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NEWSLETTER No.55 May 1992 Dear Friend of the Library, BOOK SALE Book sorting has gone very well so far and the work is up to date -so far so good. We do expect that more books will come available between now and the end of June (27th and 28th) when the sale takes place, so please keep in touch. Two weeks before the sale we are going to display our new, large, re-usable banner advertising the sale, on the overpass at Park Royal. We shall also have our advert on twelve of the Blue Buses during the same period. RETIREMENT Margaret Walter, Head of Adult Services, retired last week. A reception was held for her on Thursday, and the Friends were represented by Lois Kilburn who not only did the refreshments but also made an arrangement of plants in a bowl for Margaret as a gift from the Friends. Thank you, Lois, once again. "EURO-ABSURDITIES" Mrs. Dorothy Adams is one of a group of women in Cheshire [U.K.] who do Chinese-style embroidery, delicate work which requires a particularly fine needle. For years they obtained their needles from a well-known firm in Warwickshire. But now, under E.C. Regulations, the firm has been forced to increase the width of its needles to the point where they are no longer usable. The ladies now have to obtain their needles from China and India. As Mrs. Adams writes ... "It makes us angry to think of a bunch of men sitting in Brussels, telling us, a group of skilled craftswomen, what thickness of needle we must use fo our work". This is just one of the further deluge of instances sent in by readers of the Sunday Telegraph in response to the columnist Christopher Booker's request. (I have also heard an ugly rumour that Brussels is trying to prohibit double-decker buses as well. Just think how many travel brochures and posters will have to be changed! Ed.) BOVINE FUND RAISING, OR THE GREAT COW CLAP DRAW In a recent magazine competition for the best idea for raising money in the countryside, first prize of a bottle of 18-year-old malt whisky went to a lady for this account of her village's highly successful Cow Clap Draw (held to raise funds for an extension to their village hall). On paper, an area of our village green was ruled off into 1,000 one-metre squares, and these were sold by ticket at one pound per square. A corresponding area of the green was then roped off, and one fine July morning a cow was driven into the enclosure. At first she mooed concernedly to her herd-mates behind the farm, but soon settled down to graze contentedly, closely watched by amused and eager villagers.