Last weekend, 15 and 16 August, Temora Rotary Club celebrated a double birthday with the club reaching 78 years and the secondhand bookshop marking five years which was capped off with a free sausage sizzle on Sunday. The bookshop was the epicentre of the event, opening an extra day and welcoming many new faces as well as many regulars. Located at 217 Hoskins Street, the bookshop is open from 10am till 2pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday with all books for only $1 each. Rotary Secretary and bookshop manager Sue King was ecstatic at the response with constant traffic through the bookstore all weekend. “We've had so many people, so many new faces that we haven't seen before,” Ms King said. “Lots of people travelling through, but I was surprised at how many locals that didn’t know we were here and were surprised at how big it was. “So, they're all coming in and having a look around now and seeing just how huge it is, we have 30,000 books spread over seven rooms. “On Saturday we more than doubled want we normally sell. “All the rooms were really crowded with people.” The bookshop is staffed by 12 volunteers, only four are Rotarians and two honorary Rotarians, the rest are community volunteers. When it first started there were just a few trestle tables in two rooms. Ms King encourages anyone from the community that is interested to come along and join their ranks. “We have a really relaxed atmosphere, and we all enjoy each other's company and really love books and really love our community, so it's a great combination of things,” Ms King said. In the last five years more than 101,000 books have been sold through the shop saving them from landfill or being pulped. Many have also been given to community organisations. It is not only books but CD’s, DVD’s, jigsaw puzzles, records and magazines that can be found. Rotary has had a strong presence in Temora over the last 78 years and currently has 25 active members that all contribute in different ways to the fund-raising efforts. They also have many friends of Rotary and honorary members that help out. Some of the other activities include manning the Temora Show gates, cooking barbeques and firewood raffles.
