November News

Happiness—public debate
Tuesday 21 November 2006, at 7.30pm
Howgills (Friends’ Meeting House), South View, Letchworth
“The Route to Happiness!”

We all know that the key to happiness is not money, but what is it? Can happiness be taught?
Politicians, broadcasters and teachers seem increasingly interested in this subject.
Speakers include
Professor Richard Wiseman (former professional magician, author of The Luck Factor and Professor in the Public Understanding of Psychology)
Dr. Nick Baylis (department of Social and Developmental Psychology, University of Cambridge, “Dr. Feelgood” of the Times)
Tim Lohreau (author of The Book of Modern Phobias; he has suffered from virtually every phobia in the book, with the notable exception of idemophobia and magnafundaphobia).

Each speaker will expound on his preferred “route to happiness” - individual or communal—followed by questions and comments from the audience. After a brief summing up, a light-hearted vote will be take place—who do we think holds the likeliest key to happiness?

Tickets (£3) each are now on sale at the bookshop—please call in, email staff@davids-bookshops.co.uk or telephone 01462 684631 to reserve yours.


David’s wins award!
As you may have heard, David’s was successful in winning the Orion Marketing Campaign of the Year at the Bookseller Retail awards, beating off competition from such (amateurs) as Borders, Ottakars, Blackwell’s and WH Smith. The entry encompassed all the events and promotions mounted around World Book Day last March. The panel of judges said “It’s wonderful to see a small bookseller take such care and invest such energy, and be so resourceful and creative” and noted “great ideas and high community involvement” which is very gratifying and illustrates the input of our supporters—so thanks again if you came along to any of the events, or read in the bedtime “readathon”.

William wins award!
Congratulations to William Armitage on his MBE for “services to business and the community”. We look forward to seeing it, and seeing William in a tail coat.


Environmental Audit
David’s Bookshop was recently subjected to an “environmental audit”. This involved scrutiny of all our operations as a business by an environmental consultant, who examined current practice and made many recommendations for the future, the aim being to reduce our “carbon footprint”. Some areas were rather mundane and seemed fairly obvious, like reducing draughts through old window frames, turning lights off etc (but you still have to spend the time doing it). Other areas covered energy supply (switching to greener suppliers), using energy-efficient light bulbs, using recycled paper and bags, re-using carrier bags, and so on. We are now prioritising the very long list of improvements suggested in the report and have made a start on some of them. For example, if you buy secondhand books from us, you will be offered a secondhand bag (even if it advertises WH Smith’s). All our waste is now sorted and cardboard and paper (including books) are recycled. Most of the high-energy light bulbs have now been replaced.
You can discover more about environmental audits at www.3acorns.co.uk


Running Your Own Brain
Free presentation, Tuesday 28th November, 7pm

Have you ever felt like a passenger in your own life?. Have you ever wondered "Why does this keep happening to me?" Perhaps it is time to consider:
· Who’s running your brain now?
· What is a limiting belief and how is it installed?
· How can you re-programme your own brain?
· How do you get back in the driving seat of your life?
In this work shop you will find out how to "install new software" to get the results you want. Build self confidence, achieve your goals, and create a compelling future. If you're running your own brain it's up to you!

Speaker: Melody Cheal
As a partner in The GWiz Training Partnership, Melody runs courses in both the private and the public sector, focusing on interpersonal skills and self-awareness. She holds a degree in Psychology and a diploma in Psychotherapy and Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Master Practitioner in NLP and a licensed trainer of NLP. This means she is able to run courses qualifying others as Practitioner and Master Practitioners. Accreditation is with the Society for NLP.
If you are interested, please reserve your seat on 01462 684631, email staff@davids-bookshops.co.uk.. A selection of books will be available.


Tales for Tiny People
Come along to the Children’s Bookshop every other Thursday for stories for the under fives. A different book each time—explore the world of books and reading with your child. The next session is on November 2nd and will feature Meg and Mog by Helen Nicoll.
Start time is 10 o’clock for about half an hour—no need to book. Further details from Lois on 01462 475910.


Competition Winners
Congratulations to the winners of our poetry, songwriting and prose competitions listed below. The poetry and songwriting prizes were awarded at presentation evenings in the book & music shops; the winning entries were performed. Thanks to everyone who entered—we enjoyed them all.

Poetry Winners
Group 1 – Children under 11
1 A Poem About My Grandad and Me Liam Welby
2 Colours Athena Brown
3 The World Cup Final Robert Fells
Group 2 – Children from 11-16
1 Winter Sonnet Christina Farley
2 What Is Life? Nikki Alcock
3 Mother I Grew Bridie Mattingly
Group 3 – Adults
1 Commuting David Birkett
2 Shrinking Carla Jones
3 The Magician Philip Dean

Prose Winners
Children’s Group
1952 Recalled Sophie Harrold
Adult’s Group
Who is Josephine Brandt? Benjamin Coates

Songwriting Winners
Under 16 years
1 Lately Olli Beard (Hot Wet Dogs)
2 If I Could Wish Alex Holmes
3 Funky Monkey Jared & Asher Guy (Flying Monkeys)
16 years & Over
Midnight Moon Claire Baker & Ben Walker
The Day I fell in Love with Vivienne Leigh Rod Stalham
Something Beautiful Pete Guy

Prizes of David’s Tokens to all the above.