CLC Updates: London and Leicester

London: CLC are relocating in central London, from Holborn Viaduct to Ave Maria Lane (photos below), just a stone’s throw from St Paul’s Cathedral. The Holborn Viaduct lease still has some time to run so they are currently trading from both locations, with the Holborn store focusing on remainders and Book Aid:

CLC Bookshop
3-4 Ave Maria Lane (nr Ludgate Hill)
LONDON EC4M 7AQ
020 7248 2356
Opening times: Mon – Weds, Fri & Sat, 10.00am – 5.30pm; Thurs, 10.00am – 7.30pm

CLC Bookshop
26-30 Holborn Viaduct
LONDON EC1A 2AQ
020 7353 2677
Opening times: Mon -Fri, 10.00am – 5.00pm

Phil Burnham, CLC National Director, explains:

CLC London: New premises at Ave Maria Lane (outside)

CLC London: New premises at Ave Maria Lane (inside)

Leicester: CLC Leicester is preparing to relocate from Belvoir Street to the former SPCK premises on Bishop Street, vacated earlier this year when Christian Resources Leicester moved to St Martin’s House in the Cathedral Square. More details to follow…

Farewell to Fools

Saddened to report another Christian bookshop closure: Fools, Upminster, has ceased trading:

Fools has now ceased trading...

BRF Job Vacancy: Guidelines Commissioning Editor

Jobs at BRF and Eden

BRF are looking for a new commissioning editor for Guidelines, one of their range of daily devotionals. Could it be you? Closing date for applications, August 26th: full details.

Eden have a range of vacancies available, from Development Managers for specific departments (Children’s, Music & DVD, Bible & Bible Study and Christian Life) through Online Copywriters to Web Designers, with more opportunities coming up over the next year or so.

“Timing,” explains Gareth Mulholland, Eden’s founder and MD, “is not set in stone as we’d rather have the right person onboard” — but if you think your face might fit, the sooner you contact him, the better:  full details.

Roger Compton leaves TMD

Regular readers will have noted Andrew Jenkins’ indignant comments (Feedback, August 4, 2011) about Roger Compton’s recent departure from TMD in the latest round of redundancies. I invited TMD to clarify the situation. Pete Barnsley, TMD’s Marketing Director, explains:

Roger is a great guy and has worked for the organization for 12 years, initially working in Wesley Owen Wigmore Street before joining the sales team when an opportunity arose. He is well respected and liked both within the Company and amongst customers.

However the economic realities we are facing are impacting TM Distribution in much the same way as many others in our trade and we have had to make painful decision to secure the future of the organization. Job losses far from being a knee jerk reaction are only contemplated once other options have been tried (for example, attempts to increase sales through promotions and looking at other forms of cost saving).

The personal cost to the individual is not taken lightly. We have lost a number of posts across the company from folk working in the warehouse to senior managers, all areas have been affected.

We understand that Roger’s role is high profile in the trade and attracts a lot of attention, but in terms of why Roger; it is more to do with the location of the individuals within the sales team. If we have to cutback, and lose someone from the sales team then the territory where we could make adjustments and protect the service level to customer was Roger’s current territory. It is anticipated that tele-sales initiatives will be launched to complement visits from the Trust Media Sales Team on a less frequent basis within this territory. It is our intention to improve the frequency of contact and level of service to accounts as a consequence.

Roger has acted with understanding and dignity, as you would expect in the entire process and I really want to reiterate as we have been at pains to point out to all individuals affected, that these actions have been taken to secure the long term financial viability of the Company and should not be construed as a reflection on the contributions of any of those affected. We will miss Roger.

Roger Compton, you’re a rock: I salute you and take this opportunity to thank you for all your encouragement and support during my tenure as LST’s Bookshop Manager. May the Lord bless you, strengthen you, and make his way for you clear during these difficult times.

Social Media Update

Social media: it’s about much more than inciting teenagers to riot, and a few new kids have joined us on the block over the last month or so. Catch up with them here:

FM Bookshop in Edinburgh need some facebook love at facebook.com/pages/FM-Bookshop-Edinburgh/255825277767201 and are twittering @fmedinburgh.

The Mustard Seed, Kirkwall, celebrated their 14th anniversary on Monday August 8th: celebrate with them by hitting that ‘Like’ button at facebook.com/pages/The-Mustard-Seed-Bookshop/211128988910479.

Shepherds Bookshop in Newport, South Wales, are on facebook at facebook.com/ShepherdsChristianBookshop and twittering @ShepherdsNwpt.

SPCK are twittering @SPCKPublishing: tweets by their new Publicist, Holly Thompson, who I’m reliably informed is on standby to welcome us, answer queries and direct us to reviews, articles and author media, as well as entertain us with “her appalling Friday jokes(!)” — follow at your own risk!

