The Aardvark Blog

Snow no more, Borderlines Sponsored Film, even more books
10/03/2018

My last few blogs have been entirely concerned with the snow and bad weather that we had at the beginning of the month, and I am delighted to say that we have had some very sunny days and 'snowmageddon' is but a distant memory. The next week should see some higher temperatures and periods of sunshine, so what better place to enjoy Spring than with a visit to the central Marches.

Tuesday evening last week was the occasion for the Aardvark-sponsored screening of 'The Bookshop' in the wonderful Borderlines Film Festival. The festival has now been going for just under 20 years and is the largest film festival in the Midlands. Most remarkably it takes place in venues large and small across three English counties and one Welsh county. Our screening was sold out and it was a great pleasure for me to take the opportunity afforded by Borderlines to introduce the film.

But mostly this week I have been hard at work processing books, online orders and sorting out our evergrowing programme of events for 2018. We are only a few weeks away from our Easter Event which this time features Ivan and Friends who used to be stalwarts of the bookshop, but following Ivan's relocation have not played here in seven years. Ivan is now back and we are so happy to have him playing his inimitable brand of folk/jazz/breton/roots music. A must-hear I would have thought. Also at Easter we have a good selection of stalls including the return of the Cottage Herbery with their wonderful hardy plants. Even in this last winter the plants we have bought from Kim and Rob over the last few years have shrugged off the cold and grown like crazy. I always say that if plants can survive the cold rolling down the Clee Hills into the Cottage Herbery they can survive anywhere.

Also at Easter - Saturday 31 March - we have a double exhibition launch. Two artists called Paul are producing for us two very different exhibitions. Paul Caton, who lives a couple of miles from here, has had a long career as an artist which we hope to capture in the exhibition 'Paul Caton - '50 Years'. Paul Bearman produces work which almost entirely concerns animals. He works in sculpture, painting and on paper, and his pieces are marked by their liveliness and movement. Please join us at Easter for all these delights and more!

Remember, though that we will be closed on Sunday 1st April (Easter Sunday) - just for one day.