IT’S that time of year again when you can pick up a copy of a pre-loved best seller at the annual Hamilton Anglican Book Fair.

 The book fair runs for six weeks opening 10am-5pm weekdays from Monday, February 27 until Wednesday, April 5. It is open on Saturdays too, from 9am-12.30pm.

The Hamilton branch of the worldwide organisation, Anglican Mothers’ Union, has been busily sorting and pricing books in preparation for their popular fundraiser.

Local Mothers’ Union president, Susan Mason, said the phone hadn’t stopped ringing in recent weeks with people offering boxes of books to donate.

“Books have been collected and priced throughout the year,” she said.

“We have plenty of books at the moment but donations of second-hand books are welcome to be brought in throughout the sale.

“That’s what is so wonderful about the Hamilton community - they have been keeping their books for us, ready for the annual sale.

“We only take good quality saleable books.

“We don’t take encyclopaedias, Reader’s Digest, textbooks or magazines.

“Use your own discretion as to whether you think it would sell or not.

“There’s still a lot of pricing and sorting to be done but we recruited several new volunteers last year which is really pleasing.

“Kids’ books are priced very reasonably because we encourage kids to read.”

Over the last 30 years, the committee has raised more than $320,000 which has provided much needed funds to many charitable organisations, locally and overseas.

The money raised has traditionally gone to multiple organisations, however, in the last five years they have split the funding, usually to no more than three charities.

Around $14,000 was raised last year of which the Hamilton Institute of Rural Learning, and Anglicare, were beneficiaries, as well as a Vanuatu Water Project through the Anglican Board of Mission to build a water well.

Mrs Mason said this year would be a little different as some of the money would be retained for Hamilton’s Christ Church Anglican Roof appeal.

“We have managed to fundraise to pay for re-slating of the east side of the church roof,” she said.

“There’s a crane working there at the moment, but the west side also needs to be re-slated.

“We are only the custodians of a community building … we’ve never given money to our church and have always purely given it out on a mission basis, so for the first time we’ve decided some of the money will go towards repairing the roof. 

“Our church is used in so many ways in the community - it’s not just for congregational use.”

Mrs Mason said the remainder of the funds raised will be added to Anglicare donations from across Australia to go to the Home Interaction Program for Parents & Youngsters (HIPPY) project for Indigenous and Torres Strait Islanders in the Northern Territory.

The HIPPY project is a play-based program that focuses on teaching kids fine motor skills through one-on-one learning, like how to correctly hold a pen or scissors.

“We’ve had fantastic feedback about the program and know that it makes a difference to young children and families,” Mrs Mason said.

“The third project is another Cambodian appeal. 

“We’ve built a levy bank in the past (in a village) which enabled locals to grow two crops per year which also stopped flooding.

“We’ve helped the village to be self-sustaining and another time we built a kindergarten.

“They never ask for help but this year we contacted our contact in the region again and have established that they really need a new toilet block in the village - and if there is any money left over, they will utilise it to subsidise their kindergarten teacher.

“They are really grateful for the help and send us pictures of the projects and we can see what we’ve built; the kindergarten, the levy and we look forward to more pictures in the future.”

Mrs Mason said the average price for a second-hand book at the fair was around $4, and approximately 3000-4000 books were sold annually.

The Book Fair is run from the same location as last year, out of the two vacant shops immediately to the right at the top of the travellators in the Hub, next to Lincraft.

Mrs Mason paid tribute to the generosity of the proprietors of the Hub, that although had changed hands since last year’s sale, the new owners had also committed to supporting the Book Fair by providing the space free of charge.

“We are very grateful to them - if we had to pay rent, I am not sure the annual fair would be viable,” she said. 

“Come along and browse for a bargain book and remember - cash only.”