Shout out in the comments if you’re twitbooking and haven’t received a mention…

Special Offers around the Shops

And finally, to whet the appetites of any readers who haven’t visited their local Christian bookshop recently, a couple of special offers…

Quench are offering £1 off every Hillsong CD plus a free CD with every Hillsong purchase. The freebie is a an eight-track compilation album from all the Hillsong groups including Chapel, Kids, Live and United: pop along to your nearest Quench shop and grab one while you can!

Wesley Owen are offering a 25% discount to IDEA Readers: download the July/August 2011 issue here and head for p.13 to get your discount voucher/code: valid in-store or online, expires August 31st.

Use them or lose them: being part of a chain is no guarantee of security for any shop in today’s economic climate; and if you, gentle reader, represent any other Christian bookshop, please feel free to post details of your latest deals in the comments here…

• Atheist Delusions Wins Michael Ramsey Prize
• Booksellers Association launches new Facebook page
• BRF Author Wins Ultimate Christian Library Book Award
• CRT Awards to CWR, IVP, Salvation Army and Tyndale House (Updated 29/06/2011)
• Hope Centre Official Opening
• Wedding Bells at Dernier Publishing
• SPCK’s Alan Mordue named as ‘Best Overseas Supporting Vendor’

David Bentley Hart receives the Michael Ramsey Prize 2011 from the Archbishop of Canterbury

Atheist Delusions Wins Michael Ramsey Prize

CONGRATULATIONS to David Bentley Hart, shown here receiving the Michael Ramsey Prize 2011 from the Archbishop of Canterbury for his book, Atheist Delusions, Yale University Press.

See the Press Release (27 May 2011) for full details: Winner of £10,000 Theology Prize Announced

Booksellers Association launches new Facebook page

CONGRATULATIONS to the Booksellers Association on the recent launch of their facebook page: you don’t have to be a BA member to like it, and it’s an easy way to keep up to speed with their latest news delivered direct to your facebook feed. You are on facebook, aren’t you??

Brad Lincoln receives the Speaking Volumes 'Ultimate Christian Library Book' Award 2011

BRF Author Wins Ultimate Christian Library Book Award

CONGRATULATIONS to Brad Lincoln, pictured with (left to right) Paula Renouf and Geoff Booker of Speaking Volumes, presenting him and BRF’s Karen Laister with the Ultimate Christian Library Book Award 2011 at CRE Sandown Park on 11 May 2011 for his book, One Dad Encountering God.

More details from BRF: One Dad Encountering God Wins Award!

• More pictures and previous award winners

Christian Resources Together Awards

CONGRATULATIONS to the many and various winners of the numerous awards presented at this month’s Christian Resources Together event at High Leigh. The CRT publicity engine seems to be grinding a little slowly and I’ve yet to receive details of all the winners, but — with a special mention for IVP on a double win, overall Book of the Year for John Stott’s The Radical Disciple and Over 12s Book of the Year for Rachel Gardner’s Cherished — those that have come to my attention so far are:

• Book of the Year: John Stott, The Radical Disciple, IVP
• Christianity Magazine Book of the Year: Howard Webber, Meeting Jesus, The Salvation Army
• Children’s Book of the Year: Su Box and Graham Round, Activity Bible for ages 4 – 7, CWR
• Fiction Book of the Year: Francine Rivers, Her Mother’s Hope, Tyndale House
• Media Product of the Year: C H Spurgeon: The People’s Preacher DVD, CWR
• Over 12s Book of the Year: Rachel Gardner, Cherished, IVP

Double Christian Resources Together Awards 2011 for IVP

The Mayor of Macclesfield snips the ribbon for the Hope Centre's official opening

Hope Centre Official Opening

CONGRATULATIONS to all involved in the recent official opening of Macclesfield’s new Christian bookshop and resource centre, The Hope Centre, who you’ll also find twittering with the rest of us @HopeCentreMacc. With only 6 followers as I post this update, they’re looking kinda lonely so why not head on over there and show them some twitter love? Opening day photo courtesy of Robert Marshall, @rajm: discover more on flickr.

Wedding Bells at Dernier Publishing

VERY SPECIAL CONGRATULATIONS to Janet Evans of Dernier Publishing, due to marry Andrew Wilson on 2 July 2011. Janet writes:

… for those of you who don’t know, I will be marrying Andrew Wilson on 2nd July. After eight years on my own since my first husband died, it is wonderful to have someone to share life with. We met at CRE last year. (I’ve since met another couple who met at CRE!) Andrew is on the staff of a charity that supports those around the world who are persecuted for their faith in Christ. He is also a former journalist, and does some editing and proof-reading for us.

More news from Dernier Publishing coming up next week…

SPCK’s Alan Mordue named as ‘Best Overseas Supporting Vendor’

LAST BUT BY NO MEANS LEAST, CONGRATULATIONS to SPCK Sales Director Alan Mordue, recognised by the USA’s Episcopal Booksellers’ Association award as ‘Best Overseas Supporting Vendor’ for his ongoing work over the last three years, including annual visits to the Religious Booksellers Trade Exhibit and Society of Biblical Literature meetings.

