Tant pis

I heard today that the EMW Christian Bookshop in the Hayes is closing down. 
The message said "mid-January" so it may already have closed.

Boy that brings back memories. 
Theological scrapping with Matthew Evans.
Auntie Bessie putting backbone into me. 
(I could do with you just now, Auntie Bessie !)
Mark Finnie claiming he knew I'd been in because nobody else bought the books I bought.

Meanwhile here in Bordeaux our bookshop has become "Associative' - it's now been passed from the Swiss Maison de la Bible organisation into the hands of a committee drawn from the Bordeaux churches with all volunteer staff (including Pat).

We really hope that we can keep the bookshop open in Bordeaux, even without the base of large churches that Cardiff enjoys. A Christian bookshop in a city centre is an important resource for Christians and a centre for outreach - especially in Bordeaux where churches are harder to find.

Comments

Matthew Evans said…
Sadly, it is true. I made the journey from Cambridge down to my old stamping ground last weekend to be there for its final day - Saturday. While there I met Sam Knight, now in his seventies, who began the bookshop back in 1962. It opened, he told me, on April 2 that year, in which case the shop missed out on its fiftieth anniversary by two months and 18 days. I took a small chest of drawers (we stored cassettes in it) as a memento, still painted the horrible sickly green that it was back in the 1980s. All very sad, but probably inevitable when buying books today is as simple as two clicks of a mouse. I have a photo of the three managers outside the shop if you would like to see it - oh, and also one of you sitting in my office, in the days before your Spurgeonic beard flourished.
9:47 pm
Alan said…
Oh yes please !
8:20 am
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