NEWSLETTER No.52 February 1992 Dear Friend of the Library, It seems ages since the last Newsletter. The whole "project" of Christmas, which takes so long to build, was enjoyed for that short, intense period and then demolished almost overnight - what an anti-climax it always is! And then the sales come roaring back and that fragile flame of Christmas Spirit is snuffed out again for another year. (Where do people store all that wrapping paper and the cards that they buy for next Christmas?) CASINO NIGHTS - January 6th, 7th and 8th, 1992 (i) The Bad News Let's face it, we were able to recruit only ten people out of our whole membership to take advantage of a chance to raise significant funds for the badly-needed Bookmobile. It was our biggest opportunity so far and we very nearly blew it. While I realise that some members no doubt had good reasons for not feeling able to take part, I personally felt embarrassed that we needed to ask four members of the Library Board (even though they are members of the Friends) and two members of the Library staff (not "Friends", but certainly good friends indeed when the chips were down) in order to make up the basic crew of twelve. Actually fifteen were needed (5 each night) and the Casino told us that two of the three people who attended the seminar in December had to be on duty each night, so they each did duty twice. Needless to say, we were truly grateful for the help of the Board members and offer a special "thank you" to the staff members who gave such willing help beyond the call of duty. It is really a very easy way to raise money (if you're lucky), and we hope to have a repeat later this year. "The Few" who took part were: Board Members (Friends) Molly Murray Alan Maxwell David Hall Jack Mounce Staff Members (Friends in Need) Pam Douglas Christine Pendreigh "Regular" Friends Norma Barnes Irene Caudwell Dawn Sikula Anne Fletcher Joan Skipper Tony Scammell