Baker Academic move to SPCK

AS ANNOUNCED IN DECMBER LAST YEAR following their acquisition of 200 titles from Hendrickson, Baker have now moved their range of academic titles (Baker Academic and Brazos Press) from Lion Hudson to SPCK. Commenting on the move, Dwight Baker, President of Baker Publishing Group, said:

While Lion Hudson has been doing an excellent job in selling these titles into the trade, Baker felt the need to move their Academic titles to a firm that has had a long history of publishing and selling to the academy in the United Kingdom.  The purchase of over 200 academic titles from Hendrickson Publishers this past October was the tipping point for this decision.

Baker’s other imprints, including Bethany House, Revell, Baker Books and Chosen, remain with Lion Hudson whilst Alban Books continue to represent all other Hendrickson lines to the UK.

Hodder titles now available from IVP

Hodder titles now available from IVP

IVP HAVE ADDED Hodder Faith to their distributed titles list, bringing NIV Bibles and top selling authors such as Tim Keller and Philip Yancey into their portfolio. The announcement was made in the March edition of their monthly e-Bookmark trade newsletter, with further details in a separate trade announcement (pdf, 2.6MB).

Adding the NIV to their list alongside the full range of the ESV from Crossway as well as the NRSV, Good News Bible and range of Greek/Hebrew texts already available via HarperCollins Religious and Bible Society respectively makes IVP an increasingly important player in UK Bible distribution.

The full range of ESV and Crossway titles are also available from STL (pdf, 3.1MB) with 90 day payment terms and higher discounts on initial orders.

The Comet 24: Letchworth bookshop celebrate The Bible with reading marathon

Letchworth Christian Bookshop hold Bible Reading Marathon

THIS SATURDAY, 9th April, sees Letchworth Christian Bookshop — winners of STL’s Golden Ticket in October last year — launch a Bible reading marathon as part of its celebration of the 400th Anniversary of the King James Bible.

The project, which runs for two weeks with readings by volunteers in 15 minute slots during shop opening hours, has already made local headlines in The Comet (pictured).

Full details are available on a dedicated website, www.wordaloud.webeden.co.uk. Anyone wishing to take part is invited to check the schedule posted via Google Docs then contact the shop to book a slot.

Living Oasis Phase 2 Openings Delayed

LIVING OASIS LEEDS have apologised on facebook and in a letter posted at Network Leeds (4th April 2011) for the further delay to opening at their new location, advising prospective customers to contact the Harrogate store. Previously billed at Network Leeds as “the first Living Oasis shop to realise the full vision the Nationwide Christian Trust had when taking over 19 former Wesley Owen stores in early 2010″, the new Leeds store was originally expected to open by late January/early February this year but has run into financial difficulties.

A series of prayer meetings is being held, next meeting 14th April 2011, with a fundraising meal scheduled for 6th May 2011. The actual opening date for the new store remains unknown.

The new Liverpool store — originally expected to open within “a couple of months” of the old store’s closure (facebook announcement 29/12/2010) — appears to be facing similar difficulties with no updates to their facebook page since 22nd March when a series of weekly prayer meetings was announced. As of the date of this report, no indication of when the store will open has been given.

Unicorn Tree Books flood claim declined

CITY OF LINCOLN COUNCIL SOLICITORS, Hill Dickinson, have declined the flood claims submitted by Unicorn Tree Books and other retailers based in Lincoln Central Market following damage caused when the duty caretaker was unable to find the stop cock after a pipe burst during harsh weather in November last year (reported here 02/12/2010).

In a letter dated 25 March 2011 claiming to have “fully investigated the matter” Hill Dickinson state that “our client’s duty to maintain is one of reasonableness” and conclude that “the incident was caused solely by the extreme temperatures experienced at the time” — a conclusion that completely disregards the Council’s failure to follow its own published advice to householders who may be concerned about the possibility of burst pipes in their homes:

Preventing frozen and burst pipes

• Make sure you know where your stop tap is and that it is working.

One can only wonder quite what is going on in the mind of someone who regards such gross negligence as “reasonable”…

Web Shops for Churches

Premier Church Insight: Endis Inspire Shop

PREMIER CHRISTIAN MEDIA, publishers of Christian Marketplace magazine, have joined forces with Endis in partnership with STL Distribution to deliver online shops direct to churches via a custom-branded, fully integrated web service. Orders, returns and refunds will all be processed by STL in Carlisle — identified only by their address on the demo shop Contact Us and Returns pages — backed up by a dedicated telephone support line.

Full details of the service may be found on the Premier Church Insight > Endis Inspire Shop introductory page.

Reactions from retailers have ranged from a sense of outrage through concern about the implications for church bookstall services to cautious optimism at the possibility that the service could conceivably form the basis for a Christian version of Gardners’ Hive.

