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Spring 2012 Newsletter

From fear of loss of the Library and the Turrill Garden in 2011 to a new surge of energy for it all, we now watch with interest as internal changes to the building bring a new lease of life. The Friends of Summertown Library had funds left over from their campaign to Save the Library and are now funding greater comfort and flexibility within it. This adds to what the Council themselves are doing to mechanise book loans and to create more welcoming doors at both ends.

We hope the new doors and slope outside will encourage more people to come and visit the shows we have planned for the garden this year.As in the past, Paul Murray Town & Country Property (now under Winkworth Oxford) have generously sponsored publicity leaflets for our whole year's programme. We are using these for all our members to keep to remind them not to miss some of the special shows coming up, as well as to advertise to those who have not yet discovered the garden. Do pick some up from the Friends' table at the back of the Library and put them on a pin-board or somewhere handy at home and at work and tell friends and neighbours who don't know about it.

There is still time until the end of February to see our Winter Show which has several new sculptors exhibiting with us and a great variety of styles and materials. - Still time for that inspired purchase for your garden too!

In March we open with our first show from the Oxfordshire Craft Guild. They have many highly skilled artists amongst them, keen to show ceramic, glass and basketry that is suitable for outside. The private view for this will take place later in the show when the weather is warmer and we have a longer evening available. Invitations will go out to all members.

Our Artweeks show this year will gather returning sculptors who have not all shown together before and should be a great one. Don't forget the Turrill shows for the full three weeks of Artweeks, not just the City week.

Our major show this year will run right through the summer from June to the end of September will be Sundials in Summertown. We are privileged to be bringing together seven fine sundial makers from around Britain who make precision instruments which are sculptural forms at the same time. This will give us an opportunity to put in place an analemmatic (new word for Scrabble fans?) sundial - one where the users become the gnomon (old word for Scrabble fans?). We hope you will come to try it out. This show will also give us an opportunity to link up with the Museum of the History of Science in Broad Street as their Director, Professor Jim Bennett, will open it for us. Barefoot Books in Summertown will be sponsoring the analemmatic dial as well as the private view and we hope that we will have plenty of children who come to see what it is all about too.

In the Autumn we have our regular visit from the Oxford Sculpture Group and finally turn again to the 2012/13 Christmas Winter Show. So lots to look forward to and we hope we will see you coming back often to take advantage of such riches on your doorstep.