A Philosophy of Nature - with Darren Harper
2025-08-26 10:00 - 15:00 (Europe/London) | Morrab Library
A Philosophy of Nature – a day course with Darren Harper
Tuesday 26th August 2025
10am until 3pm £60
Part of a two-day Philosophy Summer School, this workshop delivers a contemplative day of nature, philosophy, and stillness — walking with Thoreau, Daoism, and Deep Ecology.
Book both days for £100.
Email hello@wanderingsage.net to book.

Stoicism and the Tranquil Mind - with Darren Harper
2025-08-27 10:00 - 15:00 | Morrab Library
Stoicism and the Tranquil Mind – a day course with Darren Harper
Wednesday 27th August 2025
10am until 3pm £60
Part of a two-day Philosophy Summer School, this workshop explores Stoic calm with Seneca—learn tools for serenity, resilience & peace in a day of reflection, insight & practical wisdom.
Book both days for £100.
Email hello@wanderingsage.net to book.

In My Element - a talk by Claire Lucas
2025-10-18 14:00 - 15:00 | Morrab Library
Our next Library talk will be with Claire Lucas presenting, “In My Element” – Stories and Images From the Library. This will take place in the Reading Room from 2pm-3pm on Saturday 18th October.
Claire will reflect on her time as Artist in Residence at The Morrab Library. She will talk about her project “In My Element”, where she spent time with her sketchbook and journal, collecting stories and images from members, visitors, staff and volunteers.
Claire sought insight into what the library means to them, how it provides a safe haven to those seeking to deepen their connection to their creative self, and finding their way back home to themselves through books, memories, community and creative pursuits. Claire will share stories and images from the people she met throughout her residency, highlighting what makes our library such a special place.
Tickets are allocated by a ballot system. Please email enquiries@morrablibrary.org.uk or call 01736 364474 to be entered into the ballot for a ticket. The ballot closes on Wednesday 8th October.
Entry to this event is free but donations are welcomed to help support The Morrab Library (suggested £5).
Refreshments will be provided after the talk.

The Morrab Library Christmas Fair 2025
2025-11-22 10:00 - 14:00 | Morrab Library
Yes, it’s that time already!
We hope you can join us for the annual Morrab Library Christmas Fair on Saturday 22nd November, 10.00am – 2.00pm.
The Fair will feature lots of stalls from West Cornwall’s local makers – a perfect opportunity to start your Christmas shopping and support your library at the same time. There will be second-hand books and historic photographs for sale, and our wonderful refreshments room with delicious homemade treats. And try your luck with our raffle, which will feature some wonderful prizes.
Some stalls will only be able to accept cash so please bring some along with you. Members and non-members alike are welcome, so please spread the word!
We look forward to seeing you there.

FULLY BOOKED Library Talks | Mrs Dalloway, The Centenary Year: ‘Art, Modernism & War’
2025-12-10 14:00 - 15:00 | Morrab Library
PLEASE NOTE: This talk is fully booked.
Our next Library talk comes from returning speaker, Sarah Latham-Phillips, MA. On Wednesday 10th December (2pm-3pm) she will be speaking about Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway in the centenary year of the novel.
Sarah’s illustrated talk will place Virginia Woolf in the context of Modernism and the contemporary art and literature scene, explaining briefly the key changes from Victorian to Modernist literature.
She will then highlight these new modernist ideas in Woolf’s writing of Mrs Dalloway: stream of consciousness, rhythm, time, multiple viewpoints, fragmentation, perspective, psychology and light and reflection. She will also consider the subjects of war, shell shock and London.
Illustrating her talk, Sarah will use the ideas of Roger Fry, Clive Bell and the Post Impressionist Exhibitions in London of 1910 and 1912, the influences particularly of Picasso, Matisse and Cezanne and will add some stunning First World War paintings by CRW Nevinson and Paul Nash, amongst others.
Sarah Latham Phillips, MA is a member of the executive council of the Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain, a freelance lecturer in Art History and English Literature, and has published on Virginia Woolf as a Cubist Writer.
Tickets are allocated by a ballot system. Please email enquiries@morrablibrary.org.uk or call 01736 364474 to be entered into the ballot for a ticket. The ballot closed on Monday 18th August. Entry to this event is free but donations are welcomed to help support The Morrab Library (suggested £5). Refreshments will be provided after the talk.

Super Spring Storytime with Jak Stringer
2026-02-19 10:30 - 12:00 | Morrab Library
Spring sunshine is nature’s alarm clock, telling wildlife to wake up after winter. You can see, hear, and smell the signs of newness as the season arrives with a rush of energy. The session will include garden weaving, vegetable sewing and flower collage.
Jak will be reading Sean Taylor & Alex Morss’ story ‘Busy Spring: Nature Wakes Up’. This beautifully illustrated book offers an engaging introduction to spring, perfect for young nature enthusiasts.
Contact us at enquiries@morrablibrary.org.uk or telephone 01736 364474 to book a place.
Entry to this event is free but donations are welcomed to help support The Morrab Library (suggested £5).