STL have emphasised that Endis are simply another trade customer and STL’s involvement with the scheme is solely order fulfilment. They are, however, currently investigating options to provide a comprehensive web solution for retailers: STL remain 100% committed to supporting and working with their retail partners, including amongst other initiatives the development of a Church Resources training programme designed to equip shop managers with the expertise needed and a sales kit that will enable them to pull local churches together and present new or existing product that will enhance church life.

Women in Christian Publishing Inaugural Event

WOMEN IN CHRISTIAN PUBLISHING, a new group created by the Publishers Association, held its inaugural event on 1st April 2011 with a visit to the Houses of Parliament hosted by the Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin, who was appointed as Speaker’s Chaplain in June last year.

Those present included Victoria Beech (Beech Publishing/Christian Education) and Janet Evans (Dernier Publishing), who has published some photographs of the event on facebook:

Dernier Publishing's Facebook Photos: Women in Christian Publishing Inaugural Event

Votewise Now!
Helping Christians Engage with the Issues

Rose Lynas
ISBN 9780281061921 (0281061920)
SPCK, 2009 (116pp)
£8.99

Category: Christian Life & Discipleship
Subcategory: Current Affairs
Reviewed by: Robert Willoughby

Some readers will be familiar with this slim book’s predecessor, Votewise, put together by Nick Spencer on behalf of the Jubilee Centre in Cambridge in 2005. This is not to imply that if you’ve got the earlier volume you don’t need this one. You do! “A week is a long time in politics”, said Harold Wilson. And he should know. And at the risk of stating the obvious, five years is even longer. A great deal has happened in the intervening weeks and years, not least the elevation of a new and hitherto unelected Prime Minister, British withdrawal from Iraq, the credit crunch and the expenses scandal. Many of us will need a great deal of foundational guidance, faced as many of us will be with the usual confusion over what lies between what is said and what it really means and lots of unfamiliar and hence thus far untrusted people to vote for.

Now more than ever you need to exercise your right to vote. Without the prophetic voice of the Church, the country really will hasten more quickly down the road to ruin. With our voice we may yet turn our nation to wise and spiritually acceptable values. Apathy is not a Christian option. There has been a downturn in the number of voters in the UK over the last 13 years. Trust in the process has been seriously fractured as a result of disappointment following the New Labour landslide of 1997, but has received a body-blow as a result of the expenses scandal. Hope frequently follows trust down the grid. I hope that will not be the case for us as we approach the forthcoming election.

Votewise Now! is comprised of 10 chapters on crucial issues which will decide the next election. At least I hope that is so rather than the simple genuflection to celebrity exposure. Those ten subject areas cover the economy, criminal justice, health, education, the environment, international order, nationhood and immigration, tax and benefits, employment and housing. All are written by well-informed Christians with a background in these topics. All lay out the basic issues and seek to elucidate the challenges which confront us and the values which might be relevant.

Three more chapters feature committed advocates of the three biggest parties, all MPs and all well-respected for their faith commitment and their work in the Houses of Parliament.

I cannot recommend this book’s 116 pages highly enough. Whilst much deeper treatments of all the subject areas could be consulted in the coming weeks and perusal of the party manifestos is also important, none of those will help you decide where to put your cross come the day. This is obviously the value of a manageable volume written by trusted fellow Christians. So get Votewise Now! And get voting with greater confidence.

Robert Willoughby, April 2010

Robert Willoughby teaches New Testament and Children’s Ministry at London School of Theology. He is the author of The Children’s Guide to the Bible, Angels and So, who is God?, all from Scripture Union, and is a regular contributor to Scripture Union’s daily Bible reading notes, Encounter with God.

Previously published by London School of Theology. Reused here by kind permission.

Publisher’s Info Page

SPCK | Order from your local Christian bookshop or www.christianbookshops.org

Authors | Categories | Publishers | Reviewers | Titles

I mentioned in a previous posting that we had written to a number of outlets to publicise the call for Creditors of the former-SPCK bookshop chain, and to raise a number of concerns about the way the brevity of the deadline, and the narrowness of the subset of creditors likely to see a notice placed only in The Bookseller.

Edited versions of our letters have been published in both the Church Times and the Church of England Newspaper, and the full letter in The Bookseller. Christian Marketplace has also carried an article on their website about the Call for Creditors.

We hope, in particular, to start a wider debate in the Book Trade about the nefarious activities of the Messrs Brewer over the last several years, which is long overdue.

In our view, and based on published and unpublished information, a criminal investigation is more than merited.

The Church Times edited out the bits about the deceptive 2008 Bankruptcy attempt in Texas. We are grateful to all publications which carried the letter.

This is the full text of our letter to The Bookseller:

Call for Creditors of Saint Stephen the Great Trust to come forward

Dear Sir

We write as the editors of the SPCK-SSG News Blog (spckssg.wordpress.com). We have been working, with many others, to scrutinise the management of the former-SPCK bookshop chain for 2 years now.

