Touch the moon in Ellesmere Port this August
Cheshire West and Chester Council’s libraries are promising the moon in August in a partnership with national science organisations.
“Touch the Moon” is a mini-series of events focusing on Outer Space in the three Ellesmere Port libraries (Ellesmere Port, Hope Farm and Little Sutton) from 4 to 15 August.
The title event will take place in all three libraries and uses resources from the Science and Technology Facilities Council and the National Space Academy to bring fragments of meteorites and other outer space related material to library visitors.
The events will include an explanation of the samples and a chance to handle the rare objects.
Hope Farm Library will host Nick Sharratt, whose fun-filled picture books include You Choose, Shark in the Park and Pants, and who has illustrated lots of bestselling books for top authors like Kes Gray and Jacqueline Wilson.
He will take children on an imaginary intergalactic journey to some extraordinary planets and show them how to draw all sorts of lots of exciting characters and creatures along the way.
Dr Steve Barrett of the University of Liverpool will do two talks intended for adults on exploring the solar system. The first talk will be at Hope Farm Library and will be on spacecraft and the second at Little Sutton Library will be on exoplanets.
Dr Barrett has won the Sir Patrick Moore Prize and the Institute of Physics Prize and is an experienced public speaker.
Back to children’s picture books, where visitors to Ellesmere Port and Little Sutton libraries can see the best-selling author/illustrator Kate Pankhurst talking about her book “Everyone Is An Astronaut” and its star, the young astronaut in training, Luna Scope. The event will encourage children to imagine floating away through the Milky Way with Luna as she discovers exactly what it takes to become a space explorer.
All three libraries will be hosting the “Out Of This World” where children can join Wendy from Daresbury Laboratory and Dan Worsley, children’s author and storyteller, as they collaborate to create an extraterrestrial event that mixes science fact and science fiction. Ideal for those aged 7+ with an interest in science and getting creative with words.
Finally, students from Cambridge University will be bringing fun science to Ellesmere Port and Little Sutton libraries with CHaOS, Cambridge Hands on Science. Children can drop in for a day packed with exciting hands-on experiments, where they can create mini explosions, examine real animal skulls, launch hot air balloons, and explore other wonderful experiments.
All children’s events will be free and, apart from CHaOS, be available for booking from Saturday 5 July at the relevant library. Tickets for the Exploring the Solar System talks will be £5 each and are available via: Cheshire West and Chester Council Libraries event tickets from TicketSource or the relevant library.
The Council’s Cabinet Member for a Fairer Future, Councillor Lisa Denson said:
’Touch the Moon’ is a wonderful, exciting selection of events, something for everyone. I’m sure they’ll all be very popular. Don’t forget, it is free to become a member of the library. You can join in person, online or over the phone. It only takes a minute or two to join, and you don’t need to bring any ID with you, so its quick and easy.
The approval of a parent or guardian is needed for children to join. It is free for under 16s to ask for books to be delivered from other libraries.
Once you have joined, you can borrow books, eBooks, eAudiobooks, eMagazines and eNewspapers access free wi-fi and computers and enjoy free refreshments and social activities. You can also borrow an iPad if you need to use one at home.
Find out more at Libraries | Cheshire West and Chester Council