A VOLUNTEER-RUN bookshop in Hyde has achieved a major feat, collecting 100,000 donations in just 12 months.
GET Free Books, located in the Clarendon Square Shopping Centre, is overseen by lead volunteer Dave Ryan.
While it has been part of the landscape for seven years, until recently it only operated for a few hours each week.
But over the past year, Dave has worked to raise awareness locally and emphasised that, “Yes, the books really are free.”
Now it has reached its six-figure milestone.
GET Free Books is part of the Global Educational Trust, which oversees about 20 outlets across the country.
Its mission is twofold: ensuring books are available to everyone and reducing waste by keeping them out of landfill.
The community project is turning the idea of book buying on its head. Get Free Books opened a shop in Clarendon Square Shopping Centre where visitors can walk in and leave with up to three books at no cost.
Housed in what was once an empty retail unit, the shop is stocked entirely through donations and run by volunteers, with the aim of making reading more accessible to people of all ages. Beyond the shop floor, the charity also supplies books to care homes, hospitals and prisons, as well as supporting initiatives such as the Tameside Toy Appeal.
The scheme has grown rapidly, recently extending its opening hours to six days a week in response to rising demand. Each month, an estimated 5,000 books are given away while around 7,000 more are donated, ensuring a constant flow of titles through its shelves.
Organisers say the project is not only about literacy, but also about building community, encouraging people to share stories and discover the joy of reading without the barrier of cost.
Last year, the trust reported that it gave away more than one million books, a number Dave admits he initially found hard to believe.
To verify that claim locally, he began meticulously recording every book donated and distributed via the Hyde branch.
Now those records show the Hyde shop has indeed hit the 100,000 donations mark in a single year.
Reflecting on the achievement, Dave said: “The fact that the people of Hyde have given 100,000 books to charity so that we can pass them on, saving people the cost of buying books, promoting reading, and keeping books out of landfill, is quite a feat.”
To mark the occasion, Molly from the Clarendon Square Shopping Centre management team presented flowers to Philip Manclark, the donor who brought in the boxes that pushed the total over 100,000.
Alongside him at the presentation were Carol and Ubaid, who are both instrumental behind the scenes – Carol managing the sorting and filing of donations and Ubaid handling the numerous donations throughout the year.
Philip received a certificate, a hamper and flowers in recognition of his contribution and role in helping the bookshop reach this milestone.