Book lovers in early start to annual sale

Lorraine Smart from Havelock North picked up half-a-dozen great jigsaws - but a seventh one caught her eye on the way to the checkout. Photo / Paul Taylor

When the Hastings Lions Club crew arrived on Saturday to open the doors to this year's 27th annual Mammoth Book Sale, they discovered that an early battalion of customers had beaten them to it.

"The queue at the gates was more than 400 - they were lined up waiting to get to their favourite sections," convenor and long-time Hastings Lions stalwart Alan Harvey said.

At the head of the queue was a familiar face.

"The first person in the queue is always this chap who is looking for war books and they are down the far end from the entrance - so he makes a bit of a dash for it."

By the end of the weekend, about 3000 people had been through the grandstand hall at the Hawke's Bay Showgrounds where the sale was staged and the Lions volunteers were delighted with the results.

"We took about $27,000 on Saturday," Mr Harvey said, adding that while Sunday was always traditionally a quieter sale day (with the best of the bargains usually snapped up), the final tally was likely to nudge around $33,000.

Among the estimated 80,000 books, magazines, CDs, records and jigsaw puzzles were a few rarities which left several browsers smiling, he said.

About $12,500 will go toward finishing off a $50,000 refurbishment of one of the rooms at Ronald McDonald House in Wellington which has been a focus of the club.

"Because a lot of Hawke's Bay families will use it."

The rest of the takings will go to a variety of local community charities which often struggle to pick up necessary funding.

At the end of the weekend the weary but smiling Lions team picked through what was left and put aside the best of it for next year.

Items which were clearly not of interest would go for recycling.

"We pretty well collect for this all year round but really kick it off around March and April," Mr Harvey said.

"It's been a great team effort and it's great to do this for the community."