LEICESTER’S libraries and community centres will be celebrating the countdown to Christmas with a host of free and low-cost festive events and activities throughout December.
Eyres Monsell Community Centre, on Hillsborough Road, will be getting into the festive spirit with a Christmas lights switch on event, with food and carol singing, on Friday 2 December from 5-7pm.
The community centre will also be holding a Christmas fayre on Saturday 10 December (from 1-4pm) with stalls, games and Santa’s grotto.
The Brite Centre, on Braunstone Avenue, will also be celebrating the switching on of its Christmas lights on Saturday 3 December, from 11am-3pm. Visitors can enjoy live choir singing, take part in crafts sessions to make Christmas stockings, decorations and greetings cards, and children can visit Santa in his grotto.
Free Christmas arts and crafts workshops will also be running at the centre on Saturday 10, Tuesday 20 and Thursday 22 December. All sessions run from 12noon-3pm.
The Brite Centre will present two special performances of Williams Creatives’ Cinder’z Story – a modern twist on a classic fairy-tale for all the family – on Saturday 10 December (from 6pm) and on Sunday 11 December from 2.30pm. Tickets cost £5 for adults, £3 for children.
Beaumont Leys Library, on Beaumont Way, will be teaming up with The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) for two Christmas craft sessions inspired by nature. On Monday 5 December, people can learn how to make a festive wreath using natural materials. And on Monday 12 December, there will be a chance to take part in a workshop to build a bird feeder. Both sessions begin at 2pm.
A Christmas craft session for children aged 5-11 years will also take place at Beaumont Leys Library on Tuesday 20 December, from 2-30pm. And children can also take part in a Christmas treasure hunt at the library from Saturday 17 December.
Adults and children can also get creative with Christmas craft sessions at Leicester Central Library, on Bishop Street, on Wednesday 7 December (from 2-4pm) and Wednesday 14 December (from 5-7pm), where visitors can learn to make paper decorations, origami stars and recycled greetings cards.
Fosse Library, on Mantle Road, will be holding Christmas craft sessions, where people can make baubles, greetings cards and Christmas crackers, on Saturday 10 and Saturday 17 December. Both sessions run from 12noon-2pm.
People can take part in Christmas crafts workshops with a climate awareness theme at Belgrave Library, on Cossington Street, on Saturday 17 December, and at Beaumont Leys Library on Monday 19 December. Both sessions run from 12noon-3.30pm.
Christmas craft sessions will also be held at Knighton Library, on Clarendon Park Road, on Tuesday 20 December (from 2-4pm) and at Rushey Mead Library, on Lockerbie Walk, on Thursday 22 December (from 2-5pm).
All the above events and activities are free of charge unless otherwise stated.
Assistant city mayor for neighbourhoods and public health, Cllr Vi Dempster, said: “I am really proud that our libraries are getting into the festive spirit and offering visitors such a fantastic choice of free Christmas events and activities to enjoy.
“It is another example of the valuable role our libraries play in their local communities.”
Leicester libraries are also offering people a Warm Welcome as the cost-of-living crisis hits this winter. All 16 of Leicester’s libraries will be acting as ‘warm spaces’ where people are welcome to gather and spend time in the warm without having to put their heating on at home.
For more information visit www.leicester.gov.uk/libraries