Member Profile - Glyn Oliver
Self confessed bibliophile, Glyn Oliver has been a supporter and member of October Books for many years. Glyn has helped out with many DIY tasks around the shop. He was one of the team who took on the repairs and updating at the old Portswood Road shop before we left, which helped to save us significant amounts of cash. He helped to create our community garden, working with another member, Tim Forcer, to create the pallet fence and also spent time helping to clear up the alleyway. He has also done lots of smaller jobs, mostly painting and decorating in the shop and the community space. A huge thank you to Glyn for the many hours he has contributed to keeping the place up together and looking amazing.
Glyn also hires our community space for singing practice with Red Stars choir. The choir has sung in the shop on occasion and been inspiration for singalongs at Members’ Meetings. Singing traditional and contemporary tunes with amended lyrics, you can guarantee a fun event with The Red Star choir in attendance.
In addition to the choir, Glyn is one of the team who runs Southampton Palestine Solidarity Campaign, who are part of the larger national Campaign. He is also involved in the Trades Council, the umbrella organisation for Trade Unions, and is an active member of the Unite the Union community. We don’t know how he finds the time to read al the books he buys from us!
When asked why he is a supporter of October Books Glyn said
‘It’s such a positive space and it’s radical’
Good to hear we are still delivering on our radical roots. At the moment Glyn is reading one of our Five best reads from July, The Maniac by Benjamín Labatut. His favourite book of all time is the classic Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, which tells the tale of Huck Finn, a teen who fakes his own death to escape his abusive, drunken father. On his travels he encounters a runaway slave named Jim, and the two embark on a raft journey down the Mississippi River. The story in some way reflects Glyn’s way of being in the world, supporting and celebrating those who don’t have a voice of their own. Many thanks Glyn for sharing some of your story.
