New Year, New Space

It’s over a month since Christmas, and we’re into the long grey days of January. The drizzle

and cold has me rushing to work most mornings. The lights and the heating go straight on,

as does the kettle, and we create a cosy sanctuary against the gloom outside.

I’m sitting in the story room with coffee and a notebook planning parties and events.

My notebook is filled with to do lists, ideas for events, and sketches for window displays.

There is a pile of glorious new fiction next to me, that I can’t wait to read - Lalani of the

Distant Sea, The Girl Who Stole an Elephant and The Kid Who Came From Space. This is

true bookseller happiness!

Oh yes, our new story room. I wasn’t kidding when I said that things change here on a

regular basis. Shutting for 12 days over Christmas and new year seemed far too decadent,

so we spent four days adding new bookcases and carving out a space for our events and

activities. Jacqui did the pasting, papering and painting. The Engineer sawed, drilled and fixed. And me, well I made a lot of tea if I’m totally honest. A bit of painting, moving books and moving books again. And then, a new room materialised. Backed by bookcases and with some beautiful new wallpaper, it feels warm and bright, a self-contained space within the shop. It’s perfect for story times and book clubs. And yes, with the addition of more furniture, the shop does indeed feel bigger! (See previous blog post) I’m still not sure why it works this way.

We’ve already had several events in our new room. As well as our regular Story Time Picnic

sessions, we welcomed Emma Reed from Crayon Rock Music for a fantastic musical

Chinese New Year event. It was so much fun that we’ve arranged more events with her -

check out the events section​ to book your place. Last weekend saw the first birthday party in our new space. We had Under The Sea themed stories, made skateboarding sharks, played fishy games and sang fishy songs. (And my personal favourite part of the day was the party guest who named the clown fish “emo fish”.)

As busy as January has been, February and March look set to have even more going on.

Look out for the return of Story Art Club, lots of World Book Day fun and plenty of half term

activities. But of course, what I can’t wait for is all the amazing books that we’ve ordered to be delivered! Come and share the fun and stories with us.