It dawned on us that plans might require deacquisitioning books from our Book Bower.

How best to divest ourselves of the books we liked so much? We decided to offer customers a chance to trade them for a donation to a foodbank.

On Saturday 18 January we opened the gate, expecting a desultory trickle of people and foodbank donations.

Instead, we found a veritable flood - people swarmed in, and enjoyed browsing the shelves. How satisfying to feel the books were being chosen, not simply grabbed!

But best of all was the sheer amount of food and toiletries donated. We passed everything to two foodbanks, in Hailsham and in Newhaven. A van and a large car barely contained it all - what a pleasure to turn our excess books into help for the foodbank customers!