Cromwell Rotary summer book sale opened early this year on Friday afternoon and it rapidly became evident the community was delighted to have the extra hours for shopping. The queues were the longest we have ever seen at the sale, but the delight and satisfaction were easy to see on the faces of young and old alike as they waited to complete their purchases.   

The sale was held slightly later in the month this year and that also seemed to find favour with the shoppers. The number of visitors on all 3 days of the sale, well exceeded numbers in previous years with avid readers taking home well over half of the thousands of pre-loved books displayed in the Cromwell Bowling Club stadium.   It was an upbeat fun weekend for volunteers and readers alike which resulted in setting another record for the summer book sale raising just over $10,000 to change lives and create opportunities in our community.

This outcome relies on a huge amount of work behind the scenes, so many thanks to members and friends of the Cromwell Rotary Club who gave their time over the very hot weekend to run another very successful event.

On the Friday evening the local rugby club held a sausage sizzle and raffle at the entrance to the book sale to kick off fund raising for a junior Colts team to travel to competitions in Australia next year. The Rotary Club is delighted to be able to support this initiative for youth.

If you are still to clear out your own bookshelves, the Rotary Book Exchange Container in the grounds of Freeway Orchard on State Highway 8B is the collection point right through the year for your excess books! We welcome contributions any time because this sale is one of two we have every year.  The second and biggest book sale of the year is planned to be held again throughout the King’s Birthday Weekend.

Local businesses and organisations give their support in many ways to enable us to manage the logistics behind the scenes for the two book sales each year. Our sincere thanks to R&R Hire Ltd, Contact Energy, Freeway Orchard, Golden View Lifestyle Village, Wanaka Rotary, and The Cromwell Bowling Club.