Book Swap at West Wickham Station

By JR | Blog

Community Provides Book Swap for Locals

 

We recently contributed £50 to the new West Wickham book swap, which is inside the station’s waiting room. The money went towards the cost of some books.

The local community have come together to create the book swap, following a discussion on the West Wickham Community Facebook Group, led by group admin Karin Gerwat. With the support of the new station manager, Scott McMillan, people have donated bookcases and books so that commuters can have something to read on their journeys.

 

Support Pledged

Karin began a discussion in the West Wickham group after seeing a similar book swap in Beckenham Junction station. The idea gained lots of interest from group members, who pledged their support with books and bookcases. 

She said: “I had the idea when I saw a similar book swap at Beckenham Junction station. When I commuted, I used to read a lot. I thought how useful it would be to have a place to exchange books you’ve read. I posted in the West Wickham Community Group and the response was phenomenal.”

 

Charity Shops

Our £50 was spent on books at the local Demelza Hospice, Salvation Army and Mind charity shops on the High Street.

Karin’s daughters, Leela (12) and Yaneena (16) also collected and donated some books, as part of their pageant duties for the Miss Inspiration pageant.

Andy Oliver, MD of Stevenson Heating Ltd, said: “I saw Karin’s thread on Facebook and thought what a fab idea it was. So, we decided to donate £50 to start off the swap, which we asked her to spend in local charity shops. It’s important to us as a West Wickham business to keep the money within the local community, for the benefit of residents.”

If you have books to donate or would like to use the book swap, pop into West Wickham station’s waiting room between 6am and 6pm.