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Plimmerton Rotary’s annual book fair has again been hugely popular, with a queue of keen buyers forming up a full hour before opening time on the first day, Saturday 17th March.

Held as usual at the Porirua Kennel Club in Prosser Street, the fair attracted people from all walks of life, bound together by their love of books. Buyers this year included family groups, students, Mums and Dads, grandparents, teachers, and book store owners from as far afield as Taupo.

Altogether there were some 40,000 books on display, divided into sections to help buyers locate what they were looking for. Fair organiser Allan Nichols explained that the largest section was fiction, displayed alphabetically by author’s surname. “Then we have sections on home and garden, food and drink, travel, hobbies, humour, business, teenagers, children, animals and birds, and many more.”

In the weeks leading up to the fair a group of Plimmerton Rotary members had progressively pre-sorted the books which had been donated by local residents, discarding those not suitable for sale. “The process of setting up the fair and taking it down afterwards is carefully planned in advance, and this seems to run smoothly each year.”

People bought books for all sorts of reasons. Claire, a student at Massey University in Wellington, explained that she had found several books relevant to her studies towards a Bachelor of Arts degree. “I’m impressed with the high quality of the books you have on display. At $2.00 per book they are amazing value.”

Alan, a Dad from Pukerua Bay, said he believed passionately that for his family, books were really important. ”I honestly believe that in everyone’s living room, there should be a pile of books on the table so that family members can come in and take a book and delve into it, any time they feel like it. This would be so good for everyone in the family. As a society we seem to have got away from books.”

Richard, a young lawyer from Porirua, had a different motivation. “I’ve just accepted a new work role with a firm in Whangarei, so I’ve got a long drive ahead of me. I’ve bought all these CDs so I can have my favourite music playing on the journey. The best part is that I’ve found two CDs by my favourite group, the Rolling Stones!”

Customers at the book fair were able to take a break at the onsite Plimmerton Inner Wheel Café, to sample delicious savouries and cakes baked by members of Inner Wheel.

Allan Nichols explained that a significant portion of the proceeds from the Book Fair would be donated to the Wellington North branch of Life Education Trust. “This is a very worthwhile organisation that uses mobile classrooms to teach primary school children about healthy living.

“Also, after the fair we gather up a selection of books and donate them to the women at Arohata Prison in Tawa.”

Editor's note: Apart from the photo of Allan Nicols at the top of this page, all the other photos were taken at random during Saturday and are not connected to the text of this blog. It was definitely a case of 'try before you buy'.

Book Fair as popular as ever

 
 
 
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