From family-friendly rhyme time and face painting sessions to plant swaps, coffee mornings, talks and workshops, there’s plenty to keep everyone busy at Alvaston library in a week-long programme of summer fun.

From Monday 7 August to Saturday 12 August, the library will host a wide range of activities to engage all ages. 

True-crime fans will be fascinated by a talk from former forensic lecturer Paul Newsham at the start of the week on Monday 7 August at 11am. Paul returns to the library after his popular first talk with Biometrics 2, an exploration of how our physical characteristics uniquely identify us.

There are plenty of free activities for children of all ages. On Tuesday 8 August, East Midlands-based East Lab Dance Company will perform Frocks, Socks, and the Orange Fox.  Children aged 3 to 6 are invited to join fox and mole on a journey through towns, forests, mountains, and rivers to find missing socks! The performance starts at 11am and is free, but booking is recommended.

Inspired by this year's Summer Reading Challenge theme of Ready, Set, Read!, there are two events aimed at keeping minds and bodies active over the summer break.

Multi-talented children’s author Kev Payne will be at the library on Monday 7 August at 1pm to encourage children to Get Moving in a high-energy session. Expect lots of movement, ukulele playing and puppets!

On Thursday 10 August at 2pm, Lauren Finlay from Derby County Community Trust will be joined by special guests Derby County mascots Rammie or Ewie when she reads Move Like a Lion by Radzi Chinyanganya. Both sessions are free but advance booking is essential.

There’s also a chance to try out the popular Code PLUS course with free tasters on Tuesday 8 and Saturday 12 August. Youngsters aged 8 to 13 get a chance to see how to apply coding to program miniature computers, including programming BBC micro:bits to talk to each other.

On Saturday, there are more family activities, with face painting for children from 10am to 1pm, and a chance to learn from Art in the Park how to create unique, dynamic illustrations in a Manga workshop at 10.30am.

There will be wellbeing drop-in sessions on Thursday 10 August from 10.30am with teams from Livewell, the NHS diabetes prevention programme team and information on support to people living with cancer provided by Derby County Community Trust. 

Later on Thursday evening at 7:30pm, Ian Collis author of The Derby Game reveals the stories, heroes and villains behind a true people’s game and a rivalry 'that ran in the veins of every Derbeian’ in his talk The amazing history of Derby Shrovetide Football.

On Friday 11 August, you can reminisce or discover the history of Alvaston when the Derby Local Studies and Family History Library team brings photographs and other fascinating documents from the local studies collection to the regular coffee morning at 10am.

The week of events will showcase the library as a shared social space, highlighting the great range of services and resources it has to offer. As well as offering hundreds of books, regular activities and events, the library has started a club for people to share their knowledge and encourage a love of gardening. 

On Saturday 12 August at 2pm, there’s a special talk by award-winning garden designer Darren Rudge. Renowned for his novel and inspirational approach to gardening, Darren has also been a BBC radio broadcaster for over 15 years. In his talk, Teabags, Bras and Tights, Darren shows you how ordinary household items can save you money and make gardening easier, alongside lots of fascinating facts and plant trivia.

Councillor Nadine Peatfield, Cabinet Member for City Centre, Regeneration, Culture and Tourism said:

Our libraries give people a safe space where they can go and do things and meet others, which is so important for our mental wellbeing. We have a brilliant programme of activities during this week in the summer holidays that we hope will bring the community together. 

Everyone is welcome and I hope people will come along to discover all that our libraries have to offer.

Tickets for the Shrovetide Football and Darren Rudge gardening talks are £4, and tickets for Biometrics talk are £3. All children’s events are free, but booking is essential. Check the library website for the full programme and to book your place.