Cosy up inside the Grade II listed mansion in Liverpool’s Calderstones Park with some hearty fare, a wintery journey into the woods with Winnie the Pooh and Burns Night celebrations.
Burns Night, rediscovered black British novelist Jacqueline Roy in conversation and a deep dive into Belovedby Toni Morrison are among the highlights at The Reader this coming New Year.
The charity’s new Winter programme for 2025, from 17 January to 27 February, includes a brilliant range of events for all ages to help beat the January blues in Calderstones Park, South Liverpool.
And the start of 2025 is the perfect time to try something new.
Highlights of Winter 2025
Winter literary highlights include The Reader’s Burns Night Dinner and Burns Night Ceilidh with traditional Liverpudlian Ceilidh band The Saltcutters back by popular demand to celebrate Scotland’s national poet Robert Burns on Friday 24 January and Saturday 25 January.
There will be fast and furious dancing, traditional Scottish fare, poetry and whisky galore.
London-born dual heritage author Jacqueline Roy, whose novel The Fat Lady Sings is on The Reader’s Wonder Bookshelf 2024/25, will be in conversation at the Mansion House on Saturday 8 February at 2pmand taking part in a free one-hour Shared Reading session beforehand.
The Fat Lady Sings was part of a project by Bernardine Evaristo, the Booker prize-winning novelist to republish ‘forgotten’ books by black British writers. The groundbreaking novel was inspired by the author’s own experience in a psychiatric hospital during her teenage years.
Jacqueline will also be talking about her latest novel, In Memory of Us, about the life stories of identical twin sisters growing up in South London during the 1950s and 1960s, part of the Windrush generation.
No Coward Soul, a “funny, touching, challenging and poignant” one woman show by Emily Parr – a sell-out at the 20th Prescot Festival – is making its debut at the Mansion House with two performances on Saturday 15 February, at 2.30pm and 7pm.
This one-woman tragicomedy is about striving to survive alone amid a painfully amicable divorce. Two Shared Reading workshops exploring Emily Bronte’s poem of the same name will take place an hour before each performance.
Following on from The Reader’s popular Deep Reads of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and A Christmas Carolby Charles Dickens, there will be a six-week Deep Read of Toni Morrison’s Beloved, her prolific 1987 novel about the lasting impacts of slavery every Friday at 10am, from 7 February – 14 March.
Starting at the beginning, a trained Reader Leader will stop at key points to reflect and explore what the text makes people think and feel. At each session, the book’s themes will be complemented by some poetry.
Outdoors: Wellbeing, weddings and gardening
Two new Winter Wellbeing Workshops will explore works featuring on The Reader’s Wonder Bookshelf2024/5 starting with poetry on Saturday 18 January. American author Lucia Berlin’s New York Times best seller, A Manual for Cleaning Women, will be the celebrated in the following workshop on Sunday 16 February. This collection of short stories was published in 2015, 11 years after her death.
Both events include a Shared Reading session in the Mansion House, followed by a walk in Calderstones Park, a warming drink inside and the opportunity to build a poetry collection to take home.
A new two-hour nature and art workshop (Friday 17 January & Friday 7 February) with Liverpool artist and art teacher Anna Gaston will include a stroll around Calderstones Park collecting items along the way, mindfulness techniques and nature-inspired crafting.
Making the most of the beautiful outdoor space surrounding The Reader’s home is a new 10-week Design Essentials gardening course starting on Thursday 27 February.
This will be led by Estuary Botanics – Andy Lambie, who has 15 years of hands-on ecological horticulture, teaching and public engagement experience and RHS Master in Horticulture award; together with Nif Wilkinson, a botany tutor for the Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland, who has as a background in garden management and is completing an MSc in Conservation Management.
Anyone planning a wedding and looking for a unique and historic venue is invited to The Reader’s Wedding Open Day on Sunday 9 February to meet the team of dedicated events planners, talented onsite chefs, and selected suppliers.