The chain of bookshops was taken over in October/November 2006 by a charity controlled by J Mark Brewer and Philip Brewer, and has been gradually run down since that date.

At least 7 different corporate entities have been used to in managing the chain. These comprise 3 charities (1119839, 1119839-1 and 1109008), 3 private companies (FC028292, FC028290, FC028291), and a Company Limited by Guarantee (06110519); some have similar or identical names, and all were controlled at the outset by various permutations of Brewer family members.

After complaints in 2008, and after a Charity Commission “Section 8” investigation (case ref WTF 1119839/685451), in April this year an “Interim Manager” was appointed to oversee the Saint Stephen the Great charity (1119839), and the Saint Stephen the Great Charitable Trust ( 1119839-1).

Last week The Bookseller included a notice from the Interim Manager, suggesting that “Creditors who believe that they have a valid claim against the Trustees of St Stephen the Great Charitable Trust incurred before 1 July 2007, should write to the Interim Manager at Begbies Traynor (Central) LLP, 32 Cornhill, London EC3V 3BT under ref S8703 before the close of business on 16 December 2009.” This notice causes us several concerns.

As far as we are aware the notice has only been published in The Bookseller, while the SPCK chain was a business with worldwide links. SPCK creditors may include English Cathedrals, communion wine suppliers, development charities, craft businesses, religious communities in the UK and overseas and others. How can such a range of creditors can be realistically expected to respond to a notice with a 3 week deadline in a booktrade magazine, posted up to 3 years after the relevant debts were incurred?

In summer 2008, J Mark Brewer attempted to take an organisation, which he called “St Stephen the Great, LLC”, into bankruptcy in the South Texas Bankruptcy Court (case 08-33689-H1). His court submission failed to identify the UK bookshops under his control, but did provide a substantially accurate listing of unpaid debts which had arisen over the previous 12 months. This included several hundred creditors, and more than £1m of debts. This case was subsequently dismissed “with prejudice”, and Mr Brewer – himself a lawyer and former Congressional Candidate – required to pay a penalty and take remedial education in the area of Legal Ethics. Under the quoted cutoff date of July 2007, many debts identified in these court submissions may be ruled out of a possible settlement.

We encourage all potential creditors to get in touch with the Interim Manager using the contact details in the notice, and/or those given on the Charity Commission site; these are stsgct@gothamerskine.co.uk via email, or by phone on 020 7490 1880.

We also hope that specific contact will be made with creditors identified in the Court Documents, who are potential creditors even within the restricted period, and that the deadline for responses will be extended to a more realistic date.

Yours etc

Phil Groom. Editor, UK Christian Bookshops Directory, christianbookshops.org.uk
Matt Wardman, SPCK-SSG News Blog, spckssg.wordpress.com

And our letter to the Church Times:

Call for Creditors of Saint Stephen the Great Trust to come forward

Dear Sir

First of all we must thank the Interim Manager appointed to oversee the Saint Stephen the Great Charitable Trust, and Saint Stephen the Great, charities for his work in “stopping the rot” in the former-SPCK bookshop chain, and recovering the shops (Durham Cathedral Bookshop excepted) from Philip and J Mark Brewer. At least we are now on the way *out* of the woods.

However, we note that last week The Bookseller trade magazine included a notice from the Interim Manager of the Saint Stephen the Great Trust, suggesting that “Creditors who believe that they have a valid claim against the Trustees of St Stephen the Great Charitable Trust incurred before 1 July 2007, should write to the Interim Manager at Begbies Traynor (Central) LLP, 32 Cornhill, London EC3V 3BT under ref S8703 before the close of business on 16 December 2009.” This causes us some concerns.

We have been working to scrutinise the mismanagement of the former-SPCK bookshop chain for more than 2 years now, and we are concerned by several aspects of the statement made by the Interim Manager.

The Interim Manager is completely right that this whole affair has been made fearsomely complex by the use by J Mark and Philip Brewer of at least 7 different corporate entities to obfuscate their actions over the last 3 years. These comprise 3 charities (1119839, 1119839-1 and 1109008), 3 private companies (FC028292, FC028290, FC028291), and a Company Limited by Guarantee (06110519), some of which have similar or identical names, and all controlled by various permutations of Brewer family members. There was also an 8th alleged corporate entity, SSG LLC, which appeared in J Mark Brewer’s sworn submissions to the South Texas Bankruptcy Court in summer 2008, but which turned out to exist only in his imagination.

The USDAW Employment Tribunal action, which was settled out of court earlier this year, was impeded by this complexity, and a lack of clarity as to which entity J Mark and Philip Brewer were acting on behalf of at different times, whether their actions at each point were legal or not, and their peculiar reluctance to keep written records. In the end USDAW had to name three separate bodies as respondents because it was not clear which entity employed and managed different members of staff at different points in time. If the Interim Manager had not commendably reached a negotiated settlement, this Tribunal would be going round in ever-decreasing circles even now.

