On Sunday 21st December the recently re-opened Atticus Bookshop on King Street will be transformed into a Pagan Christmas Grotto, and owner Tom Flemons tells us he’s confident it will prove an extraordinary and unforgettable even to start the holiday week.
Atticus was a fixture in King Street as a book shop for over 25 years until Tom moved on for personal reasons, while his son Kit to ran the shop to sell musical instruments and support local music.
Now Tom’s back, but has turned the shop into a social enterprise, with all profits from book sales and events going to support the work of the Tasikoki Wild Life Animal Rescue Centre in Indonesia, where he worked as a volunteer.
Tom also wants to support local musicians, continuing Kit’s efforst by selling their CDs, and supporting other charities such as Hope One World and local charities concerned with the environment especially.
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| Some of the birds rescued by the Tasikoki Wildlife Centre in October 2014, many black-capped lories. All the birds and animal parts found on this occasion were from protected species. Image: Tasikoki Wildlife Centre |
The Masarang Foundation, which runs the Centre, was founded in 2001 by Dr. Willie Smits and its mission is to save Indonesia’s flora and fauna by empowering the local people, offering scholarships to students from less fortunate families and students, funding reforestation in Tomohon, such as the Masarang Mountain chain, supporting conservation efforts and protecting forests and rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing wildlife from the illegal wildlife trade.
The Centre currently takes care of 350 animals that were rescued from the illegal wildlife trade and Tom told virtual-lancaster many of them will, sadly, never be rehabilitated, because the forests they were taken from have been destroyed.
“I want to run the shop as a social enterprise, supporting Tasikoki but offering the shop window to local causes as well,” he told the Lancaster Guardian recently.
“Supporting Tasikoki is what made me think about using the shop differently. The environment is threatened in Indonesia and reflects the dangers to wildlife and the environment in so many places in the world. I realised I could continue to support their work by raising funds through the shop.”
His work is already paying off with donations to the Centre already dispatched. “We still have a lot of expenses to cover setting up,” he says, “but I hope this is just the start and we will send many more donations and some new volunteeers in 2015.”
He told us donations of books are more than welcome.
Donors will be able to keep track of who their donations have helped by following Tom’s blog which will give details of Tasikoki and any local charities helped through Atticus.
• Visit the (work in progress) Atticus web site at www.tomattic.com
• Find out more about the Tasikoki Wild Life Animal Rescue Centre (or follow them on Facebook)
• You can also support the work of the Masarang Foundation directly via Simply Giving