The Grade II listed Mansion House is one of Liverpool’s most iconic buildings in the heart of the beautiful Calderstones Park. Couples are offered exclusive use of the Theatre Room, lovingly restored in 2019 with full bifold doors which open onto a secret walled garden and fitted with a sprung floor for guests to dance the night away.
Children and family
Families are invited to wrap up warmly and join The Reader’s Storyhunters for a special wintery outdoor adventure, Winnie the Pooh in the Wood, on Saturday 25 January, 10am and 12.30pm.
They will be setting off for a walk in Hundred Acre Wood (Calderstones Park) in search of Winnie the Pooh, Piglet and Tigger, to craft something special and rediscover stories of this famous fictional teddy bear created by English author A.A.Milne and illustrator E.H.Shepard in 1925.
The character was originally inspired by a stuffed toy Milne bought for his son Christopher Robin in Harrods after seeing a bear at London Zoo. The event is best suited for four to nine-year-olds, younger siblings welcome.
During February half term The Reader’s popular Storybarn Holiday Club for five to 10-year-olds will return for four days from Tuesday 18 February to Friday 21 February, 8.30am – 5pm. Due to high demand, advance booking is recommended.
Every day the Storyhunters and children will venture out into Calderstones Park, dive into the realm of storytelling in the Storybarn, play games and much more. Proceeds from every place booked help support The Reader’s charitable work with children and young people across the UK.
A February half term highlight for all the family will be a 45-minute retelling of the classic fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin, in the Mansion House’s Theatre Room on Thursday 20 February. A morning and matinee performance of this production by Liverpool’s Altru Drama will take place at 11am and 2.30pm.
This fun new adaptation breathes new life into the characters and their adventures, making it more relevant for modern audiences. It is recommended for three to 11-year-olds, younger siblings are welcome.
Shared Reading, heritage tours and the Calder Stones
The Mansion House will be open seven days a week with guided tours exploring the history of the house every Tuesday at 2pm, and the History of the House exhibition, and the 5,000-year-old ancient Calder Stones which give the local area its name on display every day.
And of course, as throughout the year, drop-in Shared Reading sessions which bring people together to talk, connect and share experiences through stories and poems continue at The Mansion House and venues across the city.
Laura McCarten, Head of Events and Commercial at The Reader, said:
“It may be cold outside but cosy up inside the Grade II listed Mansion House with some hearty fare and stimulating conversation over a great book. We hope our new winter programme for 2025 will inspire you or your family to try something new this coming New Year.
“We’re excited to reveal our third annual celebration for those looking ahead to celebrate Scotland’s National Poet Robert Burns on Saturday January 25.
“Following the success of our last two hugely popular Burns Night Ceilidhs we’re delighted to welcome back traditional Liverpudlian Ceilidh band, The Saltcutters, for this annual Scottish knees-up – a great excuse to not only dance away the January Blues but to listen to the work of the poet in the comfort of our homely period reading rooms!
“The night before we’ll be hosting a three-course Burns Night Dinner serving up traditional favourites, including Cullen Skink or Scottish Tattie soup to start; haggis or vegetarian haggis, neeps and tatties for mains and Cranachan for dessert. Each course will be paired with a hand-selected whiskey.
“Other highlights include a visit by author Jacqueline Roy, whose deeply moving novel, The Fat Lady Sings, originally came out in 2000 and fell out of print shortly afterwards. It is now part of a collection of 13 rediscovered works by Black British writers and was republished by Penguin in 2021. Jacqueline will be talking about her life and work in conversation – and also taking part in a Shared Reading workshop.
“We have Winnie the Pooh in the Wood, an imaginative family-friendly outdoors event in our very own Hundred Acre Wood and, of course, plenty of opportunities to cosy up inside to explore some brilliant books through Shared Reading, including a deep dive into Toni Morrison’s powerful prize-winning 1987 novel Beloved.”
The full winter 2025 season is available to book here.
