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Community
The Plakias Lending Library: Winter Opening Hours
The Plakias lending library - ‘The most southerly lending library in Europe’ is home to over 6,000 books in fifteen different languages. A recent addition is a DVD library, which now has over 1,000 titles in its collection. It really is a fantastic community resource! The library also hosts a variety of community and charity events throughout the year. For example on the first and third Sundays of every month there are ‘fun days’ which start at around 12.30 pm, and include a selection of free nibbles prepared by Femke. All the librarians and support team are unpaid volunteers, so running costs are able to be kept to a minimum; however, to help pay for electricity and running costs a membership fee of just €2 a month is requested.
Winter Opening Hours: During the winter season the library will be open from 10.30am to 12.30pm every day except Saturday.
Directions: For those of you not familiar with this part of Crete, Plakias is on the South Coast, easily accessible by road from Rethymnon (about a 40 minute drive, passing through some stunning scenery). When you get to Plakias follow the signs to the Youth Hostel. Once you get to the Youth Hostel continue along the path towards the “Old Mill” where you will pass, on your left, the shack which was the original library. From there you go a further 400 meters along the path, over a little stream running in a concrete bed across the track.
Books Galore: Plakias Lending Library team faces, once again, the agonizing choice of which books to keep on the shelves and which must be released to make room for new titles. There is space for only 6,000 books in all – 3,200 in English, 1,500 in German, 500 in French, 300 in Dutch and a further 500 in a variety of other languages. Every year it receives donations of a couple of thousand books and, having eliminated duplicates and damaged items, it has to make room on the shelves for about 1,200 new titles. The surplus books are usually given to one of the local animal care charities, but even they are now becoming heavily overstocked. If you can find a good home – or a worthy cause – which would benefit from free books, please email Eddie at alaneddy@otenet.gr with some idea of how many, in which languages, you would like. To give you a rough idea a supermarket carrier bag accommodates 20-24 paperbacks It would be appreciated if recipients could collect from the Library (possibly joining Kate and Luc on one of their visits to our regular Funday Sundays). Otherwise, it should be possible to arrange a rendezvous in the main car park in Rethymnon one Saturday morning to transfer the books from car to car.
Cancer Support Group in Georgioupolis
A Cancer Support Group has been formed for people who have been through or who are undergoing treatment for cancer, and also for those who have recently lost significant others to this disease. These are the needs of the current group.
It is a diverse and flexible group, and different sub-groups can be formed later on an "as needed" basis. This is a support group not a therapy group, and confidentiality is a given. There is no fee.
Meetings will be held on the first Monday of every month in Georgioupolis, from 11am - 1pm. Carpooling available from Rethymnon.
For more information please contact Chris Parnassus, phone: 6977559644 or email
cparnassus@hotmail.com
We now have a website! www.cancersupportcrete.com
More news - we also have practical support available! We have a lending service of items which have been donated, for example, an air mattress, slide sheets etc.Bereavement Group: A group is now available for anyone grieving the loss of a loved one. For more information, please get in touch with Chris as above.
