Chelsea Library is no stranger to supernatural activity. A lady in crinolines has been spotted by one of the hall keepers, Patrick, floating between the stacks – she may be a normal reader but a clue to her identity is linked to the penny farthing propped up in the mind/body/spirit section. In keeping with the ghostly theme we held a Halloween craft event in the children’s library where children listened to scary stories and then made ghosts, bats and pumpkin face masks. Senior Customer Services Assistant Sue Couteux, came into her own adding straws to the models so the masks could be held up and waved in parents’ faces. The event was bustling and very well attended – twenty two adults and 37 children. It may have been 38 but I don’t think we can count the little boy in knickerbockers who was left behind. A member of staff called the number on his library card—it was only three digits— the house no longer existed.
The children’s library was given an autumnal face lift with a display of tree, clouds and a particularly ferocious squirrel brilliantly designed by Customer Service Assistants, Ewis and Amy. The autumn craft event was an opportunity for children to release their inner pagan and design a green man style face mask. Sue designed plates decorated with cobwebs catching all the seasonal goodies (nuts, berries, mushrooms, squirrels – cut out, coloured in and collaged). We also made a leaf man out of leaves and twigs staff collected during their lunch hour in Battersea Park. The Leaf Man proved very popular with both children and mums and dads. 52 people attended.
- Chelsea Library’s Halloween wall
With the totem pole flashing on and off we erected an erotica display, In Between the Sheets in the main library. It has generated a lot of interest. One reader said ‘how disgusting’ and strode straight across to confirm her opinion. For some reason a book on badgers keeps appearing next to Nabokov’s Lolita notebook—no one has yet dared to check it out.
Rob Symmonds, Lending Librarian and Daniel Jeffreys, Customer Services Assistant
Chelsea Library
rbkc libraries blog 
The book on Badgers makes me nostalgic for my childhood in Shropshire.
Do any other library users remember the delights of a rural childood and an exciting night of Badger-watching when we took a thermos, a strong torch, a round of egg mayonnaise sandwiches and hunkered down near the set… absolutely delightful. Our world seems sadly out of kilter with such simple pleasures.
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Searching for Badgers. Does anyone remember The Badgers Snout? It was on the corner of Paradise Walk. The Hoofers called it The Badger Club or in the early hours after a show, Beryl’s Badger Cubs. Only place for a vera and a vogue this side of the Gate.
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