Totnes community bookshop launches crowdfunding bid to secure its future

The stark warning is: “Too many independent, community minded shops are disappearing from our high streets."

Castle Books in Totnes, Devon, has launched a £135,000 crowd-funding campaign to acquire its premises at 4 Castle Street and to thus help secure the future of its community bookshop and outreach programmes.

With the building up for sale, and the shop’s lease coming to an end, the future of the historic and much-loved shop is in jeopardy. Now Castle Books’ dedicated team of volunteers are calling on book lovers from Totnes and around the world to support its campaign by visiting its crowd funding page, making a donation, and helping to spread the word on social media.

For over 50 years, readers, writers, and book collectors living in and visiting Totnes have made a beeline for the second-hand bookshop, located a few steps from the high street in the shadow of one of England’s best preserved Norman castles. 

The shop has changed hands just once in the past five decades, and since 2016 has been owned by a Community Interest Company (CIC). 

It is operated entirely through the good will of a its volunteers who also organise regular literary events for the wider community, including a monthly Book Group and Poetry Open Mic (without the mic!) There are no paid staff. All profits from book sales are channelled back into the local community to support local literary causes.

Among the beneficiaries are Totnes Library, which has received over £5,000 from the shop since 2021. The library staff have used this to help install a new ‘teen hub’, with the support of KEVICCs students, and to create a versatile and welcoming space for community groups and those seeking company and shelter during the energy and cost of living crisis. 

Eve Ashton, Centre Manager for Torbay Libraries commented: “We really can't thank Totnes Community Bookshop enough for their kindness and their generosity. The projects their funding has enabled have had such an impact on thousands of people, of all ages and backgrounds, who use the library.”

Another regular recipient is Grove School, Totnes, whose Headteacher Hilary Priest said: “The Totnes community bookshop at Castle Street has been a genuine and very real godsend to us over the years helping us to buy new books for our children. The donations they give have meant our children are really supported in their love of reading and their readiness for secondary school.”

The story of Castle Books began in 1969 when Belle Collard bought 4 Castle Street and opened Totnes’s first vegetarian and wholefood café. In 1972 Belle put a shelf of books in the upstairs dining area for her customers to enjoy. An advert described it as “The only restaurant in Devon where you can buy a first edition with your first course, and a print with your pudding.”

Gradually the books took over from the food and Belle began to put all her energies into buying and selling book stock. So much so, that in 1975 the restaurant gave way to ‘Collards Books’, filling all three floors of the building.

As Belle aged, she found climbing the stairs increasingly demanding and in 1991, aged 72, she took the decision to limit the shop to the ground floor where she continued working two or three days a week for another 20 years, with the help of some trusted volunteers.

When Belle sadly passed away on 15 September 2013, she bequeathed her entire stock of books to her volunteers who established a community interest company (CIC) to continue the shop’s operation. Her daughter Jennie, who inherited 4 Castle Street, generously granted the newly formed CIC a 10-year lease on the ground-floor shop before selling the building. And thus Castle Books was born.

Castle Books continues to be run by a 20-plus team of committed volunteers and is held in warm affection by both local customers and visitors to Totnes. The range, quality and affordability of the books are as notable as ever, with regular acquisitions backed by generous donations ensuring the stock is always fresh and always relevant.

“We recognise it's a big ask in these somewhat difficult times, but we want to do all we can to secure Belle’s legacy and keep Castle Books as a thriving literary and community hub for Totnes, hopefully for another 50 years!” said volunteer manager Francis Checkley. 

“Too many independent, community minded shops are disappearing from our high streets. Purchasing the fabric of the shop will allow us to secure our future for new, future generations of book lovers and ensure our community bookshop remains a vital part of Totnes’s heritage.”

Would you like to help secure a ‘happily ever after’ for Castle Books, its volunteers, and the community they serve? Then please visit the shop’s Crowdfunding page to donate and help spread the word via social media. 

“Customers from all corners of the world seek out (and stumble upon) Castle Books for our wonderful choice of books and friendly welcome. We’re sure many of them would be willing to contribute – if only they knew about our campaign,” said Francis.

https://www.castlebooks.org

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/save-castle-books-community-bookshop

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What We Don’t Know About Our Friends by L. Christie

This is a trilogy of stories from the past, present and future, exploring friendship, bereavement, identity, and AI.

“There’s a powerful sense of hope and positivity for the future in each of these stories.” – LoveReading ambassador review.

Meet me @

Whilst working at the reception of his local spa & beauty salon on the second anniversary of his best friend Sarah’s fatal accident, Kieron receives a mysterious phone call.

The Dialog Tree

Milton isn’t enjoying early retirement. His hopes of a rural idyll came partly true, but it’s not the same without his love. Milton had avoided the chatbots as Desiree wasn’t keen on a digital recreation unless Milton was the curator. Today, Milton is ready to take up the challenge, is he ready for the results?

Tia’s Inheritance

In an anonymous back alley in Zürich, 1847, Tia’s life is going nowhere fast. The daughter of a stage magician and Mer, the occasional supporting act, Tia’s life slowed when Mer went missing. When Tia receives a surprise marriage proposal her world is sent into a spin, then Mer returns.

