Weardale Community Hospital
Authors and readers alike must wonder what happens to all the review books I get in the office, when it is impossible for me to read them all. I could have given them to a charity shop as we have done in the past, however I thought it fitting to see the books getting sold myself to another good cause and meet those who kindly donate for the product.
I am very lucky to be the daughter of Modern Matron Julie Walton who is in charge of Weardale Community Hospital in Stanhope. The hospital holds regular events, such as coffee mornings and Summer and Christmas Fayres to raise money, ‘The money goes into the Friends of Weardale Community Hospitals' account. They then purchase items for patient comforts. The recent purchase was x 4 Profiling Chairs at over £1K each. The chairs support the patients, raise their legs and provide good posture depending upon their ailments.’
I was involved, with many other volunteers and members of the hospital staff in the summer fayre where visitors raised £70, on the book stall, often giving more than the asking price of just £1. Julie commented, ‘The books I sold at the Christmas fayre we charged a £1 each but most people gave £2 or more. We raised over £160 pounds and the majority of the sales were the books so in total we have raised over £200.00 and then there are the other books bagged up ready for the coffee morning in June.’
Many people list reading as one of their hobbies and it is generally an active ingredient in a lot of peoples' lives, before bed, on the train, on their break and the town of Stanhope is no different, ‘Reading is extremely important to the Dales people. Some have purchased Kindles but because of the older age groups in the Dales the majority prefer books.’
Stanhope and the surrounding towns are also the homes of many published authors and talented artists, ‘We have a number of authors and historians and their work is second to none whether it be a thriller, love story, journal, fictional or factual historical novel.’
Even if you can’t go out and buy a book, books come to you in this remote part of the country, ‘The old Library Van travels up and down the Dales every month visiting all the out flung villages and hamlets. A service I am sure will go with all the cuts being made by the Local Authorities!’ Let us hope that is not the case as reading should be made available to everyone, at any age, wherever you might live.