Early this morning we shipped a container to Zimbabwe (see photo taken by the truck driver) which included 76 boxes of Bibles on board along with many more boxes of books.  Last year we sent them 92 boxes of Bibles and we hope they won’t be too disappointed!  Book Aid is experiencing an unprecedented request for Bibles from our Container Partners in Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Kenya and we have a shortage of Bibles coming through our warehouses!  How do we know that?  Well our Container partners have recently been telling us that out of all the books we send them Bibles are what they most need and that they cannot satisfy the demand for Bibles in their areas, that people come to their shops asking for Bibles.  Book Aid has recently tried  to double the number we put in each container but this only takes up a small part of each shipment and we would like to send more.

If you have a Bible or 2 (or more) to spare, or if your church has Bibles not being used very often,  they can be sent to countries where there is great demand.  Book Aid can be contacted at office@book-aid.org  and we will able to let you know where there is a collecting point near you, or Bibles can be delivered in person to any of our shops or mailed to Book Aid Bromley House, Kangley Bridge Road, London SE26 5AQ.

At the 2015 Christian Resources Together (CRT) retreat in September this year Bob and Ada Hiley were privileged to be presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of their many years of serving God through Christian Literature.

Bob & Ada Hiley Receive Lifetime Achievement Award

The award was presented to them at the Book Aid Head Office in South London prior to the Annual Retreat by Steve and Mandy Briars the organisers of CRT so that Bob could be present.  Ada was able to attend the Retreat at The Hayes, Swanick where the award was formally presented at the Gala Dinner by Ian Metcalfe Director of Publishing, Hodder and Stoughton.

In presenting the award Ian spoke of Bob and Ada being well known for Book Aid but that they had been with CLC for an incredible amount of time prior to that working in Leicester, Birmingham and London before becoming involved in the International ministry of CLC from which had come their inspiration to set up Book Aid.  They had built up Book Aid to 2 depots, 200 collecting points and 6 bookshops in the UK.  He went on to say that Steve Briars of Together Magazine had gone to interview Bob recently for an article to appear in the next edition and found out that Bob’s involvement with Christian literature went back to 1948 when he was in the Royal Navy.  On board ship he had had a Bible to read but when the ship he was on docked in Chatham he came across the CLC bookshop and had been amazed at the number of Christian books available.  The team at the shop had invited him to volunteer with them and he gladly became involved by packing books.

Ada received the award with great thanks on behalf of the Book Aid team:

“It’s a team effort – over 200 people collect for us from the Shetlands to the Channel Islands…  Over 60 years we have been doing something we have really enjoyed.  It didn’t matter how long the hours or how heavy the work we just got great pleasure from it.  So thank you for recognising it.

Thank you to all who have helped.  We have received so many lovely books and kind words.  Many of the books, we don’t know where they have come from, so thank you to all the bookshops, publishers and individuals who have helped us.  This award is for our lovely team of co-workers and helpers, not for us, we have just been a part of it.”

Book Aid is seeing an increasing demand for books on theology from its partners overseas. In some countries, such as Kenya, the Government is insisting that in order to run a church ministers must now obtain a recognised qualification in theology. It is very likely that this trend will continue and be applied in other countries.

In Nagaland in North East India, 90% of the population are English-speaking Christians. There are between 50 and 100 Bible Colleges already established, with more being set up all the time. However, with a few exceptions, most have only a few hundred books in their libraries – and many have none at all.

In Nagaland most Bible Colleges have very few theology books and commentaries like these in their libraries

Book Aid would like to respond to these requests, so we have updated the list of materials that we ask for from book donors in the UK:

• All kinds of Christian books regardless of age or doctrinal stance.
  Books on theology, Bible commentaries, Bible encyclopedias and dictionaries.
• Books on biblical languages, including lexicons and books on grammar.
• Bibles of any version [except New English Bible (NEB)] regardless of age
• Ladybird Books – both religious and secular.
• Theological Journals – see here for details.

Many thousands of English-speaking Africans cross over the sea from Africa to Europe (see this BBC report). Sadly, many are lost at sea and do not reach their intended destination. Others do reach Italy and are stranded without help from the government. Local believers are doing what they can, but have run out of Bibles in English and on Book Aid for assistance.

