Appeal after adults hoover up free children's books

An actor reading stories from Alice's Adventures In Wonderland at the launch of the Magic Bookcase

The organisers of a free book scheme for children have urged adults not to empty the shelves.

The Magic Bookcase, the brainchild of a local theatre company, opened last week in Hildreds shopping centre, Skegness.

Children are encouraged to take a book to read, then keep it, swap it, or share it with someone else.

However, the organisers had to step in after two women, unaccompanied by children, helped themselves to 24 books.

"If people are taking 24 books at a time, we're going to run out pretty quickly," said Steve Andrews, the manager of the shopping centre.

"We had to approach them and have a quiet word," he added. "Thankfully, they saw the error of their ways and put them back."

'Job done'

The project is a collaboration between the shopping centre and the Neverland Theatre.

In a post on Facebook, Gary Starr, from the theatre company, wrote: "May we respectfully ask adults [not to] empty the shelves.

"You are not only depriving a child of a story, but acting in a selfish way that will ultimately make this impossible to fund."

He told the BBC that all the books were donated or purchased, including from local charity shops.

More than 800 books have been shared so far and there are plans to expand the scheme to include reading days with characters from books.

"Hopefully, we can promote the fact it’s for children – and not free books," Mr Starr said.

"If one child takes a book then it's job done."

Mr Andrews said a launch event, which included a character reading stories from Alice in Wonderland, had been a great success.

"People were coming up and and helping themselves to the books and there were a lot of children there - exactly what we wanted to create," he added.

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