Sheep River Library News

Symbols are ingrained in our culture; they speak volumes in their simplicity. Thoughts, words and emotions that are hard to express are immediately understood on seeing these signs: hearts on Valentine's Day speak of love; a maple leaf represents Canada; jack 'o' lanterns remind us of Halloween. But one of the most poignant symbols is the one we see all around us at the beginning of November: the poppy. We all understand what the poppy stands for – the sacrifice of soldiers on foreign battlefields for our continued freedom from tyranny. But why the poppy? Long before John McCrae penned In Flanders Field it was noticed that after battles there was an explosion of the blood-red flowers in fields that had been barren before the fighting. During the awful bombardments of the First World War the chalk soils became rich in lime from debris, allowing the poppies to thrive. When the war ended the lime was quickly absorbed and the poppy began to disappear again. So, this little flower became associated with war and soon became a symbol of it. Since 1921 poppies have been made available by the Legion to be worn as a symbol of remembrance. The annual Poppy Campaign is a major source of funding for the Legion to ensure that our veterans and their dependants are cared for and treated with the respect that they deserve. This November campaign, which sees Poppies distributed to Canadians of all ages, serves to perpetuate Remembrance by ensuring that the memory and sacrifices of our war veterans are never forgotten. If you wish to know more about the wars that Canadians have fought in, there are many resources at the library worth looking at such as Pierre Burton's Marching As To War, Love Stories of World War II , A New Illustrated History of World War II as well as several books on the Holocaust. As a member of the Marigold system we have access to 150 libraries and their collections. If we do not have the item you require we can have it brought in for you.
Events of note taking place at the library this month include the Dogtooth Mountain Film Group's screening of Beyond the Silence on November 21st. The Terrific Tuesday talk on November 22nd has Jennifer Buchanan discussing the health benefits of music therapy. Wednesday, November 23rd you can revisit Rob Heister's experiences as he conquered the highest peak in South America at our 7:00pm Travel Talk. Join Pam Vipond on November 17th as she begins her series on Mastering the Final Stages of Life. This course covers medical and legal issues, handling grief and caregiving. Our PD day movie on November 25th is Dolphin Tales and our guest speaker that day will be Jacqueline Guest who will be talking about her new book Ghost Messages. Be sure to drop by and see our new Art show by Bev Wagar beginning November 28th.
We have a new club for Chess and Board Games which takes place every Tuesday from 4:00 to 5:00pm. Come along if you wish to challenge others or learn a new game yourself.
Please note that as of November 1st we change over to our winter hours. Monday hours will be 10:00am to 4:00pm and Saturday will be 12 noon to 4:00pm.
As November 11th is a Statutory Day the Library will be closed.