Monthly Archives: April 2010

Farewell to Family Books, Keynsham

The long search to find a new owner for Family Books, Keynsham, has been unsuccessful and the shop will finally cease trading this weekend, Saturday April 10th 2010, as store owner David Brassington takes his retirement.

Family Books looking for new owner

Christian Marketplace - Family Books looking for new owner

According to a report in the Bath Chronicle things looked hopeful in June last year when four prospective buyers approached David within the space of 36 hours and serious talks were held with one of them. Those talks did not lead to a sale, however, and the search continued with a fresh appeal for any interested parties to come forward made via the pages of Christian Marketplace in November 2009.

Sadly no buyer for the business has appeared and David’s retirement now brings 25 years of independent Christian bookselling in Keynsham to an end. The nearest Christian bookshops are in Bristol and Bath, both of which are still served by branches of Wesley Owen.

Job Opportunities in London, Skipton and Durham

You wait for ever and then three come along at once. I’ll probably post these on the Jobs page as well but figured with three vacancies springing up more or less together, they deserved to hold the front page for a day or so.

1. Cornerstone Bookshop, North Finchley, are looking for a new manager:

Do you have a passion for Christian books?

Cornerstone Christian bookshop in North Finchley seeks an experienced bookshop manager. Cornerstone, a registered charity (281838), has been providing Christian books to the North London community for over 21 years. With an annual turnover of around £300,000, this exciting opportunity would suit someone who enjoys networking with local churches and other Christian groups. A loyal customer base will support the successful applicant in taking Cornerstone forward.

The successful candidate will offer:

  • Experience of running a bookshop, including buying, in a fast moving environment
  • Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
  • Natural leadership and the ability to motivate the team
  • An in depth knowledge of the product and marketplace
  • Tenacity to make things happen

c£18,000 – £20,000 + bonus

To apply for the role of Store Manager, please simply send your CV and a covering letter to be received by 10th April 2010. Deadline extended to 17th April 2010.

Address: 45-51 Woodhouse Road, North Finchley, London N12 9ET
or e-mail: info AT cornerstone.co.uk

2. Cornerstone Christian Books & Crafts, Skipton, are in need of a manager and an assistant manager:

CORNERSTONE CHRISTIAN BOOKS & CRAFTS
17 Newmarket Street Skipton BD23 2HX

seeks a full time manager and part time assistant manager

Starting salary c£16000 and £9000 respectively depending on age and experience

For further information please contact the above address or

phone: 01756 793673 or
email: cornerstoneskipton AT googlemail.com

Closing date for application Thursday 22 April 2010

3. Durham Cathedral Shop

Advertised on facebook, Durham Cathedral have a vacancy for a sales assistant to help in the recently resurrected Cathedral shop:

The Shop at Durham Cathedral, which serves visitors, churches and academics, is seeking to appoint a sales person to work in the Shop and the Cathedral. The Shop moves back into the Great Kitchen, which is currently undergoing repair, in April and the Cathedral is keen to restore it to its former position as a leading theological resource for the Diocese and University as well as a popular gift shop for visitors to the Cathedral.

Experience of working in a shop is not essential so much as willingness to contribute enthusiastically to this part of the Cathedral’s ministry, good people skills and sound theological knowledge that can be used to help people with their questions about books.

This is a full time post (37.5 hours) but could be shared between two people. It will involve taking a share in weekend and occasional evening working. Initially it will be for six months, reviewable at the end of that period, with a salary of £6.20 per hour.

If you are interested please send your cv and a letter, indicating why you are interested in the position and whether you are looking for full time or part time employment, to Philip Davies at the Chapter Office chapter.clerk AT durhamcathedral.co.uk, 0191 386 4266) by 19 April.
Joint applications for a job share are also welcome.

Alleluia: Christ is Risen!

He is risen indeed: alleluia!

And you and I, gentle reader, are risen with him, if only we’d believe it. Personally, I find it a tough call: I look at our war-torn, quake-shattered world and find myself more in tune with Woodbine Willie, who wrote:

O Grave, where is thy victory?
O Death, where is thy sting?
Thy victory is ev’rywhere,
Thy sting’s in ev’rything.

You can read the full poem here: Missing—Believed Killed: On Reading a Mother’s Letter

I’m with Woodbine Willie and I’m with Thomas: I want to see, to touch, to know, to be sure. I want to believe — I want to be like Paul, who wrote so many years before, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death…” (Philippians 3:10, NIV) — I just wish he hadn’t written that bit about sharing the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings…

But without suffering, without death, there can be no resurrection and no resurrection power. If we as Christ’s followers are to share in the power of his resurrection, we must also share in the fellowship of his suffering. Some of us must lay down our lives. Some of us must pick up the world’s pain and carry it. Some of us will collapse under the weight. Some of us will be trampled underfoot by the very people we thought were our brothers and sisters, by our own colleagues and friends. Some of us have been, as we’ve seen balance sheets, business interests and self-preservation instincts take precedence over love.

As you celebrate Easter today, if you find yourself like me wondering where the power of the resurrection is in our world, in this trade of ours and in your own life, you could do worse, I guess, than read Adrian Warnock’s Raised With Christ. I haven’t read it yet myself so I don’t know to what extent he tackles suffering and death as the cost of resurrection in the book or whether it’s all about triumphant living and victory: if you read this post, Adrian, please do tell. But in the meantime, here are some of the reviews and interviews so far, most recent first:

Alleluia: Christ is risen! May you, gentle reader, know the power of that resurrection in your life and ministry today and always.

Two years on the blog

Today, April 2nd 2010, is this blog’s second birthday, and it’s certainly been an interesting two years: my thanks to everyone who has contributed, commented or otherwise helped make it worthwhile.

Some stats for those who enjoy such things:

Average pageviews per day:

  • 2008: 95
  • 2009: 285
  • 2010: 662

Top Ten Posts and Pages:

1. A Modest Proposal to Save STL UK 7,420
2. Wesley Owen: 26 Branches Enter Administration 4,801
3. Wesley Owen 4,091
4. And so it ends: STL UK puts up ‘For Sale’ Sign 3,697
5. STL UK Crisis: Reports roundup and further reflections 2,064
6. Wesley Owen: 27 Christian Bookshops Wiped Off the Map 1,904
7. The Six Ways of Atheism 1,730
8. SAP and IBS-STL UK: A Timeline and Some Reflections 1,625
9 Wesley Owen: Expressions of Interest in Remaining Stores Welcomed 1,547
10. Day of Prayer 1,484

Finally, during the last month (March 2010) UKCBD, the directory itself, received 34,099 pageviews, of which 23,616 were unique visits. The top 5 directory pages were:

  1. Homepage: 3,861
  2. Town & City Index: 2,177
  3. London: 2,067
  4. Shop Name Index: 1,770
  5. Town & City ‘B’: 794

All sorts of other stats are available: if you want to know more or would like to sponsor a page, please get in touch.