In late 2006 one man had a desire to start a local charity that would support literacy in the South West and worldwide. This man was our founder Barry Evetts (pictured  above) – a man of great energy and passion, who began to put this dream into reality.

 

He started with a small bookshop in Appledore. It was very small inside so Barry and his friends Jeremy and John would put the books out on the street on trestle tables with plastic oversheets to guard against rain. Once the money started to come in Barry looked for how his work could support others.

 

Early local initiatives worked with local schools. Primary schools which had a larger number of deprived children who were less likely to have books at home where reading was not a high priority were targetted. An approach the charity continues to follow although we now give UK wide and to many other organisations in addition to schools. The changing financial regulation of literacy projects, schools and libraries has meant we need to move with the times. Local libraries, hospitals and the Appledore book festival are a major focus alongside adult literacy programmes and prison reading programmes. Some 18% of the UK population struggle with reading or cannot read at all; the need is still there. Barry was fond this quotation from Kofi Annan (UN leader) “Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope. It is a tool for daily life in modern society. It is a bulwark against poverty and a building block of development, an essential component to developments on roads, dams, clinics and factories… Literacy is, finally, the road to human progress and the means through which every man, woman and child can realise his or her full potential”. (2001)

 

Barry and his friends also started to collect books to send overseas to projects in Africa and India. They were collected in a store in Newport, Barnstaple and then sent abroad. In a talk to a local Rotary club Barry was clear in his desire to serve those who have less. Initial projects for Aids orphans in Uganda, street kids in Mombasa, Kenya, or a school library in Gondar, Ethiopia were small scale but much appreciated by these small local initiatives.

 

Sadly, Barry died in December 2014 and it was left to his friends and a growing group of volunteers to develop and manage the shop. The model was simple. We collected donated books and sold them on. After paying our costs, the extra money was given to organisations around the world and in the UK. At first it was hard for us to cover our costs, but with the support of our many wonderful volunteers and by ensuring our costs were as much reduced as possible we are now giving upwards of twenty thousand pounds a year to UK based schools, libraries, hospitals, prisons, refugee organisations, adult literacy schemes and established local charities which give support abroad.

 

It was Barry Evetts who started this. His passion began as a young man when he was an import/export shipping manager. His travels around the world gave him an experience of how many people live and he already knew that literacy – the basic simple skills involved in reading and writing – gave people access to an economic and cultural life that could lift everyone to a higher place, one which allowed the exploration of potential and will also lead to a stronger economic position with greater security for both themselves and their families. Barry decided to help.

 

One of Barry’s greatest friends was Jeremy Bell. Jeremy was there at the beginning and this prose ode, written by Jeremy, gives a good introduction to Barry’s character and the charity’s beginnings in Appledore:

 

 

 

Oh Barry – how can I forget

Your small ever-active frame

Slowly weakening in these last seasons,

But still alive with fiery determination

carrying box, after box, after box of books

Out of that dimly lit bookshop

into the sale-light.

 

‘Thank-you,’ he’d say

As I guiltily strode up to him

(was I a bit late or he early?)

‘I’ll bring the books out’, I’d say quickly;

‘You organise them as you wish’

(he had firm views on how they should be presented.)

Twenty five boxes later

He is reasonably content.

‘It’s a fine day – there’ll be lots of people around.’

‘How did you do yesterday?’ I ask

‘Quite good really – we made £11.50!’

(He’d been there seven hours sitting in that dingy shop)

‘They forecast rain for later’ I comment.

Staring at the already threatening sky.

‘I know; but we’ve got plastic oversheets,

So if anyone buys a book, and I have to go

They can pay at Suzie’s – she’s kindly agreed to take the money.

We’ve got to keep open -

There’s rent to pay, and everything we make

Can attract matched funding.

Cllr X has given us £200 from his charitable allowance,

And I am expecting more money from grants

From the Bideford Bridge and Northam Town Council.

I’ve applied on-line again to the Queen Alexander fund

Are you coming to the quiz night,

And are you still up for that parachute Jump?’

 

Oh, the determination of the little terrier -

Even in his last weeks at the hospice,

He was planning and organising.

Never say die.

 

He had a deep sense of justice,

And a profound belief that literacy

Could enable those who can’t read

To grow in self-confidence

And transform their lives -

Whether in the UK, or in Africa.

‘Improve the world’s education

By getting these books out to the world’ he said.

This was his thing – he’d brook no argument.

 

But he was also very deeply thoughtful

And widely read.

His orphanage pain drove him

To strive to make a mark

Beyond the books he wrote himself

Around his own life experiences.

He had enjoyed the liberating power of literature,

And he wanted to share this with others -

Particularly those less fortunate than himself.

This is his legacy.

Because of him, so many have learnt to read -

And most would never know

That he has provided the means for them to do so.

 

But it his spirit that will endure -

That naked, terrier tenacity,

And vulnerable loving.

 

 

After Barry left us his friends determined the bookshop and charity should continue. For a while we became Torridge nomads migrating between shops until we finally settled where we are now; Mill Street in Bideford.. Our many volunteers – and we are all unpaid volunteers- do magnificent work sorting and selling books in the shop, on Ebay, and occasionally at fetes and pop-up markets. Open six days a week; (and with no need for plastic oversheets!) we serve locals and visitors with many kinds of books – both non-fiction and fiction. Barry’s legacy – although much changed from the original model – remains strong and there are many local school children, libraries and adult literacy organisations who have benefitted from the money we grant. And Barry would be particularly pleased that children and adults in Uganda, Peru, and elsewhere in the world benefit from what we are able to send.