Logging as I write that this is a rare moment of calm. It has been busy, very busy of late and all good stuff! Some scary things are ahead (but look what we have achieved and faced off in the past!) and definitely some steps taken out of my own comfort zone of late but this is great, challenging work and I feel good and happy to be able to surf in such diverse waters.
Wanted to reflect on the lunch we’ve just had with Library users and learners. Typically atypical bunch really for the Library: a new, retired, service user unashamedly interested in finding a Women’s Liberation group, learners from Mauritius and Uganda, learners who are Stitch and Bitch regulars, women working on tackling their dyslexia, women starting to spread their wings and others who are flying, and a new library baby in the mix, and latterly, Laine. Twelve women arriving at random for the first of Parnie Street learner consultation sessions.
I have come away from the lunch with feelings that are both familiar but nonetheless surprising…Aren’t women amazing? Aren’t women inventive and positive and imaginative and broad-minded and interesting?
We wanted some feedback and guidance on what women would like in the future Women’s Library, what programmes and provision…? Ok, aromatherapy and massage were in there as some might have guessed but I loved the free-ranging dreaming of a bunch of women who were coming together for the first time that could generate a wish list that included:
Harp classes
An International pen pal club
A social space where you didn’t have to do anything but it was comfy and warm
An old cinefilm screening session
A magazine sharing space
Signs that say ‘no silence please!’
A learning and sharing language skills programme
A ‘wow’: look what we have acheived board
A space to doze…
I could go on.
I know agencies that would charge thousands for this type of good quality, innovative exciting consultancy work. Women, I salute you!
Oh and another thing, the staff in here are fab and encourage such visioning.
Thanks to all for making this another Friday afternoon when I am fired up with enthusiasm, having learnt loads, had my horizons widened and positivity fuelled…
Chairs
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