Volume 9 September 2017 News & Trivia Heritage Open Days – 7th to 10th Light Night – 5th and 6th October September We are taking part in both nights of this year’s Light Night. ‘Out of Hours’ is a series of immersive theatre We’re open to the public for Heritage performances in partnership with local theatre compa‐ th Open Days from Thursday 7 to Sunday ny A Quiet Word and Leeds City Council . Performances 10th September. Please spread the word will be free, and repeated throughout each evening . to anyone you know is interested. We Library ghost, Vincent Sternberg will appear in a séance hope they’ll be a hive of acvity on those for part of the performance. More details will be avail‐ days. The public can look round the library and have a able in the coming weeks. cuppa. On the Saturday and Sunday, the Thoresby Society are showing off their maps of Leeds illustrang how it has changed over me. If you’re interested call in during these mes: Remembering Oluwale Visit the Leeds Library – Thursday and Friday 10.00‐17.00 and Saturday and Sunday 10.00‐14.00 On 13th October, our new Old Leeds in Maps – Saturday and Sunday 10.00‐14.00 Patron and award‐winning playwright, author and essay‐ ist, Caryl Phillips, performs as part of an event to remember David Oluwale. The event is being organised with the Lost and found amnesty Remembering Oluwale Trust Caryl Phillips and in associaon with Leeds We have amassed some items of lost property and University. Remembering Oluwale will see Caryl joined have a few locker keys missing. We’d be very grateful if in an evening of poetry and readings by Imaz Dharker you could please check to see if you may have any of who performed last year as part of The Haunng Pro‐ our keys. We are missing numbers 5, 6, 25 & 29. ject and Glyn Maxwell whose volumes of poetry in‐ clude The Breakage, Hide Now, and Pluto. Secondly, we have a box of lost property and wondered David Oluwale arrived in Hull as a stowaway from his if any of these may belong to you?: nave Nigeria in September 1949. He served 28 days in Burgundy and teal telescopic umbrella Leeds Prison for his breach of marime regula‐ Jack Wolfskin black fleecy scarf ons. Twenty years later, in May 1969, he was pulled out of the River Aire, at Knostrop in Leeds, where he Black knied beany hat had drowned. David had spent ten of the sixteen years Sight Staon reading glasses with horn‐rimmed between 1953 and 1969 in High Royds Psychiatric Hos‐ arms in a brown so case. pital; for the other six years he lived rough on the We will hold onto these items unl the end of the year streets of Leeds. In November 1971, two Leeds police and dispose of them then if nobody comes forward. officers were acquied of the manslaughter of David Oluwale, but were imprisoned for assaulng him. The event will start at 7.30pm with doors opening at 7pm and the event is scheduled to finish at 9pm. Tickets will be £6 / £4 concessions (including Members). Tickets are available from the Library web‐ site and on Eventbrite. 3 Speaks Volumes Volume 9 September 2017 Book Review They knew Mr Knight by Dorothy Whipple Reviewed by Helen Holdsworth The books of Dorothy Whipple have enjoyed a renaissance in recent years since some were re‐issued by Persephone Books. She was born in Blackburn in 1893 and started wring short stories for the Blackburn Weekly Telegraph’s “Children’s corner”. Her novels can be described as domesc and usually with a moral tale. In 1927 she wrote “Young Anne”, the first of 9 successful novels. Most were Book Society choice or recommendaons. They knew Mr Knight was published in 1934 and made into a film in 1944. It is a tale of corrupon and greed in which those who aim high eventually have everything come crashing down on them and they have to suffer the consequences. It tells the story of Thomas Blake, his wife Celia and their three children Freda, Douglas and Ruth. Thomas Blake takes pride in providing for his family and has dreams of prosperity. He is also responsible for his mother, sisters and feckless brother Edward. His great wish is to buy back the family business, sold by his father. A chance meeng with shady financier, Mr Knight enables him to do this. Gradually most of Thomas’s family are drawn into the world of Mr Knight. Freda realises her social ambions, Douglas goes to university, Ruth travels to France and Celia is able to buy the house she has always coveted, the house that belonged to Mr Knight. Thomas’s aenon is now focussed on making more and more money and he is drawn further into the world of speculaon and credit. Celia is uneasy with Thomas’s way of making money but she loves and trusts him and the family begin to enjoy this new found prosperity. However Thomas’s bubble is about to burst. An interesng twist in the story is the transformaon of Thomas’s brother Edward. At the start of the novel he can’t hold a job down but by the end of the book he has turned his life around, becoming a devoted husband and father and in contrast to Thomas a prosperous businessman who eventually ends up helping Thomas and his family. A compelling read. I can also highly recommend, Someone at a distance and High Wages both in the library and both published by Persephone. The library also has the following tles: The closed door and other stories They were sisters The priory Every good deed Greenbanks If you’d like to review a book for a future issue please contact Claire at the Leeds Library at [email protected] 4 Speaks Volumes Volume 9 September 2017 Book Review Seasons in the sun : the bale for Britain 1974‐79 by Dominic Sandbrook Reviewed by Angela Bloor 'Seasons in the Sun' is the fourth in a series of books by Dominic Sandbrook which examine the polical, economic, social and cultural history of Britain. The tle of the book is taken from a hit single of March 1974.