And the winner is…

You know what they say about things coming along in threes? Well, last week that’s just what happened to us. Unfortunately the three things were in the guise of indoor water features in the shop. Not an ideal situation, although one that we are becoming increasingly used to! However, we shall not dwell on it, as that’s what we pay our insurance for. Cue a new ceiling and wall. I refuse to think about the upheaval that this may cause and instead, am focusing on the fact that it will all look beautiful once fixed.

Our run of three continued yesterday, with good stuff this time. Firstly we were told that the Julia Donaldson has chosen us as her independent bookshop of the month for November! Along with an esteemed panel of jolly important people from Pan Macmillan, Julia picked us out of the bunch for this great honour. We are delighted, not only because we are proud of what we do, but also because part of the ‘prize’ is that the Gruffalo will be visiting us in November. This means that we can thank all of our lovely customers with a hug from the cuddliest monster around. We can’t wait!

So that was number one – awesome. Number two and three came as a pair. Essex Mums have been running a competition over the summer, to find the best-loved places to go, things to do and businesses that are family friendly. We were surprised to find out that we had been nominated for several awards. It’s lovely to know that what we do is appreciated by families out there. To be honest, the nominations were lovely and felt like a win themselves. So imagine our joy when we discovered that we have won two categories. The first was for ‘Best New Group/Class’ where our monthly book club took the top spot.

What’s Book Club? Well, each month (usually on the first Saturday, 15:15-16:00) I will lead a discussion and activity based upon a given book. The cost of just £7, includes a copy of the month’s book to take home and love! We do ask you to book your place in advance, so that we order in enough copies of the books. The book for October 11th is Pete Johnson’s spooky ‘The Ghost Dog’.

I was jumping up and down with excitement at that news and then I realised that we had also won ‘Special mention for contribution to the local community‘. What an absolute honour this is. We love what we do and obviously it is a business, so we need to make money – the kids keep on insisting on eating, everyday… But, at the same time, we are passionate about our community and strive to offer as much as we can to the community. So, this award is so very special to us and we are incredibly grateful to everyone who voted.

We probably don’t say it enough, so thank-you so very much to our wonderful customers, family and friends who continue to support us on this great adventure. Here’s to more exciting news in the future!