New chapter in the life of charity book shop

BOOKWORMS at Sellafield Ltd’s Warrington offices have raised an astonishing £30,000 for local good causes – simply by recycling their old novels and reference books.
A charity book shop was until recently housed in a disused office in the company’s Hinton House in Birchwood.
But with managers in a bind over space in the 35 year old building the room was identified for other uses, meaning it was the final chapter for the charity scheme, which had run for the past 18 years.
That was until the total money raised over the years was totted up. Seeing its value to staff and the local community, managers changed their minds and the shop will continue in a new home, elsewhere in the building.
The bookshop has run on an honour system throughout its life, with people bringing in new stock from home and leaving payment for anything taken away in an honesty box.
In its first year the book club raised £369 for the first charity of the year, St Rocco’s Hospice. It has continued to contribute and in it’s most successful year raised a huge £3,225.
Organiser Jean Dickeson said: “The first book sales were only for a couple of days at a time and were held in our café set out on tables. They had to be removed after the sales and put in storage until the next one.
“When we got a permanent room for the books it was great because I could sort out the books properly into different genre and this made it easier to find what you were looking for. Once we got this room we started to take more money for the charities as it was accessible to everyone at any time during the working day.
“It has been well worth the effort involved and I am amazed just how much money this simple idea has raised for charity over the years.”
A couple of years ago Mike Stilgoe took over from Jean and re-organised all the stocks and it has continued to be a great success.
Mike said: “It is fantastic that staff still continue to buy books for themselves and family and I would like to thank everyone for their continued support.”
Over the years, Sellafield Ltd and their employees have raised more than £200,000 through various activities including cake sales, bike rides, football matches, tuck shops, weight loss challenges, safety calendar sales, raffles, dress down days and other activites – with the company making corporate donations too.
In total, 17 charities have benefited including: St Rocco’s Hospice; Warrington Special Care Baby Unit; Young Oncology Unit, Christies; NSPCC Warrington; Francis House Children’s Hospice; Claire House Children’s Hospice; Alder Hey Hospital; Wigan & Leigh Hospice; Macmillan Cancer Support; North West Air Ambulance; Cystic Fibrosis Trust; Help for Heroes; Brainwave; Alzheimer’s Society; Diabetes UK; Halton Autistic Family Support Group and Harry & Co. Our 2019 chosen charity is St John Ambulance.