FOR 21 years, animal lover Rose Darrall has devoted the first Saturday of each month to managing The Crescent Book Fair in support of the SPCA.

Darrall is also a lover of books so when the SPCA approached her and asked if she would take on the book market project, she didn’t hesitate.

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“I remember arriving at The Crescent 21 years ago with just a table and a few books. There was no social media to make people aware of the market, so I relied on word of mouth to make the market known to people,” said Darrall.

It was only during the Covid-19 pandemic when tight restrictions were enforced that the book fair did not run.

Slowly but surely, the market grew with Darrall adding more tables and receiving more book donations by the day, so much so that there’s a ‘book donation library’ at the SPCA where she and Shakila Kooblal sort through the books every Monday and Wednesday.

Kooblal is specifically employed to sort all the donated books.

She allows the public access to the library to purchase books on those days from 08:00 to 13:00.

At the very first book sale, just over R2 000 was raised, and Darrall loved the feeling of accomplishment she felt knowing that the money would be used to assist animals in need, a cause she is very passionate about.

“The next time, a friend came and helped. We saw that the market was growing well so we decided to extend it to afternoons. Initially, it was just in the mornings. Now we have a team of over 20 volunteers who take shifts on the Saturdays when they’re available. We’ve become a family. We celebrate birthdays together, and it really is a great team to be a part of,” said Darrall.

She added that as an avid reader, she gets excited when she stumbles upon books from her childhood.

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“Our supporters are the same. Often once they’ve completed reading a book, they donate or give it back to the fair, and that’s how books get recycled for the next person to enjoy,” she said.

The Crescent Book Fair has an assortment of books for sale on the first Saturday of every month at The Crescent from 09:00 to 16:00.

The SPCA charity shop and the charity shop in Sunningdale also sell some of the books.

Book donations can be dropped off at the SPCA in Springfield. For large quantities, the SPCA can arrange to have them collected. To arrange collections, the public can call the fundraising office on 031 579 6534/5.

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