The notice as published seeks creditors of “St Stephen the Great Charitable Trust”, without identifying a specific charity number, and restricts the call to debts incurred before the end of June 2007. Given the confused governance and business relationships, we suggest that the Interim Manager needs to cast a far wider net, at least initially.

We are also concerned that the deadline for responses to the notice has been set for December 16th. The SPCK bookshop chain was a business with worldwide links, and the range of creditors may well include Cathedrals owed rent, communion wine suppliers, development charities, craft businesses, religious communities in Eastern Europe, a consulting engineer used to design an improvement scheme, and others. All of these creditor groups appear in the 2008 Texas court documents referred to above, and – despite the 2008 bankruptcy attempt having been fraudulent – we have found the records of debtors declared to be largely accurate.

We are a little baffled as to how such a range of creditors can be realistically expected to respond to a notice with a 3 week deadline in a Booktrade Magazine, posted up to 3 years after the relevant debts were incurred. Also, would a single notice adequately meet legal requirements where such a wide range of creditors are affected?

So we urge all creditors, and potential creditors, to get in touch with the Interim Manager using the contact details in the notice, and/or those given on the Charity Commission site, which are stsgct@gothamerskine.co.uk via email, or by phone on 020 7490 1880.

We have done what we can to bring wider attention to the published notice, but we hope that specific contact will be made with the hundreds of suppliers identified in the Court Documents, who are potential creditors even within the period before June 2007. Any debts before this date would be in addition to the more than £1m of debts identified in the 2008 Court submissions.

We also hope that the deadline for responses will be extended to a more realistic period, perhaps to the end of January 2010.

Yours etc

Phil Groom. Editor, UK Christian Bookshops Directory, christianbookshops.org.uk
Matt Wardman, SPCK-SSG News Blog, spckssg.wordpress.com
Simon Barrow, Co-Director, Ekklesia, ekklesia.co.uk

]]> http://christianbookshopsblog.org.uk/2009/12/09/former-spck-creditors-letters-to-church-times-the-bookseller/feed/ 0 mattwardman2000 letter-to-the-bookseller-crop http://christianbookshopsblog.org.uk/2009/12/04/debts-of-the-former-spck-bookshop-chain-church-times-letter/ http://christianbookshopsblog.org.uk/2009/12/04/debts-of-the-former-spck-bookshop-chain-church-times-letter/#comments Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:57:58 +0000 mattwardman2000 http://christianbookshopsblog.org.uk/?p=2215 Matt Wardman writes: We have a letter published in the Church Times this week about the former SPCK bookshop chain. Kudos to the CT for putting it outside the paywall, where everyone can see it. A fuller version, with a few points about the J Mark Brewer attempt (known to us as the Great Texan Wild Goose Chase) to dodge debts by putting a sort-of conflation of various bits of his organisations into Bankruptcy in South Texas, declaring lots of debts but none of the assets, is in this week's Bookseller - but they don't always put letters online.]]> Matt Wardman writes:

We have a  letter published in the Church Times this week about the former SPCK bookshop chain. Kudos to the CT for putting it outside the paywall, where everyone can see it.

A fuller version, with a few points about the J Mark Brewer attempt (known to us as the Great Texan Wild Goose Chase) to dodge debts by putting a sort-of conflation of various bits of his organisations into Bankruptcy in South Texas, declaring lots of debts but none of the assets, is in this week’s Bookseller – but they don’t always put letters online.

Debts of the former SPCK bookshop chain

From Mr Phil Groom and others

Sir,

We must thank the Interim Manager appointed to oversee the Saint Stephen the Great Charitable Trust, and Saint Stephen the Great, charities for his work in stopping the rot in the former SPCK bookshop chain, and recovering the shops (Durham Cathedral Bookshop excepted) from Philip and J. Mark Brewer. At least we are now on the way out of the woods.

We note, however, the notice from him in The Bookseller last week suggesting that creditors “who believe that they have a valid claim against the Trustees of St Stephen the Great Charitable Trust incurred before 1 July 2007” should write to him at: The Interim Manager, Begbies Traynor (Central) LLP, 32 Cornhill, London EC3V 3BT, under “ref. S8703” before the close of business on 16 December.

This causes us some concerns. The Interim Manager is completely right that this whole affair has been made fearsomely complex by the use by J. Mark and Philip Brewer of at least seven different corporate entities over the past three years. These comprise three charities, three private companies, and a company limited by guarantee, some of which have similar or identical names, and all controlled by various permuta­tions of the Brewer family members.

The notice as published seeks creditors of “St Stephen the Great Charitable Trust”, without identifying a specific charity number, and restricts the call to debts incurred before the end of June 2007. Given the confused governance and business relation­ships, we suggest that the Interim Manager needs to cast a far wider net, at least initially.

