2014 School Magazine

THE LIBELLUM SOCIETY ISABELLA MATHIOU (9G) AND HELEN YESBERG (9G) 2014 LIBELLUM SOCIETY CAPTAINS There is honestly only one club in the whole school where you can walk in and say ‘good morning,’ and get the reply, ‘What do you mean? Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?’ (J.R.R Tolkien, The Hobbit ) It won’t seem strange or more than a little eccentric. This is one of the wonderful things about Brisbane Girls Grammar School: the embracing of all past-times. The Libellum Society is one of those clubs. The Society holds weekly meetings to preview and review new texts such as illustrated books, fiction and non-fiction, graphic novels and literature websites. The meetings also provide an opportunity to organise school literary events, and participate in writers festivals, book launches and writing competitions. This year, the Libellum Society and our energetic co-ordinator, Miss Christopherson, have brought together some old and new fundraisers for our charity, the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. These included: ‘Love Letters from Libellum’

as part of Library Lovers Day , the popular Books2Devour competition, our Hobbit themed Open Day display, and joining with the Uralla Club to celebrate Indigenous Literacy Day in September, creating a Literacy Tree. However, our most successful event was Hogwarts Library. The Annie Mackay Room was transformed into the softly lamp-lit, cosy corners of Hogwarts Library with comfortable chairs adorned with patchwork quilts and decorative cushions, as well as the foreboding ‘Restricted Section’ containing monstrous fur-covered books, sculls and an array of ghoulish specimens. Students bought secondhand books or sat at long wooden tables, laden with pumpkins, candelabras and recent editions of The Quibbler , to enjoy a butter-beer. Other favourites included the Hogwarts Express ‘lollies from the trolley’ such as Liquorice Wands, Every Flavour Beans, Dark Arts Drewberries and Jelly Slugs. We raised more than $700 for our charity and Helen and I really enjoyed being Libellum Captains this year; the opportunities and experiences we had will never be replaced. ■

LIBRARY ANGELS Library angels are students who volunteer their time and effort to assist the School’s library in a variety of ways. From re-shelving books and working at the circulation desk, to working behind the scenes, sorting music and magazines, library angels have donated hours of their time to assist both the library and users. This year the ‘guardian angel’ initiative really took flight, with a younger library angel being paired up with an older ‘guardian angel’ to help them complete their tasks. Through this system, and the library angels, girls have been able to make friendships that last through their high school years and beyond. Also learning how to navigate through the endless resources provided to us has been invaluable. Under the careful guidance of our ‘mother angels’, Mrs Cooke and Miss Askey, library angels have had the opportunity to attend workshops and training sessions, which are a lovely way for angels to get together and enjoy themselves, whilst working together with a common purpose and supporting one another. ■

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