We receive books that some consider too old, too battered, too out-dated or genuinely falling apart and irreparable. We try to find new uses for these books - the 'old fashioned' children's books may be perfect for memory sessions. We keep a collection of these that we loan out to people working with dementia patients in the hope that they will recognise books they had as children, or bought for their own children. Even the style of illustration or advertisements may bring back memories from long ago.
Please contact us if you would like to make use of this collection.
Some books that are outdated - like atlases with a lot of pink bits - make very clear teaching aids to show young people how the world has changed, and perhaps show them why it is that people migrate to the UK after having been colonised in the past.
Now and then we donate old text books as props to people doing stage plays or ballets. The remainder, the books that are falling to pieces and have pages missing, can be used for origami , collage or paper crafts of all kinds... we don't have a lot of time for playing, so anyone needing old books to use for artworks are more than welcome to get in touch.
There's always a new way to use old books.
A couple of years ago we raised the funds to buy a cardboard shredder so that we now recycle boxes we receive that are too large to use for shipping or are too damaged. We use that shredded cardboard for packing instead of using bubble wrap or polystyrene. This way we don't waste money on packaging materials, don't add to the mound of plastic, and we make use of materials we already have.