We are also concerned about the deadline for responses. The SPCK bookshop chain was a business with worldwide links, and the range of creditors may well include cathed­rals, communion-wine suppliers, development charities, craft busi­nesses, religious communities in Eastern Europe, a consulting engineer, and others. All of these creditor groups appeared in Texas court documents in 2008.

We urge all creditors, and potential creditors, to get in touch with the Interim Manager using the contacts in the notice, and/or those given on the Charity Commission site stsgct@gothamerskine.co.uk, via email, or by phone on 020 7490 1880.

We hope that a specific contact will be made with the hundreds of suppliers identified in the court documents. We also hope that the deadline for responses will be extended to a more realistic period, perhaps to the end of January 2010.

PHIL GROOM
MATT WARDMAN
SIMON BARROW

Get the Goat this Christmas

Every year I’ve taken to buying a goat from World Vision instead of sending Christmas cards to my online friends and supporters. This year is no exception: you’ll find the official e-card here.

Thank you for your support and friendship through the past year.

A very Happy Christmas to you all, and my very best wishes for the year to come.

A Request

I’m sharing this year’s goat with the SPCK/SSG Bloggers. I hope most of you are familiar with the SPCK/SSG situation: it’s taken up a lot of my time this year, time that would most likely have otherwise been spent on developing UKCBD and this blog. I make no apology for that, but I do regret the need for it.

The only thing needed for evil to succeed is for those who know better to do nothing. Make no mistake about it: the Brewers are evil men. They took SPCK on trust and they have violated that trust: they have betrayed employees and suppliers. They have attempted to stifle free speech. They have reneged on a covenant, a covenant that they freely entered into and signed in the presence of a witness, to maintain shops as outlets for Christian literature. They have attempted a fraudulent bankruptcy filing on the USA courts. Their treatment of their employees has driven at least one man to a nervous breakdown; another committed suicide. All of these points are matters of public record and can be independently verified.

Yet they continue to operate so-called ‘Christian’ bookshops around the UK whilst people who should know better continue to trade with them, supplying them with books and other products that enable them to continue their devious business practices.

So to my request: please show your support for and solidarity with the former SPCK/SSG employees and suppliers who have not been paid — whose Christmas celebrations are blighted because of the Brewers — by reading and signing the two petitions to rescue the Durham and Chichester shops from the Brewers:

• Rescuing Durham Cathedral Bookshop
• Rescuing Chichester’s Christian Bookshop

If you have already signed those petitions, thank you. Please spread the word and ask your colleagues and friends to read and sign them too.

Luke’s account of the nativity includes these words from Mary:

The Lord has performed mighty deeds with his arm; 
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. 
He has brought down rulers from their thrones 
but has lifted up the humble. 
He has filled the hungry with good things 
but has sent the rich away empty. 

Let’s make 2009 the year in which workers and suppliers are paid and in which the Brewers are brought down, brought to book for their crimes and sent away empty.

Thank you.

Dave Walker and Matt Wardman (Ed) 
ISBN: (N/A) 
The Wardman Wire, 2008 (130pp) 
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Category: Arts & Media 
Reviewed by: Phil Groom

Sometimes things don’t work out as planned, even for highly placed business men and lawyers. Taken largely from the “Save the SPCK” pages on Dave Walker’s The Cartoon Blog, this publication reveals the sad and sorry story of the demise of the SPCK Bookshops following their handover to SSG, the Society of St Stephen the Great, in 2006 — and ends abruptly with a note from Dave dated July 8th 2008 on his silence following the tragic suicide of Steve Jeynes, former manager of the SPCK/SSG bookshop in Worcester.

Or rather, I should say that silence from Dave seems to be where Mr J Mark Brewer (co-owner of the bookshops with his brother, Philip) wanted it to end. Unfortunately, Dave’s not the silent type: he kept on blogging, in his own quirky way, telling the story, reporting evenhandedly and watching with astonishment as the Brewers’ business strategy fell apart.

Trouble is, Dave’s not an especially noisy guy either: he’s a cartoonist who expresses himself in pictures. He doesn’t shout or scream. So when Mr J Mark Brewer sent Dave a “Demand to Cease and Desist” — which if it was anything like the one he sent me was full of self-righteous indignation, allegations and threats of legal action — Dave backed down.

This proved, in retrospect, to be the best move that Dave could have made: the blogosphere exploded with indignation as “Of Course I Could Be Wrong” blogger, MadPriest, declared war by launching a campaign to send Dave Walker solidarity messages to Mr Brewer whilst fellow Anglican priest Sam Norton retrieved some of Dave’s missing posts from Google’s cache and reposted them on his own site.

Alongside this, political blogger Matt Wardman — who compiled and published this report — launched an ongoing and growing campaign in defence of Dave’s right to free speech, whilst Unity, a self-proclaimed “big bad atheist blogger with a penchant for digging into the detail” has been systematically taking Mr Brewer, his business dealings and his correspondence to pieces on his blog, Ministry of Truth. For a more comprehensive round-up of blogs and others picking up on this situation see the Wardman Wire My Name is Dave Walker post index.

