Hyde bookshop celebrates 100,000 donations in just one year

A small but mighty volunteer-led bookshop in Hyde has marked a remarkable milestone - receiving its 100,000th book donation in just 12 months.

The GetFreeBooks shop, based in the Clarendon Shopping Centre, has been run by lead volunteer Dave Ryan for the past year. Although the shop has been part of the centre for seven years, it had previously only opened for a few hours a week. Since taking the reins, Dave’s focus has been on spreading the word and reassuring locals that “yes, the books really are free.”

The shop is part of the Global Educational Trust, which operates around 20 outlets nationwide. The trust aims to make books accessible to everyone while preventing them from going to landfill. Last year, the group reported giving away over a million books, a figure Dave initially doubted. To keep track, he began logging every book donated and passed on through the Hyde shop.

Now, that register shows an astonishing 100,000 donations in a single year.

Dave said: “The fact that the people of Hyde have given 100,000 books to charity so that we can pass them on, saving people the cost of buying books, promoting reading, and keeping books out of landfill, is quite a feat.”

To celebrate the achievement, Molly from the Clarendon Shopping Centre management team presented flowers to Philip Manclark, who happened to bring in a few boxes of books that tipped the shop over the 100,000 mark.

Also pictured at the presentation were Carol and Ubaid, two key figures behind the scenes. Carol manages the store’s sorting and filing with meticulous care, while Ubaid, has handled countless donations over the past year.

Philip was presented with a certificate, flowers and a hamper to thank him for donating to the store and getting them to 100,000 donations.