Monday 21 July, 2008

Life, leisure and learning

What images do those words conjure up for you? At Christchurch City Libraries these words add up to CINCH, our community information directory. You'll find thousands of options to help you get what you need in your life, to have fun or to learn a new skill.

CINCH is a place where the smallest of organisations sits alongside major providers, so you'll find polytechnic and secondary school community education courses, but you'll also find artists, exercise groups, and interest groups for most activities under the sun, and a few that happen in the rain.

CINCH is organised under 12 main categories and an A to Z listing - both found on the CINCH homepage, cinch.org.nz. These offer quick ways to get to the information you want. Search tips can also be found on the homepage. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact Christchurch City Libraries.

History of CINCH

CINCH was established in 1981, and available to the public soon after its inception. It combined with the Directory of Continuing Education in August 2000. In 2008, each listing has an organisation's contact and meeting details and a link to their web address if they have one as well as details of any courses they may offer. Best of all, this service is entirely free - it's one of the best offerings at Christchurch City Libraries.

Get active with CINCH

For exercise options CINCH lists fitness classes and info, sports and recreation opportunities, and many other health-related groups and activities. CINCH also powers the Active Canterbury search facility. A recent addition to CINCH is the Term 3 Christchurch City Council Leisure Centre and SwimSmart programmes.

Third term courses

Today is the beginning of the third term. There are hundreds of courses on offer on all sorts of topics - languages, cooking, building a steam engine, sewing, dancing, computing, hairdressing - anything you want to learn, there's probably a listing. Community education providers include:

List your group on CINCH

CINCH welcomes listings from clubs, organisations, services, courses and programmes in the greater Christchurch area.

Please note that events are not listed in CINCH. If you are having an event in Christchurch or the Canterbury Region, you can promote it at Be There - events online.

Halls and venues

If you want to hire a venue for a meeting, party or family reunion, local halls, meeting rooms, etc. for hire in the greater Christchurch area can be found on CINCH. There are currently over 500 venues listed with relevant contact details.

We recommend: Community information resources

This week in Christchurch history

What interesting things happened in Christchurch this week? Find out with the help of the Christchurch Chronology on the library website.

July 20, 1935 1st concert by violinist Yehudi Menuhin (already famous at only 17). A second concert took place on July 23.
July 20, 1983 Record Ranfurly Shield rugby score - Canterbury defeats North Otago 88-0 at Lancaster Park.
July 21, 1987 St Michaels Church Day School - 136th anniversary.
July 22, 1918 After heavy snow - 175mm (7inches) - Christchurch experiences its coldest day on record. The temperature did not rise above 1 deg C.
July 23, 1857 First dramatic presentation in Canterbury, which featured Mrs Foley in “The Loan of a Lover” and “Betsy Baker” at the Lyttelton Town Hall.
July 23, 1987 Lotto sales start.
July 24, 1884 YMCA building opens on the site of the present Police Station.
July 24, 1983 New Zealand’s first "test-tube" twins born at Christchurch Hospital.
July 25, 1903 City Council generates Christchurch’s first public electricity from a generator driven by the municipal refuse destructor. This eventually led to the formation of the Municipal Electricity Department, which was derived from the City Engineer’s Department in 1925.

What's new online?

New on the blog

Next week: Fibre Crafts

There's more to fibre crafts than sticking to your knitting. Next week we'll look at resources for those with an interest in creating useful things from fibre.