Enough by way of introduction, however. Perhaps the best snapshot summary of Dave’s posts has been given by blogger Exigency In Specie:

When you read the posts, Dave spent a good deal of time trying to moderate those reactions in order to thoughtfully report events that he believed should be of concern to a wider audience. As a relatively high profile site he primarily acted as a central resource for collecting together information from the geographically diverse chain. Care in what was written was uppermost, even when emotions grew – you can easily find points where he calls for cool heads, and where he removed comments that he himself deemed were close to the line.

From: Learning the Lessons, 30/07/2008

My own reading concurs: Dave is no irresponsible or reckless blogger. Which begs the question, why the heavy handed intervention?

Dave’s last SPCK related post appears on p.113. Then follow several pages of

• Correspondence between Mr Brewer and the Revd Sam Norton
• Correspondence between Mr Brewer and myself
• An overview of Current Libel and Legal Harrassment cases across blogs in th UK
• A final article by Unity entitled Defending the Fifth Estate

These appended articles can be read online, of course, but I’d recommend downloading the entire document (pdf, 2.3MB), either here or from The Wardman Wire and reading it at your leisure.

As you read it, please be sure to send us your comments and feedback. If you run your own blog, please remember that it could be you being chased by angry lawyers next time. Please don’t sit back and hope it doesn’t happen to you: blog the story, join the fight and spread the word. And pray. Pray for the ex-SPCK booksellers whose lives have been wrecked by this fiasco. Pray for those of us standing with them. Please pray for Mr Brewer: despite all he’s said and done, nobody wants to vilify him, I hope: that’s emphatically not what this is about; but I would like to see some justice for these booksellers, and I would like him to respond in a more civil way than we’ve seen thus far.

Finally, when you come across some of the funnier stuff, do have a laugh. Remember, Dave Walker is a humourist.

You’ll find continuous updates in the SPCK/SSG: News, Notes & Info blog. Thanks for reading…

Phil Groom, August 2008

Phil Groom is this site’s Webmaster and Reviews Editor. He’s a regular contributor to Christian Marketplace magazine and is the manager of London School of Theology Books & Resources. Any opinions expressed here are personal and should not be taken as representing the views of London School of Theology or of any other group or organisation.

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The Revd Dr Tom Arthur, pastor at City Church since 1988, describes what happened and subsequent developments in a letter published in early June by Mission Connections:

We’d had a book store here at City Church for several years, but it recently closed. SPCK (that’s Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge) had been the resource for the mainline churches. About 15 years ago we took them in when they were no longer able to pay rising city center rents. We saw doing this as an important mission of the church.

The shop here managed to just tick over comfortably, but the SPCK chain as a whole struggled in recent years. About 20 months ago, they basically gave the chain away to a couple of American brothers who formed “St Stephen the Great Charitable Trust” and used the chain to promote the Orthodox communion. Having grown up Presbyterian, they were adult converts to Orthodoxy, and were enthusiastic, as adult converts to anything will be.

Despite their enthusiasm, their idea just didn’t work. Customers weren’t buying the icons which now filled the gift cabinets and the books on Orthodox saints that now filled the shelves just weren’t moving. Sales plummeted, and since suppliers weren’t being paid, they couldn’t get new stock. Last December, when our shop would have expected to take in £18k – £20k, they only took in £3,500. In January, they started closing shops.

Because of customer comments and the concern of denominational leaders, we had already been considering strategies for taking over the shop, as this shop here in Cardiff was the only resource like it for all of Wales. The elders proposed that I and our church secretary, Patrick (that’s “clerk of session” in Presby-speak) should explore our options. So Patrick and I convened a meeting of concerned people from across Cardiff’s ecumenical spectrum, and with the backing of that group we took the project on.

A press release dated 26/06/2008 from the Church in Wales explains further:

The key to success for this enterprise will be our ability to respond to the requirements of the broad, ecumenical church scene in Wales. We’ve sent out over 800 letters to churches from Powys to St David’s, and have received good input in response. We will be carrying everything from rosaries to zipped leather Bible covers, along with books and church supplies. We’re building a website at www.ctbooks.org.uk to publish reviews of what’s new and advertise special promotional offers. A scheme of partner churches will return 5% of purchases by church members to the churches who sign up for the scheme, and we plan special monthly evening opening hours for partner churches.

So a new mainstream ecumenical bookshop for Wales is finally here, thanks to the support of many encouraging voices and the expert advice of so many experienced colleagues. The shop will be open 10am to 5pm Monday – Friday, and 10am to 4pm Saturdays. We hope this shop will make a real difference in strengthening the churches, not just here in Cardiff, but across Wales.

A New Christian Bookshop for Cardiff

• Other Christian Bookshops in Cardiff