Clare’s weekly reflections – A week of Goodbyes

This last week has been a week of saying goodbyes for me. Last Friday our local community gathered to remember and celebrate the life of Phil Collins, one of October Books co-operative founding members. We shared photos and stories of the man and I know I came away in awe of all he did for our community and beyond, in a very quiet way. My reflection is that we don’t celebrate people in our communities who do so much to enrich the lives of others. This has in part inspired our new series of blogs about our members, who do so much to support us but also do so many other things to support others. A huge thank you for all that you do..

After our celebration at the bookshop I then caught up with many members of the bookshop team at The Bookshop Alehouse. Jonny Moreland, who worked with us from 2020 through to 2023, was visiting, so a great excuse to get together. The team who took on the running of the shop from Ian Lamming in 2016 were all there, myself, Jess, Joey and Jaquie. We reminisced and I know I was reminded how far we have come in the last 8 years, from a shop with no heating, the bailiffs popping by (!) and an enormous amount of really old book stock, to the amazing space we have today.

I said goodbye to Beccy Axton this week, who had been doing our Promotions since the end of 2023. A huge thank you to her for taking on this role at short notice and for doing an amazing job in putting processes and plans in place so we have a good basis for future work. Amelia and I have been interviewing for her replacement this week. I have also spoken to Ellen who has volunteered and worked with us from 2021, bringing her extraordinary skills in finance and accountancy as well as an enthusiasm and drive to do whatever was needed to help. Sadly, she is also be stepping back once our end of year accounts are complete.  

So, there are some gaps in the team at the moment and we are planning on taking some time to review our communications, our promotions and how we work together. For me, the most immediate need is for someone to help in the finance role, so if you know of anyone with book-keeping, finance and accountancy skills please do let me know clare@octoberbooks.org