Joyce is one amazing lady. She has been collecting and storing Christian books for Book Aid in her church in Portsmouth for several decades. Seen here receiving another 25 boxes of books from Southampton, Romsey and Basingstoke.

In the 1980s a desprate plea came from Africa and other countries where economic crises and foreign currency restrictions had reduced supplies of Christian books to an all-time low. This cry for help from vast numbers of Christians suffering from “Book Famine” became impossible to ignore.

Book Aid Charitable Trust was set up in order to make large shipments of new and secondhand Christian books and Bibles to these needy areas. In particular Book Aid supports Christian bookshops, mainly in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. Books are gathered by volunteers through a network of UK collection points. They are then transported to the warehouses in London and Ranskill. The books are sorted, boxed and placed on pallets ready for shipment. When the books reach their destination they are sold at affordable prices. The money raised is used to enhance and develop local literature initiatives and support Christian ministries.