Atherstone Booktown

New Atherstone Charity Bookshop Appeals for Volunteers

Mr Booktown — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 01:26:03 +0000

St Giles Hospice is set to open a new specialist bookshop in Atherstone to help raise funds to support the local charity’s vital work caring for local people living with cancer and other serious illnesses.

The new dedicated bookshop, at 111 Long Street in Atherstone, is scheduled to open in late November. And, with less than a month to go before the official opening, the local charity is appealing for volunteers to help with its latest fundraising venture.

Lynwen Truesdale, St Giles Hospice Shops General Manager, comments: ‘Our new Atherstone shop follows on from the success of our hugely popular bookshop in Sutton Coldfield, launched more than a year ago.

‘ We now need to recruit volunteers to help sort donated books and serve customers in four hour shifts from Monday to Saturday.

‘ While specialist knowledge is not essential, an interest in books is desirable.

‘ In addition, we would welcome any donations of high-quality second-hand books to help stock our shelves.’

The new Atherstone outlet will stock a wide choice of value-for-money books including fiction, children’s titles, Travel and leisure, history, nature, reference and antiquarian volumes.

The shop will also sell a selection of clocks, cameras, pictures, and a range of new goods including stationery and gifts. Greetings cards will be on sale throughout the year, with the hospice’s range of Christmas cards available for the festive season.

Anyone interested in volunteering at the new bookshop can contact the shops head office on 01543 481042. Alternatively, they can call in at North Warwickshire Volunteer Bureau, White Hart House, Long Street in Atherstone, telephone 01827 717073.

The bookshop opening will bring the charity’s network of hospice shops across the region to fourteen. In addition to the dedicated Sutton Coldfield bookshop, the other twelve shops will continue to sell a small selection of books alongside donated and new items.

St Giles Hospice Shops play a vital role in funding the care offered by the hospice, a registered charity based near Lichfield.

The fourteen shops are located in major towns throughout the hospice’s patient catchment area, which ranges from Ashby de la Zouch and Atherstone in the east, to Cannock and Walsall in the west – and from Burton and Uttoxeter in the north, to Sutton Coldfield and Coleshill in the south.

In addition, a clothing warehouse for donations and a furniture warehouse offering a wide range of high-quality furniture at value-for-money prices, are based in Shenstone, near Lichfield. A selection of furniture is also available at the Cannock and Wylde Green shops.

Last year the hospice shops raised a total of £543,000 – and every penny is desperately needed by St Giles. The charity spends almost £5million caring for local people living with cancer and other serious illnesses, as well as providing support for their families and carers, and relies heavily on the support of local people to enable its valuable work to continue.

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Throckmorton’s stock another local author

Mr Booktown — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 01:17:59 +0000

Throckmorton’s Bookshop, a second-hand bookshop on Atherstone’s Market Square, is proud to announce that we are currently stocking new copies of Hannah’s Shame, an autobiography by Warwickshire-based author Derek Leinster.Abandoned by his mother in a Church of Ireland Children’s Home where illness, hunger and neglect were rife, later fostered by a poor family, Derek was raised in poverty, ignored by the well-to-do community around him. He survived, in part, by devoting his energies to boxing, and was involved with boxing clubs in Rigby after his move to England. Hannah’s Shame, which has already received coverage in the Irish media, is the inspirational story of how Derek survived his childhood and continues to fight for justice from the Irish government.

Peter Playdon, proprieter of Throckmorton’s Bookshop, said: “Derek’s book is a moving testament to his experiences, and to his determination to overcome them. We are always happy to stock the work of local authors and wish him every success with his book.”

Throckmorton’s Bookshop is located at 16 Market Place, on the Market Square, in Atherstone. For more information ring 01827 717570, email throckmortons@gmail.com.

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Colin the storyteller back at the Sit-A-While

Mr Booktown — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 01:15:35 +0000

Colin the storyteller is coming back to the Sit-A-While Bookshop and Tearoom in Atherstone this half term.

Date: Thursday 26th October at 11am.

The session is free but you will need to book in advance and advise of your childs age so Colin can tell stories appropriate to the majority age group.

Call 01827 722593 or pop in to the Sit-A-While Bookshop for more details.

Atherstone booktown moves forward

Mr Booktown — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 01:18:33 +0000

Atherstone’s booksellers have launched a new initiative to promote the town and region as a destination for booklovers, and also to attract new booksellers to the area.Building on developments over the past 18 months, including the opening of three bookshops in the Market Square and the St Giles Hospice bookshop on Long Street, as well as the stocking of books in the Red Lion and the Chapel House, we are undertaking a range of marketing initiatives to promote Atherstone and the surrounding area as a booklovers’ destination.

In a crucially important step, the new booksellers in Atherstone have forged co-operative Links with longer-established bookshops in the surrounding area, most notably Astley Book Farm, G&J Chesters of Polesworth and Midland Counties Publications on the Hinckley Industrial Estate.

We will shortly be issuing a promotional leaflet to all Tourist Information Centres, visitor locations and other bookshops in the region. Organising literary Events will also figure prominently in our agenda, with a poetry day currently in the planning stages.

