Records smashed at Lions book sale
With takings over five days of $18,750 and a further $500 banked for those sent on to Napier, the Dannevirke Host Lions book sale has exceeded all records and expectations, $4000 over last year’s record sale.
Chief co-ordinator Lion Barbara Ferguson said it proves that despite all the electronic forms of entertainment available these days people still love to read books.
This year there were slightly fewer books because the Palmerston North Red Cross book sale is postponed until September but thanks to locals cleaning out their libraries during lockdown and several small truckloads from Masterton there was still a massive range of titles in both fiction and non-fiction and a large truckload made its way to Napier on Sunday afternoon after the sale’s closure.
Signs were excellent on Wednesday morning with over 80 waiting outside the Dannevirke Town Hall for the sale to open. Many had travelled from Hawke’s Bay and one book enthusiast left Wairoa at 3am to be there at the opening. By 9.30am there were 200 inside and by 5pm sales exceeded $8000.
A steady team of up to 30 Lions attended each day sorting books, bringing more up from under the stage, helping buyers to take out their purchases and selling the raffles.
They had worked hard bringing tables from schools around town, setting up the signage and assigning the books to their categories so by Tuesday midday the sale was ready to start.
With the help of the DHS First XI football team, many of the leftover books were on the way to Napier an hour after the sale closed.
A mountain of jigsaw puzzles disappeared on the first day and when students from St Joseph’s and Huia Range schools came on Friday the student selection was decimated as each child could have a bag full for $1.
When it came to noon Sunday the price dropped to $10 for a carton and $1 for a bag for everyone, huge loads were taken out by Lions helpers and there were still customers as the 2pm call was made.
The CF Goldie His Life and Works sold to a private book collector but several other treasures will be advertised on Trade Me.
Over 100 empty cartons were stored to be filled from September’s Red Cross sale for next year along with precious books selected from this sale preserved for next year.
There was another sequel by Alan and Barbara Pease for sale which was called Why Men Lie and Why Women Cry. It did not sell and its wisdom went north to Napier. Come to think of it, after this sale there is no need for either gender to act that way.