Oswestry Christian Bookshop in Lower Brook Street celebrated the 40th anniversary of its opening in September with an invitation for people to drop in for a free coffee and cake.
The shop, which is one of only a few such shops in the country, is run as a charitable trust as a resource centre for Bibles, Christian literature, greetings cards, teaching materials for Sunday schools, a big selection of second hand books and a variety of gifts.
It was bought and refurbished by Carreg Llwyd Church and officially opened on September 29th 1979 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony by local Member of Parliament, the late John Biffen, and was attended by Oswestry Borough and Town Council mayors.
In 2004 it was voted runner-up for the title of ”Top UK Small Christian Retailer” at the national Christian Booksellers Convention held at Doncaster and was voted Crown Books Retailer of the Year in 2007.
Don Sanders, chairman of the bookshop trustees, (pictured) said: “It’s quite remarkable that such a small independent bookshop has kept going when so many similar outlets have had to give up in the last 10 years.
“The sterling work of volunteers from a number of churches has enabled us to overcome the increasing competition from internet-based outlets and our prayer is that we will continue to serve the people and churches of Oswestry and the surrounding villages for a long time to come.”
