Archives : Évènements

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! This Friday is exceptional…Coffee House WILL take place during school holidays since the library is hosting a special guest speaker, Gerald Shea.

For music lovers who are not necessarily musicians, the library has set up 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.

“Beyond the Messiah:  HANDEL  AND THE ROYALS”

After the Messiah we continue exploring  the  rich world of Handel’s  vocal works , where one can find many gems,  through viewing and discussing  selected extracts in videos. This next  session will deal with incidental music, mainly due to the composer’s special relationship to the royal family, Handel  has produced many vocal  works for ceremonies which have been since played at major  British monarchy events .

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

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! Coffee house is every Friday except during school holidays.

The Gardenclub invites its members and anyone new who would like to join for this meeting to schedule this coming year’s visits from April to October. Please bring with you any spare seeds you have to exchange or offer, tea offerings, and the leaflet “Rendez-vous au Jardins, Pays de la Loire” from last year, with any suggestions you may have for visiting other gardens. Please let us know if you will be attending by the week-end of 17/18 February by sending an email to gardenclub@ellia.org. This activity is free and open to all current members of the library.

“Books and Tea” is a monthly meeting for bookworms and tea drinkers. Bring a book you’ve really enjoyed, talk about it and pass it on! The group meets from 2 to 3:30 at “Les Casse-Croûte de Suzy” 3 rue de l’Espine. No need to sign up, just come and enjoy!

The pizza and board games evening is scheduled one Tuesday a month from 6-8 pm. Cost is 7 euros (covers pizza and non-alcoholic drinks, 5 euros for children 12 and under and native English speakers). No reservations necessary, just come and enjoy!

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

The February read for the group is F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Babylon Revisited and Other Stories”.  The story of Charlie Wales, a former drunken party-goer who returns to Paris, the site of his former 1920s debauchery, shortly after the stock market crash of 1929. Charlie sees his world with new (sober) eyes and is both shocked and appalled by the extravagance that characterized his former life. The story is rooted in the financial crisis of its times. Fitzgerald wrote the piece in December of 1930, when the good times of the Jazz Age (also called the “Roaring Twenties“) had come to an end and America was headed into the Great Depression. Charlie’s horror with his own former waste and self-destruction is Fitzgerald’s condemnation of a society who drank away the ‘ Because of the connections to Fitzgerald’s own life, many critics have looked in painstaking detail at the autobiographical elements of “Babylon Revisited.” Like main character Charlie Wales, Fitzgerald was in a tumultuous and tabloid-ready marriage that was destructive to both him and his wife, Zelda. Fitzgerald also admitted to basing the character of Charlie’s estranged daughter, Honoria, on his own daughter Scottie.

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 February read for the bookclub is “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin. She wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swum before.’ Kate Chopin was one of the most individual and adventurous of nineteenth-century american writers, whose fiction explored new and often startling territory. When her most famous story, The Awakening, was first published in 1899, it stunned readers with its frank portrayal of the inner word of Edna Pontellier, and its daring criticisms of the limits of marriage and motherhood.

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