The Library of Avalon will hold the annual general meeting this year at 7pm on Monday 16th April.
All members are invited (letters should be in the post or hand delivered this week). The usual agenda will apply and refreshments will be served.
If there is anything members want to add to the agenda please contact the secretary on 01458 832759 or contact the email address librarianat libraryofavalon dotorg dotuk (usual punctuation, just spelt like this here to deter spam).
The Library of Avalon is now the only place to purchase the first of the “Glastonbury Documents” by Jon Cousins.
As mentioned in previous posts the first document, “Remember Richard Whiting” is intended to raise funds for “The Friends of Bride’s Mound”, but they have no outlet for this purpose. The Library is happy to provide such an outlet and this is for sale here at £2 per copy, all proceeds to the above charity.
The second document, “What is Glastonbury?” benefits the Pilgrims Reception Centre and is available here and at their premises further up the High Street for the same price.
The third in the series, “The Temple of Reconciliation” is a thicker document and is also now available at both outlets for the princely sum of £3. All proceeds from the sale of this document go to the Library of Avalon.
Thanks once again to Jon for his generous contribution to our fundraising efforts.
We can print now. (As long as you come in when a volunteer who knows how to operate the system is in!)
There have been a number of fairly large donations to the Library of Avalon in the last few months. In some ways this has been sad as they have been donated as bequests from family and friends of people who have died recently.
With this in mind, many thanks to the families and friends of Joyce Collin-Smith and Willa Sleath for the bequests of these collections.
The areas that have been supplemented from these bequests include: Indian spiritual gurus, especially Sai Baba; Subud; Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov; fourth way teachings; Tarot and divination. Many other sections of the library have been augmented also.
David Webster left a good-sized donation that supplemented our religion and spirituality section, mostly Christian and mysticism. The Quest community also added to these sections with a fair-sized donation.
Harvey Chuter added to our UFO section and Patricia Hubbleday, Erika Reimann, Sol Danmieri, Thalia Brown, and Evie Pryce added to our healing sections.
Many thanks to Leigh Wright for his collection of fiction left to the library on his departure for Canada recently, and to Shirley Willson, who also added to our fiction.
Penny Billington donated a copy of her book on Druidry, along with her fiction.
Ivor Disney, Izzy Cadbury, Chaz and Petra Heritage, Andy Scott and our good friend “Anon” have also been generous with donations over the last few months.
There have been quite a few duplicates donated to the Library within the above collections and we have been able to supplement the overall catalogue with many sought-after titles through our exchange scheme with a local bookshop. This has been a financial boost also, as we now have a sales shelf within the library.
Jon Cousins held a launch party at the Library of Avalon on the 30th January to celebrate the second edition of his booklet “Remember Richard Whiting ” that was originally published five years ago.
This is the first in his series of “Glastonbury Documents” and all the proceeds from sales of this are now going directly to “The Friends of Bride’s Mound”.
The second doument benefits the Pilgrim Reception Centre and the third in the series, “The Temple of Reconciliation”, is exclusively available from the Library here, (cost £3).
As the Friends of Bride’s Mound have no outlet on the High Street the re-issue is available (for £2) from the LIbrary of Avalon and the Pilgrims Reception Centre.
There was a good turnout for the evening, with every chair filled and we listened to Jon’s experiences with various monastic and religious orders and representatives over the last five years as he sought to research his documents. The overall responses seemed to be mostly favourable but fell short of his ideal to reconcile events from the last five hundred years of Glastonbury’s history.
When the floor was opened to questions there followed a lively debate on some of the issues highlighted in the other two documents.
Especially enlightening, (to me, at any rate), were the questions relating to “What is Glastonbury?” (the title of the second document, incidentally) and what can be done to improve the “dissipated energies” that many of us living here experience on a day to day basis. Jon’s assertion that there are at least seventy two religious /spiritual beliefs represented in this small town was also inspiring.
The Friends of Brides Mound catered the evening well and all organisations profited from sales of the booklets. As a representative of the Library of Avalon I felt proud to be able to help host the event and hope that the positive energy “gets out there” into the wider community.
The Trustees, Volunteers and Members of the Library of Avalon are delighted to congratulate Geoffrey Ashe, one of our Founders and current patron, on his being awarded MBE in the New Year Honours List, for his research on King Arthur.
Astrid Klemz – an appreciation.
Astrid Klemz, writer of short stories, newspaper columnist and dedicated
volunteer at the Library of Avalon passed away on October 10th, aged 72.
I first met Astrid when I became a volunteer at the library in the
spring of 2003. I remember her telling me how much she enjoyed absorbing
herself in the classification and cataloguing of donated books. Some
years later she wrote a piece for Avalon Magazine in which she described
being spooked one dark afternoon by strange shadows hovering around her
as she worked in the library. I was as relieved to learn that the
apparitions were the result of a lamp shining around the frames of a new
pair of glasses as was the author herself.
Another piece that Astrid contributed to Avalon Magazine describes her
love affair with silver tabby cats and this is well worth looking up if
you are also an ailurophile. (The library maintains a collection of back
copies of Avalon Magazine.)
Born in County Durham, Astrid maintained a great affection for the area
after her move to London in her early twenties and later, after her
retirement to Wells.
In her working life she concerned herself with improving the lot of the
disabled and became an expert in blindness, partial sight and in access
for the handicapped.
She wrote for the Sunderland Echo for some years as well as contributing
to the Mid-Somerset Gazette.
Astrid won prizes in short story competitions and had two books of
stories published, “Reading in the bath” and “Reading in the shower”, as
well as writing a textbook for social workers on rehabilitation for the
visually handicapped.
Astrid truly loved the library and she came back as an occasional
volunteer this summer after a break of some four years while she battled
with the cancer that finally took her life this October.
A dedicated worker for Cats Protection and a volunteer at Wells Museum
as well as a supporter of the library, Astrid will be remembered for her
cheery smile and her unstinting good will .
As of now the Library is able to offer internet access via a workstation class computer and flat high-def widescreen. This is a media grade computer for use as a Firefox kiosk.
This is currently able to access the internet but not able to print anything out yet.
We are charging £2 per hour, (hence £1 per half and 50p per quarter).
It is intended that we will introduce smaller kiosks to operate alongside this machine, which is illustrated below as and when the demand is there for this service.
We look forward to seeing many of you at tonight’s fundraising event that will take place from 7pm at the United Reformed Church at the top of the High Street here in Glastonbury.
A quick update on the perfomers as follows. We now have a full line up of
Andy Scott,
Mr. Keep Calm,
Leigh Wright,
Nick Harris,
Lauren Wilce and
Jon Cousins.
Who will provide a mixed bag of performance poetry and acoustic sets.
Entry is by donation so please be as generous as you can and help support this community resource.
The Library of Avalon has had many donations of books and periodicals but we also occasionally receive other donations.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Brian Gent for his donation of a flat screen monitor for our computer system and also Mick Cray for his donation of a dehumidifier. We now have three that help to keep the books from getting damp in our old stone building.
As ever, please contact the trustees or volunteers if you think you have something that the Library could put to good use.
