Friday 5th October - was the final day in the Reading Room at The Victory Hall, Benderloch. We stayed open from 11am until 6.30pm to browse pre-loved and new books, swap, share and take away any you’d like to own. You joined us for a cuppa, a chat or simply a quiet space to enjoy books just like last year!

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The Bar opened at 6.30pm and the show began with Ballads of our Time.

Chris Bennett, a local singer/ songwriter who sings heart- rending and thought provoking pieces that made you smile and wonder, inspired and challenged you.
 

At 7.30 pm GRUMPY OLD WOMEN - Joy Cameron, Tina Scorgie and Kathie Griffiths joined us to rant at the world and explain, in no uncertain terms, exactly how to fix it.

Following on from last year’s very successful fringe finale GRUMPY OLD MEN, those opinionated women told how they were annoyed by litter, poor restaurant seating and dodgy table cleaning and how social media is killing conversation and how we’re going to get it fixed. Audience participation was expected and received.

 

Earlier in the week we know you also know you enjoyed...
SEA PASSAGES
A collection of short stories about ferry crossings by local writers. They talked about how they came to plan and publish the collection  as well as giving us readings from Sea Passages.

 TALES FROM THE BALLACHULLISH LINE
Station Master's daughter Sheila Weir filled the Reading Room for reminiscences of life in Benderloch during and after WW2. Lots of folk brought their own memories to share on life alongside the famous line

Lorn and Oban Reuse Initiative's Up-cycling Workshop
LORI's workshop involved up-cycling picture frames. Terry Donovan brought
along a variety of frames, tools and materials for people to experiment
with.  Attendance by donation went to support the work
of Lorn and Oban Reuse Initiative. contact Terry Donovan at
terry.donovan@grab.org or 07762 924745 for more info on how you can get involved.

"Birds the Colours and Shapes of Leaves" is a collection of poetry about all aspects of life by Bob Toynton who talked about the poems, and the writing of some of them and  also about taking the "plunge" from writing for more or less personal consumption to producing and putting out there a proper book of poetry.

The practicalities, the problems, the fears and the positive feelings. Before the event Bob said:

“I very much like to interact with people and so would hope a session could be very informal and be as much about answering folk's questions as talking about my own work. I think there are distinct differences between the self-publishing poetry and most other forms of books. Some of these I only recognised too late for this book. I'm now working, slowly, towards a second. I’d love to be able to help others achieve this too.” It worked!

Film Showing : In Our Hands
Hosted by Awakening in Argyll.
Filmed throughout 2016, this documentary told the story of the revolution that’s taking place in farming in the UK. Those were real life stories of real life farmers who are taking back control of their lives and their livelihoods. In 67 minutes the film takes you on a journey of hope and inspiration through the stories of these farmers, who refuse to be ground down by the machinery of agri-business. See if you can find it online - and join us at Awakening throughout the winter - details on Facebook.

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