Midday Rotary is staging the next Book Sale from June 2-5, at Grafton’s Criterion Theatre. And the book sale program is benefiting more than just the Clarence Valley.

Book Sale coordinator, Grafton Midday Rotarian Peter Robinson said, “Some of our books have been sent to school children in the Pacific Islands. Encyclopaedias and story books, which are surplus to the book sale, have recently been shipped through Rotary Australia World Community Service (RAWCS). We are told that the islander school children are as keen as any young person to learn all that they can. By overcoming limited internet access, encyclopaedias and story books provide access to information which helps to build their knowledge of all things great and small.”

“This would not be possible if we did not have the book sale to attract donations of books, including encyclopaedias.”

The June book sale runs from 9 am to 5 pm on Wednesday 2 to Friday 4 June and from 9am to 1pm on Saturday 5 June.

The book sale is a Covid safe event with a maximum of 30 people at a time in the Criterion Theatre, our sale venue. Using hand sanitizer and practicing safe distancing will be key rules to follow. Volunteers will be on site at all times to ensure compliance with the Covid 19 restrictions, and to keep everyone safe. No-one with Covid symptoms will be allowed in. Masks are encouraged if people feel safer that way but are not compulsory. Everyone will have to register via the QR app or to provide their name and phone number in case contact tracing is required.

“We are still working through the huge quantity of books that came in during the Covid book sale suspension, so there will be lots of opportunities to discover that special book! Fresh stock will be added throughout the sale so there will be good chances to pick up books of interest over the four-day sale. If you have finished reading previously purchased books, you are welcome to donate them back so that we can add them to the next book sale.”

Prices have not changed: still $10 a shopping bag, and children’s books are Free!

Your support of the book sale, as a book donor and/or a customer, means that Grafton Midday Rotary is able to promote literacy in the Clarence Valley and the Pacific Island communities! Funds raised go to support Midday Rotary’s projects in the local community.

         Brian Lane