OVERVIEW OF THE PROJECT
BOOKS Plus supplies Christian and general interest books and music, cards, Fair Trade goods, and other appropriate merchandise. The shop is run by a full-time manager, deputy manager, assistant manager, administrator / stock processor and volunteer staff from a variety of local churches. We see the venture as part of the whole church's mission to the hospital, which is at the centre of most local people's healthcare, so that they can experience the love of God.
The shop was opened by Steve Chalke on Saturday 19th June 1999.
Current photos of the shop can be seen and photos from the opening day in 1999. You can view a plan of the layout.
The shop has now been trading for more than seven years.
The Management Committee is drawn from churches of different denominations and listed here.
THE PROJECT
The University Hospital of Wales at Cardiff is the biggest hospital in Wales and the third largest in Britain, with approximately 7,000 members of staff, serving 83,000 inpatients and day cases, and 313,000 outpatients each year. These numbers increased in April 1999 when the accident and emergency unit moved from Cardiff Royal Infirmary to the University Hospital site, making it the biggest A&E in the UK. In addition the hospital is home to 2,200 registered students at Cardiff University's Wales College of Medicine. When you add the number of visitors who pass through, you have a small town.
A new £2 million concourse has recently been built to accommodate the hospital’s growth and resembles a shopping mall, with outlets, including Boots, WHSmiths, Starbucks Franchise, Post Office and NatWest Bank. The last remaining unit was earmarked for a book or gift shop in this very busy concourse.
More people enter our hospitals than our churches, so "why not a Christian Bookshop?" we asked. The potential is self-evident.
The Hospital Christian Fellowship had run a small bookstall from a table in the original concourse over a number of years, and this had always proved helpful. After more than a year’s work on feasibility, negotiations were completed for the remaining unit and a lease was signed. A company limited by guarantee was established with charitable status. (Company Registration No. 3590949 Charity No. 1074480). The pieces have come together and the vision is now a reality! One of the final steps of this phase was the completion of start-up fundraising in June 2001.
We are involved in establishing further shops in similar hospital locations in the UK. The current projects are in Norwich and Gloucester.
Our 2005 newsletter is available at www.books-plus.org.uk/news.