Library Talk: ‘Dartmoor Elements – the ecological poems and play extracts of Mark Beeson’ by Tom Greeves
2026-03-18 14:00 - 15:00 | Morrab Library
Mark Beeson (1954-2022) was trained as a classicist and primatologist. From 1989-2022 he was artistic director of Manaton & East Dartmoor Theatre (MED Theatre) which he founded. Mark’s greatest legacy is his creative and ecological writing of poetry and plays relating to Dartmoor. As long ago as 1980 his epic poem – The Walk – won a prize in an international poetry competition, where it was admired by Ted Hughes, Seamus Heaney, Charles Causley and Philip Larkin.
Dartmoor Elements (published in 2025) brings together 133 of Mark’s poems and poetic play extracts, which are intimate reflections on his familiar environment of Dartmoor, drawing on decades of keen observation of his surroundings and of the creatures (both animal and human) who inhabit it, as well as on his deep knowledge of the moor’s folklore and culture. With Gillian Webster, Tom Greeves edited Dartmoor Elements, which forms the most significant collection of Dartmoor poetry ever published. The poems are accessible and often deeply moving, and contain much ecological wisdom.
TICKETS
Tickets are allocated by a ballot system. Please email enquiries@morrablibrary.org.uk or telephone 01736 364474 to be entered into the ballot.The balot closes on Monday 9th March.
Entery to this event is free but donations are welcomed to help support the library (suggested £5).
Refrehments will be provided after the talk.

The Morrab Library Spring Fair
2026-03-21 10:00 - 14:00 | morrab gardens
We hope you can join us for the Morrab Library Spring Fair, taking place on Saturday 21st March from 10am until 2pm.
As ever, there will be stalls throughout the Library (inside and out!) featuring local makers showcasing their crafts, as well as many plants, second-hand books and historic photos for sale, alongside our raffle. The much-loved refreshments room will return with delicious homemade cakes.
Some of the stalls will be cash only, so please bring some change along with you to help support your library.
Members and non-members alike are all welcome, so please bring friends and family along too.
We hope to see you there!

Kernow to the Crystal Palace: Mary Kelynack’s Extraordinary Journey - a talk from Pamela Vass.
2026-04-15 14:00 - 15:30 | Morrab Library
In August 1851 a curiously dressed, elderly woman was seen trudging along Southampton High Street. Passers by couldn’t fail to notice her, she wore a huge beaver bonnet and carried a corracle-like basket on her back. She was a Cornish fisherwoman, she said, in her 84th year, and was walking to London from the Land’s End to see the Great Exhibition.

Mary Kelynack spent her entire life in the small community of Newlyn in the far west of Cornwall. Yet she became so inspired by the wonders of the Great Exhibition in the Crystal Palace that she resolved to go. Travelling by steamer, coach or train was beyond her means but there was one thing she could do – walk.

Before long she had become quite a celebrity – noticed at the Great Exhibition, taking tea with the Lord Mayor, interviewed by the Illustrated London News, modelled by a famous sculptor, having a song and a polka named after her… and even greeting the Queen.

This illustrated presentation reveals the truth behind the Cornish legend that is Mary Kelynack, covering her extraordinary journey, her adventures in London and her final, and previously unreported, adventure.
TICKETS

Tickets are allocated by a ballot system.

Please email enquiries@morrablibrary.org.uk or call 01736 364474 to be entered into the ballot for a ticket. The ballot closes on Monday 6th April.

Entry to this event is free but donations are welcomed to help support The Morrab Library (suggested £5).

Refreshments will be provided after the talk.

Copies of Pamela’s book will be sold at the talk.

The Biscuit Tin of Memories - writing workshop with Carolyn Savidge
2026-05-27 10:00 - 15:00 | Morrab Library
UPDATE: The afternoon session is now sold out – tickets are still available for the morning.
Join artist Carolyn Savidge as we delve into her Biscuit Tin of Memories, using objects to evoke emotions and senses from memories. This workshop is about expressing in words the things that are left unsaid, and using these collective fragments of text to create a paper quilt, which will be displayed in the library.
Our memories make us who we are. Often, little is required to summon them, a familiar sound, a smell. And sometimes we seek to keep them safer, setting aside mementos, fragments, tokens of our passage. The clues to what defines us are placed gently, perhaps, inside an old biscuit tin.
Carolyn investigates the connection between our memories and who we are now. What fragments of the past do we preserve? The hope, though this workshop, is that you will delve into your own Biscuit Tin of Memories and to consider how the past has shaped your own narrative.
Your words will be shared in a work where Carolyn will create a paper quilt, stitching together these fragments to form a collective tapestry of ideas and emotions.
Based in Newlyn, Carolyn is an artist, filmmaker, choreographer, writer, performer, and former lecturer and teacher, and has recently become a member of the Newlyn Society of Artists. Find out more about Carolyn through her website: www.Carolynsavidgeartist.co.uk or you can follow her on Instagram: @carolynsavidge.
Donations to the library are welcome on the day.
BOOKING: Please contact Carolyn directly at: carolynsavidge@aol.com or telephone 07980 540973 to reserve a space.

Super Storytime with Jan Pearson
2026-05-28 10:30 - 12:00 | Morrab Library
Join Jan and Lisa at The Morrab Library to hear the story of the rebellious teddy bear, Ruby, written by Maggie Glen. This will take place in the Reading Room on Thursday 28th May from 10.30am – 12pm. The story will be followed by lots of activities inspired by the book.
Super Storytime is a journey for 4 to 8-year-olds but there will be refreshments for the grown-ups they bring along! Booking is essential so please let us know if you would like to join us so we can make sure we have enough cake!
Contact us at enquiries@morrablibrary.org.uk or telephone 01736 364474 to book a place. Entry to this event is free but donations are welcomed to help support The Morrab Library (suggested £5).

The Morrab Library Summer Fair 2026
2026-06-20 10:00 - 14:00 | Morrab Library
We hope you can join us for the Morrab Library Summer Fair, taking place on Saturday 20th June from 10am until 2pm.
You’ll be able to explore stalls inside and out, featuring local makers showcasing their art and crafts, and there’ll be plants, second-hand books and historic photos for sale. And don’t forget our brilliant raffle and our much-loved refreshments room, tempting you with delicious homemade cakes.
Some of the stalls will be cash only, so please bring some change along with you to help support your library.
Members and non-members alike are all welcome, so please bring friends and family along too.
We hope to see you there!
