Weekend ‘fully booked’ at St Mary’s in Docking!

The Festival of Books 'write' on track as hundreds turn out to support local church

There’s a queue to get into St Mary's and all those in it are armed with big bags ready to buy their next read (or twenty).  Rector Peter Cook is welcoming them, “I’ve got a house full of books,” he tells me, “I love them, great to have something that’s tangible - I don’t think you can beat a book.”

The festival is in its 14th year and Peter isn't surprised, “It’s an event that’s really captured people’s imaginations.  It operates on donations, from the moment we put the request out there have been porches full of books, which is fantastic - you’ll see how many there are.”

And there are thousands, which is slightly overwhelming. “Not as overwhelming as sorting through them,” laughs Jenny Barker, who’s one of the main organisers of the event. “We do it under genre, it takes quite a while. People have been really generous this year, it’s terrific.”

Already visitors have bag fulls including Joanna from Hunstanton, “Luckily I haven’t come on my bike today. We wait for this all year, last year we didn’t make it as it was my son’s wedding, we contemplated being late to that, but thought we better not! This is a good thing to support too, with the money going to St Mary’s.”

Francesca is with her 2 year old Clover looking in the children’s section, “We’ve just got into reading and story time. Books are really costly, so this is great, plus we love to give them a second life.”

I also chat to 8 year old Briony who says she, “Loves stories and loves reading.” Her grandmother Lorraine adding, “Briony already has a big pile to take back to the car and we’ve only been here 10 minutes!”

I stop for a slice of homemade cake and a hot drink, also taking a break is Carrie who’s visiting from Doncaster, “I’ve got 3 children and they’re all avid readers. Everything is online now - so it’s nice to come and have a look and see the books, touch them. We’ve got to walk back to the house holding them though, so we can’t take many more!”

I manage to make my way around in the crowds and pick up a few books, some people have them piled high in their arms. It’s wonderful to see such a popular community event.  Next year I’m bringing a big bag (or two)!