<![CDATA[Woolfson & Tay - Bermondsey's Independent Local Bookshop, Café, Gallery. Bermondsey Square, London SE1 - Open 7 Days A Week - Mon to Sat : 11 am - 7 pm - Sun : 11 am - 5 pm

<![CDATA[Woolfson & Tay - Bermondsey's Independent Local Bookshop, Café, Gallery. Bermondsey Square, London SE1 - Open 7 Days A Week - Mon to Sat : 11 am - 7 pm - Sun : 11 am - 5 pm - Blog]]>Fri, 18 May 2012 10:02:43 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[A to Z ]]>Sat, 05 May 2012 01:06:45 -0800http://www.woolfsonandtay.com/1/post/2012/05/a-to-z.html

Jane Colling's original screenprints series A to Z - An Alphabet is up at W&T until 27 May 2012. Last night, a public event was held to launch the event with poet Sarah Reilly and musician/artist Peter Blegvad performing a recitation of Alphabet. It's no secret that Blegvad's Leviathan has always amused, bemused and boggled me, so it was a special treat to get a signed copy!

]]><![CDATA[I'm no techie but...]]>Wed, 02 May 2012 16:46:20 -0800http://www.woolfsonandtay.com/1/post/2012/05/im-no-techie-but.html

Bone weary... what a week the past one has been (not least because Shivaun and I hosted a staged reading of her fabulous screenplay Pop) and looks like the next few are going to be just as hectic - we've got quite a few events lined up as you can see for the month of May into June. Just got back from an evening event at Canada Water Library with author/poet Andrew Motion that ended about 9pm. (Plus we had to lug boxes of unsold copies back to the shop on the way home.) Next week, apart from events at our shop, there's also another event at Canada Water Library with Mark Thomas (Extreme Rambling: Walking Israel's Separation Barrier... For Fun).

So what, you may ask, am I doing writing a blog entry at midnight? Frankly, I find that's the best time to do things like check emails, send out our regular e-newsletter, update the website, do artwork for posters, yadda yadda yadda; i.e. all the kind of stuff one needs to do sitting in front of the 'puter that I didn't manage to get round to during the day.

So anyhoo... apart from dealing with our website, multiple email accounts (my own as well as the general inbox), MailChimp, PayPal, Facebook, Twitter etc, the team have suggested we give Tumblr a go. (My attempts at Pinterest I must say has been pretty abyssmal to date, so I was a bit hesitant at first.) I'm no techie and I must say that bookselling requires a lot of communication - not just the face-to-face kind, but also the online variety. The team have been great and have kickstarted our Tumblr blog. Should be fun - for the more spontaneous types of updates that include photos, quotes, anecdotes, that sort of thing. Now, if I can get it all to sync with Facebook etc, that would be marvellous.

And who thought bookselling was just about selling books? LOL. If you've got any ideas on what you'd like to see on our Tumblr pages - let us know - we're all ears :)

]]><![CDATA[Upset and a tad anguished - It's just a number, right?]]>Mon, 05 Mar 2012 04:20:56 -0800http://www.woolfsonandtay.com/1/post/2012/03/upset-and-a-tad-anguished-its-just-a-number-right.htmlOkay, so we've received notice from Southwark Council that we have the wrong address. Apparently the correct address should be 13 Bermondsey Square rather than 12. 'What's the big deal?' I try and console myself. Physically we're still in the same spot. So, okay, whether it's 12 or 13 someone's looking for, they should find us. It's just a number, right?

But here are the things that are weighing on me. Do the lease agreements have to be redone? What about council departments we liaise with - from Business Ratings, HMRC to Food Safety - do we have to write to them all and tell them about our 'new' address? Does it matter? Then there's our bank we'll have to deal with. Utility companies... What about our Google map and the dozens of online web listings that have us down as a venue - should we track them all down, edit them all or leave them as they are? Our many suppliers, in fact the whole darn creditors list, do we have to send masses of letters or emails? Our cloth bags (just ordered 500 two weeks ago), plastic carry bags, bookmarks, business cards, etc etc...

Feeling like a balloon that's been popped. Deflated. (Sorry to moan out loud.)

You know, a few months ago, a lady wrote to us. Said she was a mom with young children, was going to retire or quit her day job, something like that. Said she wanted to start a bookshop, that it was her dream. I shared with her that it's a tough, long road. Worth doing but the pros and cons should be ruminated over carefully. If you need a living wage, I told her, don't start a bookshop.

Feeling cynical. All that talk about Mary Portas Report, revitalise the High Street jazz, yadda yadda yadda... Save our indie shops campaign, etc etc etc... The amount of hoops you have to jump through is incredible. Organisations and companies you didn't know about crawl out of the wood work to harass you. If I could list the number of balls from the left field we've had to parry, the kind of scams one should avoid (and we have been scammed for supposed charity causes), the pitfalls of iron-clad agreements, the nature and quantity of threatening phone calls I get from non-existent suppliers, and so on, it would be a sizeable tome. I better not get started on that topic, or I'll be here all day.

Time, effort, costs. Another list of tasks we could have done without.

Okay, time to take a deep breath. Cheer up. Pull myself up by the bootstraps and all that.

Enough whingeing.

The Chinese have a saying - When the horse dies, get down and walk. [Translation: Find an alternative and deal with it.]

Think it's time to start walking.

Fran

PS. I'm sorry if I depressed you. I promise I'll write again soon of happier things.

