Local Amnesty group marks 40 years of fundraising book sales
Howard Lake | 24 February 2015 | News
The Blackheath and Greenwich group of Amnesty International UK has now been raising funds for the human rights organisation for 40 years with its signature event, the annual book sale.
It began at a very small scale in 1974, when members sold a few books in one member’s front room in South East London. Since then, the volunteer-run event has raised a total of £270,897.
The event now takes over a whole church with over 15,000 books on sale and involving almost all members of the 25-strong group. It is now so well established that a queue will form outside the entrance as locals, book dealers and visitors from afar try to get the best deals.
Year-round activity
The scale of the book sale is now so large that the group members source and collect books throughout the year. Just sorting and pricing the books now takes volunteers five weeks. They now run the sale twice a year in June and November.
Occasionally the group receives or spots a rare or valuable book. They sold a complete collection of the 1910 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica for £700.
As their book selling knowledge has accumulated they have made the most of their contacts with publishers and book reviewers to focus on new books and specialist or locally-related books.
The next Greenwich and Blackheath Amnesty book sale is on 20 June 2015.
Photo: Amnesty book sale (2006) by Jim O’Donnell on Flickr.com
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.