Peter Playdon, proprietor of Throckmorton’s Bookshop, said, “The time is right for us to take charge of the Atherstone Booktown initiative. We are all very much committed to building upon our individual successes and working cooperatively for the benefit of the town as a whole, and also for the wider region.”

“We are particularly interested in talking to prospective booksellers, whether they are already established in the trade or interested in opening their first shop. Anyone interested in opening a bookshop in Atherstone is invited to contact us - we can offer practical support and advice for getting started – with no charge or strings attached.”

“Deciding to open your own business is the easy part,” said Lisa Dundas, proprietor of the Sit-A-While. “Getting started is much harder, which is why this new group is so important for would-be booksellers. We can provide valuable help with finding and fitting a shop, obtaining stock, and learning the ins and outs of bookselling. Really, it’s like a professional support group.”

Bookshops participating in the informal group include Throckmorton’s Bookshop, the Sit-A-While Bookshop & Tearoom, the Heritage Centre Bookshop, St Giles Hospice Bookshop, Astley Book Farm, G& J Chesters, Midland Counties Publications and prospective booksellers Evans & Short.

For more information, contact Throckmorton’s Bookshop on 01827 717570, or the Sit-a-While on 01827 722593.

Christine Freeman releases new Atherstone book

Mr Booktown — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 01:19:04 +0000

Throckmorton’s Bookshop, a second-hand bookshop on Atherstone’s Market Square, is proud to announce that we are currently stocking new copies of Images of Atherstone by local author Christine Freeman. Christine will be signing copies in the shop on Saturday 18th November.Following the success of her previous book Memories of Atherstone, also published by Tempus, Christine’s new book focuses on images of the town as it was before the 1970s, its various trades and industries, the surrounding landscape and the Atherstone Golf Club. Many of the images included were given to her by people who had read and enjoyed the first book.

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The Sit-A-While Bookshop and Tearoom kids storytelling session

Mr Booktown — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 01:19:24 +0000

Don’t know what to do with the kids this summer? Bring them along to The Sit-A-While Bookshop and Tearoom where there is a storytelling session, by Colin the Storyteller at 11am on Thursday 3rd August for 7-9 year olds (or a year or two either side).

The session is £2.00 per child payable in advance from The Sit-A-While bookshop and Tearoom, 18-20 Church Street, Atherstone.

Colin is an enigmatic storyteller with a diverse range of stories from around the world. For more information contact Lisa 01827 722593.

Atherstone young persons summer reading challenge

Mr Booktown — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 01:19:49 +0000

Atherstone’s bookshops are teaming up with the Atherstone Library to encourage young people to read over the summer holidays with the Summer Reading Challenge.

All children who read six books borrowed from the Library between 15 July and 9 September will be entered in a draw to win book tokens which can be used at any of the Atherstone bookshops. The first prize is a token for £10 worth of books, and second prize is a £5 token.

The bookshops sponsoring the draw include Throckmorton’s Bookshop, the Sit-a-While, the Heritage Centre Bookshop, St Giles Hospice Bookshop, and the Red Lion Hotel.

The Reading Mission Summer Reading Challenge is a nationwide Reading Agency initiative supported by leading children’s publishers.

To sign up for the scheme children and their parents should go to Atherstone Library, Long Street.

For more information ring Atherstone Library on 01827 712 395, or Throckmorton’s Bookshop on 01827 71 75 70.

Throckmorton’s Bookshop celebrates first year

Mr Booktown — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 01:20:11 +0000

Throckmorton’s bookshop has been in business for over a year now, and to celebrate there giving away free drinks on Atherstone Carnival day and offering reduced prices throughout July. Here’s the press release they’ve asked us to publish:

Throckmorton s Bookshop
A quality second-hand bookshop on Atherstone’s Market Square

Join us in celebrating our first year in business!

Throckmorton’s Bookshop invites customers and friends to join us for a celebratory drink from 2pm on Saturday 22nd July (Carnival Day)

To mark the occasion, during the month of July all books with a red sticker are offered at 1/3 the marked price, or 1/2 on 22nd July.

Atherstone Booktown rumours circulate

Mr Booktown — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 01:21:04 +0000

The ‘word on the street’ is that the Atherstone Booktown project has hit a snag.James Hanna, the man enlisted to turn Atherstone into a booktown, is rumoured to have left town at the end of May. The Atherstone booktown headquarters on the Market Square currently looks like it is no longer trading, and several of it’s historic pieces have been given to the Heritage Centre.

These new occurences all look to have stemmed from an issue surrounding the tenancy of the Market Square HQ.

These rumours may not be partially or completely true. We mention them here as we have heard them from several different local sources.

We welcome any comments local residents have to say on this issue, including any corrections or clarification.

Atherstone, a fledgling booktown adventure

Mr Booktown — Thu, 23 Mar 2006 01:25:35 +0000

Mark Maddox shares his thoughts about Atherstone Book Town’s leaflet and suggests a more cooperative approach, which could equally benefit other communities of bookshops.

I doubt that anyone would disagree that James Hanna, of Blaenavon Booktown fame, has a special talent as a publicist, but he is surely missing a trick in his new booktown venture in Atherstone, Warwickshire. The basic requirement for a successful bookshop must be to get people in through the door, ‘footfall’ in business terminology.