Book Cycle is the idea of Anthony Melling, 31, who opened the venture after he noticed many books were going to waste in the UK. He said: "I realised that a huge amount of perfectly good books in this country were being poured into landfill sites, whereas in Africa and much of the developing world people — especially schools — are desperate for books."The average school in a lot of areas in Africa has just four books, and these are usually completely irrelevant to the children's needs."Anthony and his dedicated team of volunteers rescue books before they are sent to landfill. They sort through them and send those that they think are relevant to schools in Africa. The remainder are sold in Book Cycle. But the volunteer team also happily accept donations of unwanted books."Lots of the books come from the general public, but some charity shops donate their own overflow of books as well. Age Concern, Oxfam and PDSA are particularly generous," explained Anthony."We try and send a parcel to Africa daily. We keep it to less than four kilos, as it gets around the person having to pay duty at the other end. Each parcel can take up to five and a half months to get to a project, but there's no real rush."I send books to libraries, orphanages, schools and community projects in Tanzania, Malawi, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Madagascar and Nigeria at the moment, but I'm not restrictive — in fact, I will send books to anyone who needs them."
Book Cycle has two floors, one of which is dedicated to fiction and the other to non-fiction and an impressive collection of children's books.With a comfy sofa to read and relax on, and a computer with free internet access, visitors are made to feel at home.There is also an outdoor courtyard, enabling customers to read books in the fresh air. It has a small stage, where performances, workshops and spoken word evenings are held.
The shop, which has recently opened a a sister branch in Brighton, also runs a new initiative called Shelf-Cycle. It works by providing books for cafes and restaurants in Exeter, and operating on the same basis as in the shop itself — you can take up to three books a day and donate what you like for them at the till when paying your bill.
In addition to this the team also holds 'Bring Your Own Art' exhibition evenings and juggling sessions. Antony said: "We are a 100 per cent non-profit making charity and try to provide our customers with some interesting evenings too. So I hope new people will come in and see what we are all about."
Shop opening times vary but in general are from mid-morning to 7.30pm. For more information call 01392 420021 or visit www.book-cycle.org.
