North Yorkshire residents invited to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee at their local library

They will be holding tea parties, story times, events and competitions over the next few weeks.

Author: Iona Stewart-RichardsonPublished 23rd May 2022
Last updated 23rd May 2022

Residents looking to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee are being encouraged to visit their local library in North Yorkshire for tea parties, story times, events and competitions over the next few weeks.

Staff and volunteers will be hosting tea parties where visitors are encouraged to share their stories, photographs and memorabilia of previous jubilees and Royal celebrations.

The library service is taking part in the Big Jubilee Read campaign by BBC Arts and The Reading Agency, celebrating great reads from authors across the Commonwealth. The 70 titles consist of 10 books from each decade of the Queen's reign.

County Councillor Greg White, Executive Member for Libraries, said:

“The Platinum Jubilee is a unique moment in our history which sees our Queen become the first British monarch to mark 70 years on the throne. Thanks to £1,000 Jubilee funding from the Arts Council we are able to support our libraries to run a range of exciting events to celebrate this momentous occasion.

“The materials and stories we receive from visitors will create wonderful local history displays about the Queen and the Royal Family in our libraries. There’s so many exciting events taking place so I would urge everyone to see what their local library has to offer.”

There will be dedicated story times for children around The Queen’s Knickers by Nicolas Allen and The Queen’s Hat by Steve Anthony. Both authors have donated signed copies to give away as prizes.

Children who borrow two books from Saturday, May 28, to Saturday, June 11, will be entered into a prize draw to win a copy of author Michael Morpurgo's new book, There Once is a Queen: A Stunning Poetic Celebration of Queen Elizabeth.

Harrogate library is hosting the regional Libraries Connected event, Twixt t’Covers, that will be live-streamed to audiences across the nation from 7.30pm to 9pm on Tuesday, June 7. Five special guests will discuss their favourite books from The Big Jubilee booklist. For more information and to book your free tickets please visit the Eventbrite website, or watch it live on North Yorkshire Libraries YouTube channel.

Harrogate and Scarborough libraries will have a full collection of the 70 Big Jubilee Reads available to borrow, and are taking part in the Big Jubilee Read Film Club. The larger libraries in each district will have smaller collections of 25 titles along with Jubilee jigsaws.

Find out what is happening in your local library by logging onto the interactive map on the Platinum Jubilee website at www.platinumjubilee.gov.uk/events

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