Reinstall the Shireoaks Station Book Swap

Aim

We're Crowdfunding to replace the book swap at Shireoaks Station that was sadly vandalised.

Earlier this year, NNLCRP and Friends of Shireoaks Station worked with Men in Sheds Worksop to create a book swap to be installed in the waiting shelter on platform 2 at Shireoaks Station.

Community book swaps are a common and popular way to encourage reading, reduce waste, and share books. At train stations especially, they can make daily commutes more enjoyable by giving rail users easy access to something to read. Our book swap installed at Retford Station is popular and well-used, and with 2026 being the designated Year of Reading, NNLCRP has been keen to roll out more along our routes.

Men in Sheds Worksop is a woodworking project for older men encouraging skill sharing and socialising, which in turn reduces social isolation and benefits mental health. They crafted a self-contained book swap for installation at the station, and we were delighted when this was installed in early March 2026. Yet on 15th March 2026, the Station Adopters found the book swap had been ruined due to vandalism.

We have obtained permission to re-install the book swap and after receiving some sympathetic messages about what had happened, we have decided to open a crowdfunder to build a new book swap to replace the one that was lost. The money raised will pay Men in Sheds to build it, as well as building a bookcase for installation at Worksop Station. Any excess funds raised will be used to pay Men in Sheds for other station project, with any subsequent surplus donated to Men in Sheds to enable them to continue their work.

Thank you for your support.

This project successfully funded on 1st July 2026