Can Book Aid help? Yes, we can! Praise God! We have the Bibles and New Testaments ready to ship to Italy, but we need help with the shipping costs (£500). With your help we can do something – your contribution will do the job.

If you can help, please write on the reverse side of your cheque “Bibles to Italy” or use the PayPal button on the website and write “Bibles to Italy” in the instructions field. Thank you and God bless you.

“Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honoured, as happened among you,” – 2 Thess. 3:1

After twenty-seven years of founding and leading the Book Aid ministry Bob Hiley is standing down from leadership. Well known for his vision, energy and pioneering spirit he will be greatly missed. His legacy of over 300 containers of Christian literature sent by Book Aid to places of need across the world is evidence of God’s hand on this work. It will be difficult for Bob to give up work entirely so you may still see him helping where he can in the days ahead.

The Trustees have appointed Mrs Christine Pulsford as Interim Director as from 17th March 2015. She will lead Book Aid through a period of transition as work continues apace, handling the tide of Christian books that arrives daily. Your prayers are valued at this important time.

Thank you to all who have helped or are still helping in this exciting programme. By the grace of God we will carry on. More information will follow via the Book Aid website.

The Trustees of Book Aid Charitable Trust, 18th March 2015

Book Aid continues to reach areas of literature need across the world. In 2014 seven container loads (nearly 3/4 of a million books) were shipped to Africa and India. You might think that would leave us short of books. Not so! That is the one thing we are not short and we have calls daily for books to be collected as many people are pruning their book collections, or clearing relatives’ homes, etc. Our network of volunteer collectors all around the UK continues to do a great job – keeping the books moving into our warehouses. A big “thank you” – what would we do without you! And thank you to those who donate such wonderful books too!

Many of you kindly ask us about the future. As you know Bob and Ada founded Book Aid 27 years ago but they are not getting any younger and although they do not want to stop doing this wonderful work. We are pleased to welcome Christine Pulsford to work alongside the team for 12 months as Director of Operations to help us discern the way ahead. Christine is Bob and Ada’s eldest daughter. She is a solicitor and has seen God provide for her to have a career break to offer her services to Book Aid. If you visit the London premises do call and see her and introduce yourself. Christine commutes weekly from her Wiltshire home so is generally around in the middle of each week.

Another change on the way for Book Aid is that we are planning to change the Trustee Board freeing up the existing trustees for the day-to-day management of Book Aid. We are thrilled that Andrew Quinney and Rob Bradshaw have agreed to take over as Trustees from the start of next year. Both Andrew and Rob have long associations with Book Aid – they know our history and passion for supplying books to areas of literature need.

Philomena of Book Aid Kenya was in the UK for a period this summer and joined in the sorting and packing of a container which she took delivery of just before Christmas. This will be her third container as she establishes the work there. We urge you to pray for the work in Kenya especially for safety and protection for Philomena and the team as they sell Christian books in a dangerous climate.

In the last 18 months Book Aid has not been exempt from the worldwide economic pressures and this has had a serious effect on the cost of supplying books abroad. One way of addressing this is to sell more of the donated books here in the UK through our existing shops to increase available funds.

Book Aid Ranskill is currently opening up part of the warehouse to provide more shop space to do just that. You will be able to see the project in progress and enjoy an increase in stock to choose from! Stewart, the manager, and Russell will be glad to welcome you.

In addition to the Ranskill warehouse and shop we continue to sell and receive books through the Book Aid shops in London, Northern Ireland, Warrington and Barnard Castle and say a big thank you to the volunteers who continue faithfully to offer their premises and service to the work.

Volunteers are vital to what we do and it is great to welcome new ones. Nigel was on his first day volunteering as a book sorter in London when we took this photo and Arthur has been volunteering faithfully for some time in the warehouse.

Another way for us to keep down costs is to use the internet more and save on postage and paper. If you have an email address please would you let Sylvia, our administrator, know by emailing her. We also have a Facebook page and a Twitter feed and as we improve our use of these we hope you will find them helpful sources of news.

Finally, a thank you to all our supporters — whether you have supported us faithfully for many years or have just begun. Whether your support is your prayer, your time, your energy, your finances or buying books we are grateful to God for what continues to be done through Book Aid.

May God bless you, The Book Aid team