Archives : Évènements

The garden club invites you to discover the beautiful gardens in the area! This free activity is open to library members and offers visits once a month to a garden between April and October. The first visit for the year will take place on Thursday, April 5th for a visit of the “Hortifluor Nursery” in Savennières. For more information and/or to sign up for this visit please send an email to gardenclub@ellia.org.

2018 dates for the Garden Club are May 3rd, June 7th, July 5th, August 2nd, September 6th and October 4th.

The library is an authorized open center for the TOEIC Listening and Reading test (Public programme with photo). To sign up please consult the ETS website. 

Scheduled dates for 2018 are

Wednesdays : March 31st, April 11th, May 9th, June 13th & Sept. 12th.

Saturdays : March 31st & July 7th

All tests will take place at the ESSCA in Angers. Click here for full directions.

Treat yourself to an afternoon of a collective reading of Shakespeare’s Henry the Fourth. This activity consists of watching a BBC production on DVD and then reading relative scenes. This is a great activity for lovers of language and fans of the great wit. The activity is free for library members. Please sign up at the front desk.

Come along and bring your knitting,

Have a natter while you’re sitting,

Or learn to knit with wool provided,

Needles loaned and stitches guided.

Knitted garments are très chic,

So be in vogue and start this week.

Knit and natter is a free activity open to all members. No need to reserve, just come and enjoy yourself!

This is a special moment when the community gathers together to talk about everything and anything (…in English of course!) and sips coffee and tea. Coffee House is free and open to all library members. Just drop in, no need to reserve!

For music lovers who are not necessarily musicians, the library presents a series of sessions aiming at illustrating  the heritage of English Classical Music in its most specific and beautiful forms, mainly vocal music. Each session will focus on a composer, with a short presentation of the work and the composer, followed by the listening of selected pieces through  selected  videos, often with different interpretations. The point is to share comments and criticism with the group members.

This session will focus on Handel’s first big success in London, the opera “RINALDO”.

These sesssions are free and open to the public. No need to reserve, just come and enjoy!

The Saturday Reading Group is for anyone who loves to read, socialize in English, and meet new people.

The March read for the group is “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen. Though he may not speak of them, the memories still dwell inside Jacob Jankowski’s ninety-something-year-old mind. Memories of himself as a young man, tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Memories of a world filled with freaks and clowns, with wonder and pain and anger and passion; a world with its own narrow, irrational rules, its own way of life, and its own way of death. The world of the circus: to Jacob it was both salvation and a living hell. Jacob was there because his luck had run out-orphaned and penniless, he had no direction until he landed on this locomotive “ship of fools.” It was the early part of the Great Depression, and everyone in this third-rate circus was lucky to have any job at all. Marlena, the star of the equestrian act, was there because she fell in love with the wrong man, a handsome circus boss with a wide mean streak. And Rosie the elephant was there because she was the great gray hope, the new act that was going to be the salvation of the circus; the only problem was, Rosie didn’t have an act-in fact, she couldn’t even follow instructions. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and ultimately, it was their only hope for survival.

When and where: Meetings will be held in the library once a month on Saturday afternoons starting at 3:00. Cost: FREE to all members of the library. To join: Please contact Anne Kaar at bookgroup@ellia.org

The library, the English Speaking Union and the Maison de l’Europe are pleased to invite the general public to the French National Public Speaking Competition in English for high school students on Saturday, March 24th starting at 2pm.

14 young high school students from 7 different high schools will be competing to represent France in the International Public Speaking Competition organised by the English Speaking Union to take place in London in May.
The library is proud to help empower these young students ! Please click here for your official invitation and note that all you will need to reserve by March 17th if you are wanting to attend.

Note the date for the library’s big booksale and bakesale (otherwise known as the BBB) & spring fun(d)draiser from 10-6!

The big, big booksale & bakesale is not to miss. This is the ultimate win-win situation: support community services that the library provides while finding great book bargains…oddles and oddles of books for sale and a delicious bakesale!

The March read for the bookclub is “Christine Falls” by Benjamin Black.

The hero of Christine Falls, Quirke, is a surly pathologist living in 1950s Dublin. One night, after having a few drinks at a party, he returns to the morgue to find his brother-in-law tampering with the records on a young woman’s corpse. The next morning, when his hangover has worn off, Quirke reluctantly begins looking into the woman’s history. He discovers a plot that spans two continents, implicates the Catholic Church, and may just involve members of his own family. He is warned–first subtly, then with violence–to lay off, but Quirke is a stubborn man. The first novel in the Quirke series brings all the vividness and psychological insight of John Banville’s writing to the dark, menacing atmosphere of a first-class thriller.

For any enquiries about joining the bookclub please send an email by clicking here.