Friday 9 December 2011

CLG Festive Gathering at Heffers, 8th December

Those CLG members who braved the wind and rain to meet up in Heffers on Thursday night entered the book shop to the music of a string quartet, and were welcomed with drinks and a splendid array of dips, cheese and stollen (I wish I had not had dinner first).

Richard Osborne read some of George Orwell’s comments on bookselling in the 1930’s and the characters involved would be familiar to anyone who has worked in public libraries in later decades and then he and Richard Reynolds reminisced about staff and customers over the years. It was good to see the Children’s Department with an extensive stock and space to browse, the former Children’s bookshop on Trinity Street was sorely missed.

We were all presented with a sturdy Heffers carrier bag in Cambridge blue and a chance to stock up on books for ourselves and presents for others at 20% discount. Was it my imagination or did the musicians increase the tempo as closing time approached? Anyway I have made inroads on my Christmas gift list and caught up with old friends.

Thanks to the committee for a super evening.

By Suzan Griffiths