General News
11 April, 2025
Second hand books for a first-rate cause
A MARKET regular stall is continuing to raise funds for an important cause, 15 years after it began as part a local team’s Relay for Life campaign.
The second-hand book stall, which is run by previous members of the Relay for Life team The Brady Bunch, began in late 2010.
Stallholder Barbara ‘Barb’ Boyd said, when the Relay for Life finished in Camperdown, the leftover books in Dianne Cleaver (stallholder)’s garage inspired the team to continue the market stall.
“We just give to whichever one we want to give to – there might be a particular cancer group, and we just give it to them,” she said.
“For whatever reason, the Relay for Life finished here, but I don’t know why it finished here – we thought it was pretty dumb when Camperdown would give most years $30,000 or $40,000.
“People keep donating books and keep asking if we want more books, so we just kept it going.”
Mrs Boyd said crowd numbers always varied between markets, but the stall remained popular.
“We always laugh and say you can’t pick a crowd – you might have a small crowd and we’ll make more money than we do with a big crowd,” she said.
“It just depends on who’s looking and what the weather is like on any given day – there’s no rhyme or reason which market or which venue does well.
“We go to whichever ones Di hears about, and there’s a few others who were part of our Brady Bunch team who fill the gaps.”
Ms Cleaver said the stall has run in Camperdown, Mortlake and even in Port Campbell when the township did weekly markets.
She said past members of The Brady Bunch continued to support Cancer Council.
“We recently donated ourselves $8700, and we donated through the Cancer Council on the days they have the corporate match-ups – $7000 of that was corporately matched, which made our donation add up to $15,700,” she said.
“This year, we have already donated $3500 on one of those days, which makes it $7500.”
With the number of markets reducing and the remaining books in Ms Cleaver’s garage remaining high, book donations are on hold while she sorts the current collection.
Mrs Boyd said the team is, however, looking for more volunteers to run the stall during the markets.
“It’s easy – it’s just your time and whether you see any value in it,” she said.
“There’s plenty of value in it, so we keep going.
“Everybody has been touched with cancer of some sort – everybody’s got family and friends who have had it.”
Ms Cleaver said the volunteers do their “very best” to attend as many markets as possible throughout the year, regardless of the weather.
“If it’s wet in Camperdown, we tend to go over under the verandahs,” she said.
“We try and make sure people know we’re going to be there every time.”
Mrs Boyd and Ms Cleaver extended their gratitude to the volunteers who help to run the stall during the market season, as well as those who contribute the crafted rugs and baby booties which are also sold at the stall.
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