WHAT'S ON AT THE LINEN HALL

A CAVE HILL DIAMOND EVENT - EXHIBITION

Whatever its origin, the Cave Hill Diamond has always remained tantalisingly and maddeningly out of reach, and dismissed by many as a mere fairytale for children.

Following a recent gift to the Linen Hall Library, the 'real' history behind this gem of Belfast can be revealed and we ask what is it about Cave Hill and its Diamond that inspired many a tale. Featuring treasures drawn from the Library's archives, this exhibition will delve into a part of our local history previously hidden 'behind the Chesterfield'.

Tours of the Belfast Gems Exhibition will be held at 11am on Saturday 27 June, Saturday 25 July and Saturday 29 August. Please meet at the General Desk on Level 2. 
Contact the Library (028 9032 1707) for more details.

Cave Hill Diamond events are supported by the
Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Belfast City Council.

A CAVE HILL DIAMOND EVENT - TOUR

Join Ben Simon from Belfast Parks in a guided walk around Belfast Castle Estate and parts of Cave Hill, looking at walls of the ancient deer park, the wonderful Victorian castle, plants, trees and wildlife. This walk links in with ‘Our Friends on the Hill’ event.

Meet at Belfast Castle at 10.30am. Wear suitable clothing and footwear.

For details call Ben Simon on 9027 0350 or email ben.simon@belfastcity.gov.uk.

A CAVE HILL DIAMOND EVENT - VISIT

Take part in a unique experience by viewing the famous Cave Hill 'cavern'. See inside the cave and admire stunning views across Belfast. Throughout the day, people will be dressed in Victorian costume. From 12.30pm to 2pm, there will be live traditional music. Bring along a picnic and enjoy the festive atmosphere.

Organised by Belfast Hills Partnership and sponsored by Belfast City Council.

For details call the Belfast Hills Partnership on 9060 3466 or email info@belfasthills.org.

This event complements the Heritage of the Hill tour.

A CAVE HILL DIAMOND EVENT - TALK

Cave Hill is not only important to the heritage of Belfast but also to our future. As the Manager of the Belfast Hills Partnership, Jim Bradley is in a unique position to talk about the work that is being done to preserve and protect this gem of Belfast for future generations.

Places limited. Booking recommended.

READING GROUP

Towards Another Summer - 'The Southern Cross cuts through my heart instead of through the sky' Grace Cleave is spending a weekend away from London, where she has been battling with writer's block. But on holiday in the north of England she feels more and more like a migratory bird as the pull of her native New Zealand makes life away from it seem transitory. Grace longs to find her own place in the world if she can only decide where that is. But first she must learn to be comfortable in her own skin, feathers and all.

From the author of An Angel at My Table comes an exquisitely written novel of exile and return, homesickness and belonging. Written in 1963 when Janet Frame was living in London, this is the first publication of a novel she considered too personal to be published in her lifetime. .

The Reading Group meets on the last Thursday of each month, and all are welcome to come along and discuss the book chosen for that month.

A CAVE HILL DIAMOND EVENT - DISCOVERY DAY

As part of Parks Heritage Week, there will be two discovery days to unearth the heritage and history of the former estate lands of Belfast Castle. Walks start at 11am and last approximately 2 hours. Meet at Belfast Castle. Wear suitable clothing and footwear.

For details on these walks and other walks during Parks Heritage Week call Ben Simon on 9027 0350 or email ben.simon@belfastcity.gov.uk.

A CAVE HILL DIAMOND EVENT - DISCOVERY DAY 

As part of Parks Heritage Week, there will be two discovery days to unearth the heritage and history of the former estate lands of Belfast Castle. Walks start at 11am and last approximately 2 hours. Meet at Belfast Castle. Wear suitable clothing and footwear.

For details on these walks and other walks during Parks Heritage Week call Ben Simon on 9027 0350 or email ben.simon@belfastcity.gov.uk.

READING GROUP

Get A Life - Nobel Prize winner Nadine Gordimer follows the inner lives of characters confronted by unforeseen circumstances. Paul Bannerman, an ecologist in South Africa, believes he understands the trajectory of his life, with the usual markers of vocation and marriage. But when he’s diagnosed with thyroid cancer and, after surgery, prescribed treatment that will leave him radioactive—and for a period a danger to others—he begins to question, as Auden wrote, “what Authority gives / existence its surprise.” As Paul recuperates in the garden of his childhood home, he enters an unthinkable existence and another kind of illumination—a process that will irrevocably change not only his life but the lives of his wife and parents.

The Reading Group meets on the last Thursday of each month, and all are welcome to come along and discuss the book chosen for that month.

READING GROUP

The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs - Troubled Environmental Health Officer Danny Skinner is engaged on a quest to uncover what he refers to as 'the bedroom secrets of the master chefs'. He regards the unravelling of this classified information as the key to learning genetic facts about himself and the crippling compulsions that threaten to wreck his young life. The ensuing journey takes him from Europe's festival city of Edinburgh to the foodie capital of America, San Francisco. 

The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs is a gothic parable about the great obsessions of our time: food, sex and minor celebrity, and is a brilliant examination of identity, male rivalry and the need to belong in the world.

The Reading Group meets on the last Thursday of each month, and all are welcome to come along and discuss the book chosen for that month.