Adult Programs

April Adult Programming 2024

Ongoing Library Programming

Tuesday Night Knitting Group

Tuesdays 6 pm – 8 pm

Trustees Room

Join the library's Tuesday Night Knitters for some quality knitting and crocheting time. All skill levels are welcome.

Hello Sunshine Book Club

First Wednesday Evenings of the Month at 7:30 pm

Trustees Room

A book discussion group focusing on selections from Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine book club.

Gatehouse Writer’s Group (Online Writing Group)

Every Friday Online via Zoom from 10 am – Noon

Contact Linda Rowland-Buckley at rowbuc1998@gmail.com

Our library writing group, the Gatehouse Writing group, the Gatehouse Writers, is a supportive peer-led environment open to all levels and styles. The group philosophy is a simple one: every person is a writer, and every writer deserves a safe environment in which to experiment, learn and develop their craft. This group is led by Linda Rowland-Buckley and Richard Buckley.

Mahjong at the Library

First and Third Friday’s of the Month from 1 pm – 4 pm

For experienced Players

Spanish Conversation Circle

3rd Saturdays of the Month at 10:30 am

An opportunity for Spanish speakers to practice their language skills.  Participants should have some basic conversational skills to join the group. This is NOT a language class.

 

In-Person Programming

Hospice Navigating the Journey of Grief and Loss
Wed., April 3 at 6  in the Community Room
Presented by the Visiting Nurses Association/ Cooley Dickinson
Grief and loss are natural and normal processes, and no response is the same as each person grieves in their own way. There is no timeframe for how one grieves as it shifts and changes, never fully going away. Learn about the stages of grief and loss, from preceptory to post-grief, and the resources available to family and caregivers after the loss of a loved one. There will be time for Q&A afterward.

 

Virtual Program: Are We Alone in the Universe?

Sat., April 6 at 11

Sign Up Here: https://tinyurl.com/y4hmb8sy

The question, Are We Alone, has been going on millenniums- but today, a better question might be- "Contact- Now what?". Scott Flaig will present the arguments for and against "life on other worlds" and if contact is made, it likely will not be by us, but by them. Science/ laws, Philosophy/ Reason and Theology/Faith has been the tri-lens through which my research model served as the process for this lecture. Of course, if contact is made by them, our understanding of science and technology make take a giant leap forward but will our faith be affected as well by what some scientists and theologians call Astro-theology? Presented by Scott Flaig author of "Cosmology: Faith and Science Reveal Universal Truth" and "Pillars of Creation".

 

Local History Talk! Rescuing Richardson’s Station: Holyoke’s 1885 Train Depot

Tues., April 16 at 6:30

Community Room

Presented by Will Melton. In just four years, David White has brought the Holyoke Railway station, created by architect Henry Hobson Richardson, back from the brink of ruin. All has been accomplished without grants, investors, or much municipal help. Meanwhile he’s repurposed the old Railway Express building on the depot as a takeout restaurant and Choo Choo’s Ice Cream shop opening this Spring.  

 

Virtual Program: Black Heritage Tour with the National Park Service

Wed., April 17 at 6

Sign Up Here: https://tinyurl.com/4c4btbhw

The Black Heritage Trail showcases residences and community buildings associated with a Black Community that thrived on, and near, the north slope of Beacon Hill before, during, and after the American Civil War. Throughout that time, this community struggled and organized for equal rights to access to equal education. Community members championed the movement to abolish slavery and even housed freedom seekers on their journey along the Underground Railroad. Let by park ranger Shawn Quigley.

 

Stewart Udall: The Politics of Beauty presented by the Kestrel Land Trust

Wed., April 24 at 6

Community Room

This new biographical film tells the story of the legendary Secretary of Interior Stewart Udall, who served in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations and became a towering - yet humble - figure in the 20th century American conservation movement. He was an early campaigner for both environmental protection and social justice, encouraging JFK, LBJ and Ladybird Johnson to become conservation leaders themselves.

Kestrel Land Trust conserves and cares for forests, farms, and riverways in the Connecticut River Valley of Western Massachusetts, while nurturing an enduring love of the land.