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Charity volunteers write next chapter for bookshop

Aimee Dexter & Tom Jackson
BBC News, Cambridgeshire
Tom Jackson/BBC Geoffrey is looking towards the camera with a slight smile. He has black and brown round glasses, and white hair. He is wearing a blue and white checked shirt. Behind him are shelves containing books.Tom Jackson/BBC
Geoffrey Stalker said some people had given large donations to help the new shop

A former charity shop has been revived by a group of volunteers who used to work there.

The Oxfam Books and Music shop in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, was closed by the charity last year.

This prompted volunteers to raise money to reopen it under a different name, The Next Chapter.

Manager Geoffrey Stalker said: "We were overwhelmed by the support from local people in the town and their desire for it to continue."

Tom Jackson/BBC The shop is seen just off centre to the right of the picture. The building is white, and has glass windows either side of a door in the middle. A green sign above the door reads 'The Next Chapter'.Tom Jackson/BBC
The Next Chapter was previously an Oxfam shop

Oxfam posted on Facebook that it would be closing its store on Huntingdon's High Street on Christmas Eve.

The Next Chapter is set to open in the same premises by the end of March.

Mr Stalker said many amazing finds had been unearthed at the Oxfam shop during its time, including a first-edition copy of The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien.

He said many people had told him about their wish to see the shop continue.

"We've had some customers give us very large donations," he said.

Profits from The Next Chapter are to be donated to local community organisations.

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