Author L. Christie is based in England. They enjoy writing contemporary and historical fiction stories. They identify as neurodiverse and gender-fluid

"This is a new release for this collection, and this is the first time I've felt ready to share these stories on this scale" – L. Christie

Random facts:

• They are left-handed.

• They worked in partnership with the same Manchester Chamber of Commerce that the author J.K. Rowling worked for, when they worked for a joint venture organisation that included the Chamber.

• They are a decaff person. Although, they do like the odd 'proper' cup of coffee.

Pronouns: Them/they

Instagram: @lchristie.uk

Find out more via the author page at https://www.nextcreations.co.uk

PUBLICATION DETAILS

Publication date: 31 August 2023

Genres: Fiction, LGBTQ+, supernatural

Launch format: Amazon Kindle (Global)

Publisher: Next Creations

Preorder the digital edition via Amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/What-Dont-Know-About-Friends-ebook

NEXT CREATIONS

Founded on meaningful, inclusive stories with relevance.

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For almost a century it has been the home of The Royal Blackheath Golf Club, which is England's oldest golf club.

However, for some reason the long and diverse history and stories of the Lodge has been virtually ignored and neglected. The gifted and talented architect of the Lodge, Hugh May, had also suffered from neglect.

Author John H. Bunney has trawled libraries, collections and archives to ferret out fascinating details of the architect, the owners of the Lodge and its occupants, its architectural history and the growth and evolution of its truly stunning parkland setting.

The book is stunningly illustrated with photographs, paintings, etc and will be an excellent read for members of the club, golfing enthusiasts, those interested in the Eltham area and also those who are interested in Restoration architecture.

It's published by Impress at £40.00 in hardback. It's available on Amazon at about half price.

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It's described as an advanced English-French/French-English translation and grammar textbook. And it does exactly what it says on the tin!

It's a weighty volume of in excess of 730 pages.

It covers advanced French, how you can use it. You'll learn about meaning, ideas and inspiration, how to draw comparisons, expressing sequence, expressing preference, the expression of hopes, fears and outlook, plans and projects, expectations, foresight, preparation. 

How to express or deal with risks and challenges, anticipation, outcomes, results and turnout.

Success and failure, disappointment and how it should be expressed, crises and how to talk about it and deal with them.

Locutions and conjunctions. What they are and how to use them for emphasis.

How to deal with admission and concession.

Knowledge, recollection and conjecture. 

The expression of doubt and suspicion. 

Justification and rectitude and much, much more. 

It is exceptionally well formatted and very well laid out. 

It will help assist you to work toward complete command of the French language. It's certainly unlike any reference work that I have ever seen.

It deals with English and French at very advanced levels. There are copious and detail explanatory footnotes and notifications.

It's an absolutely vital book if you are looking to advance your French and English.

It's available in paperback and hardback paperback costs £20.00 from Amazon.

It's published by Bright Ink Publications. 

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However, rapidly the Labour Party's radical socialist government mutates and changes into a frightening and vicious totalitarian Marxist state and Dominic finds himself an unwilling spokesman for the opposition as his house is confiscated and he and Rosa are sent to live in a dingy, faded council flat.  

Children and young people are arrested, often on trumped up charges and taken away to mysterious re-education camps, including one of his own family members, and a brutal paramilitary force, the SNPS, enforce new, draconian and illegal laws and target Dominic as the government tags him as a terrorist, illegally incarcerating him with other dissidents. 

With the leader of the Conservative Party on the run hunted down as an enemy of the people, with Dominic himself illegally incarcerated and the Royal family spirited out of the country into exile in Canada and the UK declared a socialist republic and with Rosa fleeing the country for her homeland, what can Dominic do? And where is his other son? Is he a part of a secret resistance group, attempting to free the political prisoners?

And what is the meaning of the republican government's terror control tactic, Urban Scarecrowing?

And out of his circle of friends who, exactly, can Dominic trust? Will he ever see any of his family members again? Will the opposition succeed in taking down the illegal republic?

And what will the international community do as a result of the fact that Britain has become a dangerous and illegal Marxist state?

It's a extremely well-written book that is a terrifying look at a dystopian past and future.   

It's published by SilverWood Books at £12.99.

https://www.silverwoodbooks.co.uk.

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Later on the dogs were able to return this act of mercy at least 100 fold, with the assistance of Alexander, a branch of Boots and a nearby Methodist Church.

There's more to the story of Bobby and Bubba and their new found friend, but you'll have to read the book to learn what it is.

There was an unexpected oracle wearing a Chelsea shirt, the trials and tribulations of COVID, the question if Bobby was a dunce or a genius, how the two loved sleeping, how they also loved eating and going out for walks, the mystery of cats, a deer made of old iron, constructed by an artist called Adam during the COVID lockdown, and what happened when a hard lesson had to be taught.

This book is ideal for parents, grandparents and for older siblings to read with young children.

It's published by SilverWood Books at £14.99 in paperback and £22.99 in hardback.

Author Anthony Coombs is a former MP, an avowed Aston Villa fan (up the Villa! says your reviewer) even though his father once owned Villa's rivals, Birmingham City. He's also a director of the board that runs the Birmingham Royal Ballet.