Walkers Bookshop has a very special place in the heart of the English department so they decided to catch up with owner Tim Walker about his experience of Literary Lockdown and his relationship with our School.
How important are books in a time of national restrictions?
We have found that books and reading have been even more important during lockdown. During a winter when the news has been relentless and the novelty of streaming yet another documentary or box set has been wearing thin, people have been appreciating reading all the more.
We all know that feeling of escaping into another world or place or time, or simply seeing our own world through a different set of eyes and from a different perspective. Customers have been telling us that during lockdown they are enjoying the simple act of reading in that it is not simply a passive activity, but requires presence and concentration and thought.
How have you and your customers responded to lockdown?
Our book department has been closed during the lockdown, but we have been operating a click and collect service from the store. But, to be honest, it's not really the same.
Bookshops are magical places and the joy of browsing in a bookshop is that you always come out with something that you never knew you existed before you walked through the door.
How long have you been working with our English Department?
Probably since the mid-1970s. We opened as a newsagents in 1972 but expanded and added the bookshop in around 1976 and we have been supplying the school and the English department ever since! I was at Oakham in the 1980s and Dad would often send me round to the department with a box of books under my arm.
With many thanks to Walkers for joining the English Department in celebrating a very literary lockdown.