]]><![CDATA[LGBT History Month Event 15 Feb 2012]]>Thu, 16 Feb 2012 07:33:35 -0800http://www.woolfsonandtay.com/1/post/2012/02/lgbt-history-month-event-15-feb-2012.html

Thank you to all our wonderful speakers and attendees for last night's event 'Speaking Out: Voices Celebrating LGBT HIstory Month'. We had amazing people in the house - artist Aliyah (Come see her exhibition Home And Away - it's on till Mar 11 in our gallery), Cllr Mark Gettleson, publisher/writer Helen Sandler (Tollington Press), filmmaker Campbell X (watch out for Stud Life, coming soon to cinemas near you), author/aerialist Will Davies, award-winning author Paul Bailey (who shared about his early days in theatre opposite Christopher Plummer, among his many recollections on being 'queer' in the 50s), poet/performer Andra Simons - and wonderful sharing. Many thanks goes to Southwark LGBT Network for their support towards the event and exhibition. Do check out their website (http://southwarklgbtnetwork.com/) and the services they provide; membership is only £1, so join up to enjoy the many events and activities they organise. Thank you everyone so very much for making the event a very special one!

]]><![CDATA[Dickens' London With Peter Clark 10 Feb 2012]]>Sat, 11 Feb 2012 05:44:17 -0800http://www.woolfsonandtay.com/1/post/2012/02/dickens-london-with-peter-clark-10-feb-2012.htmlAn enchanting evening with author Peter Clark on Dickens' London, whose talk focused on Bermondsey in Dickensian Literature.. (Sorry Bermondsey folks, the only characters from Bermondsey in Dickens' works were nefarious sorts, think Bill Sykes.) To celebrate Dickens' Centenary, artist James Matthews also dropped by with a bust of the great man himself. It was awful sweet of two guests, who happened to have roses on them, to ask at the end of the night, whether it would be okay to leave the roses in front of the bust as a homage :)

]]><![CDATA[Chinese New Year 2012]]>Sat, 11 Feb 2012 05:03:07 -0800http://www.woolfsonandtay.com/1/post/2012/02/chinese-new-year-2012.htmlW&T celebrated Chinese New Year 2012 - Year of the Dragon - with sweet treats and Jasmine tea, plus lucky red packets for customers. Thank you for joining us in our celebrations and wishing you lots of happiness, joy and good fortune.

]]><![CDATA[Holocaust Memorial Day 2012]]>Fri, 27 Jan 2012 08:38:11 -0800http://www.woolfsonandtay.com/1/post/2012/01/holocaust-memorial-day-2012.html

W&T are very grateful to survivor Leslie Kleinman, author Jake Wallis-Simons (The English German Girl), artist Gitl Braun, poet Eve Grubin, and local councillor Mark Gettleson for sharing their time with us in making this year's Holocaust Memorial Day event a memorable and moving one. Thank you also to Jewish Book Week 2012 and Holocaust Education Trust for their support. We ended this year's event with a reading of the poem We Remember Them by everyone who attended. Many of those who joined us at this commemoration event have asked about this poem, so we have reproduced it here (see below).

We Remember Them

At the rising of the sun and at its going down
We remember them.
At the blowing of the wind and in the chill of winter
We remember them.
At the opening of the buds and in the rebirth of spring
We remember them.
At the blueness of the skies and in the warmth of summer
We remember them.
At the rustling of the leaves and in the beauty of autumn
We remember them.
At the beginning of the year and when it ends
We remember them.
As long as we live, they too will live;
for they are now a part of us
as we remember them.
When we are weary and in need of strength
We remember them.
When we are lost and sick at heart
We remember them.
When we have joy we crave to share
We remember them.
When we have decisions that are difficult to make
We remember them.
When we have achievements that are based on theirs
We remember them.
As long as we live, they too will live;
for they are now a part of us
as we remember them.

© Jewish Prayer Book/ Sylvan Kamens & Rabbi Jack Riemer

]]><![CDATA[Mark Haddon and Michael Rosen 23 Jan 2012]]>Fri, 27 Jan 2012 08:31:47 -0800http://www.woolfsonandtay.com/1/post/2012/01/mark-haddon-and-michael-rosen-23-jan-2012.html

The authors event at Canada Water Library was packed with 130+ guests, who turned up to listen to Mark Haddon and Michael Rosen. W&T was on hand to sell Stop What You're Doing And Read This as well as Haddon and Rosen's previous titles. As you can see, a formidable queue formed after the talk as guests waited patiently to have their books signed :)

]]><![CDATA[National Book Tokens Cinema Ad Filmed At W&T]]>Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:00:26 -0800http://www.woolfsonandtay.com/1/post/2011/12/national-book-tokens-cinema-ad-filmed-at-wt.html

As some of our regular customers may know, W&T was closed for 2 days in October. The reason? The crew from production company Kream London was using W&T as the film location for the National Book Tokens cinema advertisement.

As you can see from the photos below, it was a masterclass in organised chaos. And the finished result? To eagle-eyed customers, I'm sure you'll recognise our shelves and counter. Apart from that very little LOL!

Thank you Kream London, Booksellers Association and National Book Tokens for the amazing experience and wonderful campaign. Five days to Christmas - not sure what book to buy? Get a National Book Token :)

PS. The video of the cinema ad - which I had posted below - has now been removed as I have been informed the rights are only for cinema and not online. Sorry!

]]><![CDATA[Snow Queen 11 Dec 2011]]>Tue, 13 Dec 2011 09:19:11 -0800http://www.woolfsonandtay.com/1/post/2011/12/snow-queen-11-dec-2011.html

Storyteller Vanessa Woolf was in usual top form performing Hans Christian Andersen's "Snow Queen." This family storytelling event was held at Woolfson & Tay bookshop. Vanessa also does a monthly storytelling and sing-a-long session for toddlers on every last Friday of the month. Next session is on 27 Jan 2012 at 10am. For more information on Vanessa Woolf, visit: http://www.londondreamtime.com

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